'Welcome to The Hedge, Mum speaking. You've heard the Guest Bathroom will be completed by Christmas & you want to book the adjoining Guest Suite for 3 weeks instead of heading off to Asia back-packing. OK sweetie, I can only give you the nights of Dec. 25 & 26, & then you'll have to check out. But you can have the room again from Jan. 3rd. Look mate, I know you're driving all the way from Melbourne, but I don't appreciate being yelled at, try our affiliated property, The Brothers Boutique Hotel. But you'd better be quick as I've just told one of your other brothers to contact them pronto - good luck.'
'Welcome to The Hedge, Millie speaking. You're wanting to confirm your Christmas booking, just let me check. Yes, I have you in the Guest Suite from Dec. 27th to Jan. 2nd. There will be a small surcharge for that room, as I've had to decline 2 other bookings in favour of yours. But as you are my favourite Sister-In-Law, I'll throw in a few free meals to sweeten the deal. Yes, I'll try to make sure your brother MOTH The Christmas Grinch is over his Holiday Season grumpy funk before you arrive, but I can't promise anything.'
'Welcome to The Hedge, Mum speaking. You're wanting to book the Guest Suite from Dec. 24th to Dec. 30th, even after swearing back & blue last week you wouldn't be coming home this Christmas from Melbourne? You've got to be joking buddy! Brother #3 has got it for 2 nights, then Brother #2 has a confirmed booking & then your favourite Auntie from Melbourne & her new bloke are long-term guests until the New Year. No need to get abusive, yes you are Son #1 & yes we do love you, but you've left your run too late. Contact our affiliate, The Brothers Boutique Hotel, I hear they may have a spot on their sofa available - good luck.'
Pass the Christmas bookings spreadsheet Basil, this is truly doing my head in!!!
Golf is good for you. Marta Mamani, an Aymara indigenous woman, hits a drive during her work break at La Paz Golf Club, Bolivia. I'm off to do my Marta thing this weekend - YAY!
While I refuse to let any thoughts of Christmas enter my head just yet, I have started thinking about the long Summer days after. We're not heading to the beach this year, as we want to save our pennies for our big trip away next May (yes, it's been postponed from this year due to a certain Serial Renovator taking on too many new client projects!). MOTH's not taking any time off from work, so after all our house guests depart in early January, it's just me at home at The Hedge - & I find that prospect absolutely delicious! However, I need to have a couple of projects on the go, & thanks to 2 of my dearest blog chums, I've been inspired.
Dear Willow has recently given the c.1983 china cabinet in her Dining Room the big make-over. Doesn't it look gorgeous all black & elegant & very schmicko!
Here's her Before shot. She noted in her post ' Here it is full of a hodge-podge-lodge of doily-lady stuff. I removed the top shelf in the center section, added the resident manor rooster and random stacks of vintage red books.'
And here is mine. Purchased in the same year, on the other side of the world. It has served me very well, but I've looked at it for ages now, wandering what I can do to tart it up. And thanks to Willow's brilliant idea, it's going to get similar treatment!
The delightful Deborah at Boxwood Terrace has also been busy with the sandpaper & paint brush. She added a glazed finish to her 2 bedside tables, the Before is on the left, with the ever-so-pretty After on the right. In her post here, she also introduced us to Stephanie from me and mrs. jones painted finishes. I have been stalking Stephanie's blog archives ever since for tips & hints of the trade!
Here's our bedside tables in their current state - very average, & now, since our bedroom makeover, looking positively dodgey. I think they'll respond very nicely to a new look once I've attacked them with the sandpaper. So they'll get hauled out to the back verandah too, along with the china cabinet. So that's the first 3 weeks of January 2011 accounted for I reckon. The only thing not to come out of this with any dignity will be my poor old fingernails. Off to book an After-Sanding manicure now!
Unlike other years, there was no sign yesterday morning of either party. MOTH thinks they headed off to a stand of eucalypts next door to bask in the afterglow & sleep it off. As we are desperate for a peaceful night's sleep, we are hoping that Barry has weaved his magic & all this loud, amorous cavorting is well & truly over for another year!
I've told MOTH to make sure the private jet & cheque book are both fired up on November 16th, as he will need to be in Geneva for Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels auction. He's long promised me a pink diamond & he has the perfect opportunity here. The highlight of the auction is this fancy intense pink round-cornered emerald-shaped rectangular step-cut VVS2 diamond weighing 24.78 carats set between shield-shaped diamond shoulders in platinum as a ring. The stone is type 11a - stones in this group are chemically the purest of all diamond crystals & have extraordinary optical transparency. Estimated sale price is USD/AUD38.39m.
I'm also on the look-out for a necklace to match a new little black dress I've purchased recently. This 'V' shaped diamond necklace set with baguette & tapered baguette diamonds, suspending fringes of graduated brilliant & circular cut cushion-shaped diamonds, the larger ones measuring 8.65 & 11.35 carats mounted in platinum will do just fine. Estimated sale price is USD/AUD329,000.
And the Grand Prize? As a bonus you & the other 3,298 passengers will be able to take a free future cruise of equal value courtesy of CCL.
MOTH has always maintained that he would rather endure open heart surgery without an anaesthetic than be dragged onto a cruise ship. I've always thought he was being a bit unkind, but today I reckon he's not far off the mark.
A gorgeous modern European kitchen tucked inside a small vintage cottage!
Cupboards on wheels, open shelving & a fabulous bank of cooking books in easy reach.
And look what's behind those cupboard doors! A clever, clever design eschewing built-in cabinetry. I think it works a treat, what do you think?
The renovation has reinstated the house’s original presence by restoring the porch & widow's walk & re-situating the front door, while adding a rear modern garden pavilion.
A glass connector lightly joins the two structures.
The new pavilion incorporates the stunning kitchen, dining & informal living areas on the ground floor.
And a new master suite on the floor above.
Contemporary styling in the formal Living Room at the front of the house.
Light filled, slick, spacious & eminently liveable interiors make this is a very special home.
My 6 guests have shaped my working life like no others. A day doesn't go past when I don't think of them & their pioneering courage & achievements all mixed with a high degree of chutzpah. And as today is the 115th Anniversary of the discovery of X-Rays, it's the perfect day for this post!
As it all started with Wilhelm Roentgen (1845-1923), he will have pride of place at my table. A mechanical engineer & physicist, his work on cathode rays led him to observe that objects of different thicknesses interposed in the path of these rays showed variable transparency to them when recorded on a photographic plate. On the evening of November 8, 1895 he immobilised the hand of his wife Anna in the path of the rays over a photographic plate, & observed after development of the plate, an image of the bones of her hand and that of a ring she was wearing. This was the first röntgenogram ever taken & because their nature was then unknown, he gave them the name X-rays (X=unknown). He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1901 for his achievement.
