We have progress!

The painter has started upstairs ... office, master bedroom, hall and stairs. I snapped these on Saturday. The office is finished. Completely white. I'm using this as my art studio as well so a gallery style white was in order. The floors will need to be refinished but I'm used to them now and it helps that I don't have to be too careful with paint spills when I'm working on a canvas. (That's the excuse I am using at the moment anyway.) I can't set it up again because we have now moved our bed in as Paul the painter starts on the bedroom tomorrow. Things have changed since I snapped these photos. The doors and architraves are now gloss black. No burgundy anywhere and the window at the top of the stairs is also a sexy black gloss.  I'm going to have Paul paint the stair risers and treads black too but keep the rails in the original cedar to match the original floors. I need to put up more of the white silk lanterns and change out or cover the strings that are holding them.

The back of my front door is, guess what, black gloss. Everything looks so clean and bright but I kept the walls imperfect so their age shows through. The ugly brown fan light combo in the office is going but for now I'll be use a vintage fish trap as a shade. New light fittings are not in the budget right now. Who knows I may keep the cane trap if it looks cool enough. The plan drawers will get a coat of paint. I'm tossing up about window covers. Once again a long term plan as money is tight. The sofa stays and I have several other chairs and a great coffee table. My desk is to the left. Art all over the walls and I'll feel right at home.

Look at those old tongue and groove (bead board) ceilings! So high! So white! I saw the sun shining into this room on Sunday morning and it was perfect! Next is the bedroom. Can you guess what colour? Definitely not white. The black gloss doors should give you a hint.

Just after breakfast

The toast has been scraped through the last of the runny eggs. The second cup of tea is finished. The washing up is done. Sunday morning is one of my favourite times of the week. Thought I'd show you my new painting in place in the kitchen. Loose Ends by Craig Amos. The daisies are blooming all over my garden and surprise surprise there are freesias popping up in the garden out front. Divine smell. Thought I'd show you a couple of things we've picked up lately. The biggest coolest tailor's scissors. So sharp and they make that wonderful heavy chirrup sound as you cut along the tabletop. I love all things "tape measure" so 2 old folding yard sticks and a wonderful old bakelite tape measure reel. The Midwinter Stonehenge Moon coffee pot was a $4 Vinnies find. I have the Sun dinner set already as you can see. Nothing much is happening today. I did have plans to work some more on the kitchen but my poor sore gammy leg put paid to that. Guess I'll just be drinking tea, reading the paper and taking nana naps before I head back to work tomorrow. Sigh.

Japan black, new art and a chair

Please don't ask. The kitchen quick make-do reno ground to a halt and not much has happened for weeks and weeks and weeks. Finally the plywood for the counter tops has been cut and sanded and today I applied a japan black stain and varnish combo. It's a little dark for my liking because I couldn't thin it down. K picked up a stain and varnish combo instead of just the stain and well I was too lazy to go back to the store to get just the stain. It's turned the ply a rich dark colour with the grain showing through. This is one coat and it's still wet. It is quite matt when dry. I'll have to wait a day (which translates to next weekend) when I'll try sanding it back a bit to see what the effect looks like. If it looks like sh*t then I'll just apply another coat. I haven't glued and nailed it in place yet while I play around with the finish.

  

That's one of my new art pieces. Tyra Mail by local artist Ruffo. Here's a better shot. It may not stay there though. I have a fabulous70s metallic poster (tea pots and pop art stripes) that might just be the right size for that spot. It's at the back of the shed though. Hmmmm.

Here's the other side of the room. Remember I still have to glue the tops down and nail on a plywood trim along the edges. So maybe in a few more months I'll have more shots for you. One thing I do have to do still is repaint the cupboards in gloss. The matt finish is sexy but SOOOOOOO impractical. Marks and scratches, greasy fingerprints, water drops. Urgh! I tried waxing it but that was a complete waste of time. Thank God I only tested on one door otherwise I'd be stripping the wax grease off before painting!

  

2 more pieces I bought at a recent exhibition. The first is by Craig Amos, Loose Ends (I have 4 small pieces of his already in the kitchen) and a pen drawing by Sharon McKenzie, large and quite striking in person. The photo just doesn't do it justice.

I picked up one more thing this weekend. A depression era style chair (except I think it is 40s not 30s). It's made from an old wooden box and still "upholstered" in its original barkcloth. It is so ugly that it's really quite lovely in person. Here's a photo in the shop. I'll take a better shot at home when I can. I'm fascinated that someone made this for their home all those years ago from bits and pieces they cobbled together. That even though they had no money to buy the real thing, they wanted to be stylish, to have pretty things.

Feathers and my fat fingers

Meet the newest member of our family. Sunny. I'd love to tell you if it's a he or a she but we have to wait a couple of weeks to do a blood test to find out. Let's call him he for the moment. I took these photos while working in my office. Sunny has a large cage in the man cave for night time sleeping but spends most of the day on his perch atop his home watching the world go by outside the window, commanding top spot on our shoulders as we walk around the house or his favourite spot, doing tumbles and lying on his back for tummy rubs on my chest. Fortunately I have a large chest so he doesn't fall off. He also loves the few moles I have on my neck which explains the scarf I'm wearing. Right now he is climbing in and out of its folds, nipping me and running away. HE thinks it's fun!

Sunny is a sun conure, born into the pet trade, raised by hand and very, very tame. My husband loves birds. Ridiculously so. He has always had them as pets and loves the interaction he has with them. As for me? I'm torn because I think I would rather see them free in their native environment. Sunny unfortunately can't hop a flight back to the forests of South America. He is part of my home now and I guess I better get used to him pooping on my floor and chewing my ear lobes. He is kinda cute when he tumble rolls around my chest and chirrups for a rub.

Expect to see more of Sunny in photos of the house. He's quite the character and will be part of our family for 25 to 30 years. Just hope he doesn't start chewing the furniture. He already has a fascination for my fingers typing and the keys!

Beni Ouarain

Once upon a time there was a woman, let's call her Jo, who fell in love with a carpet. A big, hairy brute of a rug. It was a love that dare not speak its name because the rug was way out of her reach. So she sat and she daydreamed and she saved her pennies and she daydreamed. Then her path crossed that of Cassie Karinsky. The fates smiled. Cassie wove her magical Moroccan (via Sydney) spell and the beni ourain was hers at last.

You'll remember Cassie from my post about her interiors and styling business in Morocco, Muskelil. You would have seen her name again on DTI when I went to Sydney recently. She's the manager of Linda Gregoriou's aladdin's cave of a shop Pure and General. Like a temptress on the rocks she lured me in with tales of rugs so soft and thick, lush and heavy that I couldn't resist. And when I set eyes on the brute I was smitten utterly and irrevocably. Cassie is soon to start a new business here in Australia and you'll see it on DTI when she does but if all things Moroccan send your heart aflutter then she is definitely your woman. She'll work with her contacts over there and find your dream piece. You can email her here.

OK down to the facts. The new love of my life is 400cm by 210cm. Weighs 30kg. Matches Mickey's fur perfectly and is so thick that it feels like walking on a mattress. It covers a large swath of my living room floor hiding the ugly "terracotta" tiles and brightens the room right up. I promise that the furniture won't sit around the edges like that houndstooth chair appears to be now. I needed a big unobstructed picture of my new love. No shots of the room yet because half the furniture isn't here, the walls aren't painted yet and well it just looks shocking ;) Painter starts prepping the walls this week after the plasterer finishes just a few more spots. I can't believe that it was the beginning of June when I announced to the world that the painting was about to begin ... and now it finally is at the end of August. One thing this new old house has taught me is patience. You might remember that I am painting the living room in a dark brown Murabond paint. The beni ourain will lighten the room and be rich enough to balance the wall colour.

And now for a gratuitous gif of Mickey and the brute. Just because I'm so obsessed with both!