Winter Sun

Max Pritchard is a living legend - one of South Australia's best architects, I would sell MOTH, all five kids + puppy Lulu in a heartbeat to live in one of his houses. A neighbour around the corner had a devastating fire a couple of years ago, which destroyed a 2-storey section of their house. In rebuilding they opted for a modern addition, rather than the safer option of a heritage rebuild.

To quote Max: 

" A steel & glass addition to a grand heritage home provides light, winter sun, modern comfort & beautiful garden views." 

Here a courtyard separates heritage from the modern, linked by a glazed walkway. 

Precise detailing with black framing & dark grey fibre cement & iron allow the addition to complement the original heritage house but present as a crisp, timeless structure in a lush garden setting.

A portion of stone wall from the fire-damaged section of the house has been retained & restored completing the enclosure of the courtyard.

I love it, but what do you think? And before you ask, things are still crazy here at The Hedge. Work is still occupying 50+ hours of my time each week & leaves me exhausted & cranky. I'm just keeping my head above water. Gracie is going to a big sister in August with another baby on the way for her surprised Mum & Dad. We are excited!! 

 A  separates heritage from the modern, linked by a glazed walkway. A portion of s

Photovoltaic cells on the north facing roof of the addition provide much of the power needs.

Images: Max |Pritchard

Images: Sam Noonan

Valentine's Day In The Bedroom

Long-suffering readers of The Hedge are well aware that this 70's house is full of weird architectural foibles. Beams traverse every single room & when we moved in 8 years ago, they were still in their rough, raw, murky brown, untouched state. They aren't just one big piece of timber, which quite frankly would have been a dream to deal with. Oh no, they all are 2 big individual timber planks bolted together & that creates one major problem, they are open at the bottom, just as these images from the main bedroom illustrate.

This has given every spider & bug within a 20 km radius an open invitation to set up home & we are fed up. MOTH's given up counting how many times something furry has dropped into his open mouth in the middle of the night during one of his snoring sessions. So 7 weeks ago, after a particularly nasty incident, he had a hissy fit & decided to seal up the bottom of them all, starting in the main bedroom. Uttering those famous last words, 'I'll crack on Mills & get it done over the weekend', 7 weeks later he's just finished. 

  

And this is the reason the job has gone on so long......these windows. Again a foible of an architect smoking something not bought in a flip packet over the counter we reckon. Every bedroom & the family room upstairs has this weird arrangement, a bank of 3 windows which pull out for airflow. All well & good you may say, except over the years the timber has become water damaged, swollen & rotten & impossible to open. There is a big window at the bottom that is easy to open & lets in the cool breezes, so we could really do without the top 3.

And just like the open-bottomed beams, they have become an absolute haven for the extended family of the spiders & bugs already warm & cosy. So just as he was finishing, he came hurtling out of the bedroom waving his arms. 'That's it, I'm gonna shove a big piece of plasterboard over those windows & don't say a thing Mills!' 

And so he did, during the longest, most intense heatwave we've had in 120 years! 

The beams are so much better, these are the ones directly over the bed head. No more screeching MOTH in the middle of the night.

The bit over the curtains is much improved, good job mate. 

 Enclosed beams = happy Millie.

While he was on a roll, he also ripped out the glass window over the door leading to the dodgy en-suite (that baby's the next project!!) & replaced it. A fiddly project, but well worth the effort. Ta mate.    

And on a really exciting note to end, The Hedge has another engagement. Son #3 popped the question to his girl while on a trip to the Grand Canyon on Thursday & she said yes! So it looks like we'll have 2 weddings this year, yippee!! It's the weekend dear Hedgies, so go enjoy. xx

Sunday Lunch

Care to join me for Sunday lunch here - it's gorgeous isn't it! We could probably give the throw rugs the flicko though, it's way too hot for those. It's been a silly week - an 0330 start on Wednesday morning, a long drive to the Airport, the first plane to Sydney, the train into Central, then a long train trip up to Leura in the grey, misty cool Blue Mountains, just to attend the last session of a Divisional meeting. Then up at sparrows the next morning, a long, long road trip to the Airport, the plane to Adelaide & back at work by lunch time. I couldn't go earlier as there was an elective case to support here on Tuesday, but really, did I need to go for just an hour??!! The things we subject ourselves to.........

It's the Australia Day Long Weekend here but I'm working, as an emergency case has appeared. But gosh Sunday lunch looks appealing, what should we talk about? I'd love to know what you have planned for 2104 - travel, work stuff, new goals. And you know, I always reckon a long comment is a good comment!! It's the weekend dear Hedgies, so go enjoy! 

A New Year At The Hedge

It's high time to rid your blog rolls of the Hedge's Merry Christmas post, so just a quick update on what's been happening here.

• Chrissie came & went in a flash & baby Gracie now has a direct line to Peppa Pig via her new Peppa cell phone.
• MOTH & I hopped in the car on Boxing Day & drove to Melbourne. It's a long 7 hour drive & by Bordertown we've well & truly run out of things to say to each other. But this year was a breeze thanks to Pinterest & the great 4G network on my phone. I managed to add a further 1,278 pins to my account on the trip over & back......how good is that! 
• We did Chrissie Mk11 with MOTH's family, caught up with our mob of lovely Melbourne friends, spent quality time with the 3 Melbourne sons & hit the post-Chrissie sales with a vengeance (well at least I did!)
• Work has been full-on since the 2nd week of the year, lots of nerve-racking, complex cases to welcome me back. I just want it to get easier......
• We've just lived through one of the worst heat-waves in decades, think 5 days + of unrelenting 110-115F. The poor Hills wild-life really suffers in this weather, this photo of a koala trying to find some shade on the verandah roof of my favourite store Maple, in Stirling's main street sums up how we all felt on Day 6.
• A shiny new PC has been installed on the desk at home, I'm optimistic that it may provide me with the impetus to post more regularly, although I think I just heard a collective global laugh from Hedgies everywhere!
• The main bedroom has been totally out of commission for nearly 3 weeks. As usual, what started out as a small 2 hour job, has turned into the full catastrophe. It's too complicated to explain now......pics & an explanation to follow soon.
• The birthday fairy waved her wand at me & added another year to my passport.
• Sadly, no offers for full-time work in the media have been forthcoming since I dropped that less-than subtle hint in my Chrissie post. MOTH's offered to act as my appointment maker, so Helen McCabe from Bauer Media's PA had better be prepared for the call from His Smoothness. Although I'm not sure his opening line of 'Gidday love, MOTH here, put me through to Hels will ya.' will achieve the desired result!
• How are things in your world?