Curtains from Dad

While the weather is so hot (40 plus degrees) Dad has found it unbearable sleeping in his caravan so relocated to the lakehouse when he is up there.  To help keep the sun off during the day, he installed curtains as well as a roller-blind on the door.

I'm reserving judgment on the curtains stylistically until I see them in person.  Although I'd place bets the frilly lace will not remain for long!  I suspect the long calico will work OK, although it is different in style to the wooden shutters I had been set on.  But I'm grateful for Dad's thoughtfulness and appreciate he needed to get something installed quick.  And if the calico curtains aren't perfect long-term, I'll be able to find somewhere else they could go, and in the meantime they do the job.

What started as a shed is starting to get rather civilised!  :)

The chair bath gets re-enamelled

I posted a few weeks ago about the 1930's chair bath we'd acquired.  It had been sandblasted back to a lovely matte finish, but one that was sadly appearing quite porous.  We researched to find a way to seal it so it could be used without fear of staining and the best option appeared to be to just get it re-enamelled.

I found a company nearby called Refinishing Touch who were able to help.  It turned out to be a more intensive job than I expected -- and more expensive -- but they did a brilliant job so it was well worth it.

First, they created a smooth surface by rubbing back and filling in all the little bumps.  The darker bits in this photo show it while it was drying:

Next came the spraying.  It was ventilated out the back door, with the room sealed off to try and stop the smell of the chemicals coming into the house.  This photo was taken through the window looking into the back room as it wasn't safe to go in while he was spraying without a mask:



It took the best part of a day to do the work, but the finished result is splendid -- all shiny looking like a normal bath finish.  I think it's going to work really well.

Water tanks in the dam

We'd always planned to have some potable water at the lake house (ie: not just from the muddy dam).  Dad's original idea was to run a pipe down from one of the tanks higher up the block, but then he worried the pressure would be too great to leave the line open all the time -- and too costly if the pipe burst and we lost a tank full of water.    So he moved on to plan B, which was to install a small tank standing in the water next to the lakehouse.

To save money Dad made use of tanks we already had on site.  For the stand he used an old metal header tank that came with the Rayburn all those years ago.  It had been damaged in the removal so wasn't suitable to install as a tank again, so this is a good way to recycle.  Then, he balanced a small tank he'd had beside the caravan on top.  It worked out to be the perfect height for the level of the pier.



The plan is to extend the pier at the front so that goes around the tank, and then you will not see the underneath part.  Eventually we will put a small basin and maybe even one of those portable shower bags next to the tank, and wall it off somehow so it's not so obtrusive looking.  I did prefer the way the lakehouse looked originally from the entrance, without the tank, but I think with creativity we can find a way to make this look equally nice.  Of course, this means the lakehouse will eventually get spouting too, so it can keep the tank topped up :)