Another day has dawned!
Good morning everybody! Hope you are all well?

I have a few posts to share with you. These will form part of a story of our house restoration in Aberdeen, Eastern Cape - (South Africa)

 I had to rush down recently to Aberdeen to sort out a problem with an unreliable builder we have. This is about a 7-8 hour drive, so one cannot actually "rush"... and with some of our roads being in such shocking condition, you have to drive carefully and be on the alert at all times! My good friend, Adrie, was my 'assistant'. She helped with the driving and kept me laughing all the way there and back. She's also a 'jack of all trades' and has done a few home restorations and re-sold the said properties. She can work 2 men under the table and is afraid of nothing! She has more energy than me and kept me going when I wanted to lay my paint brush down and park off under the nearest aloe's shade and sing that old song...."Klein Karoo" and ...... think of England!! That Karoo sun and heat is unbeatable!!!

Driving down through the Orange Free State at sunrise....

Anyway, we arrived safely, the problem was dealt with and we spent much time sprucing up the cottage that dad lives in,... plus... squeezed in some time for a quick trip to Mossel Bay to collect an old barber's chair and captain's chest that my hubby bought on our previous trip in Sept last year. All of that in ONE week, you may ask? Yes!! We did!

 Before I left Klerksdorp, I had this signboard made up for dad. He gave the name and I designed the rest. 'Lavender Blue' was the name of a racehorse that he used to bet on in the old days and we thought it suited the cottage as we have so much lavender growing around there.

Dad proudly putting in the last screw of his new sign!

 In this photograph you can see the beautiful new sign and the windows that have been taped up, ready for painting the new 'lavender' colour. The black trimmings were old, shabby and outdated.

Not attractive anymore......

Here Adrie is busy with the front window panes.... already a huge improvement!

I wonder what dad was thinking here.....? these 2 crazy girls have bombarded his place.....
Fortunately he loves the lavender colour and didn't care when his neighbour teased him about it.....Perhaps a jealous old man?

We decided everything needed a 'touch' of lavender. Here I am busy with the flower pots. They also have lavender growing in them!! Lol!!

Sanding is hard work and no good for the finger nails!!

I wanted a "shabby chic" look. Think I got it....

This looks better already....

Dad wondering what's going to happen next.... hhhmmm?........ don't worry dad!! You'll see!!

Well, you've seen the 'before' photos today. Will post the 'after' pics tomorrow.
Have a lovely day!