Back in business again today with the new sander doing its job on the end of Erics' hands.
The old kitchen dresser which originally appears to have been blue, then green, then a series of cream and whitish colours, is almost ready now for a coat of nice fresh white paint!
The lovely red box is just about completed...we added some trim strips to it and wow, it looks amazing.
2 chairs are painted white and await their flower power trim and 2 tiny bedside table drawers are now ready to receive their couple of flowers each and that will complete the flower designed and painted furniture.
My computer desk is next on the list and on Thursday, Fri and Saturday, 2 of 3 wardrobes get the complete sand down treatment, a new stain and then a coat of clear varnish.
The last one only needs a light rub in places as it's a veneer from the 50's era and we'll just give it a coat of clear varnish to spruce it up and show off it's lovey patterns..
I'm sure there isn't another piece of furniture left in the entire house that hasn't been washed, sanded, painted, stained or just varnished!
Things look messy just now with bits and pieces everywhere, but by the end of next week after we move things to where I want them, it will look amazing.
Have a surprise room re-arrangement going on here just now too.
I wasn't going to say anything until I was really sure about it.
But with the family of 3 here it was a great time to test functionality and my new idea won hands down.
It began when the window went in the bedroom and opened up the end of the long, original sleeping room. We had installed a shower, a wash sink and a toilet in one end of it and had planned to put up a couple of walls to make a bathroom, a passage to the rest of the place and a 2 bed bedroom.
Well, once the window went in, everything changed. The light was amazing and the view was beautiful and it seemed to say..."Dining Room Mary"
I thought about how that would function and found no impediments and then the volunteers arrived. First Dave from USA for a week and then the family of 3 for 5 weeks. That was the real test to see if the original bedroom idea had merit or not.
No it did not!
So, now the kitchen becomes a nice separate bathroom instead.
The plumbing is there from when we did the cement floor in the bedroom, we ran the pipes to the kitchen, so there will be no problem at all.
We only have to dig about 20 metres to lay new septic pipes outside...dohhh, but pipes are only $5 a length and I need 10 or so lengths and a few elbows at about $3 each, so it's no big deal.
Doing this will eliminate heaps of walls and passages and also the need to create 3 new custom made doors!
Bargain I think.
I have been hesitant all along about the kitchen and even though I had bought the window, something held me back.
So glad I did as now I just have to buy a bathroom window and get the new hole cut out and the window put in as soon as the family goes.
Then the task of cleaning up that mess of rubble before we remove the shower from the new kitchen to be!
Doing this makes everything easier and bigger and heaps more functional.
You won't fall into the kitchen now from the front door, so I don't have to add that little glass room I was adding in June. That alone will save me over $1,000, so I am one happy chappy for sure.
Instead I have to build one wall only with one door ...and with the design I'm doing I actually get an entry foyer and space for an entry table and mirror.
The bathroom being placed in the old kitchen will not incur any great extra expenses as the kitchen was needing to be plumbed up etc, so basically it is a very economical move indeed. A saving of gyprock, internal timbers for studs, a carpenters wages for 3 walls and hanging 3 new doors. Plus no painting etc of all the extra doors and walls.
The now lounge/dining will become a 4 bed private dorm with a double bed and 2 singles with the new bathroom as sole use.
The next lot of volunteers will sleep in this lounge room as I'll set it up as the 4 BR.
I'll sleep in the new lounge area until the other area is rebuilt.
Then the sleeping areas will finally get sorted out...as I keep on forgetting about somewhere for me to sleep!
The old cellar room was to be partly a 2nd bedroom with a wall and the left over space was to be a chill out area and access down to the cellar/medieval room.
The entire room will now be open and the bedroom section becomes a lounge room with a TV and nice white lounge with the red flower box as TV stand...sort of, with the 2 flower chairs on either side...possibly.
The other end of that room will remain as planned.
Technically the place will not be the traditional Hungarian functioning layout due to the fact I'm re-purposing some spaces, but as all walls are still intact as built, nothing structurally has been changed inside as far as walls, ceilings etc.
Therefore guests wanting to sleep in a 100 year old traditional Hungarian mud brick construction cottage, can do so.
The 4 bed dorm/family private room has had not a thing touched, only painted, as it was in good condition, so that is really authentic.
So excited.
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| Oskar's gift... |
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| Walking to the bus stop in the drizzle today... |
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| As it does, the sun came out...then it drizzled some more. |
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| All the white on the ground is Acacia blossoms...everywhere like snow. |
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| A lovely pale pink blossom tree... |
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| The poor old vat...getting there...Eric stirring things up a bit here! |
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| The internal reinforcing of the vat must be put in place before cutting down the panels to make the coffee table...We also have to cut the big metal band down about 6 or so inches and get it welded together again to use as a strengthening outer band to hold the woodworm infested vat together...for a few more years at least. The longer bits will become 4 legs to hold it off the ground to help protect the rest of the poor old panels. |
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| Loving it... |
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| Some of our artistic prowess last Saturday! The white ones will have flowers painted on them like in the pic below. The red one will have a patterned cushion and is planned to be in the reception area with an oval table with matching tablecloth and cushion cover...in the exact colours...A friend gave me some lovely really old hand made table cloths and cushion covers last week. |
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| The green stool is the same as in Catherine's Cottages in Hungary. |
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| One fancy smanchy flower painted chair coming up! |
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| My stool...her stool...both the same! |
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| Lounge room sort of like this in width...I have to pad the arms of the couch I have and make a white throw over type of cover for it, like she has here. |
OK, so that's it for now and we'll get more work done for the next lot of pics.
We have to do the next stages of leveling the big deck in the next few days as it has finally rained and settled the old mud bricks down, so now we can sort out at least one side and set it out as I want.
Damien and Elizabeth, an English couple I met, came out yesterday for the afternoon and Elizabeth has a great knowledge of plants, so she is finding heaps of plants to get planted in Nov and March, then as soon as the tulips and bulbs all go, something else blooms.
Have almost found the right positions for the fountain and the pond, so that will be an extra few jobs to slot in by October if possible.
Then later this week we have to redo the garden path to the front gate that USA Dave did. It slopes the wrong way, so we may as well pull up his lovely work and do it right now while we wait for an extra six blocks to be made to complete the entire path.
Getting hot here now. Was 30 C yesterday, rainy today with thunder around for a couple of rumbles too.
Bye for now...
Cheers,
M
xxx
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