Southern Tablelands Shipping Container Build

[turnstiles]

Thanks Ray, Paul and Matt.

[turnstiles]

In the past 10 days since my last post I haven't managed to get a huge amount done. Four of those days were teaching (and a day at school is way more exhausting than 8 hours labouring on the house - if you know any casual/substitute teachers ask them what it's like in a low economic area state school!!)

And of course there are always those irritating chores to do like shopping, cooking, cleaning and laundry which tax my time!

But I did manage to get the last part of the lounge/dining ceiling up and all the joins taped and screw holes plastered.
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And routed guide channels in the four sliding doors destined for the lounge cupboards:
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I also hung a couple more artworks in the finished main bedroom. It makes me feel like the place is turning into a home.

The first is an oil on canvas painting done for me by a good friend - the detail is quite extraordinary. The kangaroo detail on the tea bag label is about 3cm high., and I swear the Tim Tam biscuit looks like you could pick it off the painting and eat it!!
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The other image is a digital artwork I created about 18 years ago. It's a re-interpretation of a well known Australian photograph called "Sunbaker' by Max Dupain from 1937.

I used around 4,500 digitally altered pix of skin cancers to replicate the image, subverting the original meaning with a contemporary context.
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Detail:
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Apart from the ever present kangaroos outside the windows, recently I spotted a wild deer 50 metres from the house and only the second snake of the season - a beautiful red belly black snake just off the front deck:
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With the drought going on this year and the prediction for a long hot and very dry summer due to El Niño being declared, it was a bit of a surprise to have a massive and sudden rain event a couple of days ago. In 24 hours the storm dumped more rain that the total November rainfall on record.

Luckily there was little damage from it, and on the positive side it filled my dam to overflowing - before:
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And today:
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This will be handy for when the heat and dry of summer does occur. And as a bonus, it put 20,000 litres of rain in my water tank - with my estimated daily usage, it's about a years worth of water 😁

Well...back to the plastering!

[ErrolFlynn]

I thought you'd taken a photo of the bushland tea just before you drank it. A relaxing cuppa after something just completed. Extraordinary detail on that painting. And your own... Well, that too is extraordinary. Cancer is just another aspect of life; even if it is a bastard thing.

[Bushmiller]

if you know any casual/substitute teachers ask them what it's like in a low economic area state school!!)







Detail:


Apart from the ever present kangaroos outside the windows, recently I spotted a wild deer 50 metres from the house and only the second snake of the season - a beautiful red belly black snake just off the front deck:
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turnstiles

I think it is wonderful that you have your own art around you. Well done. I have heard that the duration casual teachers last in such areas is often measured in weeks rather months or years.

As far as the Red Bellied Blacks are concerned, they are the reptilian good guys being the natural enemy of the Eastern Brown snakes, although I suspect they pick on the juveniles more than the adults. They are typically docile and I stepped across them in the bush on two occasions. They took no notice of me, although I was startled to put it mildly.

There is nothing quite like a good downpour to restore your confidence in nature and relieve thirsty anxiety as there are few things worse than having to truck in water .

Regards
Paul

[rwbuild]

That oil painting blows my mind, you would swear it was a photo, extraordinary detail x 10

[turnstiles]

Well a month has passed by quickly. I have been busy working every day but there is not a huge amount to show.

School thankfully finished for Summer 2 weeks ago so I have more time (and energy) for the house build. It doesn't start again until the beginning of February next year.

One of the first things I did was to redo one of the lounge room beam covers:
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When I finished the plasterboard cover the first time, and base-coated the shadowline beading in I noticed that one of the sides was not quite straight and had a slight bulge along it. At first I thought it was not significant enough to worry about, but every time I looked at it I couldn't NOT see it!!

So I had to rip it all off and redo it. I'm so glad I did as I am much happier with it now.
It, and the other one have their top coat of plaster and need a light sanding before painting.
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The other part I mainly worked on was getting the 2 lounge room cupboards built. I am running out of space ATM to store things in so I really wanted these cupboards finished first so I could hide a lot of the stuff that is getting in the way. It will make finishing the lounge a lot easier.

This is how they were:
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First, block in the
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Install the sliding doors:
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Remove the doors to paint:
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Then after insulating and lining the ceilings, I've just finished the plastering and sanding and have begun painting them.
One has both undercoats done, then I ran out of undercoat, and after a quick trip to town this morning for more paint, the other has the first undercoat.
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You can see the mess I am working around in the lounge:
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On top of tool shelves, scraps of plasterboard, ladders, work table - there is also the kitchen island and a very large box holding 2/3rds of my new sofa (the other third, plus new coffee table, new dining chairs and rug are currently choking up the guest bedroom!

I had thought about a month ago, that I would be basically finished by December 31st. (Not completely finished as there are quite a few small things that are not urgent - like carpet for the bedrooms, small cupboards to be built etc) All the messy stuff (plastering and painting would be done and I could lift the cardboard from the floor and put in the sofa, coffee table, rug, more artworks etc. This is the point at which i would consider I've finished. Any other work could be done outside on the deck so as not to make a mess indoors.

But we are having an extremely wet Summer. Lots of storms and rain, 100% humidity at times - and this has slowed me down as the plaster is taking longer to dry as is each coat of paint. But I am still optimistic of reaching that finishing point in a couple of weeks.

[ErrolFlynn]

we are having an extremely wet Summer. Lots of storms and rain, 100% humidity at times

I've been repairing an old shed. A tiny thing, but I want to save it before the wind and storms wreck it. Yesterday morning I was wearing my parka while working, to keep warm. I'd been clearing some leaves off the roof and my hands near froze. Not quite ice but close to it. I came inside and sat on them to warm them wondering what frostbite feels like. Then an hour later I was back out, the parka was off, the jumper was pulled off too as the day warmed, then at about ten o'clock I was pulling on my shorts and sweating like a pig as I worked. I don't know how the wildlife manages to survive out there.

[turnstiles]

then at about ten o'clock I was pulling on my shorts and sweating like a pig as I worked. I don't know how the wildlife manages to survive out there.

Yes, the temperature fluctuations are crazy! A couple of weeks ago we had top of 36 deg and then a top of 17 the following day! So far it has been a very mild summer and I'm mot complaining - January through to March can still bring some scorchers.

[turnstiles]

Once the lounge cupboards were done, I was able to fill them with stuff that was cluttering up the lounge.
(Most of my tools are now temporarily in one of them).
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And then I put up the door reveals and temporarily (they need to come off and be painted and have handles put on them) hung the doors on the hallway cupboard.
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This gave me more storage to de-clutter!

The next task was to do all the lounge/dining area and hallway 2nd and third plaster coats on all the ceilings and walls. Then came sanding the final coat of plaster, followed by the 3-in-1 (primer, sealer and undercoat in one paint).

Up to today, all the ceilings and all of the walls have been sanded and undercoated, except the North facing wall with the huge windows. This will be done tomorrow morning and then I can begin painting the whole lot another two times!

Previously i was doing 2 undercoats and 2 top coats but have been reliably told this is overkill, and one coat of 3-in-1 is sufficient. It will certainly be cheaper (as another 15L buckets would cost another $250.) As it is, I will have just enough undercoat to finish the job.
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Within a few days i should be able to take up all of the protective cardboard from the floor, and get all the furniture in.

The end is nigh!!

Watching me eat breakfast!
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[ErrolFlynn]

Watching me eat breakfast!

I'm surprised they're not scared of you.

[turnstiles]

They used to be. But now many of them seem to be quite used to me being inside the house. They understand the difference between inside and outside. If I was to walk out onto the deck they'd run!

There's a female roo that has become very used to me - she is the one that hangs out the closest. I can go outside to within 5 metres of her. She watches me but doesn't run. And if I don't make any sudden movements she returns to eating. She has had, I think, 3 different joeys in the last couple of years that I like to think she brings to show them off to me!!

There is a mob of mainly white nosed roos that hang around the most. Never seen white nosed roos before. Possibly all interbred. A couple of years ago I saw an albino roo down the back paddock.

[r3nov8or]

Perhaps do a granny flat, you know, when you get bored...

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[turnstiles]

Perhaps do a granny flat, you know, when you get bored...

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When this is done I don't think I'll want to pick up even a hammer for a year or two!!

I do need a studio/workshop - but I'll wait until I can afford to buy a shed and have it installed for me.

I do like the granny flat design though!

[ErrolFlynn]

That would be a bit like living in a fishbowl. Though, if it was located in a place where you had no nearby neighbours to stare in and you had great views then it could be good. With so much glass it could be on the hot side in summer. Unless triple glazing was used. I’d be afraid to guess the cost of that.

There was a house I went to an open inspection that was up for sale a few years ago. It was as near as practical to being a sphere as a house might try to be. The thing that stuck in my mind was how the furniture in the house by and large just didn’t work. So many flat surfaces and so many curved walls.

[turnstiles]

Agreed - this wouldn't work in most locations. Also it is a CGI - there is no provision for rain dispersal/collection on the roof, even the kitchen floor is unfinished!!

That is what I've found with lots of CGI architecture - design and flights of fancy bear no relation to reality.

I had a similar situation with designing my place. I was strongly influenced by Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, one of the first Modernist glass box houses. I realised that it was totally inappropriate for Australian climate conditions. But it was a great starting point for my final design.

But what these designs are good for, are to stimulate ideas, and someone might take away just one part of the design and make it work for them.