It's like they're a whole generation of cocktail waitresses, don't they know you're supposed to have a last name?

To finish the weekend, and the uni holidays, a relaxing day for half of Squirrel & Puffin. Squirrel headed into Melbourne to check out the Monet's Garden Expo at the NGV. It was really lovely, and comes highly recommended. 

The gift shop was also rad, and Squirrel set her eye on this miniture Barcelona chair (her favorite chair in the entire universe), until she saw it was $680. Not that much cheaper than the full sized replica she wishes to get from here.

So instead, she picked up this adorable squirrel shaped money box!  

Then on the way out we looked at some of the other installations, including this deer. 

And this pool with floating bowls?

Back home, Puffin and his Step Dad Gary were continuing to get stuck into work, first by cutting in for the floors.

And then having the kitchen/dining half done.

And then looking through the house from the front door. 

 

 Tomorrow Gary will be giving it a light sand before its second (of three) coats is completed, so we are very lucky to have him do this. So while we wait for it to be finished, there won't be much news on these airwaves until the 8th - when the carpet gets installed. In the meantime, the slatted kitchen door will be given it's coats of paint, and the tables and chairs will be completed. And Squirrel will return to uni! So until then, stay cool, bloggers.

Ever gone a week without a rationalisation?

And another big two days at the house of Squirrel & Puffin! Yesterday saw half of the floorboards putty'ed, the chairs given another coat of paint & all doors given their final coats. We kicked off at 7:30 am to meet the insulation removalists. Curiously, given they were removing the known carcinogen Formaldehyde they were more than happy to have a few cigarettes. Go figure. It also saw a friendly visit from Mr Bennett. I love how our friends all have Pride and Prejudice names. (My dear Mr. Bennet, have you heard? Netherfield Park is let at last!) This was followed by a dinner at the Plough with the beautiful Neesha as well!

Big vacuum truck to remove insulation!

The tried and tested method for filling holes - immerse oneself WITH the floorboards. 

             Le' Before 

          Le' After

Today though, saw the destruction of the BBQ by the Sea Eagle. Or Sea Hawk. All I know is that it's not Sea Cucumber or Sea Gull.

Before demolition.

Stretching

More stretching

Into it! 

Puffin giving it a crack as well (Squirrel also had a go, as she has a lot of pent up anger)

Interestingly, this was SOLID brick. Like, all the way through. To the center of the earth.

Body: broken. Spirit: broken. Sledgehammer: broken. The feeling of demolishing a bbq: Priceless!

And after! The trailer was full so we just left it. For now. Hopefully we don't end up like a couple on A Current Affair and just never clean this mess up, and then own 15 dogs, 30 cats and have urine in bottles everywhere, shouting abuse at people who get within 10 meters of the house. Hopefully.

Then Squirrel and Badger got onto the roof and replaced the broken and cracked tiles - about 25. So Squirrel can now do roof tiling!! What a see you next Tuesday of a job. (See what I did there?). Squirrel can no longer walk. She is now crossing 'roof tiling' off as a potential job if Public Health doesn't work out. As well as prostitution. My knees!!!

Then we had to re-point all of the ridge capping. Well, all bar about 12 caps. This was also terribly enjoyable but looks immaculate, as can be expected by anyone with the last name Wittick who completes a job. (Wittick job = lasts 200 years).

The day was finished with a large double quarter pounder meal (#cleaneatingstill) delivered by Mumma Bear. Plus a selfie.

And so completes Saturday! Tomorrow Puffin and Gary will be polishing the floorboards for the first time while Squirrel, Badger, Mumma Bear and Meercat head into Melbourne for the Monet and Hollywood Costume expo and are not doing any work on the house! Until next time, bloggers...

A quick shout out to Stac, I'm so sorry we couldn't catch up today and I hope we manage to this week!!

Squirrel and Meercat do: Odd jobs.

No, no, not Oddjob! Odd jobs!! Today Squirrel FINISHED the painting! Hallelujah! (Have marked up the areas that need touching up and have 'no more gap'sed a few bits here and there, to be done on Thursday). Which meant Meercat could be called in to help start two smaller projects, the first being: project moss wall! First, we gathered our ingredients: moss and natural yogurt. I swear this is moss, and not weed.

And then we barmix'd it!

#cleaneating #smoothieanyone?

Then Meercat drew the design onto the side of the garage - look, squirrel & puffin!!

Being a Meercat.

Meercat then proceeded to paint the mossy mixture onto the wall.

The finished product! 

While this was happening, Squirrel attacked project: Make the dining setting suit the house! So these are what we started out with - nothing wrong with them at all but the black was a little bold for the pretty much all white kitchen and grey house. A big thanks to Wayne and Linda for these! 

With the wood removed. This looks arty.

After a rub down with steel wool and two coats of spray paint.

They're going to need a few more coats of spray paint to get them white and that should be done by the end of the week. I'm going to leave to seats wood for now, and hope to get some cushions down the track that suit the kitchen, in a teal or something, once I see some I like.

The moss wall will require a re-paint of the moss and daily (I think) mists of water from a spray bottle, and we should see results in a few weeks. 

Tomorrow is the day of Squirrels big reward, a mani and pedi! Huzzuh! That also means a day off from the house, which she is stoked about!! Lastly, a big shout out to Nat, who popped by with lunch for Squirrel and Meercat today! It was awesome to see you and we loved our lunch, thank you!!!

Silence, Earthling. My name is Darth Vader. I am an extraterrestrial from the planet Vulcan!

Well hello there bloggers! Fancy seeing you here! As I kick back in my beanbag of power, after a long day of working at the house, I thought I'd share some more photos! Below is the bathroom...

Before the window was painted - so yellow! Sliding mirrors were removed for painting.

And after! So much better! This means the bathroom, toilet, office, 2nd bedroom, laundry, kitchen, hallway and entranceway are now totally finished, and lounge and master will be done tomorrow.

A before of the arches, looking from lounge into entranceway and master.

And after. Much nicer! Trim to master has since been completed! 

And our curtain decisions have been made! God I hope they're right! It's a grey holland blind and a white e/t screen. Was going to go darker but the darker shade of grey was more of a brown.   (Puffin doesn't like it. Back to the drawing board!!!)

This photo shows the color better, against the carpet, walls and couch swatch of fabric.

And lastly, my present for our Niece has arrived! This awesome personalised print is from The Ink House, on Etsy, who I highly recommend!! 

Tomorrow see's Squirrel last full day of working on the house; finishing the trim in lounge and master, then following up any patching up, then operation 'Make the dining setting suit the house' begins. There are also rumors afoot that Meerkat will also be making an appearance for operation "Grow moss on the brick wall" - so stay tuned!! 

We've also booked in to have the insulation removed on Friday - goodbyeeeee carcinogens! 

I love washi tape

But I don't own any. I don't know what I would do with it. I also have no money. What I don't love is a roof filled with carcinogenic materials. You read that right. After much investigation we have discovered that is is indeed formaldehyde, and will unfortunately cost a bit of money to have someone else remove safely. Which is FRUSTRATING.

Why not try a holiday in Sweden this year? See the lovely lakes. The wonderful telephone system. Any many interesting furry animals. Including the majestic moose.

Another big week at the house of Squirrel & Puffin! As we've said, the plastering of the 'arch'ways was completed last weekend. The first two/three days this week was spent finishing this off; sanding, filling holes, and then sanding and filling holes again. Throw on a layer of undercoat and some more cutting in and walls and suddenly the painting has nearly been done! All that remains is the skirting boards and trim.

 Here are two people that will always be welcome!

The Mumma Bear and the Meerkat (with my lunch!)

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And just some of the paint used this week. My back hurts.

And the archways once more - here is what we started with, for a reminder.

And then this is after the plastering.

And straight after a second coat of paint! So still a bit shiny.

By tomorrow morning we should have a kitchen contract locked in; and we are hoping to do the wooden floors this weekend. We've ordered the carpet and it will be fitted on the 8th of August! 

In some personal news, Squirrel is very happy to announce the birth of a new second cousin - baby Taya! It's babies aplenty at the moment! Additionally, Squirrel happily passed another semester at uni - and with a grade point average of a High Distinction she's pretty damn happy with herself (again, the smug bugger).

More photos later in the week, and hopefully this week will have less tears and less sore bodies at the end of it! 

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

It's time for Squirrels all time favorite thing to do ever - make a list! So for your perusal, some helpful tips when renovating your home.

Don't sand floors before painting and plastering
In hindsight, we should have waited to do the floors until most of the rest was done; plaster has now been trouped through the house and there are splatters of paint everywhere. I mean, we're hitting them again with the sanders, but it probably would have been a good idea to wait.

Don't use oil based anything
Oil based paints are the devil. Note: this was not done out of choice from Squirrel. This now means that we've now used enough turps to fill the Costa Concordia (and thus negating any savings from purchasing oil based over water based). I don't know why anyone would ever do that, but anyway.

Don't be put off by what looks like sap or blood weeping from the walls.

It's probably not this:

Don't be put off by green kitchens
Is there potential? No. But don't be put off them nonetheless.

Don't sand the plaster yourself
It's a shit job. And takes like several days with drying time. Which delays sexy paint on the walls time!

Don't ask for a low fee for painting an entire house
Squirrel offered to pay for all the paint AND do all of the painting in exchange for a manicure. Squirrel regrets this more than words can say.

Do eat all of the jam donuts
This week I got half a dozen mini jammies for $1.00 at Coles. I ate them all. I've also had 3 full sized ones as well. Hot Jam Donut kill count: 9.

Do get quotes before you rip the whole bloody kitchen out
Just in general, quotes before work = good idea. Nice one Puffin.

Do make sure you have plenty of alcohol on hand
And if you own firearms, remove them from the house IMMEDIATELY. You'll either want to blow your brains out or drink, a lot. Since I'm not a drinker...or a gun owner.... I consumed a family size pack of cheese and bacon balls in the bath. They were delicious. Obviously, all of this jam donut and cheese and bacon ball eating means I no longer fit through the archways, and we will have to get the plasterer back to widen them and re-plaster them.

Have you got any helpful renovation tips? Leave us a comment!

To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution

What a big week it has been! In news that Lady Bracknell herself would approve of (have people been reading my blog titles, and working out what they're from? I hope so!), Puffin & Squirrel welcomed their very first niece into the world, and thankfully, the baby is safe with Mum and Dad and not residing in a handbag in Victoria Station, on the Brighton line. Bloggers, meet the beautiful Keeley Jayde.

Prior to this happy arrival, Squirrel has spent the week painting, and has, to date, chewed through approximately 20 liters of wall paint, completing two coats on master bedroom, office, bathroom hallway, toilet, bathroom, second bedroom and laundry. Squirrel is exhausted and is thinking of increasing her fee from a manicure upon completion to a manicure, massage and getting her hair done. Puffin is unmoved by these requests.

Office

Hallway

Second Bedroom

Squirrels Dad (henceforth known as Badger) also made a visit. Badger junction boxed off a number of old electrical...things, air con, heaters etc. This also saw the removal of the ceiling fan in kitchen, which Puffin was happy about. Being a lad of excessive height, with a brother who is also freakishly tall (Henceforth known as the Sea Eagle), the guarantee that they will not suffer an accidental decapitation is a good one. 

We also had a visit from Puffins mate, Ryan, the plasterer. Ryan plastered up the archways and heater/air con holes, and boy, does it look a million bucks now. 

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Thanks Ryan!!

Puffin giving it a crack too!! 

Lovely, sexy walkways. With clean lines.

Air-con & heater holes BEGONE! 

Mmmm. Plastered.

Squirrel also ventured to the roof, a horrid place with spiders, dust and cobwebs, bleh. It's looking more and more like we are going to have to remove the current insulation, some horrible polystyrene stuff with an aluminum coating. If anyone knows the name of this and how to dispose it, we'd love to know!!!

Those that follow Squirrel on Instagram or Facebook would have seen her arty take on a new hose and some of the trees out the back, but they've been deemed awesome enough to share here as well. 

Lastly, some shout outs! 

To the visitors this week, Mitchy, Tab, Ryan, Sea Eagle & Badger - thanks for stopping by! And also to our friend the Legal Eagle (#1) - we hope you've found us online and have managed to navigate the antiquated method of shopping at Coles. 

In next weeks round up - How I learned to stop worrying and love alcohol, more painting, more work on the trims, finishing off the plastering and a lesson in how not to capture a live raccoon (well, maybe not that last bit).