Gross story alert.
I had noticed a bad smell around the linen cupboard area for a while. I assumed something had died under the house - we have a wooden floored house on stilts - then about a metre gap to the dirt below. It's not unusual for rats and mice and possums to breath their final gasps under the house or in the garden.
I had hoped that he ants would do their regular clean up job and the smell would dissipate after a few days. Honestly, there are so many ants around our house that if someone slipped the mortal coil in the garden the evidence would be gone lickety split.
Anyway, the smell lingered and lingered, wafting through the hallways and not going away.
Until we tracked the source.
A rat had died in the roof eaves cavity ABOVE the LINEN CUPBOARD and dripped it's dead icky rat juices INTO THE LINEN CUPBOARD all over the quilts and sheets and towels and tablecloths. Well probably just the top shelf of linen as it mopped up most of the DEAD RAT JUICE, but I wasn't taking any chances that the other linen hadn't copped it.
I had to wash and dry clean EVERYTHING. And stash it in random spots around the house until the smell had gone from the cupboard. Which it still hasn't. So we are retrieving linen from under beds, the bathroom cupboard, piles on the floor....actually almost business as usual.
Come on ants. Do what God designed you for. Nature's clean up crew.
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Monday, February 24, 2014
the teenage room renovation
After much planning and doing - the teenage room renovation is pretty much complete. Considering I last decorated her room just after she was born, I figure a new life stage deserved a new look room. SHe had really enough of the yellow walls. Annika has been fairly patient with sleeping in a renovation site with hacksaws, paint trays, powertools and screws everywhere. She is really happy with the result. So am I.
From this:
To this:
a handy place to put her bags and bits
We painted chalkboard paint on her cupboard door so she can draw and.....stuff...
Sh choose this wonderful greeny blue colour for a feature wall, and she though of the idea of putting little black boxes on it.
There was a tiny bit of yellow remaining in her bed linen..
The room feels fresher and lighter and more grown up. We re-plastered, got new fans and powerpoints, painted, put in new blinds and curtains, and a few new accessories (thanks Ikea for having matching accessories to tie in with the theme of black/white/trees/birds - does the theme or the availability of the theme at Ikea come first?.....). We completely tidied out her built in cupboard and desk drawers, and de-cluttered. We kept the same furniture, but Chris re-sanded and lacquered the bedside table. So the total cost of re-doing the room was kept to budget.
Now she just has to keep it clean.
From this:
To this:
a handy place to put her bags and bits
Love a wall sticker. Especially one for $20 (from Ikea)
We painted chalkboard paint on her cupboard door so she can draw and.....stuff...
Sh choose this wonderful greeny blue colour for a feature wall, and she though of the idea of putting little black boxes on it.
There was a tiny bit of yellow remaining in her bed linen..
The room feels fresher and lighter and more grown up. We re-plastered, got new fans and powerpoints, painted, put in new blinds and curtains, and a few new accessories (thanks Ikea for having matching accessories to tie in with the theme of black/white/trees/birds - does the theme or the availability of the theme at Ikea come first?.....). We completely tidied out her built in cupboard and desk drawers, and de-cluttered. We kept the same furniture, but Chris re-sanded and lacquered the bedside table. So the total cost of re-doing the room was kept to budget.
Now she just has to keep it clean.
Friday, February 7, 2014
shed issues
I have been having a massive declutter at our house, kind of inspired by Jenny, and I decided to start in the shed. I have an old cupboard that is full of boxes with toys and craft supplies. I had carefully put in a drawer some rolls of paper that I thought would come in handy for RE one day. When I was pulling boxes out of the cupboard I opened the the drawer and found this.
Although I also saw a fat rat bottom and seven baby rats.
I quickly closed the drawer and hoped the problem would go away.
It didn't.
Our house is a bit of a rat party frat house, with chicken scraps freely available and beautiful drawers filled with paper to nest in. There is even a macadamia tree next door to collect the tasty tasty nuts.
But I didn't want to live with what was potentially a dozen healthy huge rats in the shed. So we put out rat poison. And then some young male friends 'disposed' of the baby rats quickly and humanely (using such tools as a shovel).
But I had to gird my loins and still clean out the cupboard from the rat infestation. So last weekend I spent five hours de-constructing rat nests, vacuuming up rat poo and cleaning our toy boxes. As I pulled down a suitcase from the top of the cupboard, a rat that had chosen the top of the suitcase as it's final resting place decided to fall on my head. A dead rat shower. I screeched and leapt around the backyard.
I could not shower enough that afternoon.
Our shed is now much cleaner, and I am eagerly awaiting council pickup to throw the cupboard out onto the street.
What we need is a ratting terrior.
I will continue the de-cluttering inside for a while I think.
Although I also saw a fat rat bottom and seven baby rats.
I quickly closed the drawer and hoped the problem would go away.
It didn't.
Our house is a bit of a rat party frat house, with chicken scraps freely available and beautiful drawers filled with paper to nest in. There is even a macadamia tree next door to collect the tasty tasty nuts.
But I didn't want to live with what was potentially a dozen healthy huge rats in the shed. So we put out rat poison. And then some young male friends 'disposed' of the baby rats quickly and humanely (using such tools as a shovel).
But I had to gird my loins and still clean out the cupboard from the rat infestation. So last weekend I spent five hours de-constructing rat nests, vacuuming up rat poo and cleaning our toy boxes. As I pulled down a suitcase from the top of the cupboard, a rat that had chosen the top of the suitcase as it's final resting place decided to fall on my head. A dead rat shower. I screeched and leapt around the backyard.
I could not shower enough that afternoon.
Our shed is now much cleaner, and I am eagerly awaiting council pickup to throw the cupboard out onto the street.
What we need is a ratting terrior.
I will continue the de-cluttering inside for a while I think.
Friday, January 17, 2014
dyeing a bean bag
I deliberately titled this blog post 'dyeing a bean bag' - because the search on google turned up next to nothing on the subject - so I was flying a bit blind here.
We are undertaking the Great Teenage Room Renovation over these summer holidays. The new colours for the oldest daughter's room are white, black, aqua and yellow - as opposed to the colours we had painted it when she was a baby (yellow and bright purple - I thought that was quite dashing and daring for a baby room).
We wanted a chair to go in the corner of the room as a sort of relaxation space - but I kept searching and armchairs are, like, expensive. So I mooched around at council pickup in a neighbouring suburb, vaguely hoping there was a black armchair in perfect condition out the front of someone's house.
No chair - but two perfectly good condition chair shaped bean bags! They didn't even smell weird. The only problem was they were mission seventies brown. I scooped them up and squashed them into the back of the car all over the youngest daughter. The bean bags muffled her complaints.
I was determined to dye them black to match the colour scheme. After fierce consultation with the lady at Spotlight I bought some black iPoly dye - one packet for each bean bag cover.
After rinsing it out heaps I dried my now BLACK bean bag cover outside in the fresh air.
And now it sits in the re-decorated room like it belongs.
Cost - bean bag from council pick up - free!
Dye - about $12
Labour - fun times on the last night of 2013
Sense of smugness - high
Much cheaper than a black armchair.
We are undertaking the Great Teenage Room Renovation over these summer holidays. The new colours for the oldest daughter's room are white, black, aqua and yellow - as opposed to the colours we had painted it when she was a baby (yellow and bright purple - I thought that was quite dashing and daring for a baby room).
We wanted a chair to go in the corner of the room as a sort of relaxation space - but I kept searching and armchairs are, like, expensive. So I mooched around at council pickup in a neighbouring suburb, vaguely hoping there was a black armchair in perfect condition out the front of someone's house.
No chair - but two perfectly good condition chair shaped bean bags! They didn't even smell weird. The only problem was they were mission seventies brown. I scooped them up and squashed them into the back of the car all over the youngest daughter. The bean bags muffled her complaints.
I was determined to dye them black to match the colour scheme. After fierce consultation with the lady at Spotlight I bought some black iPoly dye - one packet for each bean bag cover.
I emptied the beans from the bean bag (NB - do this in the bath so those little pesky yet expensive beans don't fly off everywhere around the house), washed the bean bag covers and then got ready to dye.
Did I mention this is what I did on New Year's Eve? I know how to PARTAY
Here is the original brown bean bag cover.
Fortunately my massive saucepan that I found at a garage sale a few years ago and picked up to use as a prop one day was the perfect size to fit one bean bag cover on the stovetop. I am not sure how else you can boil something for one hour as instructed on the packet.
I boiled the dye, the little packet of dye conditioner, about a cup of salt, a saucepan full of water and the bean bag cover for an hour and a half - stirring it all the time (I sacrificed a wooden spoon to the blackness). It felt quite medieval and smelt.......fairly medieval.
After rinsing it out heaps I dried my now BLACK bean bag cover outside in the fresh air.
And now it sits in the re-decorated room like it belongs.
Cost - bean bag from council pick up - free!
Dye - about $12
Labour - fun times on the last night of 2013
Sense of smugness - high
Much cheaper than a black armchair.
Monday, November 18, 2013
renovation alert
We have promised for a long time that at the end of grade seven Annika could have a room renovation. We said she could choose her own paint etc, and paint over the yellow I chose for the room when she was one.
Original room. When she was a baby there were bumblebees and flowers on the purple wall frieze. Cute. But probably not for a TEENAGER (ok minor freakout that I am going to have a teenager in the house. Breathe. Mask the anxiety by re-doing her room and maybe it will all go away).
The time has come.
(Honestly, you turn your back and children grow and all of a sudden they are in grade seven and demanding fulfillment on promises made about rooms).
Down comes the yellow. Yes we let the girls kick in some of the old plaster walls. I did some with a hammer as well. Supremely satisfying. Then I got thighs of steel by carrying all the plaster outside to the ute up and down the stairs.
In goes the insulation in the walls.
Then we had it re-sheeted and re-plastered. No photos yet....
Stay tuned for awesome teenage room renovation.
It will not look like this:
or this:
Mostly because these bedrooms are really clean. Do actual children live in these? Do they have clothes? Or tiny bits of paper that are "craft"? Or school stuff? Or half completed lego? I scoff at these designer bedrooms.
Scoff.
Original room. When she was a baby there were bumblebees and flowers on the purple wall frieze. Cute. But probably not for a TEENAGER (ok minor freakout that I am going to have a teenager in the house. Breathe. Mask the anxiety by re-doing her room and maybe it will all go away).
The time has come.
(Honestly, you turn your back and children grow and all of a sudden they are in grade seven and demanding fulfillment on promises made about rooms).
Down comes the yellow. Yes we let the girls kick in some of the old plaster walls. I did some with a hammer as well. Supremely satisfying. Then I got thighs of steel by carrying all the plaster outside to the ute up and down the stairs.
In goes the insulation in the walls.
Then we had it re-sheeted and re-plastered. No photos yet....
Stay tuned for awesome teenage room renovation.
It will not look like this:
or this:
Mostly because these bedrooms are really clean. Do actual children live in these? Do they have clothes? Or tiny bits of paper that are "craft"? Or school stuff? Or half completed lego? I scoff at these designer bedrooms.
Scoff.
Friday, August 16, 2013
our bookshelf in the wall
I thought I would write about a favourite part of our house. My bookshelf. I love books, and read QUITE a lot. To support this habit I need fodder - books. To support the books we need shelving. Since I was small I have dreamed of a floor to ceiling bookshelf. Now I am grown up I can make it happen in my house.
About six years ago we decided to make a bookshelf along our corridor. I measured (well, Chris did) and decided it would be too squashy to walk down the hall with a bookshelf running along it. So Chris decided to take off the wall sheeting to see what our studs (up bits) and noggins (across bits) looked like. Wonderfully, the person who had built our house made an excellent hardwood frame straight and true. All we (Chris) had to do was sand back the wood and add some shelves, custom height made to my books.
The shelves are re-used timber from the stage at Festival Hall. There's Beatle spit on that wood. Chris also put white backing on the shelves so we weren't looking at the back of a plasterboard wall. We put in some little lights to jazz it up.
Even these shelves don't hold all of our books, we have another five bookshelves lurking around the house.
I like how anything I chuck on these shelves becomes arty and like it is supposed to be there - can you spot the wool balloon craft from a child, an empty beer bottle, a gyroscope, Nan's crystal, and a tiny lego piano on this shelf? Proof I took the photo just how the shelf is today - without tidying it up.
I like that my house is a collection of found things that have meaning. Not stylish, but comfortable and interesting.
Like our bookshelf in the wall.
About six years ago we decided to make a bookshelf along our corridor. I measured (well, Chris did) and decided it would be too squashy to walk down the hall with a bookshelf running along it. So Chris decided to take off the wall sheeting to see what our studs (up bits) and noggins (across bits) looked like. Wonderfully, the person who had built our house made an excellent hardwood frame straight and true. All we (Chris) had to do was sand back the wood and add some shelves, custom height made to my books.
The shelves are re-used timber from the stage at Festival Hall. There's Beatle spit on that wood. Chris also put white backing on the shelves so we weren't looking at the back of a plasterboard wall. We put in some little lights to jazz it up.
Even these shelves don't hold all of our books, we have another five bookshelves lurking around the house.
I like how anything I chuck on these shelves becomes arty and like it is supposed to be there - can you spot the wool balloon craft from a child, an empty beer bottle, a gyroscope, Nan's crystal, and a tiny lego piano on this shelf? Proof I took the photo just how the shelf is today - without tidying it up.
I like that my house is a collection of found things that have meaning. Not stylish, but comfortable and interesting.
Like our bookshelf in the wall.
Friday, August 9, 2013
ladder in the kitchen
I found an old wooden ladder on council pickup on our street. I dragged it home and said to Chris with eyes full of designer dreams - let's put it in the kitchen. Lovely man that he is, he just sanded it, measured where to drill the holes for the screws, and mounted it. He has also replaced the ancient wooden window with a new wooden window. Yay.
Now my (before unrealised) dream of having a ladder in the kitchen has come true.
Before ladder (old kitchen decorating - I had a theme of utensils everywhere)
After ladder mounting. Fun times on a Thursday night.
I had to move my clock from one wall to the other. My eyes keep going to where the clock used to be, only to be met with blank wall NOT telling the time.
Shiny saucepans all hanging in a row!
Not bad for a cheap way to spruce up the kitchen.
Ladder = free
Chains and hooks = $60
Saucepans = from my cupboard
Husband labour.....priceless....
Now my (before unrealised) dream of having a ladder in the kitchen has come true.
Before ladder (old kitchen decorating - I had a theme of utensils everywhere)
After ladder mounting. Fun times on a Thursday night.
I had to move my clock from one wall to the other. My eyes keep going to where the clock used to be, only to be met with blank wall NOT telling the time.
Shiny saucepans all hanging in a row!
Not bad for a cheap way to spruce up the kitchen.
Ladder = free
Chains and hooks = $60
Saucepans = from my cupboard
Husband labour.....priceless....
Thursday, May 3, 2012
job completed
Some people may say I am a little task focused. This is sometimes a good thing, sometimes annoying. But some things you just have to let go for a little while, as they are not a priority. For say, 16 years.
When we first moved into our house we thought we may do something with the driveway.
It was a little rough, every car attempting to enter it scraped the underside, and walking on it in barefeet was tough.
But we learned how to get in and out of it well, toughened up our feet, and watched it flow down the hill in thunderstorms.
Then through a combination of saving and unexpected support we finally had enough to CONCRETE THE SUCKER. (Sorry, got a bit excited).
I have been looking at driveways in Brisbane for, umm, about 15 years, and I have decided the way to go was plain concrete. Everything else grows weeds, gets mouldy and dates. I have had a long research lead time on this one. A longitudinal study of driveways in my neighbourhood. Plain concrete is not trendy. But it cleans up well under high pressure.
So men arrived with a digger. (And a handy skip that I have been throwing stuff into all week).
And some concrete. I sat and watched them while I was eating my cheese toastie for lunch. I made several helpful comments, just to encourage them. Fortunately they were kind and helpful concretors, and did not concrete me into the driveway for being a public nuisance.
They spent ages smoothing it down and making sure it was all tickety-boo. And I am sure they used that phrase - 'Yep Trev - it is at tickety-boo stage, we can call it a day'.
And now we have a lovely smooth driveway to come home to. I almost don't think it is the right house, so attuned am I to the crunch of gravel and the violent rocking of the car as it negotiates the broken footpath.
It is a small thing, but I am thankful. And so are my bare feet.
And my fear of passing pedestrians breaking an ankle on our driveway has subsided. I am sure the postman did a little fist punch of delight as he posted the letters today. He had a smooth run down the hill.
When we first moved into our house we thought we may do something with the driveway.
It was a little rough, every car attempting to enter it scraped the underside, and walking on it in barefeet was tough.
But we learned how to get in and out of it well, toughened up our feet, and watched it flow down the hill in thunderstorms.
Then through a combination of saving and unexpected support we finally had enough to CONCRETE THE SUCKER. (Sorry, got a bit excited).
I have been looking at driveways in Brisbane for, umm, about 15 years, and I have decided the way to go was plain concrete. Everything else grows weeds, gets mouldy and dates. I have had a long research lead time on this one. A longitudinal study of driveways in my neighbourhood. Plain concrete is not trendy. But it cleans up well under high pressure.
So men arrived with a digger. (And a handy skip that I have been throwing stuff into all week).
And some concrete. I sat and watched them while I was eating my cheese toastie for lunch. I made several helpful comments, just to encourage them. Fortunately they were kind and helpful concretors, and did not concrete me into the driveway for being a public nuisance.
They spent ages smoothing it down and making sure it was all tickety-boo. And I am sure they used that phrase - 'Yep Trev - it is at tickety-boo stage, we can call it a day'.
And now we have a lovely smooth driveway to come home to. I almost don't think it is the right house, so attuned am I to the crunch of gravel and the violent rocking of the car as it negotiates the broken footpath.
It is a small thing, but I am thankful. And so are my bare feet.
And my fear of passing pedestrians breaking an ankle on our driveway has subsided. I am sure the postman did a little fist punch of delight as he posted the letters today. He had a smooth run down the hill.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
fencing the property
I have been working on our side fence for a couple of weeks now. With the imminent arrival of a puppy the fence needs to be in tip top shape. Puppy proof. Not vine laden bending over wire that we put in 12 years ago. So I have ripped out the vine and bit by bit taken down the wire fence. It is quite satisfying. The chicken has helped by eating the lizards and termites hiding along the fenceline.
Newsflash - chicken update.
We are down to one chicken now. The other one disappeared. There was a hole in the back fence, a lot of feathers, some blood and no chicken. Somewhere in our neighbourhood a dog is licking its chops.
The remaining chicken seems to be quite content and has started laying again. Although she looks warily at the back corner.
Anyway, I have been working on the fence today. Currently there is no boundary between us and the neighbour. It makes me feel a bit anxious - maybe we enjoy boundaries in our lives. This is my side - that is her side. She is an eighty year old widower. Who knows what sort of trouble she could cause with no fence separating us.
We have decided to outsource the fence building part. Men with machines are much better at digging fence hole posts. I am looking forward to our shiny new wire fence with real posts instead of star pickets.
It's all happening here. And it needs to happen before we go to China!
Newsflash - chicken update.
We are down to one chicken now. The other one disappeared. There was a hole in the back fence, a lot of feathers, some blood and no chicken. Somewhere in our neighbourhood a dog is licking its chops.
The remaining chicken seems to be quite content and has started laying again. Although she looks warily at the back corner.
Anyway, I have been working on the fence today. Currently there is no boundary between us and the neighbour. It makes me feel a bit anxious - maybe we enjoy boundaries in our lives. This is my side - that is her side. She is an eighty year old widower. Who knows what sort of trouble she could cause with no fence separating us.
We have decided to outsource the fence building part. Men with machines are much better at digging fence hole posts. I am looking forward to our shiny new wire fence with real posts instead of star pickets.
It's all happening here. And it needs to happen before we go to China!
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