Love The One You're With

Geez you guys......honestly. I've just had a quick squizz at all your Valentine's Day posts & really, how good are they! Here's my woeful effort, but it makes me happier than I can describe. MOTH took the morning off to finish all the tax stuff for the Accountant & decided to stay at home for the rest of the day to sand & paint......& sand & paint. And he's just wandered back from the garden with our first Tuberose of the year. The aroma drifting from that beauty even knocks out the fresh paint smell. Do you remember the story behind the Tuberose? If you need a refresher I've dug it out from the archives & it's here. I think I needed to grow a plait at the time for the flower to have its maximum effect. And hasn't that happened NOT!

And a big thanks to Chris at Locavore for springing MOTH from the Valentine's Day sin bin. A table for two at 7.30p.m. miraculously appeared this morning & he has redeemed himself big time. Anyhoo dear Hedgies, whatever you're doing today & whoever you're doing it with, I hope you are surrounded by lots of love. XXX's from The Hedge.

Birch/Laurel Loop

Another quiet couple of weeks at The Hedge the blog, but behind The Hedge it's been pandemonium! A nightmare week at work with everything that could have gone wrong doing just that & MOTH's crook back still giving him heaps. We've just got back from our Sunday walk & I thought you'd like to see where we've been.

A couple of years ago I took you with me on my regular walking route on a hot Summer day. The foliage on the trees obstructed the view of most of the gorgeous houses, but today Winter's last hurrah means that the houses can be seen in all their glory! St. Vigean's is the jewel in the crown & the first house on the Birch Road/Laurel Road loop.

Love that verandah & the decorative wrought iron to bits!

Yep, it's MOTH & Lulu out enjoying the Hills air.

There are still lots of Winter creeks running on properties.

Here's Dunfuin in all it's Edwardian glory.

It's probably still too cold for sitting out on the verandah with a late afternoon G&T.

I'm always captivated by the terracotta tile work on Dunfuin's roof.

Oak Tree House is quite a different style for the area.

But still very pretty in it's unique way.

My favourite style of Hills gate.

As MOTH would say 'There's a heap of Angry Pantha's happening there Mills!'

This incline always gets the heart racing.

Copperfield & the resident guard cat.

What's got MOTH's attention?

The enclosed deck on this house that's just been completed. MOTH's been watching the Builder's do their thing & taking notes for months.

And here's my very favourite house Redwalls.

Complete with quite the most amazing clipped Ivy bank I've ever seen.

And matching detached garage.

Round the bend into a part of the loop where the houses are of a much older vintage.

I don't know the name of this house, but it's on a huge piece of land & a massive amount of restoration has been conducted over the past few years. If it's yours, do let us know!

Byethorne Lodge sits next to it.

It must have been the Gate House for the previous house & I've always thought what a wonderful little Hills retreat it would make.

Love Stirling's tall trees & the other 2 in this pic as well!

Another Winter creek on the way home.

Our neighbour's sweet little cottage.

Home again - & yes, it's camelia time here at The Hedge & one of my faves by the front door. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that it's goat curry for dinner here tonight. I'll tweet later & let you know how it tasted. I've only cooked with goat once before, so I had to wing it a bit with this one, but as I opened the door, the aroma drifting up from the slow cooker certainly indicates it will be OK! Have a wonderful week dear Hedgies.

Goodbye Spring

It's November 30th, the last day of Spring & last night it was freezing here in the Hills! We had to light the fire again in the Living Room to keep warm, & I cranked the electric blanket up to 9 before I hopped into bed. The first day of Summer is tomorrow & I want to start eating outside again, just like this gorgeous image from Eva Kylland - bring it on!

Our Local

Two very memorable things happened in the little village of Stirling in June 2006 - we moved up from the City & the Pub received a fabulous make-over. One is slightly more impressive than the other & I'll leave that for you to decide!

Since then MOTH & I have had many relaxed nights enjoying a wonderful dinner in the casual Bistro.

Or with a pint by the fire in the Front Bar, followed by the compulsory game of pool before stumbling home.

And the occasional special dinner in the flash Mallee Grill restaurant.

MOTH's well-known in the fabulous adjoining Bottle Shop, occasionally needing a red card flashed at him to let him know he's overstayed his welcome at the Tasting table.

Now Brett & Sarah the owners have responded to the acute shortage of decent accommodation in town by wandering upstairs & giving all the unused rooms a new lease of life. They have called their venture 5 Rooms - & that's exactly what it is. 5 simple but elegant suites with king-sized beds, luxury linen, i-Pod docking stations, double showers, spa baths, etc. All rooms share a cute little kitchen with a big espresso machine. 3 rooms have open fireplaces & french doors opening out onto the sweeping upstairs balcony.

We've spent many a happy warm Summer's night propped up out the front of The Stirling. Some nights, we even walk the 1/2km., but MOTH needs to lead the way home with a torch, as once away from the main street, there isn't any street lighting, so finding our front door is quite a challenge! So if you are heading up our way, I hope you stop at The Stirling, & maybe even give one of the 5 Rooms a spin.
Images: The Stirling Hotel

Question Time

The Guest Room - After

In one of last week's posts I threw in a picture of our old house. I really enjoyed all your comments, but one in particular has caused me to do a lot of mulling over the weekend.

'Ok Millie what do you prefer your old place or new. How about posting some photo's of the interiors then we can get an idea of your style. I know it's going to be classy. What you like is hard to pick from your blog. Kind Regards Karen.'

Well Karen, it's true confession time - I just don't have a definable style, I used to but no more! This weird & wonderful house c.1972 has thrown any chance of that out of the window. Despite extensive research, that one fantastic reference book 'Decorating & design tips for bringing a 1970's house kicking & screaming into the 00's' has eluded me. We purchased for the fantastic location & the big rambling garden, & we always knew the house was going to be a 'challenge'.

So in looking for an answer to the question, I thought it may be time to post the pics on our very recent Guest Room renovation. I haven't added all the final touches (large mirror still at the Framers, comfy chair for the corner still not found, but I know what I want & a few more prints waiting to be attended to ). Oh, & a padded headboard for the bed on the sooner-than-later Wish List- so please be kind! Unlike our previous house, where because of its 1899 vintage it very much dictated to us, this time it's our turn to dictate our needs & wants to this house.

Regular readers at The Hedge know that this renovation is ongoing & huge - with every room needing major work & the kitchen & 2 bathrooms total gut & replace jobs. We have a strict budget to work within, so I've tried to reuse furniture from our old house, most times stripping, repainting & adding new hardware. However, our main objectives are:

• To banish the dark, cave-like feel that all the rooms in the house had due to the dark exposed brickwork & varnished woodwork.


• To let the grounds & garden be the star of each room. The large expanses of glass allow for this, so we wanted to create simple, unfussy interiors.

And we're doing it ourselves without any outside assistance (other than electrics & plumbing)MOTH's done it all when he's had a spare moment from work & with me acting as his builder's labourer.

I'd like to revisit the question in another year, with more rooms complete it will be interesting to see if my answer is more definitive & maybe even half-pie sensible!

The Guest Room - Before (as we saw it on the first day with the previous Owners stuff.)

MOTH's first job in this room was to pull up the disgusting carpet!

Dark, grotty & cave-like.

Like all the other rooms, it had a 1970-style sloping ceiling with exposed beams.

While pretty ugly, the built-in wardrobe was functional & very well built, so MOTH saved it, but relocated it to another wall.

MOTH had been pondering the ceiling for some time, & about a second after I took this pic, he turned to me & said "That's it, I've decided to build a new frame, drop the ceiling & install down-lights.' And so he did!

So here it is almost complete, with new curtains & carpet. The blanket box (a must for chilly Hills living!) on the left has received a Millie make-over. It was the boy's toy box for ever & ever & I just repainted it from a yukky reddish-brown.

I picked the first camelias for the year from our garden yesterday. A padded headboard will set this wall off a treat.

I gave these prints from our old house a make-over with simple black frames from IKEA. The bedside table is nearly 30 years old, was a light brown with doors & scrolly-things which I ripped off in a fit of pique one day. It held the sound system in our old house & I hated it, but once I stripped it & repainted it, I think its found its niche. The external shutters will get a paint once we get to do some outside renovations.

The wardrobe relocated by MOTH. Once he'd moved it, the whole room changed for the better & I was really able to place the furniture exactly as I wanted. He built a bulkhead at the top & is still thinking about how to finish it off, so it's still a work in progress.