We found a gorgeous little house - very old - a typical Queenslander, built on sturdy wooden "stumps" above ground - the stumps were originally tree trunks and very old - you can still see the original marks of the axe in them. Nicely renovated with a new kitchen and bathroom - oh the bliss! after 11 years of a horrid kitchen and worse bathroom, at our old place in Scarborough. The lounge has a fireplace, although the owner would prefer we didn't use it......with the cold temperatures we have had lately, I am fast doing a re-think on that!
The "Oriel" window you can see is in the lounge - and shines a beautiful golden yellow light into the house in the morning.
The garden is very overgrown - and needs a lot of work! Just about everything in it has to be chopped down, dug out or otherwise removed - lots of pests like Chinese Elm, Nandina, Winter Jasmine, and two huge Lauristina bushes that are now enormous trees, three Crepe Myrtles that need pruning, a very old rambling rose that has rambled up into the trees, and some Wisteria plants that need pruning desperately! Oh and lots of weeds, and bare patches that need planting.
Every where you look the garden needs work and TLC.Inside the house is lovely. Newly painted and with nice old mouldings from the turn of the century, and polished timber floors, it is small but with enough room to have some private areas for both of us.
Above is the fireplace in the lounge room - it has a brass fire screen in it that is a bit dented but nice and old looking.
On the right hand side of the front of the house is a glassed in porch - very bright and sunny - great for having my knitting friends in for a Knit and Natter
Here's what it looks like inside the porch.
The lounge is big - sort of two rooms in one - this pic is taken from the door from the porch, looking through the arched moulding towards the fireplace. Even the light fittings are old - lovely!Note the walls are tongue and groove timber - and the colours are cream and a sort of deep yellow - I adore yellow - my very favourite colour in the whole world!
The house is filled with nooks and crannies - I just love it.
This is taken from the fireplace end - looking towards the front of the lounge - and there is the "Oriel" window!At the left of this picture, there are french windows leading into another sunny room, which is accessible also from the porch - this is where the computer and all my bookshelves of patterns and knitting books etc will be.
I think this once was part of a big verandah that encircled the house - as I said, it was once a small cottage.
And here is the kitchen and dining room!
So nice and clean with new cupboards, and a gas stove - with a pretty little paned window overlooking the next door garden and part of what will be our veggie patch. The big open space in the wall looks out onto our back porch and laundry area.
The whole house is nice and airy and bright - very cheerful and so us!
This mysterious little alcove with a window in it is right next to the "loo" ! A little chair will be ideal here - it looks out on to the front garden.
Here is Eric inspecting the bathroom - where he is standing, to his right are some huge built in cupboards, a great big deep linen cupboard, and right up near the ceiling, two enormous cupboards that are wonderful for storing "stuff" - of which we have truck loads!The bathroom is compact, new and clean - with lots of room to move in - so different from what we put up with all these years.
The main bedroom is very big and bright - it has a built in wardrobe with big storage drawers underneath - all very old and made of ancient tongue and groove timbers - very high ceiling as is the case in all the rooms.
The second bedroom is big too - quite big enough for a guest room - or as grandson Tom put it - "my room" !
The back of the house leads down some steep stairs from the laundry to the small back garden where is the legendary "Hills Hoist" - the much loved Aussie rotary clothes line!
At the bottom of the steps is a lovely Hibiscus, not my most favourite plant, but this one is beautiful.
At ths side of the house we have two magnificent Camellias - absolutely huge! I shall have a separate posting about the Camellias - they grow like weeds here because of the very cold winters.
I think we are going to be very happy here !
