The Bar is Closed ......

Lol, yep it was time to take the Bar out from the Dining room area ready to get the big wood heater installed (the one Pete picked up on special in July) ....... As I said to Pete - we have Spring, Summer and Autumn to get it in.  It's our big project for the remainder of this year ....... it changes the dining area but it will also change the outside area ..... not to mention all the items had being stored behind the bar lol 

When we first moved in here there was no wood fire. (There is gas central heating plus a small gas fire heater in the lounge - given the price of gas, we chose to instal a small wood heater which has done a fabulous job and we have never had to use the central heating). Due to the bar being where it was we chose to put the small one in front of it to the corner.  It hasn't been an ideal spot, but at the time we had little choices.

With Pete seeing a big wood heater on special brought down from $3000 to just $900 (floor stock) it was a no brainer to get

it!  We had been discussing taking the bar out just to give us more room and open the room up since we have never used the bar for its intended purpose and for the past 3 years has proven to be nothing more than a dumping zone and storage area!!         

I spent time clearing some stuff out and then the rest was dumped into the guest room to deal with ...... soon lol  First the back shelves came down.  I had an idea that  the Bar would look good if we could get it out in a way that we could move it up to the pool area and use it up there - but Pete still had to work out just how it was put together .......

Thankfully he is handy and was inspired to get to it so it was all systems go while the going was good!!

Oh noooo ........ Just what Pete was thinking might have been the case ...... The previous owners had installed the bar first and then had the floor tiled around it!!! ......... Always a glitch .....  And the tiles were from the 90s and of course no spares were left here - although a couple of left overs had been used to tile the top of the outside BBQ (glued down so hard they only came off in bits!)  Notice below how awkward the space is??  Yep, we got a tiler in to have a look - Nope no tiles similar and they make them a different thickness now as well ....... Talked about taking up a section and retiling with a "feature" - which quoted at $5000 and 5 days of work which would include sanding back the stuff left by the tiles.............  

But now, I think we have a solution!!  At least, its going to be OUR solution and that's that!  After measuring out where the heater would sit and such we have organised for a tiler to make up a hearth with some slate tiles (I had picked out a lovely stone tile but of course that's discontinued!)  

Anyhow the missing section will be filled with "floor levelling stuff" which looks a bit like concrete  (and has now been completed and drying off) - which I will then paint in a colour that fingers crossed will blend in with the tiles.  Hopefully there should only be a smaller section of it that will show once we get the hearth down.

It sure does open the room up now! And the small wood heater will go up to the shed once we have the big one fully installed!  No way will I suggest it gets dismantled until the other one is in working order!!

So then we had to move the bar out ..... great fun and a few bruises later we had it sitting in parts up at the pool undercover area.  I was able to use that base board piece to show Pete what I meant about the Bar being up there and we used it to check out various positions where it might fit

More work has been going on up at the pool area with Pete changing the brickwork on the BBQ to fit the bar in how he wants it, and the shelves will be going up on the wall as well.  And of course more to do inside ....... as I said, its a big project (or several projects connected into a large one)

Time in Melbourne

 Like most of you out there it's been rather busy around here ....... just day to day stuff I guess but I sure would love to get on top of it all at some point lol!  We had been planning to travel to Townsville for the Granddaughters 16th birthday but with them having to go to the Gold Coast for a wedding and deciding to spend time there having a holiday ect ect ect ....... it just had to be put to the side.  Instead I decided to head to Melbourne to celebrate the daughters birthday with her and we had the best time making some lovely memories!  

Since the train was all booked up, I chose to drive down which meant I could take down some of my homemade soaps for them and also a birthday gift for her friend who is like an adopted daughter to us since they have known each other since the start of high school.  I drove down Thursday for a late lunch with Stacey and Carly.  Carly has a little baby girl, Abbie and it was lovely getting to meet her in person - and of course I had some handmade knitting for her!

Abbie in the little knitted cardi

She is such a good baby

Friday we headed to do a bit of a quick shopping trip then into the city for a Persian Lamp Class which had been booked and was our gift to Stace for her birthday (her choice - although I'm not sure who had the most fun lol).  During the class we enjoyed some turkish delight and a hot apple tea which were both very yummy.

Saturday it was off to the Werribee Zoo which has some "open plains" for the animals to roam in........

The Giraffes decided to get up close to the open bus we were on 

Keep your hands in or they will bite we were warned lol

Meerkat babies 

Since they live not far from the Zoo we were back at her place in time to head to lunch with John and then to the pet shop which has some of it's birds out of the cages so they continue to interact with people ........ John had some fun with the Macaws lol

I headed back home Sunday morning as I needed to get some clearing out done of the bar area which is being removed  ............ I'll be posting about this shortly 

Until then .........