Friday, May 22, 2009

Barton Caroline's Super de Luxe 1980s

The Swan family have just taken possession of their new house. They have a growing family, and this large and commodious residence will give them plenty of room to expand. Buying a house is very expensive, but how could they resist it, when it is decorated throughout with the bird they are named after?


Anyone familiar with this house design will notice that this one has new roofing. Colourbond corrugated steel roofing has replaced the original tiles - perhaps because the combination of bricks and tile was too heavy for the soil it stands on.
(Actually, the corrugated cardboard has been stuck on over the paper tiling. It does give it a very Australian touch.)

The house will need some repairs before they move in. There are a couple of windows missing, and Mr Swan is concerned that the roof is not very secure, and might blow off in a gale.


Mrs Swan would like new carpet, as the floors are rather scuffed. Front and back doors would be nice too, although when so many rooms are completely open, perhaps they are a bit superfluous. Still, it would be nice to have a front door to welcome guests through.


More essential, with small children, are banisters on the stairs:


Still, it's a very nice house, and they hope they can move in soon. They would like to go straight out and buy modern furniture for it, but the costs of transferring ownership, on top of the cost of the house itself, mean that they will have to economise for a while. They will make do with their old furniture, and rent anything else they need from Tim's Secondhand Furniture Store.

3 comments:

  1. This house is so nice, and I love that the Swans are moving into a "Swan house"!
    The ornaments are really beautiful and if I (or my dolls) were ever to buy a Barton house, this would be the one!
    Hope their economy improves so they can start buying new furniture for their home! I understand that the costs of transferring ownership can be very high when living in Australia, but Tim's Secondhand Furniture Store has an excellent assortment and I'm sure can provide them with all they need!

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  2. Thank you, Helene! Yes, even within Australia, costs are very high. I was tempted to buy one of these houses from the UK. This house was much cheaper, but the seller offered collection only, so I used a company that packs as well as freights, which was much more expensive than just paying for the freight. I think it was less expensive than buying the UK one, though!
    I'll see what Tim's can offer, and post some pictures!
    ps I hope your dolls have recovered from all the excitements of Eurovision and the National Day. I didn't watch Eurovision myself (nor did my dolls), but my sister and a lot of facebook friends did.

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  3. Thank you Rebecca, we were all rather exhausted afterwards, but at least Arne Vaa has recovered enough to provide the builders (Helene & Son ltd.) with drawings for the facade, and hopefully I also will post some pictures soon!

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