Photo a Day Challenge - Day 77 A Corner of your Home

This phot, is quite literally, a corner of the house! It is the join from where the tuckpointing, facade, meets the repoint, side, of the house. I had this redone in January 2011, and I am so happy with how it turned out! It not only made it look better, but it also corrected any cracks that may have been there!

Repoint Tuckpoint

Hoo roo for now...

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A day of paint 'n' bake!

My day started today with a little trip, to Baiada Chickens to get some supplies for my birthday lunch. I did, however, stop along the way to have a coffee with a mate! I still like going to Baiada, its good fresh chickens that are very VERY cheap!

After getting my chicken, then went home to mow the lawns before it got to hot and also before it (as forecasted) rained! Alas, the later never really happened, and by he end of it all, I was really hot and sweaty, so I showered and cooled down!

I then got stuck into painting, I had the area in the veranda to do, balustrade, posts lintels and window/door frames! I got ALL of these done, however whilst painting the pressed metal roofing, which seemed to take forever, I did not have the time to do all of the remaining windows... Another day!

This evening saw me heading down to Woolworths, local grocery store, where I got some more bits and pieces for tomorrow party; cheeses, and some fruit for a slice I was to make. I also washed the Murano Glass that was a little dusty after the point work! I even managed to get some dinner (and a beer) at around 8.30-9pm!

Now, the slice is a borrowed recipe, but here it is... I used fresh fruit, Pineapple, Banana & Blueberries, and tomorrow just prior to serving it, I will include the first of the Passionfruits from this years crop!

Make a crust base.

• Butter Pound Cake mix (DON'T MIX)
• 1 cup of coconut
• 125grms butter

Combine the ingredients, and then press into a pan 'forking' over the base. Bake in oven for 20 mins at 160c

Filling

• Thin sliced Pineapple, thin sliced Banana 1/2 tub Blueberries
• Small tub of Sour Cream
• 2 Eggs
• Cinnamon Sugar

Layer fruit, randomly for colour distribution. Beat two eggs until just combined, and then combine into sour cream. Then pour the mixture OVER the fruit, and sprinkle Cinnamon Sugar over top and bake for 20-30 mins at 180c.

Slice Base

Fruit for Slice

Fruit Slice almost ready

Finished Fruit Slice

I'll let you know tomorrow how it turned out!

Hoo roo for now...

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For now, it's done!!!

Whilst over the last two weeks we have had some Chinese teachers staying with us, we are now on a 12 day break before we get another couple of teachers. In a separate post in a couple of days, I will tell you all about the latest lot of teachers. So, without having to prepare additional dinners etc, we can now move back onto 'normal' blogging!

After just over three years, we have finally (and almost all) painted the interior of the house. Not that it was all that bad a colour, but its amazing how just a wall vent almost falling off in one bedroom led to the whole house being painted!

Painted lounge room!!

1. Kitchen, 2. Kitchen 250708, 3. Laundry & Kitchen, 4. Lounge Room 250708, 5. Lounge Room: - Courtyard, 6. Lounge Room 250708

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

For now, we're done, but with two bedrooms to go, we are approaching the finishing line. After this, and we have already started looking at pricing, we will be replacing the bench top in the kitchen to a granite one!

Who said that the painting was over???

Just when we thought it was all over (for now), I came up with this brilliant idea (not) to paint the lounge room & kitchen on my way home from dropping off the new set of Chinese teachers. Oh what a fool am I!

So, here are a few 'before' shots just to show you what we had. Apologies for the mess as we had started to move things first, THEN decieded to take some photos!

Lounge Room: - Courtyard

Lounge Room: - Courtyard

Lounge Room: - Backyard

Laundry & Kitchen

Kitchen

All things being fair and good, it should all be finished tomorrow (fingers crossed... It is approx, 45-50m sq!)

Why we have not been blogging lately, sorry!!

Ok, we know we have not been blogging lately, but we have been kinda busy. The renovated bedroom is finished which led us into the entrance hall, the the hallway to the lounge/kitchen area and then we thought, maybe do the dining room as well! So painting has been very much the process as soon as getting home, and there has not been much spa action either! But that is all about to change, as we are on the downward run, it's almost finished!

So, here is a couple of pics of the entrance hall BEFORE we got to it with its cracks and all showing... Even Jasmine got in on the act!

Entrance View

Bathroom View

The next project...

Now that the laundry & bathroom are complete what's next to do in the burntofferings house? Well that's easy, no resting that's for sure!!

Well, the gazebo we are doing for the spa (on order) is underway. We 'won' this wonderfull gazebo on an online auction website, and after an inspection on the day of it finishing, we placed our bid... Then came the fun part, the dismantle works began with the FIL on Friday marking ALL of the pieces of wook and the removal of the roofing and the BIL on the Saturday for the final dismantle of the structure.

Gazebo 'Before'

Gazebo 'Before'
These next shots are of the two day dismantle works...

Gazebo 'Roofless'

and a little further along...

Gazebo dismantle
Now, the question remained, that whilst we now have to dismantle the old shadehouse, what do we do with Wally?

'Wally' on Shadehouse

Old Shadehouse
So, we now have a spa, a gazebo and the old shadehouse removed, what else is there to do but to do a slab! A quick call to a concretor and an electrician saw a length of conduit installed and the slab down within 24 hours!!! WOW!

Slab formwork

Our SLAB
Now all we have to do is make sure both Jasmine & Macc STAY OFF!!!!

Our 'New' bathroom...

Well, after such a long time, we now have two fully functional bathrooms... Remember this?

Bathroom Reno: - before

Well, we now have this:

Finished Bathroom 18-04-2008

All we did, was having the tiles 'Repaired & Painted' thanks to Bathroomwerx, they also re-enameled the bath, and a new screen for the shower that replaced the curtain. We also added in a new end glass screen as well, as the old brown one looked... well... UGLY! Both of these came from the RenovationBoys.

We were also the lucky recipients of a Council Clean Up (Kerbside Garage Sale; take it if you want it before it gets collected as rubbish) Vanity. After replacing the bowl and giving it a paint, it also came up a treat!

Whats happening??

So what's happening in your 'neck of the woods'??

Here, we have been busy doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The laundry, as you may recall, has been updated into a second bathroom. This is now finished and we have done the bathroom. It is waiting now for the over bath shower screen to be installed and over this coming weekend, I will hopefully have the new door hung.

Last night saw us go shopping straight after a seminar we both went to about water. The shopping centre that we went to, Macquarie Shopping Centre, was chosen for its location to the seminar, and had a great little Tea shop called T2. L had been there last week with the MIL and was still raving about its atmosphere and little goodies on offer. But when we got there, the goodies on offer looked a little boring so we decided not to have anything.

We then went to Myer to have a look at a new pair of PJ's for me. But at the price on offer, I thought it was a bit expensive! So finally, we went to BigW to get a new, slow closing toilet seat for the newly renovated bathroom.

The bad side to all of this was, that we now had to get into the peak hour traffic to get home! We spent longer in this traffic than the time we spent in the shopping centre just to get home!!!

So now, when we got home, I quickly installed the new toilet seat, L had a nice hot shower, and I cooked dinner (Pork steaks with mashed potatoes and veges) and relaxed to a nice night at home in front of the tele...

So, what are you up to?? Any plans for the weekend??

Bathroom Renovation begins...

OK, so after doing the laundry, and converting into a second bathroom, it is now time to start doing the bathroom. So, here are some shots of the bathroom before we started. Things to note are the unmovable staining along the bottom of the tiles (no matter how much bleach/cleaner we have put on, it has not changed in the nearly three years we have lived here), the dangerous soap holder and the simply UGLY excuse for a vanity.

Bathroom Reno: - before

Dangerous soap holder

Bath before being sprayed
We did, however, have the "Chief" Inspector observing it being dismantled, and making sure that anything that can be recycled is separated. After all, we are putting in a vanity that the FIL found out a Council Clean up, oh I mean, Roadside Garage Freebie/sale!

"Chief" Inspector
It is now repaired and painted, the cracking walls have been repaired and painted and I am currently waiting for some filler to go off, so as I can rub it back and paint the ceiling before installing a new Energy Efficient light.

30 days : days 18, 19 & 20... Laundry Renovation cont...

Ok, so here is another update of sorts on the laundry...Day 18 saw the security come on board to safeguard the big 'unveil':

Laundry Security

Clearly he is busy 'guarding' something...
Then, as things were slowly slipping behind schedule, we had to get additional 'hired' help by way of an apprentice:

Laundry Apprentice

Clearly, unimpressed with being 'caught' sleeping on the job

Laundry Apprentice

And this is how she shows how unhappy' she is...

Laundry Apprentice

But, now for the big unveil (taken with our little camera for its wide angle lens)...

Laundry 19-02-2008

and with my camera...

Laundry 15-02-2008

30 days: day 17 The laundry, Its almost finished...

Well, progress has come on very fast this last couple of days, and whilst the final bits n pieces are done, here is a teaser...

Laundry Soap

Laundry Soap & Tap

30 days: days 12, 13 & 14 Laundry continues...

Ok, so here is a 'catch-up' post of days 12:

So, this is what it USE to look like...

Laundry 20 Jan 2008

Day 13:

Laundry Tiled

Laundry Tiled

And day 14, something 'L' will be enjoying soon:

Lemon Meringue Pie

30 days: day 11

Bill's Tiling

floor tiles are in
progress is being made on the laundry renovation, the floor tiles have been laid, Monday the wall tiles go on. Tomorrow we will install the exhaust fan and fit the window frame.

30 days : days 6, 7 & 8... Laundry Renovation cont...

As you can see, we have been a little busy and as such, have not been able to complete a couple of days...

So, in an attempt to catch up here we have day 6:

Laundry Insulation Installation

Day 7:

First Waterproof Coat

AND, day 8:

What a great Bakehouse

What a 'Great Name' for a Bakehouse hey Genesis??
The tiler is coming back tomorrow to give it all a second coat, Friday to screed of a sand & cement floor so as he can lay the tiles on Saturday. It never stops here...

30 days : day 4... Laundry renovation cont...

Continuing on this theme of '30 days' (oh and yes, we did not do one yesterday as we were too busy with this work) I will continue with posting photos of the Laundry Renovation. Yesterday, I had the plumber here. He arrived nice and early, 7:15am, and got his tools ready. A petrol operated concrete cutter was the tool of choice for the morning!. For those who don't know what this sounds like, think of a chainsaw in a confined room! The living room was full of exhaust fumes which dissipated some 30 minutes later.

Laundry Reno PLUMBERS WORK

Now yesterday was a nice day, only 35 degrees C with very high levels of humidity. So, my task(s) for the day were to have a supply of cold water at the ready for him, and his son (with his friend as well). The 'boys' were given the task of digging the trench for the pipe to connect to the sewer, fun fun fun!!!

Laundry Reno PLUMBERS WORK OUTSIDE

30 days: day 2

a day in the life of Jasmine

Somebody has to be 'busy' I suppose...

30 days: day 1

Laundry Reno cupboards removal

Laundry Reno in progress

Laundry Reno tiles gone

Laundry Reno walls removed