It's On! A Date Has Been Set...Feeling a Little Scared.

Just when I really need my camera to work, the uploader somehow wont send the control things to the front of the images to load. It is there, but the images load on top of it and I can't find how to get them in front again.

That's why I intensely dislike all these fancy schmancy additions to things. Leave well alone I reckon.

Anyways, a date has been set for invited guests to come sample the wares on offer here in October this year, when the main structures should all be completed.

The big room (rebuilding the collapsed shed) may or may not have been started, as everything else must be completed before that gets started, so at least everything else will look nice and tidy and clean.

The big room will be about this big with a mez like that and a circular fireplace sort of like that...but with timber ceilings and probably copper fireplace?

Then the Summer Kitchen, with e/s and mezzanine floor, the little end shed (future wood shed) and the 3 door shed (workshop to be) will all be renovated, painted and tidied up with landscaping all nicely set out.

Love this cozy makeover for the summer kitchen which can/will take 2-4 guests. Can't wait for May to start this one...

The house should be just about ready inside and out, with any finishing touches applied between November and March of next year if necessary before opening day in April. I decided not to open 2 beds this May, as it would severely hamper the rest of the renos as I began a different phase while still trying to re-build. So I canned that idea.

Found the right colours!

The reason I'm inviting influencer's from my industry as guests in October is so they can still experience the place with most of the gardens still blooming and trees with leaves on, before Autumn claims every last leaf from deciduous trees and it turns too cold and grey to show the place off in a good light.
Then over the coming months as brochures are produced, they can sell their guests on coming here for a week!

Launched our new Facebook page on Tuesday too and it's looking great. This is to season it and give it some time before Lodge promo ads begin later on in the year. So if you haven't LIKED the page, could you pop across and do so please!
https://www.facebook.com/TheLittleLodgeofManyWonders/

Can't wait to get down into the cellar and start working on that in August...ish either.
It will be medieval type setting where we will have feasts like this...sort of!

Will have to provide the right mood for this! hahaha...

Have a range of options to chose from regarding costumes, accessories and so on, so there will be a lot of fingers worked to the bone over the coming months.

I so need this chair...

I'd accept a donation of this chair (or one like it) for the cellar room! 

All good things in time though...

I said I wouldn't take a volunteer younger couple again, but I have some coming in June for 3-4 weeks to help with the promo brochures, recipes, schedule planning and all that prep work that needs to be done.

They are 24 years old and keen as mustard to do this intensive yakka in return for accom, meals and the experience of being a volunteer.
They love the idea of being in a tiny village near the great plains of Hungary, a National Park, the biggest in Europe, and biking distance to the beautiful lake Tisza wetlands and bird sanctuary.

There are system manuals to compile, print out and assemble, testing of times and distances via bike to and from attractions, recipes to cook, test and photograph, beds to sleep in and get feedback on, interior decorating ideas to garner from the young and so on.

Plus they speak English and can get the job done fast.

They have committed for most of their time in Europe for this project, so they must be keen and I liked the way the young lad described things. He can write well, so that did it for me!

OK...great news, My camera uploader worked just then. 53 pics all backed up for 2 weeks, so let's load them now...

Waiting at my local bus stop...Lovely light on this moss...

Awesome...

A friend invited me to Budapest to help look for units to buy. She is as tiny as me...I never realised how little I was until I saw this pic of Maria and she's taller than me by an inch!

Maria with the R/E guy in Budapest last week...

These are residential sections of Budapest that tourists don't get to see very much of...

Heading off from one apartment area to the next...in the top notch areas of Budapest and most expensive. An apartment here is 25 million ft...that's about $125,000 AUSD for a one bedroom renovated apartment in the heart of Budapest. One was ground floor, the other was penthouse deck, both same price.

View across the back on the way up the stairs to the 5th floor.  I walked, the others took the lift.

I think this is the American Embassy Maria said....just outside one apartment we looked at on this side of the street.

Lots of bright colours here...

The square where Maria wants to buy an apartment around here somewhere...so she can sit and read in the square on hot summer nights.

Similar area as above...

...and again...

You have to look at everything, even sideways and look back at times, as you can miss so many nice things. 

Bought 3kgs of fabric for my beds! Hahaha, yup, they weigh it and right in the middle of Budapest too...2016!

Then we went to my fave restaurant and I treated Maria to my fave dish here...

Nice colours in the Tiffany lamp that Oskars left for me.

Spring is here when the sun streams in my windows from between the neighbour's buildings. Forgot to take off the fly screens  for winter, but they'll go when we paint the windows soon. My first volunteer stapled them on for me. A 2 min  and a $5 job to screen the place. 

Same day...awesome sunset this evening.

Even the reflection in a new, uncleaned window looks great!

Dog loves being wrapped up at night in a blanket from Sabina!

2 daffodils and a tiny violet are blooming winter away at last!

The task ahead for week 2 and 3 of  March 2016...Get all this cleaned up, the roof off the shed, rafters down, ceiling out, so we can demolish the back of the shed and the rest is missing anyways! Zoltan said the front is good and strong and will render it.  He'll start rebuilding this after completing the little shed down the paddock first.

Well, that didn't take long to get things moving...

Meanwhile the rubble pile grows higher...Thankfully, the bushes grow all around the front of this and hide it from view all summer! Truck comes in early October to take all this to the dump. Of course by then it will be twice as high!

Looking better already...2 hrs later...Half the back of the shed cleaned and flattened for working on in April.

Zoltan has about half a metre high of soil to remove from this end and a metre in height at the other end. Luckily the shed is only 5 mtrs long and the space between the shed and the fence is 1.5 mtrs wide. But so far he's carted 20 barrows of soil down into the paddock where the cow-bales were. It was about a foot lower  in the cow-bales area, so we are leveling things out a bit down that end of the paddock. I think I understood Zoltan to say this wall is going to come down too? It sort of looks OK to me to render with his reeds base method.

Houston, we have a little bit of a problem here! Yeah, well...An entire corner of the shed missing! I'm surprised the roof is still square. Zoltan says he can save the remaining part of this end and the front of the shed, so that's over 4 pallets of bricks saved so far. He'll cover it all in his reed bed stuff I guess.

This remaining wall from the collapsed shed we demolished this time last year, goes down this week...after he has removed all the other stuff from around the back and end of the shed first. 

There's a bit of a hole in the shed here! Hahaha...I never noticed it until half way through last year!  Anyways, Zoltan has cleaned a path right through now to the front street from this non existent back /end fence line. You can see  the front street in the distance there. Another two metres x 1.5 mtrs x 1 mtr high of this dirt pile to cart away tomorrow. He has to dig through and cut out all old roots, prickly bushes and new growth sprouting, as you can see, so it isn't as straight forwards as it sounds. He digs, chops, cuts and picks away, while I take all the broken tiles, rocks, and non soil rubble to the rubble pile and old wood scraps and roots to the wood pile...

Rather rugged, I'd say!

Lookin' good there Mum! Only another 2 mtrs to go now, which is the entire corner of the shed, tumbled down and mushed itself back into the earth.  He'll use the dig out soil to fill a low spot in his yard tomorrow so the barrowing won't be as far as it was in my paddock.

Dog with her skull chewing bone and some roots Zoltan just chopped out and dug up!

She loves the old skull! Grass is growing madly now, so it's time to get the mower out in the next few days.

Budapest yielded a nice reward. I asked for 5 metres, just in case, but they only had 3KGs...which was about 3.5 mtrs and it's the perfect colour and will make 2 throws, this big.. I have it turned inside out here, but you can see it is very nice. Found a bath mat the same colour at the local shop up the road that sells eggs, bread, milk and all sorts of things if you hunt around inside.

Getting there...My cushions are a bit whimpy, but will make some the same as this pic. It needs the bolder stripe to make a better statement and mood.

Bought a new big (wider than their skinny, tall, upside down fridges over here) fridge, so big I could use it as a caravan to tour Europe in. It fits snugly here...

Loo connected and working well. Gets re-positioned next month when they cement the floor under the vanity and shower, so it's still looks messy here. A job in progress.

Pieced together the collapsed wine vat to make a coffee table for the deck...Has to be leveled, sanded back, treated and sealed, but at least it's in one piece and not 30 pieces as it was last month!

Built a temporary kitchen so I could rumble around in it, testing the work areas, due to the 2 chimneys restricting and dictating layout. Bought some fresh oil cloth and lined the pantry and benchtops, so it's taking shape. It's only rough as is, but shaping up well for the future. Windows get cut in at the end of the month, so it is going to look so amazing in this room in April. Can't wait,..

This is October last year after arriving back from 2 months in Australia. It is still nice and green, flowers still there, tomatoes and capsicum going strong, so it should be OK for the review people to come then.

OK...that's it. Temp is 14C inside, sunny and nice outside between 11C and 15C through the days now.
Have been really busy as you can see over the past month.

I wonder how things will look this time next month?
Can hardly wait to see it.
Bye now,
Cheers,
M
xxx