still painting

desire

Not just a* Bob Dylan album, desire is how I feel about this floor lamp from Temperature Design. I'm awaiting price details from the supplier and no doubt it will be about a hundred million dollars as is the pattern with all things I wish to acquire. In the event that it's not, please note that it is my birthday soon.

*Actually, IMO Desire is the best Bob Dylan album.

dear tradies, please don't cancel

We have a schedule:

• Electrician to finish lighting on Monday 3 May
• Wardrobe installation scheduled Monday 3 May
• Architraves and skirting boards to be attached Tuesday 4 May
• Floor sanding and polishing tentatively booked for Wednesday 5 May

I am optimistic (but not naive) about the likelihood of the schedule being successfully adhered to.

mystery

There is a level of mystery about renovation. Probably because your walls get covered with drawings like this. What can it be? It's obviously something highly relevant and important to have been sketched out in discussion on the wall. Mainly it just looks like a claw.

Once humans have completely destroyed the earth and the aliens arrive they will discover the ruins of houses and assume that the sketches under all the layers of paint are some kind of secret hieroglyph. Just a thought.

ouch

Apparently we have a knack for choosing accident prone tradies. Thankfully most of the injuries have occured on other jobs, but they still mean broken tradesmen and time out.

So far:

1. Corey the sparkie has chopped off some thumb with a new stanley knife and ended up in emergency
2. Roy the gyprocker has fallen off a ladder and gashed open his arm
3. Pete the roofer almost lost his entire finger whilst working on the roof of our next door neighbour however it has been reattached thanks to a clever microsurgeon

I am hoping that bad things happen in threes and therefore that's all the injuries for now. Ouch.

lovely

(Image from Apartment Therapy - I think)

revelation

Finally the true purpose of the lime green enclosed balcony has been discovered. It is a skirting board painting and drying station (with a tap to provide water for parched enslaved painters.)

macho

Painting is heroic.

inspiration

Not only does renovation line the pockets of those in the construction industry, I swear that renovators are keeping publishing companies afloat. Thankfully blogs have helped to curb my magazine expenditure but I am still very partial to Belle and Vogue Living.

There is something very soothing about sitting amongst dust, paint pots, ladders and furniture and looking at beautiful, finished and most importantly untarnished spaces.

I wheel out my inspiration board every time Theo wants us to make a decision about something vaguely decorative. At first I thought I was just indulging my love of pretty pictures but it's actually proved very useful. A few weeks ago I took a whole lot of images with me to choose tiles for the bathroom. The salesperson took one look at the images and then identified half a dozen tiles that fitted within my spectrum of 'like' so with the help of Annie's critical eye within 30 minutes I'd made a decision and we were out of there.

I read online recently that one can take interior inspiration from anywhere, even art or films. I think I have taken this idea a little far lately because earlier this week I had a pair of earrings hanging on the board next to a picture of our new bed, Lucciola and some colour swatches. I can't explain it, they just matched. I'm not sure how this translates into actual interior design but at the very least I know that if I wear the earrings in the bedroom they'll look good.

sometimes

I worry that we will be reported to the squalor squad.

On the brighter side it's only 3:40pm on Saturday and this weekend's achievements have already included purchasing a light from IKEA, collecting darling Lucciola from Mondo Luce, taking delivery of our new bed and painting the sealer and first coat of paint in Anne Frank's room.

addendum

Not all of the credenzas I like are in America after all. I have now found Vampt Vintage Design. And they have many many lovely Danish mid century pieces.

(An addendum to my original addendum. I emailed Vampt for a price on a particularly lovely credenza. $12,800. Cripes. Having said that I saw some lovely looking hall tables and credenzas in Regent Street, Redfern today, for a snip of that price so the dream lives on.)

oh credenza....

I think somebody needs to stage an intervention because this week I have been daydreaming about credenzas. After years of share housing and cramming all of my possessions into small spaces it's exciting to have a whole house to play dress up with. The landing at the top of the stairs is big, really big. Big enough to be home to a credenza, a vase of flowers and a big picture or mirror on the wall.

Typically I love credenzas that (a) live in America (b) are Danish style and (c) are pricey*. Like these.

However if I lived in a red bricker that I could paint white, plant palm trees in the yard and could retro-ify I would be buying this little number. It has BUILT IN SPEAKERS AND SPACE FOR A RECORD PLAYER. Betty Draper would love it.

In more important news our Development Application was approved on Tuesday night. Sadly we missed hearing it be approved by a few minutes because we were late for the meeting. I was trying to choose an appropriate young-newlywed-renovator-in-the-inner-west outfit and Rahul just wanted to have a second bowl of lamb vindaloo and rice. Whoops. After ascertaining from a more timely applicant that our DA had been approved we had a gelato to celebrate.

Now the chaos will begin.

Thankfully we're almost ready to move upstairs. This weekend will involve a lot of painting.

Updated Bedroom 'To Do' List

Have doors installed
Electrician to finish wiring
Gyprocker to do put up walls, cornices and ceiling
Choose wooden floorboards
Have existing floors removed
Have new floorboards layed and polished
Choose lights
Have lights attached to wires
Design wardrobe
Order wardrobe
Install wardrobe
Choose skirting boards and architraves
Attach skirting boards and architraves
Paint walls, ceilings, skirting boards, architraves and windows

*Pricey in the context of ebay, not in the context of life generally.

cross your fingers

And your toes please. Our Development Application and it's accompanying report are going to Council tomorrow night. I am hoping (hoping, hoping and more hoping) that we breeze through and get an approval. Please, please, please...

progress

It's amazing what a big differences cornices make to a room.

In the spare bedroom there will be a staircase to the attic hidden as part of the wardrobe. A little bit Anne Frank if you ask me. But nonetheless clever.


I know it might not look like much progress so here is a little reminder of how this hallway was looking a few weeks ago.

these look like walls to me