I realise I've neglected you

I've had troubles uploading pics, and I've been working really hard to get my shop up and running.

Will be back just as soon as I can.

P.S. I really want one of these.

Just thought I'd add this for later.

Bathroom dilemma

Buster's on his way home with two lovely new basins to match a third we've already purchased.

Problem is I've just realised that there's only a single hole on the centre of the basin for taps& outlet making it only suitable for mixer taps. We already have our taps and I really want to keep the combo. Has anyone got any fabulous ideas to work around my problem?

Can anyone post me pics of taps on the wall and outlet in the basin?

Behind schedule

Before we've even started...


Charlie our wonderful builder must shake his head at us. He's wanting to start our bathrooms Monday week and I haven't ordered a single thing yet. So we're not ready for him.


We already have
1 set bath, shower & basin fittings
2 coat hooks for rear of doors
1 overhead rack for spare towels
2 chandeliers for one bathroom
1 basin
1 old blue bath


Here's my to do list - apologies for the monotony of this post but it's necessary I keep this somewhere.


Clear out third bedroom
Rip up old flooring
Plumbing layout
Arrange for bath to be resurfaced
Pull down existing door, repair & paint


To buy immediately:
2 double glazed windows
tiles
2 double glazed window units
compressed fibre cement for flooring (CSR)
underfloor heating
floor tiles
2 in tile grates
framing materials to build new internal wall
materials to build bath frame
waterproof internal wall covering (csr)
Wall tiles
undercabinet lighting fluoro
2 small ceiling extractor fans with shutoff
2x heated towel rails large
2x loos
2x basins
3x mirrored bathroom cabinets
2 x extra basin taps
an overhead rain shower fitting

Can likely wait until later:
Light fittings for ceilings
4x Mirrored cabinets
2x shower screens
2x loo paper holders
1 interior door
4x hooks (may already have these somewhere)

Final revision

This is exciting! We've revised the plans to eliminate the problem of the box gutter and the man to thank is our wonderful builder Charlie. He's managed to come up with quite a few suggestions that improve things enormously. So in getting rid of the box gutter, we can create an enormous attic space and not worry about flooding the house in a 1  in 1000 year storm.

I'm sure you might not even notice the internal changes so I'll explain them to you. We've simplified the bathrooms to create extra space and reduce the spend. Now we have a bathroom door directly off the loung which isn't ideal, but will save us on work and dollars. The other change is the laundry/pantry/skullery which I'm calling the room with glass doors. Although it could end up without any glass doors. We'll just call it that for now.

This elevation shows the new roof line with Dutch gable. I wasn't thinking we'd have it on the rear but perhaps it's needed. Does anyone else know?

Changing the roofline

We're considering increasing the roofline to eliminate a box gutter we have behind the existing facade. The box gutter has been the only thing that's difficult with this house. A couple of builders have expressed disapproval and one told us he wouldn't touch our plans.

We need to keep the pitch as is, but lifting up the roofline will give us an enormous attic space in place of the existing box gutter.

via melbourne blogger

A dormer window could be an option, and would allow for cross ventilation of the attic space. What we decide on will be based on the budget. It always comes down to the money.

via federation details

I just found a few pictures of federation homes to try and imagine the roofline on our place. Our roof is steel so would not look like these when finished, but the pitch and area is similar.

via 1902 victorian

This is an American house of the same vintage. It lacks the distinct colourings of the Australian counterpart, with grey slate as the preferred roofing option. I've seen new slate roofs in our area and they do look a bit special.

via wikispaces

Our house has lost the detailing with the 40s makeover but we have a similar rising sun pattern in our front gate.

via wikispaces

That's quite a high chimney but we may have to raise ours to be above the new roofline. Not a big task but important to remember.

Room with a view

I've been contemplating going up onto the roof for most of the day.

Thing is that we've had patchy cloud and rain looked ominous so I procrastinated whilst watching this view from my seat. How gorgeous is the tree at our back gate? It's just coming into bloom this week. Last year when we moved in it was in full bloom.

So after a day of watching patches of sprinkly rain not soak anything and more sun than not, I ventured outside to climb the ladder and saw this cloud....

It's almost black.

Oh well, I decided to risk it and went up anyway with tools in hand, ready to begin the demolition of the bedroom chimney. So climbed half way up and had a change of heart. The pitch is too steep and slippery and my heart didn't cope well with the fear.

So now I have a glass of wine in hand and am considering options. I think this is a fairly fabulous view for our country village.

Look at what flew past my head but didn't swoop at me! We have a lot of magpies in our garden but those enormous conifers are across the road in the school grounds and are a nesting ground for all manner of winged fancy.

The tree to the left is a birch and the Rosella love it.

The firebox is in

This week we've had the electrician rewiring the old part of the house. We have new power points in places that make sense, new lights that work and a smoke detector in the hallway.

Bob also came out to install the fireplace but as you can see was unable to finish the job properly. The chimney needs to be repointed and some height added. Bob pulled down two layers of bricks and was unable to secure the top chimney plate and cap. We're making changes to the roofline before we submit the plans to council, but the race is now on to get things happening.

As the electrician was here at the same time as the fireplace installer they managed to sort out how to wire in the power for the fan. Rather than run an intrusive cable across the front of our fireplace, we have it all hidden in the brickwork. I'm not sure why, but there's a void adjacent to the chimney so power runs through it with a junction box in the roof.

So how awesome is this? I think it's beautiful even though it looks nowhere near finished. It's also a bloody huge firebox. Oh I just can't stop thinking about how fabulous it's going to be when lit either.