A long time coming

So it’s taken a very very long time for me to get back onto the blog train...... a very long time, 10 months in fact! Is there anyone still out there?

It’s been a very crazy hectic year with loads of exciting stuff happening, Grey Gardens is heading along in a great direction and bookings are rolling in thick and fast, time for a new project?
Hold on wait a minute I hear you say, what about Edie? What about the caravan saga? Well the good news is we are nearly finished with the exterior renovation, thank god.

It’s been a bit of a long haul with a huge gap of nothing happening in the middle, we now have electric brakes, new tail lights, indicators and a shiny roof that’s been hand polished and buffed back to the 50s.
Steve has been working tirelessly on the exterior plywood, sanding, filling, priming and painting. it did seem overwhelmingly daunting after getting it back from the auto electrician but bit by bit we have chipped away (along with jig-sawed and sanded, filled and replaced)and Edie is starting to look like a new kind of girl altogether.

Another weekend of hard work this weekend replacing the electrics and giving her the first coat of paint and a tarted up 1950s lighting bold down the side then it’s off to Vic Roads to see what they have to say about it all.

For now here are some pictures from the last 10 months and what she is looking like now..... Stay tuned for more progress in the next few days

Wrapped and Ready to roll….

So last weekend Steve Dad and I headed back up to Taggerty to get Little Edie ready for transport, with fears of rusted stabilizing jacks and tyre rims firmly planted in the now rock hard mud we were prepared for a fun day out.

Dad had the car laden with a myriad of tools for every job possible, along with a list neatly written out on a scrap of cardboard.

We arrived at the farm around 11am and headed straight down to the hay shed to free Little Edie from her tomb, armed with a can of WD40 we proceeded to wind up the stabilizing jacks with bated breath. With some gentle persuasion and a whole lot of surprise they wound up with ease.

Wearing a new set of tyres she was spun around in the hay shed and wheeled out with grace and precision, slowly Dad towed her up the hill to towards the house where she would rest until the tow truck man was due to pick her up.

We wrapped her with a coat of many colours (i.e. brown tarp) and made sure she was protected from the rain and storms, and said a sad goodbye and headed back to Melbourne.

Talks/Negotiations have already started on interior colours and her final fit-out etc, all yet to be worked out further once she is finally down the mountain.

In true Little Edie style Little Edie is hanging out in her tarp fashioned into a cape fastened with a rope “it’s the perfect outfit for the morning” she would say.

Little Edie

Little Edie

So it was enviable that it would not be long before my fingers were itching for a new project…….. So we welcome “Little Edie” the newest edition to Grey Gardens.

It all began about 6 months ago when we were at the final stages of building and the last of the chaos was unfolding its self in full force,

I started to de-stress by putting out my feelers for a project to distract me and along came this very cute bondwood caravan. At the time it all seemed too hard and after Dad had done a trip up to Taggerty for me to check it out the reviews came back slightly less promising.

So the months dripped on and I de-stressed by gardening and hardgabaging to my hearts content but there was still thing niggling feeling inside and I kept dreaming of this amazing van.

So last weekend I took a road trip with my folks up to Taggerty (amidst the storms and torrential downpour that hit Melbourne) to visit Richard and Carole on their picturesque farm at Taggerty, with is beautiful oak trees water filled dams and the most amazing wisteria and ornamental grapevines I have ever seen.

We were greeted with a warm welcome and some very delicious home made rhubarb muffins (and I am still unsure of who really made them) and a hot cup of coffee, after some catching up and brief history on the farm and its previous owners we ventured down to the hay shed where the van is currently stored.

I have to say that it was love at first sight, yes she is a little old and a little dirty and a little covered in moss but her bone structure was amazing. I opened the door with anticipation and to my surprise the interior was near perfect (aside of some general wear and tear from 1950.

So it was later decided (after some lengthy persuasion) that we would buy the van and it would be our next project……. So now all we need to work out is how to bring it down from the mountain.

Stay tuned for new updates as this project progresses, in the meantime here are some pics to get your imagination going….

Note* the Bon Ami and sunlight soap under the sink was not a stylist touch it is “original”

few and far between

So I just realised that I haven’t posted since MAY... it’s been a long time coming.
I have been so busy and pre occupied with the house and the garden that posting online seemed to fall to the bottom of the list (plus we only just got the internet connected)
The project list has been long…..Very long, and I finally feel like I have reached the end of it… maybe.

With me the list seems to never end, there is always a new project, a new piece of salvaged furniture or a grand scheme to undertake.

For now my focus will be the garden and what seems to be a mountain of washing every week. The house has started to be rented out and after the feature and giveaway in the design files there seems to be a complete deluge of responses and a few bookings starting to pile up.

The project for this weekend consist of a couple of hospital bedside drawers my Mum got me from work and a set of school lockers that my neighbour threw out along with a giant can of paint stripper…..FUN, I will endeavour to get some before and after shots but knowing me I will get so excited about the project I will forget to take before pictures.

We won’t be heading up to the house this weekend as there is so much to do in Melbourne, so hopefully we get a booking in before the week ends otherwise we will just be forced to go up and enjoy the sunshine on Sunday afternoon ourselves…. The only bonus will be the lack of washing to be done.

Stay posted for more updates and more regular updates on future projects

The imminent arrival

So the patient wait is over (sort of)

The house will finally be finished for Friday this week all that is left to do now is the painting of the concrete and the board on the deck.

It’s been a long haul and it feels like it has dragged on forever since December, it seems to have been one thing after the other with this build at least its remained constant.

This build has been the biggest learning curve for me and there have been some rather interesting meltdown moments that all seem to disappear in to the haze and the wave of pure excitement and exhilaration looms overhead.

The packing has begun..... Well it’s not really like it has ever stopped since I decided to build the house. from day dot I have been distracting myself with small and large purchases for the house which in theory sounded good but I seriously have no idea what I have packed into those boxes, I have a feeling that unpacking is going to be a little like Christmas all over again.

After last weekend’s massive deluge of rain the poor builder had to replace all the skirting and architraves due to the painter taking of the door seals to paint thus letting in all the water to the house, but the tanks are finally connected and full so at least it brought some positives.

We planted the letterbox this week which makes it feel all the more homely and in true form it is vintage and green (of course) I am not sure this obsession with 50's mint green is healthy as I seem to buy anything that is in that colour nowadays....let’s wait and see what in the boxes first though.

Anyway all is sunny on the Castlemaine front, stay tuned for the next blog entry when I have the furniture in.