Another update

We worked on the toilet and back bedroom at the same time, due to the location. The toilet, as you may remember, had pinky-purple floral paper and a beige radiator. The walls underneath were a kind of yellow and the back of the door was a greeny-yellow.

before

The walls were stripped, cleaned and covered with a mix of paint and sand and this was painted with the Vent de Sable colour from the hallway but at a quarter strength. The light colour is lovely on the walls and it highlights the flecks of stone in the light floor tiles. The radiator was painted white and the paintwork (window and door) have been painted blanc casse - broken white. The ceiling was painted a soft white.

after

tile detail

All together it's a warmer feel and smarter look than before. Just a note that the outside of the door remains as is until we have finished with the new bathroom and toilet as there will be so much mess and we decided to wait until that's finished to decorate the hallway. No pics yet of the bedroom as I still have to do the windows.

We are working like the clappers to get the large dining room done so that when the plumber and builder come in to work on the new bathroom and toilet we can focus on getting those finished - getting there!

who's behind the new door?

Meanwhile the weather has taken yet another lovely turn and it was positively warm today with 22 degrees and Cassy panting and looking for shady spots! Spring is really in the air and the plants - and weeds - are busting into bloom - it's really quite amazing. The change of seasons here is much more dramatic than in NZ (at least Auckland) with the hesitant "shall we flower or shall we wait a bit" feeling. We can expect this weather for the next 10 days or so.

acacia (or mimosa) - classed as a weed here!

erable

planting gladioli bulbs

Lastly, it was Cassy's 8th birthday last week, so on the weekend we decided to give him a nice long walk at one of the local parks. He was having a ball sniffing places he doesn't normally go and suddenly he disappeared from view - just at that moment we realised we were close to the fishing pond.... We heard "quack, quack, quack" and called Cassy back. As we reached the brow of the hill, there he was standing, dripping wet, wagging tail, ducks looking put out and two elderly fishermen further round the pond.... as I slipped Cassy's leash on both Wouter and I tried to look casual as we continued our walk. Needless to say, Cassy had a great time! Luckily for us he didn't try to catch a fish or a duck.