Sunday 28 July 2013

51 weeks to go - Let's Raise the Roof

OK folks, no guesses for what we spent the week doing. Getting this show on the road. As did our beautiful Kate by the way - due to our English heritage birthing family The Heaths there is really no way HH cannot be a royalist now is there?

Our superstar tea cosy spent the week channelling the royal Baby George (and of course enhanced her uniform with baby blue especially for this celebration!)


But there was not a lot of time to celebrate the Royal Baby really, as there was just so much happening at the Green Lady.


And let's not beat around the bush - demolition was the fashion of the week - even HH Favourite Schoolmate and her husband had to don the hard hats to walk around. Things have got serious people!


But not serious enough for me to be satisfied until I had a more fashionable hard hat to wear


And don't even think it is not on order - in fact I ordered 2 - one for PA HH and one for me!
Even visiting HH has become a bit more formal!


There are official meetings




Lots of them!





Even PA HH and I have found a new boardroom table alfresco!



actually most of the house is alfresco - even if you are inside!



I am honestly not sure what Architect HH is smiling about - that is my devastated office he is standing in!  At least it now has a beautiful city view!

  
and overlooks all the main rooms of the roofless house!


Architect HH brought new copies of the revised plans which now proudly take up most of my office wall


 But the real action has been the progressive demolition of the Green Lady's roof    

 

Even when we declared "It's a boy" we also declared "yet more demo".. and it went on...


This was what we have been up to over these last few days


   

And at least 3 skips have been taken away


And we said goodbye to all the old louvres - This was HH then



  and just look at it now



And there were some new faces on site


and some old ones (not so old - just that I have seen them many times before!)



But as the roof came down, what was really confronting was how little the house looked without a roof - just walls and the sky - had another mini breakdown when I had been going so well!

 





To think the ballroom room once looked like this



but no more...






The only hope I had was finding something fabulous under the floorboards which likely have never been touched since 1864


So far nothing I am afraid! A couple of little things but nothing too earth shattering! Just soot, ash.... and more soot and ash!



 


I thought these closeups of the limestone render were quite beautiful though (trying to find at least a small ray of sunshine amongst all the mess)




But in other less depressing construction news.... the documentary film crew paid a visit to capture the roof tearing down action and looked resplendent in their hard hats



The small part of the garden not trampled on has been flourishing






Do you remember my famous visitors Justeen and Geraint Gregory who visited me a few months ago ? Famous because they had written this beautiful book...


Well they held a beautiful afternoon full of history and stories from the local East Brisbane area last weekend at the Shafston Hotel (which has a history corner if you did not already know!)



I was overwhelmed how many people attended - made some lovely new friends and will share their stories with you on this blog in the future.

And in final (and ground breaking news) ... Tea cosy mania continues to spread throughout Brisbane - loved my visit to the beautiful homeware store Vanilla House at the start of the week



and just look at their stock of superior tea cosies on offer



These pure bread elegant cosy queens would certainly whip Superstar Tea Cosy HH into line in no time at all!



What a beautiful store (Like Vanilla House on Facebook here) or better still pay a visit - you won't regret it!  There was no Friday at Four last week (just too busy!) but I will replace a  champagne shot with this quote instead.



and let you in on a little secret that my charity group drank their fair share of the beautiful Egly Ouriet champagne during the week (we pretended to have a meeting too!)
And finished a beautiful night off with these precious espresso darlings!



I really should know better than doing that mid week!
Bye for now - 50 weeks to go ...
x HH



14 comments:

  1. Oh wow! Progress at last. You must be feeling very relieved it's all started... although I can understand your emotional wobbles when the roof came off. Amazing to think what will happen over the next year, and roofs do go on pretty quickly (except mine, but that's another story!), so you'll see some action and feel more positive very quickly.

    Love the relaxed looking site meeting! Garden Lounge chairs?! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love to hear your delayed roof story one day Heidi - keep me posted. Yes it is great, and confronting, but so wonderful to see some progress. Every turn though there seems just mountains of things to do... but at least we are moving in the right direction. Thanks so being interested! x HH

      Delete
  2. Love the pink hard hat!
    So much action at HH!
    The fire devastation shots still fascinate me,you cant believe what the poor building has been through.
    Anyway,it's all moving forward
    Loving all the action filled updates
    Hope this rain stays away so you can stick to schedule.
    Great week to you HH
    X A

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Knew you would love the Hat x A. The rain threatened progress today but we survived and spent the day aggressively cleaning those soot laden bricks - I just love having followers like you to keep the enthusiasm up. Thank you so much x HH

      Delete
  3. “But as the roof came down, what was really confronting was how little the house looked without a roof” - A roofless house kind of creepy to imagine. For me, a house is not a house if it does not have any roof on it. The reason we build house is for shelter, and roof and walls are what should shelter us from the weather. [Pleasance @
    SheltonRoof.com]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. very true! But trusses are going on today so that is very enthusing. It means a roof won't be too far away! x HH

      Delete
  4. Great to hear that for the Hanworth House! Indeed, a house wouldn't be complete without a roof sheltering it – that's just unlivable! Take care of yours once it's complete! Make sure it's insulated and properly maintained for a lasting 'sheltered' life!
    Hugh@RoofXperts.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. will do Hugh. Thanks for the professional advice! xHH

    ReplyDelete
  6. Let me share you a practical advice, Hanworth. Your roof will last longer if you keep up with the routine maintenance. Be preventive, watch out the gutters and don't ignore a single leak! The moist is always the root of deterioration. Also, keep the surface clean and free of dirt and debris. FRANCISCO @ KatchMark.com

    ReplyDelete
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