Milton Moon

I may not have made much progress with this blog lately, but elsewhere, I'm doing ok. My husband (I'm not even going to pretend I had anything to do with it) has finished the main room downstairs and now it's up to me to do the finishing bits; furniture, rug, sideboard, mirror...
Last update, we had a thousand colour swatches on the wall. We went from white to blue, grey to green. Nothing was happening and in the end we had to put the anchors on the airy fairy swatches and get ourselves to the paint shop and make a decision. A bit of pressure can work wonders with procrastination.
After a few minutes we laid our peter pointers on a wee square of colour called Milton Moon and walked out with 10 litres of it.

The cane is a recent purchase and another work in progress. The covers are off getting made, hopefully as we speak and should be here in a week or two.

Originally when that light was hung the room wasn't painted and we weren't so keen on it, but now it seems to fit in a lot better. The outdoor lights on the other side of the French doors are a very similar style, plain glass with a black metal frame.

How's that grey? We are also happy with the oyster lights in the coffered ceiling. They were also quite the decision.

 

Both the girls have these el cheapo, yet a la pretty lights in their rooms. I got them on sale at Recollections.

It was my birthday recently. My people gave me this jardinière which I'd spotted up at Paddo Antiques. It will roost downstairs, maybe with an orchid or fern in it.

Riddle me this. Why is it that all the best television shows aren't on television or they are shown at 2.30am? Arrested Development, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, 30 Rock.

One more thing. I'm reading a great book at the moment called The Baroness by Hannah Rothschild. It's about her great aunt Nica who ran away from the Rothschild lifestyle to live in New York with her African American jazz musician boyfriend. Those Rothschilds were a wacky bunch.

They're her-re!!

Eventually, we decided on a larger tile than we originally chose. We felt these ones would be more effective in a larger room. Now all we need is someone to lay them. He shows up Monday.

I gave my husband this for Father's Day. He loved it, especially the little wheels. I bought it from a retired builder who had been given it in the 1960s by a lady who owned a fancy hotel in Sydney. He'd done some work for her and this was a thank you gift.
It's very spectacular, in person, and exactly what I've been chasing for a long time.
It's what every cocktail hour needs, plus one of these....

Meanwhile, back downstairs, the ceilings have been finished and trimmed. We're now filling the nail holes, sanding them, and we're planning on getting the ceiling painted before the tiles go down. 
Once the tiles are layed, they actually get covered again by drop sheets and plywood until the skirting is done and the walls are painted. It seems like an odd order, but that just how it happens.

Concrete Flamingos and Beach Umbrellas

I don't think it's any secret that I love a good fossick around an op shop. It's practically a legitimate hobby these days. With all that mass produced land fill coming out of China, where else are we going to find well-made unique pieces? I find it soothing, interesting, and it can be tres rewarding too.

I think everyone has their 'holy grail' of op-shopping, that special 'blank blank' that you're always looking for. For me, it's a number of things, in no particular order:

• A concrete planter shaped like a swan
• Pineapple shaped whatevers
• Beautiful glassware
• Peacock anythings
• Concrete garden flamingos
• Pretzel cane

As you can see in the above photo, my friend Elizabeth struck it lucky on the latter two. Look at those flamingos. Palest pink, authentic 1960s concrete garden flamingos....they're even from the Gold Coast! Oh, I was almost sick, but of course, happy for her (sort of). They're even better in real life.

I had a little find myself last Friday. Whilst busy procrastinating instead of being at home working, I came across this.

It's a 1960s beach umbrella, in mint condition. It's like it's never been used, with vivid colours. I noticed it as I was walking out the door, it was folded up in plastic and I couldnt'tell what it was at first. I couldn't get it out of there fast enough. I can tick that one off the list now.

I have been looking at lights, ceiling roses, and the extras for downstairs. The Restoration Station is just around the corner from us on Waterworks Road. We got quite a few bits and pieces from them when we were doing upstairs.
I popped in there recently. They've got quite an amazing collection of bits and pieces for Queenslanders and older houses.

We were playing Boggle last night. I was using an old stenographers writing pad which was in the house when we moved in. The pages were all yellow and the paper was fragile, but it was ok to scribble my words in. I flicked over to the back of the book and found some pencilled notes about babycare, headed '7th May, 1942'.

Gwennie strikes again! Just when I think this is truly our house now, she let's me know that she was here first.

A Progress Report

Remember this frame work?

After that stage the insulation went in. I'm assured that's not actually Persion fairy floss.

Then the coffered ceiling was lined with vj board. We're doing the ceilings and walls downstairs with vj board rather than plasterboard, even though it is significantly more expensive. We want the lower level to look as much like upstairs as possible, and so our ceilings are also 2.7m high at a minimum, rather than the usual 2.4m.

Now things are taking shape and getting very interesting.....

The rough in

Once the wall and ceiling frames are done, as ours are now, it is time to do what is called the plumbing and electrical 'rough in'. This is when the plumbing pipes go in, and the wiring for lights, switches and power points. You need to consider how the finished rooms will be furnished. Where would a desk and bed go in a bedroom, thereby dictating where powerpoints are required?
It's a bit confronting to be faced with such fine details when the rooms still look like this.

In the main living room, which is quite large and long, we are having a coffered ceiling. This is a ceiling with recessed squares or rectangulars. In our case, the coffered ceiling will hide beams and the plumbing under the upstairs floorboards. The end will hopefully look something like this.

We are as allergic to downlights in our house as we are to Ikea, so I have been looking on-line to see the best positions on a coffered ceiling for lights. It seems they usually go in the recessed areas, but not always, making it annoyingly confusing.

Here's a pretty example of a coffered ceiling. It has sconce lights. I'm really not getting much clarification here.

On a different, but related subject, here are some examples of why you should stick to classic, rather than fashionable design - especially when it comes to your kitchen. This is what happens when the adults are in charge.

Now I have a laundry to plan.....