Tough start to the day after a big night out. Went down to the Richmond Club Hotel to watch Geelong & Hawthorn slug it out in the 2nd AFL qualifying final. Found ourselves in the Corner Public Bar after that til the wee hours. Back to the kitchen this morning to install doors & drawers to cabinets. Max handled the paint & staining.

Max stains & paints open shelves in kitchen 06 Sep 2014.

Wet seal complete on bench-top. Oven & cook-top hooked up. Sink plumbed. Floor done. More drawers in tomorrow.

Fires out.

Steve & Riley in the kitchen right now, fitting off power points & hooking up oven, cook-top & rangehood. Early start this morning. Max got the 2nd coat of wall & ceiling paint on before the guys arrived at 7. When they leave, another coat on the floor & that’s done. Takes about 4 hours to dry. Soon as we can walk on it, 2nd coat of wet-seal on bench tops (ready for tiling) & cupboard doors go on.

Riley & Steve, fitting off power to the kitchen – 05 Sep 2014.

Fires out.

Plumber Stu below – fitting off cook-top & sink yesterday. Just finished with hired floor sander before he arrived.

After that, got up on the roof chasing a leak which has eluded us for months. Repaired some potential trouble-making joins in the box gutter, but don’t know if we’ve nailed it yet. We’ll know soon enough. Here’s a cool pic from the front corner of the roof looking at Melbourne.

Fires out.

Floor sanding in the kitchen yesterday. Putty late in the day, left to dry overnight. More sanding this morning. Plumber arriving at midday to hook up the sink & cook-top. Electrician on Friday to hook up power & fit off. Racing to get floor, walls & ceiling done before he arrives.

Gotta recommend Coats Hire Richmond for the tools we don’t have (sanding machine above). Guys there always friendly, helpful & often cut me some extra time. Good gear too.

Fires out.

Nailed paneling to the kitchen wall yesterday (green timber below). Got it from a demolished wall in the venue a few months ago. Tried to keep as many boards intact during demolition. Wasn’t sure where we’d use them – but they looked too good to smash apart. Finished the wall this morning & started sanding the floor.

Nice working in slightly higher temps & longer daylight.

Fires out.

Guys arrived bright & early Saturday morning to continue with kitchen works. Mick & Larry in the shots below, installing cabinets, bench-tops & shelving.

Today I’ve gotta get paneling up over the raw insulation. Tomorrow, floor sanding.

Fires out.

Shot from above – Max in the ‘beer garden’, taken out kitchen window. Timber pile to the right used to be in the kitchen floor. Back in the 1800’s, the kitchen room was probably a verandah looking out over the original owner’s horse & cart field (before factories & warehouses were built). The floor had a slope for drainage. Been weird til now, walking downhill from the door to the kitchen sink. We’ve removed the sloping timber joists (piled next to Max below) & the floor’s level now.

Max in the ‘beer garden’ 29 Aug 2014.

Building crew back again, 7am tomorrow.

Fires out.

Installed a sink & plumbed the waste pipe today, in one of the rooms behind the venue – a kitchenette / meals area next to a full room which might turn into someone’s studio or office space. My first crack at plumbing, having watched & worked along-side Stu (the real deal) since we’ve been here. Hopefully no nasty leaks spring up. Right now this room contains the only working kitchen in the building. The proper kitchen still being built & out of action for another 2 weeks.

Marty’s plumbing handy-work; new sink in kitchette 26 Aug 2014.

Fires out.

Shot from the vault: November 2010, Cherry Bar, midway through nearly 2 years touring. Didn’t get home (back in our house) til October the following year. Mat Ward took this pic. The Cherry show was the last date on a 3 week Aussie east coast tour, which kicked off after a year overseas. I remember thinking I was slowly losing my mind, not helped by being back in America for another long tour about a month after this show. We had great fun at Cherry all the same. Plenty of guests on stage including Stalk & Campbell on bagpipes.

The On Fires at Cherry Bar Melbourne 2010 – Pic by Mat Ward.

Bookwork kept me from working on the venue today. Back into it tomorrow.

Fires out.

Mentioned in yesterday’s post – had a big one Friday night. Couple of mates over for a few beers turned into a decent jam session. At some point, thought I’d wonder across the street to the new barbecue joint – Blue Bonnet. Hadn’t been in yet – said hello to the head chef & told him about the new venue etc. Probably shouldn’t have been so under the weather for first introduction. Asked if the guys could make a platter with a few different things on it. Due to amazing generosity, returned with a massive platter of barbecued meats, sausages, potatoes etc.

Blue Bonnet Barbecue, 187 Johnston Street Collingwood – pic from their website.

The food was insanely good. Mates TC and particularly Craigie went on feast frenzy – the latter walking around stuffing his face, cave-man style with a lump of steak half the size of his head, saying “this is the best barbecue I’ve ever had”. Can’t recommend the place highly enough – Blue Bonnet Barbecue. Food is exquisite & the restaurant is pumping already (been going maybe less than a month). Really nice atmosphere in there too (low lighting). Jam sesh & beers continued til the wee hours, making for a hard start 7am Saturday working on the kitchen.

Well worth the pain.
Fires out.