Category Archives: house

Vertical Elements

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We have ongoing plans for the garden but the wheels turn fairly slowly here as everything carefully considered.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to reposition a couple of the small raised garden beds which we bought early last year. This is all part of the grand plan to have defined pathways and sections of the garden rather than a wide open space.

They now run north/south rather than east/west. You can see the old positions by the patches of dirt in the foreground of the photo.

I had also seen somewhere online that people had used reinforcing mesh to create an archway between 2 raised garden beds. So, yesterday we purchased one large piece of mesh from the hardware which was delivered in the afternoon and we set to work on our plan.

This is the second one we built and I am hoping to use it to grow climbing beans. There is a tomato in the bed on the left and spinach on the right-hand side.

The first one we did is a bit more difficult to see because of the background. It is high enough to allow clearance for the shed door (not regulation height) to open. I have planted a couple of cucumber seedlings close to the arch in the garden bed on the right. There are also capsicums in that bed. The box in the foreground is onions and the lettuce is thriving on the other side with coriander in pots nearby.

We also have cauliflower, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb in other spots not shown in the photos.

It is great to have some permanent vertical structures in the garden which are both decorative and functional.

Desk Declutter

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Even though we have been in this house just under 2.5 years I have already tidied and decluttered the small office space and desk a couple of times. However, I was a bit more ruthless this time with a few more things gone.

Although I did not take a before photo I found this one from a previous post.

The most noticeable difference is that the speakers are gone as well as the cane basket from the corner of the desk. As we were working through the various bits and pieces, GMan noticed that the speakers were not actually connected to anything and whenever we listen to audio on the computer it comes directly from the speakers in the laptop!! The speakers do not appear to be compatible with the laptop so they are off to the op shop to find another home. The cane basket had become a receptacle for all sorts of electronics odds and ends so we decided that not having it there would force us to put things away properly. I will probably repurpose the basket for storage in my sewing room.

This is the finished view of the desk.

There is a small cupboard on the wall above one end of the desk. This is where we keep the modem as the power point and connection are there.

However, I always felt that this space was under-utilised. So, GMan drilled a hole so that we could feed the cables through and place the modem on the top shelf. This freed up more shelf space to use for other storage, including the lower shelf which is more accessible. I now have some stationery supplies in a couple of very classy ice-cream containers. They were previously on the bottom shelf of the bookcase opposite the desk but it makes more sense to have them here.

Finally, we went through all of the drawers and removed various things that are no longer relevant and rearranged a few items to make better use of the space. The final touch is that I plan to make labels for the drawers so that things are easier to find without opening multiple drawers. That is a task for another day.

Outsourced

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The past week since my last post has been somewhat devoid of blog material. In fact, it has been generally fairly quiet with us spending most of the time at home. There were a couple of fine sunny days which were perfect for some more fence painting. We have now completed 2 coats on all of the outside of the pickets and both sides of the gates. Once we finish the inside of the pickets then I will just need to do some touching up of baseboards and posts which are dark grey.

We did go out yesterday afternoon to pick up the quilt which I had taken to a friend to quilt on her longarm machine. It is always a delight to see the transformation from a piece of patchwork to a completed quilt. I think this one looks particularly spectacular.

A close-up of the stitching pattern.

The backing fabric from a thrifted doona cover really highlights the quilting.

Meanwhile, in a change of pace we have a weekend full of activity but more about that next time.

Opportunity Knocks

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Browsing in op shops can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t have some sort of strategy. When it comes to clothes I am always on the lookout for certain colours and types of fabrics as well as generally restricting myself to spots, stripes or plains. This way I can eliminate about 90% of the stock fairly quickly.

I have a bit of a mental wishlist but you also need to be alert to unexpected possibilities. This is particularly important to keep in mind as you can sometimes score some bargains by buying summer clothes in winter and vice versa.

When we were in Sale last week I spotted (pardon the pun) these trousers for $4. They are Fella Hamilton brand and made in Australia. I think they will be perfect for most of the year in our climate apart from the depths of winter or very hot summer days.

On our way home from Sale we stopped in Kyneton with the specific purpose of going to the Salvos op shop which I have previously found to be very good. We didn’t find anything on this occasion, however, we parked the car directly outside a secondhand shop which happened to have a rack of clothing on the footpath and I spied this jacket on the end of the rack. It has a fully detachable hood and lining as well as inside and outside pockets and a drawstring option at the waist. It will be a great addition to GMan’s selection of jackets and perfect for our overseas trip in December.

Meanwhile, 2 things that I have been actively searching for were a pair of tongs as GMan needed a pair for extracting lumps of charcoal from a jar jar of kerosene (his homemade firelighters) and a king-size sheet or doona cover in shades of pink. This is for the backing of the patchwork quilt I am currently making.

I was in Bendigo today and after my appointments I made a concerted effort and went to 6 op shops. At the final one I found both items that were on my list. One side of the doona cover will be perfect for the quilt backing. The tongs I found are brand new so I have earmarked them for the kitchen and the old ones can be used for the firelighters.

In another shop I picked up a dress for $5. It is a good quality knit fabric and will pair well with tights, boots and a coat and scarf. I did not bother trying it on but I suspect I may need to shorten the sleeves a bit.

The final buy was a set of 4 x double point knitting needles. All in all I have had a very successful week of op shopping.

A Closer Look

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote about our new oven and induction cooktop. You can read about that in this post.

We have now had several opportunities to use the cooktop as well as the oven on a couple of occasions. I have used induction cooktops in accommodations that we have stayed in while travelling and I have to say that this particular one is as easy to use as any I have come across. I am still getting used to the instantaneous heat but I am very proud that I managed to cook brown rice without it boiling over at any point during the process.

The oven is another story. We do not use the oven a great deal apart from GMan’s sourdough bread baking adventures. Nevertheless, it has been refreshing to discover how simple the operation of the oven seems to be.

This shows the screen display which greets you when the oven is turned on initially.

The display is clear and easy to understand. In fact, I was able to navigate it for the first time without even referring to the instruction manual. The temperature selection is digital and can be selected in 5°C increments. Once the temperature is selected the digital display shows the exact temperature as it increases. The bread requires a starting temperature of 230°C and GMan was thrilled to find that the temperature was reached in barely 8 minutes from turning the oven on. This is a refreshing change from the 30 minutes required with the previous oven in addition to the accuracy being somewhat debatable.

The verdict on the first loaves made in the new oven was that they are probably the best ones he has made in about 8 years of baking sourdough bread.

A New Bed

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In a post from last week I mentioned that I was searching for alternatives to the bed that we had in the spare room. You can read about it here.

I feel as though I have spent the past week buying and selling beds on Facebook Marketplace.

We thought we had found a suitable bed, however, it turned out to be too big for the room as it had quite chunky timber head and foot ends. I managed to sell the original bed quite quickly and thought I would need to make do with the one that was a bit of a squeeze as we have guests arriving on Sunday.

Luckily, I spotted the perfect bed not too far from home and we were able to collect it today.

The bed is assembled, remade and the room is back in order and I am really pleased with the outcome.

Now all I need to do is to sell the one which did not suit our space. It was definitely a ‘whoops’ moment but not the end of the world.

The Next Step

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We are making progress on completing the lounge to the way we want it.

Some of you might remember this post from late February. Well there have been a few hiccups along the way but the window installation was finally completed today.

We will need to paint the frames both inside and outside and then I will see about choosing a blind. In the meantime, we will rehang the piece of fabric that has been covering the old window for the past couple of years. Bare glass is not a good idea at this time of the year.

The choice of louvres will be fully appreciated in the summer as they will provide good cross-ventilation.

Speaking of painting, we spent some time painting the pickets of our newish fence. It has been several months since it was installed but the weather has been either too hot or too cold and a few days ago we had rain to further delay us. Of course, we also seem to manage to be away or otherwise socially engaged. However, today was perfect. After a frosty start we were blessed with a glorious sunny day and no wind. Hopefully, there will be a few more days like today in the not too distant future to enable us to finish that project.

Completed Curtains

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It is over 4 months since we made our first enquiries to get some screens and curtains. You can read about the initial contact and see the curtain fabric sample here. There have been a couple of significant delays. The fabric I chose for the curtains was not in stock and secondly, we changed our minds about the screens for the existing large doors in the front lounge as we decided to change the doors and therefore, the type of screens required.

The new doors were installed about a week ago.

The old ones being removed.

The new doors with the curtains drawn back. The configuration of the doors are the same, however, they are aluminium framed rather timber framed. This means they a much easier to slide, screens were simpler to fit and of course, there will be no constant maintenance of the timber. This is a significant issue as they face north and receive the full force of sun as well as wind and rain. Finally, I was actually surprised at how much more light is let in due to the narrower framing.

Here is a view with the curtains drawn.

And a close-up of the fabric.

I have made curtains before but I was not prepared to tackle a job on this scale. I was very happy to leave it to the professionals to make and hang these.

There is one more job to be done before these room is totally finished. There is a small window in the other corner which we having replaced with louvres to maximise the ventilation. That will installed later next month then I will order a new blind. I am thinking of choosing a plain colour – possibly a darker blue as seen in the curtains.

GMan’s Handiwork

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Tonight I want to show you a couple of recent projects that GMan has been working on.

First, a rack of hooks for our walk-in wardrobe. These were in the wardrobe when we moved in but we removed them before the recent remodelling of the pantry and wardrobe. I decided that I wanted to retain them but in a slightly different position. They are very handy for half-worn clothes as well as the occasional belt or scarf. GMan removed the hooks from the original backing board as it was damaged, bought a new piece of timber and did all of the necessary preparation and painting before reattaching the hooks. This was quite difficult by all accounts. Today it was replaced in its new position. The only thing left to do is filling the screw holes but that can wait for another day.

The other job was creating a permanent barrier between the shed and the back fence. It had previously been blocked up by a piece of metal which is needed for some other garden landscaping so it was time to attach an offcut of Colorbond sheeting which had been set aside for the purpose.

The photo does not do it justice but there were several steps, including attaching a timber support to the back fence as well as adding a timber baseboard to account for the slight slope. The sheeting was cut to size and screwed to the timber support and the corner of the shed.

The reason for needing this area blocked off is to prevent the dog gaining access to the driveway and front garden. Her domain is restricted to the backyard.

Speaking of animals, I will finish this post with a photo I took this evening as we were coming home for our walk. We live in the town but the local wildlife are frequently in evidence around the streets. This has been particularly so in recent times as it is very dry at the moment and the kangaroos are looking for reliable sources of water.

Refreshed and Ready

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We are on our way home from our holidays and will be back in familiar surroundings by Wednesday afternoon. Relaxing in motel accommodation with no specific demands on your time provides plenty of opportunities to plan.

I have been jotting down notes on my phone of things I would like to do once we are home. Some are small tasks that will literally take 5 minutes. An example is updating the rainfall chart which has not been done since we went away. We have a rather clever electronic rain gauge which automatically records the rainfall from midnight to midnight each day and does not require emptying. The weather station which is indoors records this data for a maximum of 30 days so all of the information will be stored for when we arrive home. I then transfer these records into an Excel spreadsheet which is useful to be able to compare the data year on year.

There are other much larger projects but they will still depend on me taking the first step. Some have been being discussed at length but a new year is a good time to get the ball rolling. One such project is replacing the gas cooktop/900mm electric oven with an induction cooktop as well as a smaller (600mm) built-in oven. The very first thing I need to do is to contact our electricity supply company to ensure that the amperage of our supply is sufficient to support the induction cooktop.

I have a number of sewing projects that I am keen to work on and it will be a matter of prioritising them.

The holiday has been fun but now I am ready to make a start on new projects – large and small – as well as continuing with existing assignments. You are sure to hear more about some of them as time goes by.