The Bonded Stores and Brisbane Heritage

A couple of months ago, I heard about the fight to save the Bonded Stores on Facebook. I've since become involved with the Brisbane Heritage group and the fight to save these three beautiful buildings from demolition. 

This is the central building, called O'Reilly's Bonded Stores. 

There's also the Free Stores building...

and Hotpoint House.

A demolition application was made for these buildings late last year and swiftly approved by the Brisbane City Council despite a great level of public support for the campaign to save them - and more than 120 submissions to Council against the demolition.

Brisbane isn't a city famous for its heritage protection. Quite the opposite, actually. But I think it's fair to say that us old-building-lovers thought we'd come further than this.

Demolition may commence at any time. The space the three buildings occupy will then become a temporary park before the future construction of a concrete high-rise.

Brisbane Heritage isn't anti-development. The group  just believes these buildings should be incorporated into future development on the site. They'd make a beautiful foyer, a great venue for restaurants and bars.

I believe old buildings give a city its soul and character. We have so few of them left, it just defies belief that the Bonded Stores aren't deemed worthy of protection and incorporation into the future use of this site.

If you'd like more information or to support the campaign, the links below will take you where you need to go:

Here's the website.

Here's the Facebook page.

Here's the Instagram.

Over to you - do you think the Bonded Stores would be great incorporated into a development on the site? Or do you think they'd be better removed and replaced with something new?

Things You Should Know

Since starting this project, Dan and I have received plenty of advice. We’ve also had plenty of people who’ve told us they’d love to do something similar one day (that is, move out of the city and renovate an old place to raise their kidlet/s in.)

 So, today, we’ve collected a few little insights we’ve learned from our experience so far. Do with them as you will and take them with a grain of salt. Our experience is ours - yours will be equally as unique.

-DIY renovations of old houses are not for the faint hearted. Really, they’re not. You either need to sink a whole lot of time and energy into these houses, or a whole lot of money.  You may end up doing all three anyway. Materials are far more expensive than in newer houses and renovation costs can easily blow out. (VJ timber, I'm looking at you).

- Contrary to what everyone seems to say, acreage within an hour of the CBD can actually be  reasonably priced (this might be more true of Brisbane than Sydney or Melbourne, to be fair...). We had always looked around more expensive acreage areas where getting what we wanted - a large, original Queenslander in a pretty spot - was unachievable. We looked at less fashionable acreage areas and found ourselves able to afford what we wanted. Plus, when we got here, we found we weren't the first ones to have the idea. We've found a great little community of like-minded souls at a similar age and stage of life here, too. It suits us just fine.

- If you renovate a Queenslander outside the inner suburbs, there’s a very real chance of over-capitalising. These houses can be complete money pits. Be realistic about what you spend, even if you’re planning on staying awhile. Always keep an eye on what comparable properties in your area are selling for and work out your budget accordingly. 

-Gumtree is your friend. We've found loads of bits and pieces for our house on there. We've also found most of our hedging plants, too.

A Gumtree find - windows for the bathroom.

- When you're planning your move, don't rely solely on www.realestate.com.au to research and find a property. Spend a lot of time driving around instead. Our place had a terrible online ad that we'd skipped over dozens of times (cringing as we did so), but when we drove down a funny little backroad in an area we'd decided we liked, there it was, and (for Dan, at least) it was love at first sight. That said, there are some excellent online tools to help you. www.whereis.com gives really accurate travel times, so you can work out just how far out you're really going. A property may be further out as the crow flies, but have better road infrastructure nearby, which means it's actually closer to your job/family/favourite Chinese takeaway.

Another little farm in our neighbourhood.

- If you want information on a house you're considering, just put its address into Google. You'll be surprised at what might turn up. Usually, you can find information on previous sales listed for that address including dates and prices. And yes, if you go and put your own address into Google now you'll probably be able to find that information, too. Scary, no?

-  Think of your landscaping at the beginning and take time out to plant hedges and trees where you want them to be as soon as you can. Then get on with other things.

- Once you’ve lived with high ceilings, you'll never want to go back to normal height ones. 

- Do your research before committing. According to a fairly grim study by Charles Sturt University, almost 90 percent of 'tree-changers' surveyed in Victoria in 2009 were unhappy with their move and planned to move on within five years. That's terrible odds.

- Prepare to be stunned that, with all the amazing things mankind has invented and done, the whipper snipper is still the favoured method for removing grass in hard-to-reach-places. Whipper snippers are awful, frustrating things.

- Nothing really compares to the contentment of sitting on a verandah on a quiet afternoon, drinking tea and staring into space. If 90 percent of people really regret their tree changes, I seem to know an amazing amount of people from the other 10 percent - ourselves included.

This post was sponsored by Cordell. (Sponsored posts allow us to progress this project just that little bit faster. Yay!)

Apple Green

The other day,  Lucinda's Grandma came to visit and I decided to take some time to do something constructive on the house. I bought a new, extra-large paint scraper and spent a couple of hours continuing the painstaking process that is getting rid of the crumbly pink acrylic paint from the master bedroom.

The old paint fell away in long strips leaving the original lead paint wall behind. It is painted - shock, horror - apple green. 

Up the other end of the house, the ceilings continue to dazzle with their bright white radiance and the apple green walls are slowly disappearing under a layer of white undercoat - a precursor to the light, ever-so-slightly-grey tone I've picked for the walls.

I found myself looking at the cream pendant lights I'd bought for the kitchen and suddenly they were all wrong. I knew I was going to need some colour somewhere in an otherwise very neutral space. I briefly considered painting them bright orange but couldn't kick the feeling that it wouldn't have worked with the era of the house.

So, I took the pendants back to Ikea and exchanged them for apple green ones. 

I couldn't be happier. Our house will continue its love affair with green, just in a much more restrained way.

Rogue Gloria

I should have known that writing the words 'one big happy animal family' would jinx things.

That's how I signed off the last post, voicing my concerns that Pepper would get into the yard and kill the chickens.

Pepper hasn't proved to be a problem at all and the few times she's gotten up close to the chickens now she's been very mild. 

This might be because I misjudged her character or it might be because I ran over her foot the other night. 

Either way, she's been a much calmer presence. Shortly after driving over her foot (full recovery expected) I went to check on Gloria and Eunice. 

I found Gloria perched precariously in a very damaged coop, a flurry of feathers around her. When she got up and moved, I saw she was in fact sitting on top of a two-metre long python.

As someone on Instagram pointed out, she was probably just trying to hold him down until I got there. 

Look, I probably don't need to tell you that the news regarding Eunice isn't good. She had a short life, and I hope she didn't suffer too much at the end, but given the chaos in the coop I fear it wasn't exactly a quick demise. 

Our neighbours were quick to come and take the swollen python for relocation, and bring us a new chicken which Lucinda has christened 'Little Fella'.

When Little Fella was eventually taken to the yard, Gloria was not in a great state of mind. She climbed up on the post in the corner.

Everyone tried to talk her down.

That didn't go so well. 

So began a two-day period where Gloria went rogue, living rough in the out buildings and generally being sighted at unexpected times and places.

I'm happy to report Gloria is now safely back in the yard (well, safe might be overstating things, given the fate of her friend). Little Fella seems to be settling in nicely, the python has been relocated and, for now, things are again peaceful.

Gloria and Eunice

Scooby the pony has been trying to make friends with some of the wallabies that come and share his space in the early mornings.

He's not having much luck, poor old Scooby. Wallabies are pretty haughty souls.

We see a lot of wallabies around here. The road we take into Laidley usually has at least four or five on it. The other morning, on an earlier-than-usual dash down into town, I counted about 30. 

This one even posed for a photo.

They look sweet, but they have terrible road sense. Lu calls them 'karooms' (for kangaroo) and gets very upset when they try and throw themselves under the car.

Meanwhile, after a few last minute additions to the yard yesterday, Lu and I drove up to our neighbour's and picked up a couple of chickens.

This is Eunice. Or Gloria. I can't tell the difference yet. Maybe I never will be able to? They look very similar. 

They're pretty skittish, but I can't say I blame them. Pepper, our fox terrier, has been trying to work out a way into the pen since they arrived. Maisie, the border collie, would be of equal threat but luckily hasn't worked out that the electric dog fence that usually keeps both dogs in the house yard has been down for a couple of weeks. 

The cable is buried underground and the fault could be in a couple of places, so there's another fun job for Dan to sort out in the next couple of weeks.

Maisie now just stands at the boundary and barks like a maniac while Pepper does the canine equivalent of rolling her eyes at her pal's stupidity before taking off down the back paddock to eyeball the cows.

The sheep, whose sleeping quarters (do we have spoiled sheep or what?) are right next door to Eunice and Gloria, were mildly curious about their new neighbours at first, but I think it was more directed at their grain supply than the birds themselves.

So basically, as long as Pepper doesn't find a way into that yard before Dan can fix the dog fence, they're one big happy animal family at the moment.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The Finished Ceiling and Getting Ready For New Arrivals

When I drove in the gate of our place the other night, I was met with the aftermath of 10 days of rain and no mowing. The whole place looked amazingly overgrown and a little wild again and - exhausted from a day's travel with an even more exhausted toddler - I admit it, I felt totally defeated*.

Luckily, I was met at the front gate by my wonderful neighbour who took one look at my face and announced she'd be back the next morning with her fencing supplies. 

"We're going to extend your sheep's paddock so you don't have to mow so much," she said.

(This is why I love living here, folks)

True to form, she was here the next morning with her son and the four of us got to work. 

A few hours later, and the sheep had doubled their living quarters, I've shaved a large chunk of weekly mowing time out, and we're all happy. Well, they're not loving the new electric fence, but they'll get used to it.

My neighbour - I will call her T -  is wonderful at firing me up when it's all getting on top of me.  In fact, she fired me up so much that I called her the next day. 

"I've finally bought a little coop, Lucinda's asleep and I'm going to PUT IT UP."

"You've noticed it's raining, right?" She said. 

I had not. 

I did not care. 

I sat out in a cool drizzle with Dan's drill and built my coop.

When Lucinda woke, she came and inspected and declared herself happy.

And then a lovely afternoon was had chatting with animals, weeding and generally enjoying our lovely property.

And it was good to be home again.

We're going up to another neighbour's tomorrow to pick out some chickens. I'll be sure to introduce you.

PS. Remember that ceiling I've talked about so much? Yeah, that one. Dan finished it. Isn't he clever?

*PPS. It just occurred to me that, with so many people in Queensland suffering under a really nasty drought, whinging about how much rain we've had is a little insensitive... I hope some of it heads inland soon.

Tasmania, Be Tempted

Hello. 

I've been away. 

I've been back in my home state of Tasmania, catching up with family and friends in some of the lovely settings Tassie does so well.

I've been putting my feet up at my Mother's house...

and enjoying the luxury of turfing my child out into the backyard without obsessively checking for snakes first (I know you all think I'm paranoid - but we had a meeting with a large snake shortly before leaving Queensland. It was right next to Lucinda's play things. Lesson for the day - just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you)

And above all, we enjoyed some cracking Tassie weather, a friend's wedding, some excellent food and wine and some serious boat-observing. 

Regular programming is due to resume shortly, once I get through the mountain of laundry and my currently flat post-holiday mood, that is.