Category: All
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New Place
I thought I’d share some pics of our new house, mostly for the convenience of our nearest and dearest who are not near enough to visit anytime soon.
We are going for the minimalist feel, trying to get away with the least amount of furniture that we can (that is because we are anticipating moving on within the next 6-12 months and loathe packing stuff. Who hates stuff? I do! – def. stuff: that which clutters our lives rather than enhances it.
It took me a little while to get used to, I have always lived in houses with small rooms and even when I moved into a fairly large room in a group house many years ago I felt so uncomfortable I moved into the smallest room in the house! When it comes to houses I prioritise privacy/quietness and cosiness above all. But preferences can change and it does us an unfairness to assume we can not change. It’s been a week and a half now of living here. The neighbours are close, on one side four neighbours literally overlook our bare backyard and on the other side all the fences for several neighbours down are simply wire so provide fairly good visuals all the way down. From the hours of 5-9 the melting pot which is this particular street in Young simply bubbles away with all sorts of abuse hurled anywhere from next door to the next block over – I can hardly tell. Lots of fwords simply flying around rather lightly and casually.
And actually, I’m coming to like this neighbourhood. It’s raw. It’s real. It’s open. It’s honest. It’s emotional sure, but I feel quite at peace here. This is an astonishment to me. Henry and I have had a bit of a laugh over some of the conversations we hear going on around here. Some are surprising, others totally relatable. We know what it’s like to have relationship issues, we know what it’s like to be a frustrated parent, so I feel no judgement, I am not shocked. Perhaps our expression of these things was different or more private, but I know the feeling. I sure do.
So privacy and quietness has gone out the window. As to cosiness I am also getting used to the vastness of this (only) 2 bedroom house and as we are not filling this house up with too much stuff (some stuff is necessary to make things feel homely), neither willing to allocate the time or the money towards doing so, I will have to live with this too.
Here are a few photos of our move. First, I have to show you to my shame the (too) many clothes I had amassed.
This here is the sum total of mine and Henrys clothes. All of them. Such a jumble of disorder. We sorted through them and got rid of yet another garbage bag full of stuff (so far we have purged 4 garbage bags full of things).
This is the hallway leading from our bedroom mid clean, everything needed a vacuum, a mop, a scrub and the walls needed bleaching – I have finally rid the house of the stale cigarette smoke odour it carried.
Here is our bedroom now, similar but slightly more orderly.
Our clothes now stand pretty neatly. I am enjoying not having to rummage around in my suitcase to find something as I have been doing for the past 10 months. This cupboard and those two milkcrates are the sum total of Henry and my clothes now. I have emptied the red suitcase. Do you like our unique storage system!?
Okay, kids bedroom. As you can see, no beds. I haven’t realised a need for them yet. Why do we have beds? Please tell. I would like to be comfortable with getting down to floor level, helps maintain flexibility.
And this, friends, is the sum total of my childrens toys. Can you believe it? I just hate most kids toys. In my experience a child just does not know what to do with too many toys and I just end up endlessly cleaning them up. If that happens too often with one toy it goes in the bin. I like useful, learning toys, not the plastic rubbish that mega department stores insist our children need. I wouldn’t mind a larger duplo collection, or when they are older, lego, but I also like them to cook and clean and garden with me and playing in a sandpit provides them with building opportunities. So, meh.
And here is our only living space, basically just one large room with a kitchen against two half walls.
This is my one and only crockery cupboard and this is all we have by way of this. 4 glasses, 6 mugs, 6 plates, 6 bowls, 8 extra plastic cups. We have more stashed away, but this was what we were planning to take on our bus so it’s interesting living with this little to see how it goes and so far it has been absolutely fine. In many ways I am treating this house like our bus, there is just more walking space between each living area. That’s all.
You can also see my numerous teas which I am planning to drink up and consolidate further – I have three types of cocoa for example.
On the other side of that rug there will exist (I hope) two more armchairs, apart from that his house is furnished in my opinion. The only thing I would consider getting more of (both inside and out) are plants. You can never plant too many plants, and you don’t have to move them on, just leave them to spread the plant love around.
The view into our backyard:
The view to the front:
It’ll do! :)
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Odd Bod Phone Photos
I rescued some photos from my phone today. Here they are, all sorts of odd bods.
Walking near the oval in Curtin, it is good to see clouds, it’s been so dry here lately.
Covered in Paint Flakes.
Our messy room (crammed with all our living things and bus things).
Soph up a tree. Nothing unusual there.
At my mums. Enjoying a cuppa.
My dads guitars. He makes them.
Swimming lessons in October.
The Floriade Ferris Wheel. With mum & Nonna & the kids.
A Burley Griffin Gig at the Phoenix Bar. Apparently they rocked out the other night and I missed it.
In mums garden.
A terrarium.
A date on my own.
Our 6th Anniversary date at Ellacure. Amazing food.
A bathing Sophia.
A sitting Gun.
Fireworks at the Young Cherry Festival.
Dodgem cars at the Young Cherry Festival.
Henry on our car on the way to the Coast in December last year.
Waiting, waiting for Henry to finish work. I do spend a good deal of time waiting for him.
Mine and Sophs local skate joint – the PCYC courts.
A sleeping Gun.
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Last day of infancy
Sophia’s launch into school means we enjoyed her last day of infancy (for lack of a better term – though I guess this is as correct as any). I thought it was important to do something special to mark this day and so we went along to Weston Park in Canberra. I am so glad this park remains, thriving well into the 21st century. It is a very solid park and has remained uniquely popular over many decades. I remember there used to be an old ‘mouse house’, a large cubby house with tunnels and nooks and windows in all sorts of places. I remember crawling through these along with hoards of other children, I was very sad to learn it had been torn down, but the decision to keep this water park was welcomed. I have a photo of me at my first birthday sitting in the central ‘bird bath’ and I took a photo of Gunther on his first birthday also in the bird bath. On this visit I noticed half of the bird bath had fallen (or been torn) off, the only significant damage done in all these years.
The wading pool has also been rejuvenated with a new path and sculptures and a slight redesign. When we were there we were the only ones (as ACT schools had gone back that day, we had one more day to go in NSW) and so explored the new features happily.
I only had my phone on me at the time (as it’s often welcome to have a break from lugging my big camera around), so phone pics are all I have today.
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Bus Ahead
Here are some promised photos of our progress on the bus. You would think that with our wildest child at school we would be charging ahead, but it doesn’t seem to be like that. I suppose it’s like when you’re a new mum and you finally get your kids off to sleep and you can finally sit down and do what you have been wanting to do for ages, but instead you take the chance to do the dishes, hang out the washing, clean the bathroom, sneak in a cup of tea and before you know it your darling baby is up and demanding your attention again.
It is sort of like that. I myself am adjusting to the routine, so I must just keep positive and not kick myself too hard and simply accept what I can and can’t do.
Still, here’s where we are up to with the bus so far.
Since these pictures were taken we have been running cables through the roof and attaching the roof panels to the front part of the bus. We’ve cut a new hole in the roof and covered over an old one (making room for solar panels) and we are almost up to putting the curtain pelmets on. Once these are all on and the roof is affixed and bogged smoothed it will be time to paint our bedroom walls and roof, the kitchen/dining/lounge walls and roof and the outside of the bus – we are hoping to do these all in one hit.
First, let me introduce you to our bunks. These are the star of the bus at the moment, one of our few completed pieces (almost – just a few more coats of Estapol and, voila!) Thanks so much to our friend Carl for helping us with this – I don’t think we’d have got so far without the boost he gave us!
In a clever moment of design inspiration we have extended the bottom of our cupboard into the hall cupboard to act as a useful shoe storing area. There are a lot of clever little storage solutions like this all over our little bus-home.
Here are the beds again in full profile, in front you can see one of the three Aluwell doors which we constructed ourselves (I have phone pics to prove it and might show you when I eventually get them off of my phone). More on this door in a minute.
Here is some of the bed detail. I like plywood cross section and so we have used that on our bunk beds. These plywood strips are cleverly concealing the aluminum frame which supports the bed.
So, back to the door/s. We needed some kind of catch to hold the door open (for when we are driving, and just because it’s handy). So Henry put to use a latch and a drawer catch on the door. It works a treat. Push to open.
And here’s the roof pre-cabling while I was involved in replacing the fairly useless pink batts with foam for insulation.
And the back half of the front of the bus which has been glued down:
You can also see the back of the shower wall and the long red strip on the RHS is the back of our pantry – yet to be installed. And that window into the shower will be covered up and become our shower shampoo holder.
Here is the inside floor of the shower. Shower receptacle/tiny bath on the LHS, small patch of floor in the middle and on the RHS will be our composting toilet.
Our bathroom windows – because I like natural light in the bathroom and windows yet to be silled up with ply. That’s a tricky job so we’re stalling on that one.
The inside of the red shower wall, still covered for protection.
Our bedroom, which has already undergone a few redos and still another to come. Henry was not happy with some of the use of ply and we have discovered a material V-Lite (by the Laminex company) for new drawers and are now using marine ply on the bed as the normal ply warped. The base has not yet been decided on.
Here you can see we have taken the back window out. We removed it to replace the seals and then once we experienced the effects of having a draught blow through the bus on some of the stinkiest hot days in the year we just had to make it openable and so Henry is working on that. It’s a good thing he is so handy and so clever.
The other side of our room (a wall is now covering that door on the RHS).
And a window frame we made ourselves, once bogged and painted you would not even know it’s a fake!
Here’s Henrys handy work on the window. Welding, welding, lots of welding to be done.
And much thanks to ‘Bobie’ for scratching his name on the window of his old school bus, it will now be appreciated on the windows of our little home.
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First Day of School
It took me a while to make the decision to send Sophia to school. I mulled over maturity issues and listening and obedience issues, I thought about her learning ability, about how clever she is, I decided yes then no then finally and definitively, yes again. When she spelt out my brother-in-laws name all by herself and wrote it down for him E-L-E-I-T (Elliot) I knew I had to send her. She was ready. That other stuff would have to work itself out.
Since that time at Christmas the enrollment process was a breeze, the teachers and admin staff all delightful and we found the right school for us. Funnily enough she is in the same classroom that Henry was in as a Kindergartener. Twenty-four years ago to the day Sophia walked up the same steps Henry walked up as a 5 year old, on his birthday.
We got her dressed and I packed as nutritious and exciting a lunchbox as I could think of. Gluten-free school lunches are a bit tricky. She had salmon, cucumber, carrot and mayonnaise rice paper rolls, seeds and dried fruit, a peach, cheese cubes and for recess natural yoghurt and berries.
Here she is, ready to take on the school.
And up those steps to her classroom. Good luck my big girl!
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Lilygrace Flowers
I met Alicea at my brother and sister-in-law’s engagement party five years ago. At that time my big, fat, red-headed girl was only months old and her big, fat, red-headed baby girl was also just months old. Of course, we talked about our children and their development as all new parents do. Back then this business was perhaps just a glimmer in her eye and my own foray into photography was just beginning. Now I find she has launched her own growing floristry business. If her flowers are anything to go by then is a hot success! Her arrangements are absolutely exquisite! I was just bowled over when I entered Chris and Allan’s place for our shoot late last year.
Thank you to Alicea of Lilygrace flowers for this collaboration. Thank you to The Plant Web and Chris and Allan for allowing us to use their grounds and great thanks to both Ellie of Love Affair With Hair and Kristie of Australia Designer Bridal and Formal for their own artistry. And of course much appreciation goes to the beautiful models, Emma and Sybilla.
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Tiny House People
I stumbled across this film a couple of months ago and then this film today. Both of these creative endeavours made me proud to be (almost) able to call myself a tiny house person.
My favourite person was the girl at around 13 minutes along in the second film by Kirsten Dirksen. I loved her adaptability, her approach to her lifestyle, her creative storage and her use of a chamber pot! I love that she built it herself, and sourced her material from the tip.
I am anticipating the onset of tiny house living for several reasons:
- simplicity (not crowding our lives with stuff)
- simplicity (not filling our time with sorting/cleaning large spaces or large amounts of stuff)
- simplicity (not having to worry about or think about or chase after money)
- Quality over quantity. We have fewer, but higher quality items and fittings around our home, this makes us feel good. We are able to support ethical & often local companies.
- Adventure. We are not forced into a lifestyle of 9-5 work to pay off a mortgage or even have to save for an overpriced home (the honest truth is that housing and land these days is excessively, unnecessarily expensive – it’s not worth getting into debt over.)
- Autonomy. We can move as we wish, live as we wish. There are expenses along the road, but they are far less than rent etc.
- By far, though, the greatest benefit to living small is being able to be together, because of all the above reasons and also because the smallness of the space forces us together. It’s nice.
Currently we are struggling a little bit. We are just over half way through our bus build and while each step excites us there is still a lot of building to go. We are tossing up our living arrangements, unsure whether to move into a rental as there is uncertainty about how long this project will take. Sophia will/might be going to school this year and so plans are all ambiguous.
I am not someone unwelcome to changing plans, I am liable to toss a project in the air if it is ‘not working’, I guess it is harder for me to persist and while I am determined to persist with building our bus (there is no other option there) I am just investigating the different ways we could reach the end goal…all in one piece.
We will see what we will see.
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Glenda
I took my sister-in-law out the other day and took some photos of her. I tell you, I am really in love with portraiture. I love helping another woman to feel beautiful. I know what it’s like to be on the wrong end of an unflattering photo and so I guess I really love that I have the capabilities of finding and then bringing that inner beauty out through photography and then being able to show that person how beautiful they are! I love that.
Some of my favourite shoots have been one-on-one with a gorgeous friend, I am learning how to direct models, it’s not something I’m naturally good at and so: practice makes perfect!
I also used these and other photos as impetus to set up a bit of a website. I’m taking tentative steps toward growing this, but I wanted somewhere that was specifically for my photography. I feel that I am finally getting good enough to start billing myself as a ‘photographer’ and it’s funny how that drive has slowly grown from my first response to a new baby, a big fat pregnant woman, families and special occasions being ‘can I come and take some photos?’ to getting so obsessed with getting that shot right that I forget about myself and how silly I might look and I just get in there.
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Bus mileage
So, these photos are actually a little old – 23rd October to be precise. I’ve been meaning to go out to the bus and take some photos, but the many little jobs to be done and the extreme heat keep getting to me and slowing me down.
This should act as a a bit of motivation!
So here we see the cage that is our bathroom wall, Henry is squeezing expanding foam into the cavity so that (hopefully) the bus will be as cool as we possibly can make it.
He is standing in the shower receptacle and in front of him here is the frame for the shower wall. In the middle of the bus you can see the door which we had to build ourselves (we built three of these – from scratch – in total out of Aluminum framing, Alucowell, glue and insulation foam), it has already been hung here, while the walls have not even been built! Gee – I wish you could see it now, though! ….
And the wall is now on! Heaps of sikaflex to hold it. This was only the beginning – the roof was made from the same stuff and was a pain to both bend and put into place. And then of course we had the rest of the walls to put in.
And here is wall red and behind it you can see wall mirror and only just, just you can see the edge of the roof.
It all looks so different now, it’s actually pretty exiting to see these and realise that we actually have come a long way. Bits of the bus are actually starting to look brand, spanking new, slowly it is all coming together!
Tulitha King 