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.

Week ?

We moved home last Saturday and it’s been a busy week.  Lots of Christmas shopping and of course Christmas Day, which was lovely.  We have access to the house.

The concrete pad was poured.  Yay!!!!!

We’ve finally taken the old sink out of the kitchen

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Behind it was pretty grim but Mr F has been very busy with the heat gun stripping back the layers of paint.

 Here he is working on Christmas morning.  No rest for the wicked!!!!

Percy is happy to be home!

A shed for the garden.

When we lift the house, everything that we’ve got stored under it will have to find a new home. It’s all the usual stuff that most families collect, bikes, scooters, tools, Christmas tree etc. The house will have a car port  but no storage so we need to put a shed out the back.

We could put something in like this……  but I love these ones better, they’re sooo cute!!

We went to our favourite demolition yard and brought this door and a window. The door is very narrow. Just wide enough to get a lawn mower through. We’re not going to begin building the shed until we know whats happening with the excavation for the house. We brought the door and window now as I need a new project. I’ll strip, sand  and undercoat them and have them ready for when they’re required.

A new space for the washing line.

I know it’s not the best idea  having a washing line  blocking the view of the pool from the house but we don’t have a lot of choice.   When the major alterations to the house start, the washing line hanging off the back stairs would be the first thing to go. There is absolutely NO room down either side of the house to put one.  So we’re trying to make it look as nice as possible.

Mr F and eldest son have spent a few days during the Christmas holidays extending the side fence to re-hang the existing washing line and also another platform out of Merbau to stand on.

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A tree was  in the way.  So a few of its branches had to go.  Eventually the whole tree will come down as we are planning on putting a small garden shed in this space.

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Mr F and eldest son were determined to finish the job despite the heat and were very creative  with some clamps and a drop sheet.  It definitely worked.

Here is the oldest son getting stuck in.

Here is the completed project.  I love it!!

Grass at last!!

Today we are laying turf and we are so excited!
30sqm is being delivered this morning. Lovely green ‘Sir Walter’.
Mr F is trying to put in some edging before it arrives. Fortunately for us, it’s not as hot today as it has been these past few weeks here in Brisbane.
I’m off to Ipswich this morning to pick up something I’ve brought from ES Traders.

Rose having a scratch

Its done!  Instant grass is brilliant.  We can’t walk on it for a few weeks

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Mr F has been building a small platform to step on to as you open the gate.  Its going to be low enough so we can still get the lawnmower over it to get to the grass.

I thought I would share with you what I brought yesterday when I went to ES Traders in Ipswich.  I won’t be able to show the all of the things I came home with yesterday as one is a Christmas gift and I don’t want to spoil the surprise.  So, I brought these hands!

They have screw holes and I am planning on using the larger hand in the bathroom to hold the ‘hand’ towel and the smaller one, by the front door for hanging up bags etc.. They can of course have other uses, such as bookends or even paper weights.

I also wrapped a few gifts last night.  I really like this wrapping paper I brought from Typo.  I do think that the infamous phrase ‘Keep calm and carry on’ has been used and abused BUT I laughed out loud when I saw this paper and just had to buy a few rolls.

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.