Blog catchup #3 - Port Fairy transformations

.... in the midst of all our other renovations, G spent a week in Port Fairy and made a start on fixing up our little ugly duckling house there. I caught the train down after work on Friday last week - it was lovely to see G and the dogs again and spend some time getting to know our new cottage.

There are lots of crisp, juicy apples on the ground in the garden, upon which Gus feasted non-stop (I'm not sure that it's good for dogs to eat so many apples, but he just seemed obsessed with them). Each evening we walked across the bridge that spans the little river near the port and let the dogs go totally loopy at the beach. It's a really relaxing place.

We managed to finish painting one room (thanks to G's expert plastering and preparation work). The new paint finish, light shades, wafty sheer curtains and thrifted furniture have transformed a once-glum room into a sunny, peaceful retreat. Nice!

Real estate agent's photo, taken before we bought the house.

 Before: greasy-looking olivey-mustard walls and dark ceiling, too much

furniture and horrible synthetic lace curtains

After: a lighter, softer, less-cluttered style

 little Bracken

 Gus the wise (?!)

 

... again, I didn't have a camera unfortunately (just my phone), so I was unable to capture the light and bright feeling of this room properly. You can see that I did snap our canine helpers though. They pushed in and wanted to take all the attention after waiting patiently in the hallway forever.

We're heading back next weekend; while I gallivant around Warrnambool on a field trip with my post-grad students G plans to make a start on the living room. Now that room needs quite a bit of work, but we'll make it look pretty in the end!

(before we bought it)

* While I wouldn't usually choose a bedframe like the one shown above, we bought the queen-size bed, complete with mattress (in good condition) for only $50!