ANZAC Day Weekend

A time to reflect and remember those that sacrificed so much.

AND with ANZAC Day falling on a Monday this year it gave a long weekend and the opportunity to finish the Deck at DS#1s place.  

A tricky ramp down to the Garage.  'Just' 14 short boards, but with DS#1 recovering from COVID, it took all Weekend to do.

Milestone Event: 

Little Miss H decided that Walking was better than Crawling, especially outside.

 - Now they will never catch her!

Old Chair - New Chair

Another lifetime ago MY Little Girl was given a small Arm Chair by her Grandmother.

It saw a Lot of use in those early years and the other day I brought it out of storage with the intention of reupholstering it.  

Before I was able to get started - Little Miss A visited unexpectedly and saw the Chair.

"Do you like this?" asked Grandpa.  

Pointing to the tear on the arm she casually replied - "No!"

She changed her mind when we showed her the upholstery fabric.

* * *

We carefully dismantled it - Taking photos of each step and making notes on the frame as to which way was up.

I found a few lost items in the process - The standard Lolly wrappers, A Tasmanian Devil Tazzo (circa 1990) and The missing Blue Knitting Needle that belonged to my Grandmother.... or what was left of it.

We decided that the webbing was still tight enough for this makeover, so new Foam and Padding was all that we needed. 

I cut out the new Fabric using the old as a pattern giving myself a generous allowance in case the foam was too thick.  Just as well as I needed every inch!

My Father had a saying and that was - 'Get the Tool for the Job'.  So taking his advice I bought a Ryobi Cordless Staple Gun. 

It made things SO much easier than the last upholstery project I did!

Just for fun. 

I added a piece of the original Brown Vinyl upholstery fabric and a note as to when it was originally bought and when it was reupholstered.

With interruptions - It took about 2 weeks to do and looks SO much better now 

... and ready for a whole new generation (and one very spoilt Cat) to enjoy.  

Catching Up - More Mess

 Another 'When we Retire' Job that was left hanging due to COVID was to Upgrade our ageing and no longer efficient Air Conditioning.

The Evaporative Cooling System was well past its Use-by date.

And the unit was also taking up valuable space on our roof, that could be put to much better use (some day) for Solar Panels.

Considering that the Summers here in Melbourne are getting A LOT more Humid - we decided to go with a Ducted Reverse Cycle System.

I was very sad to see my Gas Heating go. 

The trade-off was, because they use the same ducting for Heating and Cooling we got a LOT more room up in our Ceiling, that we can now use for storage.

We still have to remove the old Cooling Vents and patch the ceilings. 

(Ew - I am not going to miss these Broken/Outdated/Horrible/Impossible to clean things!)

For roof access we have an Attic Ladder. 

But one of the Tradies suggested putting in a second Manhole in the back room, (which was part of an extension to the house).  

A good idea, and no plastering required. 

BUT as it turned out a 'Not as Quick a Fix' as it should have been. 

(The rafters were 2mm closer together than the Frame - requiring a LOT of sanding!)

However, it is done.     One hole down - Six to go!

And when they are finished I have the un-enviable job of painting all the Ceilings!