Finished Painting the Stairs & Garden Problems.

 It has been another hot week for me this past week, so I have  been photographing miniatures and uploading  to Etsy. I did empty a garden bed, a little every day, very early in the morning, but now it needs more soil to work it. I have to empty the trailer of mulch before John will take it to get some mushroom and cow manure mix for me.  Hopefully then will plant cabbages, kale, and broccoli with lettuce sprinkled about.

 Miss P came over yesterday thank goodness, I needed the company, so while I decluttered the downstairs a little bit more, mainly sorting out my art things, the last of the painting behind the stair rails was done. 

Before

The gap under the stairs is what all our camping stuff is in, John took a door off, but not sure why, and the cupboard next to it is full of my preserving bottles, plus boxes of old photos which have been put on computer.

After 

 

 

 

  The other sides needed doing as well.

First under coat and sanded back the drips.

All sides now need a 2nd coat and some of the Blue Heather on a side wood strip, and the stairs are done.   When it gets a bit cooler will organize for the new vinyl flooring on the steps.We still have 2 boxes in the garage somewhere to match to the upstairs flooring. I have been changing  my mind of not replacing the whole upstairs floor, and just living with the old flooring underneath it all, it is such a hassle of having all the furniture removed to do it.

Meanwhile Miss P had an idea with my overgrown back gardens.

I first thought to pull these all down and move some of the front wood box gardens to the back, to make the front neat and tidy. The suggestion was to still pull it down and load the bricks onto the edge gardens up to three high as easy to sit on as originally I thought, but to just put false grass down over the middle space and still leave the front.

 As I reckon we 2 girls can manage moving the brick except for the huge ones, that this is probably the easiest way. I always assume John will help, give ideas,  but it is too much for him to think about it, and he prefers  being out 3 days a week at the Community Gardens, plus holding workshops and doing computer work for others, and himself, so it is not going to happen very quickly. The Gazeboo roof is still waiting to be replaced after many, many years.

I have no idea who would do such manual work either as can't get any machines in, which was the only landscape company I asked, answer, and a 2nd single guy never turned up.

Even the pathway is loaded after the verandah was cleaned for painting, and I am tired of dealing with all this mess constantly.  Don't get me started on replacing the pond liner !!!!!!!

It is 10.30am and 31C already so coffee time and  find a cool spot.

Till Next Time.

Update on the House Painting

I mentioned last week that I had finished the painting and I have no more walls to do, but in the kitchen is a couple of bifold doors and a windowsill, minor stuff after what I have been doing. 

If you remember, the dining room I had been testing two colours, one to match the stair rails and the other a few shades lighter as per the charts you pick up, and as a reminder.

Lighter Blue

 In the end I decided to paint the dado boards  the stair colour and the walls the same white as the rest of the tongue and groove walls. It worked out well, as it matches the overall look from the hall way across to the entrance hall, and the blue matches the doors and divider frames and continues on around the wall. A much more cohesive look.. After weeks of decision making it was so easy in the end.

I have still to put some pictures on the wall, hopefully ones I have done. I also decided to paint the chair and table legs white for the farmhouse look. We have had this whole set including hutch since the late 1980's. Both table and hutch are super heavy.

Love how the white turned out in the table and chairs.

The Ikea cupboards are finished and I love how they look, blends in with everything else and the drawers hold a lot of stuff. The base is still to be done when the flooring is sorted.

Once Christmas was over I then painted the lounge room which is known in this house as the TV room, a place to put the kids. Red couches that I am thinking of changing, for a lighter look, maybe a pale grey, but they are still in good condition and will probably keep. This room is not much used anymore till the mob turn up.

I had a lot of thinking about this room, tried the stair paint Blue Heather, and the diluted version of it and then one day, John was cleaning up the paint tins and found an unopened tin in a lovely blue colour, half way between colours and more blue.  It was fairly old and the label was worn off so have no idea what it was but it worked beautifully.

 

I repainted the dado white to give it a fresh clean look, then the new blue colour, which  has given it a much softer coastal look.

The photo doesn't do the colour justice but it is pretty.

This new blue blends great with the Heather on the doors in the main area. I kept the door side in this room white.

 As the other half of this room is a lot of brick I hope to paint some frames white and have a picture wall of the family in various years, plus another painting or two on the main walls.

If I was brave I would white wash the brick, to lighten the room, but I am not, as  it is hard to change back to original unlike paint. That is why I think white frames will help.

The corner of the room is on the western side and gets very hot, so need block out curtains. I am thinking of changing them to a plain cream or even a pale blue to match the walls. Again trying to lighten the whole room. Both windows don't match so have to do something.

I don't get many comments but I hope you have enjoyed  this "painting the house" series and like the new changes. Still a little bit more with window frames once the weather cools down.

 

Take care,

 

 

 

Till Next Time.

Just Keep Painting, Christmas Is Coming.

 Well I am trying to keep calm, but as it has rained for most of the past week, I have had to change from the garden to the painting, and I have been working hard this week on the dining room. 

Once more up the scaffolding, which means a lot off concentrating on very high up walls. Also it is exhausting, I will be glad to finish it. Maybe I have taken on a bit much trying to finish by Christmas, but now it has started I am back in to working mode of 9 - 5.

As it was before with white dado

Miss P came over yesterday and worked on the 2nd. coat of paint on the dado, with the new colour,  which is a great help, while I painted doors, and finished off a few fiddly things.

I have a sense of urgency now with two children turning up on the 23rd. this month, and a long list of must do's before that, as well as trying to get things done for Christmas Day Lunch for 16 at this house.

I feel like everything I own now is propped up on something, or in a box or placed on the floor out of the way. The kitchen benches are full, all because. I emptied the hutch so we could move it away from the wall, as very heavy. This holds a lot of glassware, dinner sets, silverware, tablecloths and more.

 Interestingly I have discovered a few things I can get rid of as well, that I couldn't before, the mess must be getting to me I think.

The dado, which has always been white, has now become the Shamrock blue colour, picking up on the  rest of it around the stairs. 

New colour with still another coat of white to go.

 I was having a lot of trouble deciding on the wall colour and in the end went white which blends in very nicely with either side white wall as well. Such an easy solution to what I have been in a quandary for some time.

With everything in the way not the easiest to take photos, but I hope you get the idea. Other than also painting a few doors, that has been my week. At night I have been trying to wrap a few presents.

Tomorrow is an appointment with the Orthopedic Surgeon about my knees to see what to do about that, which if anything won't be until Autumn next year. My exercise of climbing ladders and scaffolding might be a bit out there, but it is obviously strengthening some muscles. 

 Till Next Time

Painting the Stairway, Architraves, and Doors.

I am a little bit earlier this week in case your wondering.

 I was watching a video of a lovely home in USA that was all white except for the doors and architraves and some window frames, which was done what looked like a muddy green colour, and by an unknown brand here. When I looked it up it was more of a beigey grey colour. I watched the video a million times as this couple were also upgrading their home. 

I loved the style so much that, I chose and tested a colour and also on a strip of three it was the bottom Blue Shamrock by Taubmans and the top one I took a chance as no sample,  when buying it, for the lounge and dining room walls which was just  a few clicks above white but the bluey green colour in it, so hope it will be all right.

Before tackling the cutting of the carpet at sides.

The first thing with the stairs though is to sand it all back.. not easy with round poles, but did it roughly and painted them all an undercoat blocker of white. The girls helped me, and we had a lovely morning doing it. 

Finally then painted the tops Blue Shamrock and white between. Everything has had one coat so far.

 

One thing though is I have decided to  top coat the hand rail with a clear laquer coat, probably the one I used for the kitchen, so it doesn't pick up the grime. It is a very flat looking semi gloss so will make it stronger and look like a semi gloss.

 This door and architraves have been done, in the basic area.

 

 The big tall frustrating pole is being painted white as when you look at it there is always a white wall behind it. The doors will all have black knobs and hinges, but still hovering on painting the other doors off the hall way in this colour.

All doors will have black door knobs and black hinges.

All flooring will be pulled up to concrete and new stuff laid down.

I like it as it adds colour and certainly gives it a coastal feel, not that I was aiming that at the time.

 This has been several weeks in the painting and I am still not finished. The table in the dining room had to be cleaned up, furniture moved to get in and I pulled up some of the carpet, on the stairs  in order to get down to the bottom to paint. I must say it is fairly easy doing the stairs as something to sit on. 

We decided to remove the doors on the Pantry and Kitchen, they are hard to open being bifold, and about 30 years old at least.  The linen door as well is awkward being a sliding inside door and roughly done.

 So the  change will be over to half doors, so I will probably paint them in the same colour as well. I will see when they are up.

The shelf in the entrance hall as been finished and put up.

I have been complaining about the quality of light from our fixtures so dull at night,for years and years,  so got these from Bunnings and the bulbs that fit into this I can't look at when on. It looks like daylight now, very pleased with the the brightness in the room.

The old lights were filthy but glad to see them go. They are also over 30 years old.

So the progress is moving along, but  that is enough for now

 

Till Next Time.

I am Back & Finished Painting Walls

Welcome back,  I had to check whether a month was up or NOT as not doing a weekly blog, and being busy, the weeks went really fast. I have no idea if I was missed, sadly there are rare comments, but nevertheless will keep those who read up to date. 

One thing is the weather finally changed to lovely sunny days, not hot, but very pleasant to sit outside and especially working the garden which I will talk about some other time, but for today, I am pleased to say, I have finally finished off the last wall in the house, which was the kitchen.  

It was hard to find an old photo but this was taken quite a few years ago, with the pine walls.  

 So this wall is actually where you would usually see my flowers on the tea labeled cupboard

The above wall has a new clock, so much better than the red plastic one, and our usual metal notice board and calendar have just gone up. The door on the left is entry to the pantry and I don't like it so it is being taken out. We never close it anyway. The right is staying as is, has the old stain glass door fronts that were the original kitchen,  and entry to the laundry/ office and outside to our most used doorway on the side verandah. 

So in comparison to the top kitchen photo this is how it looks today. 

The painted cupboard which is what I put the flowers on I am deciding whether to put under the notice board, as it holds onions and potatoes in the  fruit box drawers. The cupboard below that, which usually goes under that area, I am going to part paint it, the green colour as  on the 2nd. drawer. John made this years ago when I was doing "country" and is very handy. A bit of a swap around just to be different, I may not like it though so we will see once I paint it.

a

There is still the stairway to go but no more climbing up the scaffolding, it really was getting hard on my knees. 

You may have noted a couple of glass bowls on the kitchen island, I planted them up this week and love them. The bits inside were from a fairy garden, plant store in USA that held classes to decorate pots and terrariums.

This is the large one,

 and the smaller one, I have no idea where to put them as yet.

I hope this finds you all well, 

 

Till Next Time .