This is why sometimes, things just don't happen

Yesterday, on the bus coming home from work, I contemplated if I had the energy to restart my Finish it off Friday challenge this week. And decided that I could start it properly next week and just have fun this week.

But when I got home, I did pull out the wooden bookmarks I bought in January in preparation.

This afternoon I saw them on the work table and idly wondered if perhaps they might work around the edge of the Lori Loft mezzanine level*.

 Having decided that the answer was no, I went in hunt of the miniature hinges I knew I bought at this year's Canberra show to put with the panels ready to go on Friday (if not before).

And then I spotted these windows, which you might remember from my Airbnb apartment back in December, and thought they just might work...

 ...except that when I was testing them, I realised they'd probably look better as actual windows (and, at the same time, solve another problem I had with the loft).

Now what was it I was doing again?

On a completely unrelated note, I popped into the Typo factory outlet this morning and picked up a macro lens for a mobile phone from their scratch and dent table. For $1, I thought it was worth the risk that it wouldn't work. But look!

(*Seems someone didn't go home last night...)

Friday night. Finished. And off.

Since Wendy and I took possession of our new space (was it only a couple of days ago?) we've not done much to the structure apart from ripping out the kitchen and installing a very temporary solution to rectify the staircase issue in the short term.

Oh, and moving in a selection of our basic shop fittings and office furniture.

But it's 5 pm on Friday, so high time we christened the new space. Cheers!

Bobbing along

While Wendy ponders the options for our new miniature acquisition, I took the opportunity to continue my (long standing) task of clearing out my laptop's hard drive before it declares itself completely full and falls over.

In the process I found a very large folder of photos I'd taken while in New Zealand in December 2015 (a trip that, it seems, didn't even rate a mention here. Perhaps that's the reason I didn't blog them back then?)

I wonder if another reason I didn't blog them was that some were rather fuzzy. But I've decided that fuzzy is better than not seen at all, and so, may I present an exhibition including the work of Bob Gerrard?

The Parental Units and I stumbled across this exhibition on our standard trip to The Dowse in Lower Hutt:

The contents of the exhibition, although not quite my usual sphere of interest, were worthy of quite a few photos:

(I've since consulted Google and came up with some background information, which may be of interest...)

 

Also in the exhibition were a number of paintings that the artist had made 

 some of which had a miniature bent to them...

And if that wasn't enough, we also found the following miniature works on display:

 Helen O'Connor, The Tin Years (2003),

 Jim Cooper, Lovely Jesus (2006), and

 Kate Fitzharris, I'm listening (2013).

The property tour

Bright and early this morning, I met my trusty assistant to check out the new property.

We liked the cool modern look of the entrance,

and Wendy was keen to check out the inside.

The full-length two-storey corner window met with her approval,

as did the light-coloured wooden flooring throughout the ground floor area. Perfect for either a shop or a gallery, she thought.

But the stairs were a problem, with the first step right up against the front wall (which also created dead space by the windows: not too much of an issue for us, as it can be used as a display space).

 More worryingly, the stairs don't meet code, with no railings and therefore very dangerous if someone trips. A real problem for us, as we saw the mezzanine space as the perfect spot for the office. We won't even mention the danger of falling from the second set up to the roof!

Similarly, the mezzanine edge is far too low to be safe.

Wendy was quite perplexed at the design of the windows on the mezzanine, pointing out that she couldn't see out from a standing position, but that it would probably be OK when sitting at a desk.(She didn't even mention the hazard of the opening from the roof..)

Similarly the windows under the mezzanine were quite high as well: not an issue for us as we're planning to fill them with either glass bricks or frosted glass to control the amount of light. 

Finally, Wendy (carefully) made her way up to the roof terrace. But she refused to climb onto it as the lack of barriers and the nearness of the edge to the top of the stairs made her feel quite unsafe going any further.

After returning to the safety of the ground floor she asked me what I thought.

I mentioned that what I found most perplexing about the building was that the designers managed to create the paper for the outside and the floor to scale, but chose a very out-of scale and fake-looking wood grain for the inside walls, when they could have quite as easily used something much more suitable.

I also told her that I thought the rounded corners on the unglazed windows are going to be a challenge for us,

and wished that the front edges had been better finished.

But, on the whole, Wendy and I decided that we are both very satisfied and can't wait to get started on our new project!

(As an aside, I note that the house is mainly held together with screws. If you have a Lori Loft to Love, I'd love to hear if you've been brave enough to unscrew it and if you have any tips: I'm thinking that recovering or painting the inside would be much easier if the pieces were flat, but have a fear that once I unscrew it I'll never get it back together again...)

My financial planner said I needed to buy a property before I retire...

so, of course, I did what he said.

*Ahem*

I first discovered the Lori Loft to Love dolls' house in late 2015/ early 2016 via Modern Mini Houses and  Call of the Small. Of course, it wasn't available in Australia and when I checked eBay, it was going to cost me in the vicinity of AU$500 to buy and get a house originally priced at US$49.95 delivered to me. So I decided it was not to be.

Then, interestingly, earlier this year I discovered my local Kmart had some of the range. But not the loft. But it gave me hope.

Finally, about a month ago, I was surprised to stumble across a local listing at a price I could cope with.

Which led to a few weeks of trying to convince myself that it wasn't in my deposit-building budget. I didn't really need it. And I should probably finish some of my other dangling projects first.

And then my love of creative accounting took over.

I bought it. (And didn't feel one jot of guilt).

Inspired by Allie's House on Instagram, I'm wanting to turn this into a miniature gallery and possibly a permanent home for my pop-up shop series.

I'm also hoping this will give me a much-needed kick in the pants to start blogging again.

On that note, I asked my boss for (little) house-moving leave. And so I have tomorrow off and plan to do a review of the structure, plus start working on its transformation.