House things

So this is what the north wall looks like at the moment - new rocks, carefully concreted in, chimney has a new brace, weatherboards removed and replaced, window frames primed and now we just have to finish the undercoat on the new boards. We can't decide what colour to paint the house so we've booked in an online meeting with a colour consultant! I have never done such a thing before in my life so I am quite intrigued by what they do and will report back. 

It is a work of art and we are very pleased ... if only it wasn't about a tenth of the outside of the house! Carpneter has moved onto the kitchen wall, which was resting DIRECTLY ON THE DIRT. This isn't good, so he's dug down, put in a concrete footing, created drainage on the outside and is replacing the bottom couple of weatherboards where they had started to rot. We are hoping to save the beautiful yellow rose but it's not looking very pleased with life.

This doesn't look very exciting but when he took off the weatherboards it turns out that underneath is still the original slab hut! This is very old school - no framing and probably not sawn timber. But it all seems solid enough... It should see us out :)

I have come down to the beach for a couple of days to get away from sawing, hammering and having to get changed in the bathrooom. It is very peaceful here and I've been for some lovely walks. Not quite swimming weather yet.

Things that are yellow

It's time for daffodils again, and they are as glorious as ever. We have at least a dozen distinct varieties, and it's fabulous to see which pop up where. There's a particularly lovely drift down by one of the fruit trees.

I made a vase-ful of different sorts, with wattle for extra yellowness.

And the other yellow thing is the floor of the studio. I chose commercial vinyl because of the colour, but it's been a bit of a dud because it marks so easily. I think it is quite hardwearing - if you have commercial cleaners come round every night with one of those big polishing scuff machines - but for domestic use not so great. And it was very expensive. 

Never mind, I'll put cheap rugs on it, and I have always wanted a yellow floor. The last job was to sand and stain (three coats) the deck - which I've now done. Here's the before.

And the after. Very satisfying. 

The outside is definitely one more thing that is yellow! All the exterior painting is finally done, including the steel covers the studio guy unexpectedly put over the end nibs for protection (happy about the protection, not happy when I realised I'd have to get the paintbrush out again). I've moved most everything in, although it's not set up 100% as I want it. I think I'll have to work with it for a while and then see where to put things, and where the lighting needs to be, and what more furniture I need (if any). I already know I need an armchair to sit and admire the sunshine :)