The floor boards that became a table.

When the builders were cutting through the upstairs floorboards to install the staircase, we managed to salvage some of the boards from the skip bin.  We grabbed some other solid pieces of hardwood too.

We knew we’d like to make something for the house with them and for the past year now the timber has been lying down the side of the house … but Fred got busy building us a fantastic outdoor table.

He gave it a sand and a couple of coats of oil. Added some wheels and bought some stools for $19.00 each from Kmart.

Ta Da

The whole project including the chairs was less that $150.00.

We love it!!!

ebay auction!

Have you ever placed a bid for an item on eBay and forgotten about it only to discover that you’ve won the auction?

Well that’s what happened to me recently.  I saw a painting that I kind of liked and decided to place a bid…. for 99 cents.  It turns out I was the only person to place a bid on the painting and I won!!!

The painting was in New South Wales so freight to Brisbane was $40.00.  I figured if it’s not quite my ‘cup of tea’ I could either relist it or take it to an Op shop.  It arrived a few days before Christmas and I had no idea that it was going to be so HUGE!!!

The auction description did say that it was 130cm x 170cm but I obviously didn’t  notice the size.  The following picture shows two of my sons standing next to it.

Here is the painting unwrapped.  I can’t find a signature on it but the previous owner said it’s by an artist called Victoria Lobregat .

Mr F wasn’t so sure of it and initially  offered to hang it on the wall in the cupboard under the stairs.  I’m planning on hanging it in the hallway by the front door until I can afford a Wendy Chenoweth.  I like it and Mr F has told me that he’s warming to it.

I know not everyone is going to like it but I’m actually quite happy with this particular eBay experience.

So who is Old Pearly Jenkins??

Once the house was ours, I couldn’t wait to get started researching its history.  It was so exciting to receive the copy of the original Certificate of Title.  I raced off  to the Brisbane City Archives in Moorooka.  I wanted to find out when the house was built.   I was looking for any kind of record for permits. I spent many hours going through the records and found nothing!!  The title has lots of different names on it and I tried all of them.  All I wanted to know was who built the house and when.

Meanwhile we moved in and got started on the back garden.  During this time we meet our neighbour over the back fence and to the right,  She’s been living in her house for a VERY long time.  Her parents brought the house new.  Our neighbour is in her 80’s!!  So after chatting over the fence, it occurred to me that she might just be the person to ask about our house.

I asked “Did you know the people who built the house?’

“Yes” she said “It was Old Pearly Jenkins”.  Jackpot!!  ” oh and her husband Charlie”.

She is a wealth of information about the suburb we live in too.  It’s so brilliant to listen to her talk.  Where ever I’ve lived, I’ve always had an interest in the local history.

What I found interesting about this place is that the 16 perches was first brought by Mary Jane Skinner in 1888 but wasn’t built on until approximately 1937.  So by my calculations this little block of land sat vacant in between two houses for 49 years!!

At some point during that 49 years, The family  next door brought it and used the block as a garden. It turns out it was Pearly’s sister who lived next door. …..

To be continued….

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The house…..

The house itself is quite compact.  When we came to look through the house for the first time the tenants were home and it was kind of awkward.  It was a very quick visit but we knew that it had potential.  It still had some original features like VJ walls and picture rails.

The block is ’16 Perches’, 405 sqm.  Yet the house is sitting quite close to the road which leaves quite a nice sized back garden.  Our first idea was  to push out from the kitchen and create a new living space.  After all the paperwork was done and we’d officially brought the house we contacted a building designer who had been recommended to us and he came to the house to help us work out what to do.

We told him that we needed to keep it under a certain price.  He explained to us that extending a house could get expensive and to use the footprint of the house would be cheaper.  So his idea was to raise it higher than it currently is and put the kitchen and living area downstairs.  Ok, we were cool with that.  He drew a rough sketch with us standing there.  It looked amazing and we got all excited.  The following day he sent us a better drawn ‘rough plan’ .

He seemed really motivated and we thought ‘this guy is young, fresh and eager, let’s go with his ideas.  So to cut a long story short.(its been a year, because the guy was growing a moustache.  So it was November)  He asked us to come into his office in Teneriffe.’Dahling’ and presented us with the plans.  The plans did look good and for the price of a trip for two to somewhere exotic they should have.

After throwing a few insults at us and showing more interest in the Friday night drinkies happening behind us we got up to leave.  His last remarks as we walked out of his office were  ‘ Yeah I think this is going to cost more than what you wanted to spend’. ….’Sorry??? Are you serious ?? did you listen to anything we had to say??.  We left and thought ‘well that was a waste of time and money.’ it was said with a lot more of #%!!*>these words though.  We left him to join the rest of the boys with their moustaches and Boutique beers.  What a jerk!!!!

As soon as the Christmas/New Year was over and everyone was back at work, we started getting quotes from builders.  The quotes were coming back $50 – $100K more than we could afford.  We just threw up our hands and walked away from the whole building ‘thing’ for a few months and focused on tidying up the house.  Mr F and the Older Mr F got stuck in and painted the lounge and dining area.

We have used Dulux – White on White in these rooms.  In the last house we used Dulux – Fair Bianca and it seemed too close to cream for us.  We are happier with this  new white.

The orginal ceilings in the house are really interesting.  Each room has a different design.  the lounge and dining room ceiling are quite Art Deco in style yet the kitchen, and bedrooms are classic and pretty.  They were in pretty bad shape but each night before we moved in, Mr F would get stuck in after work.  He’s done a beautiful job in the main bedroom, dining and lounge room.

The lights obviously needed replacing.  We went all over Brisbane looking for something suitable. Restoration Station on Waterworks Road, Ashgrove have a fantastic range at prices for all budgets.

The lights had to sympathetic to the age and style of the house and so we chose the lights (far right).  And here is what they look like installed.  We are happy with them.  Nice and simple.