hop skip jump

mind the gap

Sorry about the increasingly large gaps between posts over here. It's probably for the best - I've got precious little at the moment unless scheduling kitchen benchtop production and selecting sinks is your thing. Thankfully, renovations are moving along nicely, but it's still going to be weeks (sigh) before we have a fully functioning kitchen. We had to make an unexpected exodus to my Mum's last week because of some toxic glue the buiders were using to stick down the floorboards, and we're going to have to make a run for it again when the floorboard sanding/polishing folks come in. Interesting times! And, wouldn't you believe it, the only crafting action to come out of me in the past ten days or so has been for a gift. Nothing more can be said until Simon (up above) reaches his destination.

So, I'm feeling a little disconnected from you all, and from blogging in general. (And from regular life, for that matter!) Things will return to normal soon enough, I'm sure. But in the middle of it all last week, a lovely bloggy reminder arrived on my dusty doorstep in the form of a parcel from Tiel. Tiel recently celebrated the one year anniversary of her blog, and I was the lucky recipient of one of her prints, and a bounty of wonderful fabric pieces, just for being the first person to leave a comment on her blog way back when. So nice. Thanks so much again!

complete

This morning, as I was finishing up the last details on these toys, I was reminded once again how much I love the feeling of completing a project. I promise not to crap on about renovations for the next three-four weeks, but with one third of the house as a mammoth work in progress (some might say gaping hole), it's extra nice to see a discrete end to something. These monkeys, dolls and bunnies are for Reform School.

Thankyou so much for your lovely comments and emails of late. There's quite a lot going on around here at the moment, and I'm sorry to say that my response rate to emails or questions in the comments has really taken a slide. Even more than usual! I truly appreciate every message, and am hoping to get back on top of things very, very shortly. Cheers.

things! happening!

Thanks for your words about our renovations. Work has started in full force - our beloved '50s kitchen is now gone (along with it's counterpart, the not so beloved '50s oven!), and walls have come tumbling down. We're going to be subsisting on microwaved veggies and takeaway for the next month and there is brick dust everywhere. But, we've been talking/dreaming about making better use of this space for 6 years, so it's incredibly exciting to see it actually happening. Fun! Perhaps I should get out more?

This is what you used to see when you stood here. Now there's a hole, and that wall in the middle is being knocked over as I sit here typing. The temptation to sneak a peek every few minutes is great, but there are bunnies waiting for faces, and work to be done.

Oh, and this is the skip company used by our builder. Yes indeed. ;)

before

Thanks for your well wishes about Audrey. Unfortunately, there was nothing fake about her fever. Poor thing was down for the count for a few days. Thankfully she's back and fighting now. I am constantly amazed at how quickly young children can recover. One minute she's listless and pale, and the next she's tearing up and down the driveway.

The fact that I've barely left the house this week is kind of fitting, because house related projects are all I can think of right now. The builders arrive first thing Monday morning to tear the guts out of the back of our house. They'll be here for a month. We're not extending, just tearing down walls and the like. Nevertheless, we've never tackled renovations on this scale before and for me it's a strange mixture of nerves (exactly by how much will the budget blow out?) and excitement (hooray - soon I will have a dishwasher!)

I've been trawling the web for kitchen inspiration, and thought I might share a few of my favourites:
- This and this from the Livingetc gallery (I stalk those pages quite a bit).
- This white kitchen from a source I can't remember.
- This one from Cookie a while back caught my eye.
There are more, but they are mostly in a huge pile of tear sheets here on my desk. Perhaps I should get my act together and scan a few.

So above are a couple of 'before' images of our existing back bits. In all their unpainted, unclean and unstyled (ha!) glory (I didn't neaten up before I flashed the camera around, but it does tend to add to the grainy 'before' vibe, don't you think?)

Have a great weekend, everyone.