Renovations - Progress

Studio space - then...

Studio space - now

Downstairs Back of House - then

Downstairs Back of House - now

Rear of House - then

Rear of House - now

New Studio Space

Well, I am glad to say that things have been moving along

with the downstairs part of our renovations.

My studio is now clad, along with a new storage room,

old laundry and garage area.  

It makes such a difference, and it's not even finished yet.

Now deciding on light fixtures/placement, studio flooring options and exterior paint colours 

(The building crew favour the same colour as the top half of the house but

I am seriously considering the grey of the hand rails.  My thinking is that this will connect it

to the top half but give it weight and differentiate the new build from the old .

Any opinions?

PS:  On a totally different note -

I hope all the artist book makers who read this little blog of mine

will visit the Personal Histories blog from time to time and

hopefully consider being part of the exhibition.

If any one has any suggestions on how I can promote

participation in the event I'd be most grateful of suggestions.

Still Waiting (patiently) ...........

Working at the dining table until the studio is built.

All my bits and pieces in storage in the spare room.

A good exercise in economy of work practice :)

PABLO

I know dogs aren't everybody's thing.

But I just really liked this photo I took of our

kelpie/bluex, Pablo.

A dog is not something I'd ever envisaged

ever having in my life, BUT 

a few years ago this little guy needed help so 

he came to live with us and, thus far,

we have all got along pretty well.

He seems pretty happy here anyway.

Renovations continue................

The long process of renovation continues:

The upstairs deck is pretty much complete now

and has made a great difference to how we live in our house.

Downstairs has gone from muddy quagmire to lovely solid concrete

underfoot.  Soon we'll have the new walls and windows up

to utilise some of this space for storage and studio.

Someone's been digging in my garden

Every now and again we get to see some

amazing creatures wandering around our yard.

At the moment we are very lucky to have

the biggest echidna I have ever seen

(I'd say he'd be at least 35cm long - almost 14")

He forages around in our front garden in the evenings.

We know he's arrived when we hear

a bit of shuffling and snuffling.

He moves slowly around

and doesn't seem to mind us 

coming out to have a look

at him from a distance.

It is such a thrill and a joy to see 

a healthy and content native animal

wandering freely around and knowing

we are able to provide a bit of space

and hopefully safe haven for

him to thrive and survive.

Shaping Up

The deck is coming along

with the roof going on in sweltering 45 deg heat through the week.

Just a good paint and a few trims and she should

look like she's always been part of the house.

Now we just need a reliable concreter to move on with the next stage

of building underneath the house.

We thought we had that all sorted, but the world of tradespeople is a fickle place.

Renovation/Extension - Progress

Work is progressing.

 As you can see we still have a long way to go

(including a lot of painting! - 

half old colours/half new at the moment

and the shed needs painting).

The biggest bonus of putting on the deck is

that we get as much space again underneath

to play with.

Home Extensions

The backyard is currently in a state of dishevel

due to the beginning of our first stage of extensions/renovations 

- after 8 years of thinking about it!

The first part of our grand plan is

 extending the deck which runs along the back of the house

and repositioning the stairs. 

Being mindful of tragedies that have occurred due to deck

collapses, it's all extremely well engineered and certified.

The middle photo shows where phase 2 of the plan begins -

my studio under the house.  How excited am I!?!??!?!?! 

Pablo (the dog) meanwhile is becoming very practiced in the art of photo-bombing!

Book Sculpture & Photobooth

 Above is my latest

recycled book sculpture

(untitled as yet).

Standing next to my beautiful

"Tim Tam Flash" cymbidium orchid

(and my statue of Quan Yin).

Apologies for the image quality -

taken with my ipad in low light.

Also on my ipad:

Have been having great fun playing

around with the photobooth settings:

In order from top to bottom:

Kaleidoscope

X-Ray

Thermal

Wall "Paper"

Spent part of my day yesterday

"papering" my wall.
As you can see, it's just a small wall
at the end of my hallway, next to the kitchen
(far away enough from grease/grime or steam).

Am very pleased with the result,

might have to try it somewhere else in the house as well
(probably not in a bathroom though!).
*Click on the images for a better view*

Saturday Morning