Illuminating!

OK. Well I promised you a really good giveaway and I'm not one to welch on a promise!

Last week, I got an email from Maree at a lighting company wanting to know if I'd be interested in having one of their products as a giveaway to one of the visitors to Number 10.

Would I? What a question.

I checked out the website and the types of indoor and outdoor lighting they had, and it looked pretty good.

Anyway, Maree has offered a lucky Number 10 visitor a $70 gift voucher to spend on lighting at Buyster...

All you have to do is leave a comment and I'll draw your name out of my little jar next week

Now, I've never dealt with this company before, nor has MONT...but while we were looking through their product range we noticed they had the same lights that we put on our front gates...

...and according to MONT, they were a really good price. If you click on the photo you'll get a better close-up view.

Unfortunately, this giveaway is only available for Australian readers as Buyster only delivers in OZ. Sorry 'bout that.

So....get commenting girls... a gift voucher's at stake here.

Send Her Down Huey ! !

Oh, you did.

I was working away at the computer yesterday, minding my own business, when everything went a little dim. The clouds had rolled in, bringing with them the thunder and the lightning and the wet stuff.

The dogs then joined me in the study, looking at me with questioning faces, not knowing what the noise was and what the stuff falling from the sky was. They have short memories.

Then, it came down in buckets. Our rain gauge showed 30ml of rain had fallen, or an inch in the old language, in just half an hour.

It came from the North and it hit hard. It was so hard that it came right onto the back deck where I have that old chest of drawers that I'm preparing to paint and restore.

Guess it'll have to wait a little while till it dries out.

We've had a very wet November here in Melbourne, which is such good news. I just hope we have a very wet and cool December too.

By the way, I'm going to have a great and very useful giveaway next week. I received an email from a company yesterday, offering one of my lovely Number 10 visitors a gift

Details next week...

I'd like to thank....

... Journaling Woman for giving me the Lemonade Award.

It's my first and I feel honored.

I'm fairly new to the blogosphere and have met some terrific people in the short time that I've been blogging. I love checking out other peoples' blogs and look forward to warming up the computer each day to see what everyone has been up to.

So...

I'd like to thank Teresa, White Dove, Alison, Karen, Gail, Kellie, Rose, Cyma, Vicki, A-M, Millie, Amanda, Leigh and Terri and everyone else who has dropped in at Number 10 and left a comment.

Thank you all... (cue wind-up music) ... I love that you call in to see what I've been up to and look forward to all your comments.

Mums and Bubs

I love this time of year. It's a time when there's a lot of new life in the garden. Plants have well and truly "greened up" and there are lot's of new babies around.

We've had the sounds of magpies warbling and their babies making their funny calling sounds

We've also had baby doves being taught how to fly, some more successful than others....and then there are the wattle birds.

This baby was being tutored by it's Mum last night. She was coming and going, making sure she had plenty of food for him/her and making encouraging moves to get it to move out of it's safety zone in the fig tree and fly.

It must've worked because this baby was happily flitting from branch to branch, then was gone...off into the wild blue yonder.

She's Here!

I picked her up today and have already set her up in a corner of the kitchen.

Isn't she lovely?

Now all I have to do is read the instructions and work out how to use her.

This Is It

Well my friends, there'll be no more Before and Afters from Number 3. It's done. It's dusted... and it's time to move back and concentrate on Number 10.

Here are the final shots of the cottage. It has some new iron on the roof and has also been given a fresh coat of paint. It looks so much better than this.

Other areas like the bathroom, were also given a new roof.

New blinds and curtains were put in the upstairs bedroom, which was also given a freshen up.

Now to the Kitchen.... which was a bit of a mess....but it's looking so much nicer now.

I love the way the floors came up with a good sand and polish.

This was the last photo I took just as I was about to walk out the door and lock it behind me.

The dining room is also much nicer. It just needed some new curtains and a blind and a coat of paint to freshen it up.

All of my "after" dining room photos came out very dark...not sure why.

Here it is from the kitchen, including the vacuum cleaner which got a huge workout these past few weeks.

So my friends...that's it.

It's finished and now ready for someone to move into.

As much as I love Number 3, MONT and I both let out a huge sigh of relief last night knowing we didn't have to spend another weekend there ... until the next time that is.

Before and After - Bathroom & Family Room

Some more before and afters today, this time the little bathroom at Number 3 and the Family Room. There was a lot to do in the bathroom as there were problems with the plumbing, which led to water problems with the floor, timber frame, plaster and tiles.

Thankfully, the terrific plumber was able to get everything right and it was then up to MONT to hang new plaster, and tile the walls to make them waterproof.

As you can see, leaking water had really caused major problems with the wall beside the bath/shower.

Now it's all waterproof...

...and tiled.

...and grouted.

This is the view from the kitchen through to the bathroom. I couldn't get in there to take a photo as I'd just painted the floor to the back entry and it was still wet. The only difference is there's a shower screen and an architrave around the doorway into the loo.

This is the family room.


It was pretty good and only needed a freshen up with a coat of paint and some new window coverings as the drapes were sun damaged and had to go. I decided on timber venetians because I found some on sale at half price. YEY!

MONT installed them....

... and they look absolutely fantastic! MONT isn't a lover of timber venetians, but even he was impressed with the way they made the room look.

It was then up to me to sweep, vacuum and wash the brick floor and I have to say it did look terrific.

Before and After - Lounge Room

Mission accomplished. Number 3 is finished, once and for all!

Here are some before and after pics...first up, the lounge room

Before...

Before...

Before...

Framing up....

All finished.

The carpet is the same as the small bedroom, which is right next to this room. MONT smashed up the old concrete hearth and replaced it with some pieces of beautiful sandstone that we had left over.... and the new heater will not only warm this room, but the entire house! The curtains are just hemmed continuous white nylon, the same as in the rest of the house, and there's a plain white, block-out blind.

I have to tell you it is so satisfying knowing that it's all done and that it looks so nice. In fact, I think it looks better now than when I lived there all those years ago.

Tomorrow, the kitchen and family rooms. They look really good too. If I say so myself.

BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE !!

Remember the tiny front bedroom at Number 3?

It looked like this...

...and this.

Well, it now looks like ... this

... and this

The carpet looks terrific but didn't photograph too well. The curtains are just those continuous things that I hemmed down the sides, and I bought new blinds to go in there .

So, the small bedroom at Number 3 is FINISHED...as are a couple of other rooms.

More tomorrow. It's been a big day and I need a drink.

Hello You Sweet Thing

I don't usually go ga-ga over electrical appliances. But for this one, I'll make an exception.

I went to David Jones today at Doncaster and purchased this beauty. Well, I ordered it and paid for it. I am yet to get it home, but it'll only be a week, or so I'm told.

It's the 12 cup Kitchenaid Food Processor - in, you guessed it, white.

Last year I bought the stand mixer in a grey metallic finish and I love it, but thought I'd get this baby in white.

I've been saving credit card reward points and fly-bys points to redeem them for gift cards for what seems like ages and finally had (almost) enough to be able to purchase this.

It's my little present to me for Christmas.

Busy Bee...

Phew.... busy with work, busy getting things done at Number 3, busy wondering where all the money's coming from for the work done at Number 3...and most importantly, busy thinking about Christmas and Christmas FOOD!

via Dwellings and Decor.

To calm me down though, I found this cute little room. I wish my spare room looked a little like this.

Instead, it looks more like this one! No this isn't my actual room, but it sure is close.

We're hoping this is the last week working at Number 3 and that means I can spend the weekend getting some stuff done around here.

I got the curtains all hemmed for Number 3. I decided to buy continuous curtaining and then hemmed the sides so they all looked neat and wouldn't fray.

My little sewing project was put on hold for a few days because my machine went haywire just as I was finishing the curtains, so no sewing until it's fixed. Damn thing. It's the second time it's stopped working after being at the repair shop. I wish, when people repair things for you, they actually test them for longer than 4 seconds to make sure they're all running correctly.

As for the Christmas food I've been thinking about....I've got some lovely recipes to share with you in the next day or so. Little potato pancakes, glazed ham, a great citrus stuffing, berry deserts and sensational champagne cocktails to wash it all down.

Oh so yummy, but more importantly, oh so darn easy.

Love ... Friday

Where did the week go? They seem to fly past so quickly lately.

Ahhh well, the thing is to make the most of each week I guess and take things as they come.

I fear the heat of Summer is going to take it's toll on our garden again this year. This is the last of the Gardenia's.

...and this was the last of the lilacs, although they were picked a few weeks back.

The gardenia's weren't as lush and milky as they've been in the past. We'll have to make sure they get lots of TLC through the Summer months.

What plans do you have for this weekend? MONT will be heading to Bonnie Doon for some more male bonding and work...and I'll be home with the critters, making up the curtains for Number 3, and hopefully finding some time for some dress sewing. The curtains are the number one priority though...

Have a great weekend...

World's Best Practice

I paid a flying visit to Number 3 today to drop some things off and check out my gorgeous new kitchen and bathroom floors....

... and also to see if my back fence was still standing...and this is what I was confronted with. A nice big pink bow of netting of some sort, tied around one fence post then wrapped around my tree, which I might add, has been pruned in a rather unattractive, lopsided way.

Yep, it's state of the art bow tying isn't it? Where are the Occupational Health and Safety Inspectors when you need them?

But on a brighter note.....

This is my new bathroom floor...and new bathroom. It still needs an architrave around the door into the toilet and the shower screen has to be re-attached. But it's looking mighty fine.

Then, there's the kitchen. This is what it looks like now....ignore the dusty footprints, which are mine.

Remember how the floor used to look? Awful huh?

But now it's bright and shiny and very clean...except for those footprints.

Carpet gets laid next week, I'll put the curtains and blinds up...and...Bob's your uncle.