New Years Resolutions

New Years Resolutions

We all have resolutions and for whatever reasons whether it be for health, financial, or the heck of it kind of reasons. Like i have taken up cycling on our exercise bike and that's to loose weight and improve my breathing. We have now been in our house for 1.5 years and we hate the pantry as it was built badly and just annoying so part of our New Year Resolution was to fix it. For Christmas my parents gave us money as a present and we thought what better way to use the money.

So Saturday night I decided to do it and to have a good start to the resolutions. The pantry had three large, deep shelves so you did not know what was at the back and they had tiny shelves underneath so you could not see what was on it.  I thought demolition would take an hour or two hours max. I was wrong as whoever installed it glued it and went crazy with nails. It took about 5 hours of blood, sweat and swearing to remove it.  We finished removing it Sunday morning.

We had to patch up some of my new accidental holes then paint it. Yet again I thought would take a few hours to put together but I then found out the screws it suggested to use did not work so we had to go back to Bunnings and this was about our 4 trip (and many more to go). We finally had the shelves in late Monday night and then restocked it on Wednesday as Tuesday night we had plans.

We still need to do some basic rearranging but we are so much happier with the new panty.
Are you lucky like me and every time you do a reno something goes wrong too or it doesn't "fit" like it should?

Thanks for reading.
kind E-gards
Dale Stewart

Plantation Shutters

Plantation Shutters

Kim has always wanted plantation shutters so in November we decided to get some quotes, how hard should it be?

We called about 3 different companies and all the prices had been comparable. Then we came across The Modern Group but they are very disorganized  and after multiple cancellations we nearly gave up on them but they finally came over and gave us a quote. Most people don't like them because there has to be both partners in the house when they do the quotation so you they can get you to sign up on the spot. The products are very good and the price was right. We also got an electric security shutter for the spare room because it is too light for me.

Here is the photo before we moved in.

We received a call on monday saying that the shutters are ready and they can come in on tuesday, we told them that we work and was not possible, they suggested we just take the day off which is not possible when you get the call late afternoon? 

The installer said he could do it on Saturday which we really appreciated, he arrived at 11am and was really nice.

 I started to remove the curtains and because the person who installed the original curtains used random screws which i don't have drill bits for, The shutter guy removed them or me.

They put all the frames together outside then brought them in and they sit inside the window frame and get screwed in.

Plantation shutters give you more space and look amazing, especially that we can close the top sections and leave the bottom open for the cat while we watch a movie so the light does not reflect off the screen.We got three done, two in the lounge and one in the bedroom.

This is another photo when we brought this house

We ordered the shutters in January so it took just under 4 months to make.

The security shutter only took about a month to build and install.

Do you have plantation shutters?

Kind E-gards
Dale Stewart

Wide Open Road Cafe'

Wide Open Road Cafe'

I normally don't do my posts till Monday but it is hot right now. If you have never been to Melbourne it is known as the city with 4 seasons in a day and it is true as today is 36 degree or 96.8F.  Since we are renovating and updating the lights we went to a place called Schots Home Emporium and it is amazing. It has all home renovation things that i could need, thank goodness i didn't know about this place before or i would have no money. I heard about the Cafe' a long time ago and starred it on my maps as a place to go. It is about 15 Minute drive from Schots and the sales assistant told us to go there. It is a small place with lovely decor'. It has terrariums and is nice and clean. The staff are friendly,

We had been told to have the Cold Brew with condensed milk. We only have condensed milk in tea, strange but really good.

 

The coffee had no bitterness and the condensed milk added a lot of sweetness, normally i don't add any sugar to my coffee but it was very cooling and lovely. It was just what we needed for a hot day.

For Lunch Kim ordered the Asparagus & Freekah, it had Crispy Salami and 2 brioche eggs.

The eggs had been cooked perfectly, as she cut them open they oozed the yolk out. She really enjoyed the meal as nothing had been over cooked (which tends to happen).

I had the Pork & Truffle Sausage Sandwich

 It was a big burger not a sandwich, but it was really tasty. The sausage was cooked really well and the bun was crispy but not burnt. It was hard to hold but i managed. The mustard was not hot but more sweet which i enjoyed. I am not a huge english mustard sort of person more chili type.  After my lunch i had a latte because I needed more beans. I like to try a coffee first to make sure the beans meet my expectations and they did. The beans are also roasted on site, the beans i got had just been roasted 2 days ago and that is perfect because you need to leave the beans for a couple of days before using them.

It was a lovely place and the food and coffee matched. We had not been disappointed so we will be back

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Thank you

Kind E-Gards

Dale Stewart

Home Run

Home Run

We have been in this house for 4 months now, we have painted 2 out of 4 bedrooms, the kitchen, lounge, the dinner room and entertainment room. I know we still have bathrooms to do but we will get there. Painting is a painful thing, well just slow. Once you set up and then start going it is not too bad. We have finally put up pictures so it is now feeling like a home not a house. If you have never moved you don't really understand what it is like.  When you move as many times as i have you would understand the feeling.

Putting up a picture wall is hard work, first you lie them on the ground and spend hours arranging them until you are happy with the layout, Then you start the process  of hanging each one up.

I love looking at the photos as they bring back lots of memories, weddings, parties, overseas trips and general shenanigans. But what is a life if we don't have the memories. I can't wait till our next holiday.

Kind E-gards

Dale Stewart

Renovations / Improvements

Renovations / improvements

When buying a property you always think hopefully we won't have to do any renovations. I don't mean ripping out walls or anything extreme like that. But you always end up painting, putting in skylights, wall mounting t.vs. Its the never ending process to make a place feel like a home not a house. Sometimes all it takes is just changing a small part can make the place look that much better.

Wall mounting Tvs

It is not hard but you need the correct tools. Once it is done it can look really good if all the cables are hidden properly.

The benefits of wall mounting tv's on external walls it is easier to run speaker cables for rear speakers. Internal walls are more difficult because you have to drill holes . I use bullnose plates for cables and desk grommets for power cables.

What i did here was buy conduit and paint it the wall colour to hide the cables

 Our ensuite had one towel rail so I took one from the spare bathroom and moved it so we had two rails. Our spare bathroom had three rails so it means the door opens all the way so it was a win win situation.

 The other thing we have learn't from previous renovations that buy the best paint, if you buy a cheaper one you will have headaches and if you are going to the trouble of painting you don't want to redo it again.

I will put up some pics of the painted rooms soon.

Thanks again
Kind E-gards
Dale STewart