Our house is done being painted!

It was a great painting day yesterday, being hot and sunny, but today it has been raining. Still, it hasn’t seemed to get in the way of the painters much, as they were finished before lunchtime today. They finished everything up and we paid them and they went away, and then we realized that they had not painted the garage doors! It led to a dodgy moment when we called them and they claimed the garage had not been part of the original quote, but when we were firm they quickly (suspiciously quickly actually) capitulated.

It was *so* part of the original quote.

We also took some time this morning to (with our neighbor’s permission) trim some of the branches on the giant jacaranda leaning out over our pool. Asides from all the giant pods and leaves constantly falling in there, possums and bats frolic in it all night and then do their business down into the pool. Yick. I have to say those tree saws you attach to the end of your pool cleaning stick are mighty handy! That jacaranda is tall.

Anyway, here is what our house looks like now. I was worried because the color didn’t end up looking the same as it did on the card, and I thought perhaps the lighter color on the gables might look weird. I still do, in fact. I think it should have been darker, but in any case it matches the eaves, which are Sweet Almond (is a sweet almond a different color than a normal one?).

Nevertheless I think it’s okay, and the neighbors came and told me how happy they were with it, so that’s something, at least.

I guess they were sick of looking at the peeling paint!

Well! Our house is in the process of being painted. It’s all rather unexpected, actually. I had been getting a few quotes from different painting people and this guy (who is here now) I had called wasn’t in, but never returned my call. So I had decided to go with another guy, but when I called to hire him, no one answered the phone and since I hate answering machines, I figured I’d just call back later. Then this guy called, Mike told him to come on over and give a quote, and his quote turned out to be better than the other ones. That was yesterday, and then today bright and early, while I’m still half-sleeping, he shows up with his crew of guys and they are already well on their way to getting it done!

Speedy Gonzales.

So I am, in typical fashion, hiding out indoors because I’m always shy of people I don’t know. There are ladders all over the place and guys with paintbrushes clinging to the side of the house at different points so I am kind of room hopping because I feel weird sitting around, reading, programming, practicing sax, whatever when someone is peering in at me! Of course, they aren’t actually peering in, but they are there.

I feel like such a hermit sometimes.

Choosing colors was hard. You never know how a color is going to turn out in real life – for instance, the bathroom turned out a heck of a lot bluer than I had anticipated! I feel apprehensive about the colors we chose, because it is a house, it’s huge, the colors will be right out there for the next 10+ years. What if we picked wrong and it will look obnoxious or cheesy or ugly?

Still (and as you will see since I’m about to post pictures) it can’t be worse than the vile peeling washed-out teal that is currently on here. So I’ve got my fingers crossed.

He’d gotta lose the ’stache.

We’re having our first guests over for dinner tonight. Exciting! But of course this means that I must get my tail in gear and clean up the place – we’ve been doing lots of random maintenance – painting, drilling, sawing, and what not, and so the house is covered with tools, paint chips, sawdust, and the like!

It’s been pouring for about 4 days straight now. This is a really good thing because it helps out the plants that we’ve just been planting/transplanting – we had to move 5 small native trees to make way for our golden cane hedge, and natives are notorious for not surviving transplant. But, they seem to be pulling through thus far and its been a week now.

Still, I’m getting mighty sick of rain. I’m crossing my fingers that it will pass over by the time M & P come over since we were planning to BBQ, but from the looks of the sky, it won’t!

Ah well.

Painted the bathroom again today. Since redoing the tiles on the walls is not feasible at this point, I have painted them with special tile paint. No idea how well it will last, but there you have it. The bathroom is now blue and white, and I also painted a quick ocean mural with dolphins in front of the tub. The horrible 1970 “chicken tile” (so called because the dark blue scratches in them look like chickens – I wish I’d never heard that because now all I can see are chickens even through the white paint) is now mainly hidden.

Chicken Tile

Wow, it’s been more than a week. There’s crazy amount of stuff to do, I’m running back and forth doing it all day. I’m glad I have no job right now. This is all much more fun.

I seem to have gone deaf in my right ear. That is, I’ve had this ear infection thing for (believe it or not) two years. I keep thinking that if I pretend it doesn’t exist, it will go away, but it hasn’t, and now I can’t hear out of my right ear! So it’s off to the doctor with me tomorrow.

Moreover, I managed to have yet another mishap involving a hedge and a Swiss Army Knife. This won’t come as any surprise to people that know me well, since I’ve been mishandling sharp objects with painful regularity since the age of 3 when I first ripped my hand open with the sharp edge of a Christmas tree ornament.

Anyway, while doing the final cleanup before giving back the keys to our rented house (while Brisbanites do not in general have a great work ethic, the standard of returning an apartment is of military-like obsessive cleanliness, real white-glove type stuff), I attempted to slice through a branch of the hedge and ended up slicing through my thumb instead. “@$^#%!” I howled, flinging the knife away and clutching my gushing hand to my sweaty chest. And then I was immediately ashamed. [It's worth noting that I've been trying to train myself out of my 20 year, yes, I've been inexplicably foul mouthed since the ripe old age of 8, habit of swearing, but it is often a losing battle.] It was at that moment that I heard a creaky voice behind me and turned to see the very old lady from next door, and her friend, peering at me from over the fence.

Ah well. I had no idea that Swiss Army knives were actually sharp.

So for the past week I have been occupied with reorganizing the kitchen, unpacking the last of the boxes, installing no end of all those random things you have to install whenever you move, planting a zillion plants, cleaning out a massively discouraging muck heap in the yard [I wouldn't be surprised if I found Neanderthal bones in there], painting the bathroom, ordering lots of palm trees, washing loads of scary curtains that came with the place, wiring the place for stereo/internet/etc., and cleaning up a depressing amount of cat pee.

Yes. Elma still hates Australia. The vet has told me I should put her on kitty Prozac.

Anyway, I have gabbled on long enough. Below are a very few pictures of a very few of the transformations taking place.