The Emperor has new robes

It happened yesterday afternoon. I got home to find our sensational cabinet maker, Bill, fitting the new robes (closets) in the bedroom.

They're basically large boxes, made off site and assembled here. Yeah I know they're melamine, which obviously isn't as good as solid timber, but as everyone knows, when working to a budget, we all have to be realistic and practical.

So...here they are. They're yet to be painted or have knobs put on. In fact, they don't have any hanging rods or compartments inside yet. But I think they look lovely.

That brown strip across the top is a small bulkhead so new cornice can be put on so it looks like the robes have been there forever...

The doors will be "two-packed" so need to be taken away...while they're off getting the treatment for three weeks, we'll demolish the old robes at the other end of the room, plaster the end wall and extend the floor to the wall...then I'll paint the entire room and get the floor polished (again).

More pics as the transformation continues...
Happy weekend everyone. Have a good one.

Plum Cake vs Prune Cake

I remember one of my favourite cooks, Maggie Beer once saying that she learned the importance of a name a long time ago, when she had a delectable prune cake in her restaurant and couldn't work out why it didn't sell...so changed it's name to "plum cake" and then watched it become one of their most popular. Same cake, different name.

It's funny how some people have a "thing" about prunes. Me? I love them...and that's why I really like this cake.

I made it at the weekend for our afternoon tea. It's easy and a little spicy and terrific with a cuppa...You can get the recipe here

Happy baking

Let the renovations begin...again !

Old houses present their own challenges and Number Ten is no different. There's always something to do or change and more often than not, one job leads to another...and another.

This is the third time our bedroom has been "modified".

The first was when I bought the house over 10 years ago...my funds were limited so I spent it on what I thought to be the most important things...the house was re-stumped, an essential job before any other work was done and replaced the drooping ceilings and cornices throughout. I also had new doors made for the wardrobes and had the floors stripped and polished.

The second round was replacing all the plaster on the bedroom walls and repainting the room.

...and now, it's bedroom renovation, Mark III, with new built in robes being fitted at the opposite end of the room so we have more room for the bed and bedside tables.

Work began on this project at the weekend...

Hi MONT....

The doorway had to be made smaller so the area where the robe is going would be deep enough.

MONT removed the 820cm door and door frame, packed it out and then called in the heavy artillery. He got a builder mate, Paul to come and hang the new 720cm door. MONT can do it, but says what would've taken him all day, took Paul less than an hour. Paul has his own company and MONT does some work with him. Paul has won awards for his renovations, not that hanging a door at Number 10 will add to his impressive portfolio.

What changing the doorway also meant was that the old fibrous plaster in the hallway had to be removed because new plasterboard is thicker and we wouldn't have been able to seamlessly hang the new next to the old without the join showing.

This small part of the hallway's the only part of the house that hasn't had new plasterboard put in, so it's good that we've had to replace the old stuff.

The walls have now been insulated for the new plaster to be hung. Once the robes go in we can shuffle everything around so the other end of the bedroom can be demolished and the walls can be plastered there as well.

Then it's up to me to paint everything again. Luckily, that's one job I don't mind

Transformation underway

I started work on my yellow "footpath find" today and can already see its massive potential.

 I removed the top and pulled out all the old nails, then started sanding.

It got quite crowded on the back deck, but this little project won't take long.

I'm going to finish the sanding on the weekend and put the first undercoat on...then we'll see how she looks and if she needs any more more holes filling in or more vigorous sanding.

I think she's going to look terrific!

What a Day in Melbourne!

Number 10 has been a bit damp today. Even the small disco ball hanging on a corner of our back deck has been given a real workout! I thought I'd tripped back to the 1970's the way it was spinning as the rain drops hit it. 

Constant rain, hail, freezing temperatures and biting winds have hit Melbourne in a big way...and there's even been some snow falls at Kinglake, where the devastating fires were last year.

MONT headed to Bonnie Doon at 6 this morning and called to tell me that there was snow all around on the Melba Highway near the Kinglake turnoff.

Then he called me again from Bonnie Doon to describe the falling snowflakes. Strange for this time of year, but not unheard of. Melbourne's known for it's "four seasons in one day".

Me? I was in my favourite place...tucked up at home in front of the fire with the cat and dogs.

Footpath Find

I love it when people put their discarded old furniture and bits and pieces on the footpath, because you know it really is true that one's man's trash is another's treasure.

Yesterday I was taking the dogs to the groomer to have their monthly clip and bath and saw this yellow peril just waiting for me on the footpath outside an old house. I checked her out and noted that, apart from the top, she was made of solid timber. No chipboard or melamine here. Solid wood.

Isn't she awful?! But oh my, how lovely she'll be after she's been given the Number 10 treatment, just like this one late last year.

She certainly needs some work. I'll remove the damaged top and MONT will make a new one for her. I'll scrub her and sand her back and then give her some TLC with a couple of coats of paint.

When MONT came home and saw her on the front porch he turned up his nose....our neighbour did the same when he came in for a drink last night, but when I reminded them both about the transformation of my my other beauty here,  they changed their tune..

Not sure yet exactly where she'll be going, but she's only 2'6" wide (760cm) and not all that deep, so my initial thought was a spot in the dining room....or maybe the spare room where she can hold some of my sewing patterns and fabric stash. Not sure...what I do know though is she's in a good home where she'll be loved and appreciated.

Problems?

Anyone else having problems in Bloggy world today...like signing in or leaving comments...or is it just me?

Also, what do you think about these new editing changes etc?

Away with the Fairies...

The flu fairies that is!

In fact I've been laid up in bed with a (mild) case of swine flu, then to top it all off...whooping cough!

Whooping cough?! It got a bit ugly there for a while, I can tell you.

According to my doctor, there's quite a lot of it going around at the moment as they've had a number of recorded cases at their surgery. In fact my neighbour had whooping cough last year and was laid up in bed for over a week. Not nice!

But I am feeling a lot better now and am back at work.

On a positive note though, the bedroom makeover/renovation is happening! Our cabinet maker called in to measure up the new robes in the bedroom and then came back with some design ideas. YEY!!

Can't wait till they're in and we can start getting the bedroom transformation underway. It's going to be a few weeks before they start getting installed, but I promise I'll take plenty of photos to keep you up to date with all the progress...