Almost there...

Argh! It's frustrating when the finish line is in sight but it seems to take forever to cross it. Due to a series of communication snafus, we didn't get any electrical or plumbing work done this week. The sparkies for some reason were under the impression that the job was done, even though the fans, lights and external power points haven't been touched yet. As for the water works, the wrong sink was ordered and would have been far too big for our toilet. At least the electricals should be done tomorrow, but we'll be without down pipes, the sink and the new toilet for a while yet.

There's not much left to do with the actual building. All the doors have been installed now in the store, which is a relief as we can finally lock up the house.



The old front door was sticking a fair bit so we got that replaced too. Since this was pretty much the last bit of work to be done indoors (aside from one more set of light switches), I immediately ripped off all the drop sheets and rolled out the carpet again. It's nice to have the place feel like home again. At least until we have to start painting everything.



To kick the weekend off we started with the final trip to the dump. It was a big load but we got there without incident thanks to John's clever use of rope and a cargo net.



With the rubbish out of the way, we dove into the designated project of the week. In this case the corner garden bed. We knew we'd like to have some shade from here eventually so the big feature will be the red grevillea at the back. It's a little small and whispy now but this should hopefully grow to provide cover. To fill out the rest of the area we planted an assortment of agapanthus, grasses and a giant yucca we had growing in a pot. The old lilly pillies behind may not survive but we're still willing to leave them in and give them a go. Then it was all covered up in our favourite mulch, hoop pine. We think the results are rather fetching.



Next we headed along the retaining wall. To get started, John filled a layer of river rocks to help keep the dirt from seeping through. Then we shovelled in filler from the holes that were dug in the corner garden bed, before topping up with some nicer soil from the landscape suppliers down the road. To break up the wooden fence we planted a line of stripey white liriope. Hopefully they'll spread to meet each other.



Tomorrow should see the last bits of the building finished, as we just have the patio out the back to seal, a few touch ups and the front gate to be rehung. Oh, and the lights of course but we've had our hopes up before. Then it'll just be the plumbing. Come on, let's finish this sucker already!

Some Assembly Required

Not too much work done last week on Thursday and Friday. I was hoping for the lights to be installed by the sparkies in time for the weekend, but I guess they must have hit a snag or two as we could only see a few power points installed and wires tidied up. At least most of the messy work is finished and the utility room is starting to look nicer now that the plastering is done and the skirting boards have been installed. Won't be long before the real doors are put in and that old fly screen can be tossed out.



In between waiting for the plaster to dry, the builders also managed to find time to put up the gate on our storage room so that's now complete and ready to be used. It's currently full of their tools so I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer before chucking my gear in there.



Seeing as we're on the tail end of this whole project, I rolled my sleeves up to get the landing sanded and stained while the builder's decking oil was still available. It's expensive stuff to buy for yourself otherwise! Sanding by hand isn't especially fun but it didn't take as long as I thought it would. It's amazing what a difference it makes too.



A second coat the next day and we have a pretty nice looking spot to sit and have a cuppa in the morning. At least until we get some real furniture for outside.



Since moving into the house we've been struggling with the lack of in built wardrobes in the bedrooms. Up till now we've had to scurry in varying states of undress between rooms to get changed, as we've never had space in the main bedroom to store clothes. Sick of this situation I put my foot down and cajoled Alison into trekking out to Ikea to get some bed side drawers.

We've been looking around for a while and this set of two fit the room perfectly. As a bonus the tall skinny one has a mirror on a hinge for morning tie routines. One of the few bits of Swedish furniture we've bought that didn't need an alan key, just stupidly difficult screws to drill into wood. I have a corker of a blister now to show for my efforts.



In hindsight, I think we should have gotten the three drawer for beside the bed as we can't see the clock anymore. Might pick one up and move the four drawer into another room.

If all goes well the work should be done by the end of this week. Fingers crossed we'll be able to start cleaning up our house properly this weekend!

Deck and Gardening

We've hit a bit of a speed bump with the renovations. Our builder has an urgent job that needs to get done with his guys which means that we lost two days this week and likely three from the next, putting a halt to what was supposed to be the last big push to finish. Shame, but at the same time we've embraced this opportunity to have a break from building mess and banished the sea of drop sheets that we've had to put up with for the past three weeks.

Even so, three solid days of building have produced results from the last update. We now have a new deck/landing from the dining room and laundry to feed onto the out door area, and the BBQ section is half finished with just the sink and the storage gate to go in.


The storage area behind has taken shape as well which has already proven to be a nice screen for the toilet and bathroom. I'd imagine that this will eventually house a table tennis table along with handy tools and perhaps sporting stuff.



The last new hole in the house has been cut out, opening up the entrance way to the old garage. Three concrete steps were poured though the sliding door has not been fitted on as yet. It's a hole for bugs to flutter through though we haven't seen too many in the house thankfully.



They even managed to finish sheeting the new room up which certainly brightens the look. Plastering will be the next job I suppose before lights get installed. Apologies for the angle but I had to lean over partially cured concrete to take the photos.


Not content to have work on the house stall on account of others, we decided to take matters into our own hands (once again with the help of John and Sheena) and get stuck into the garden. The mission on Saturday was to clear a bunch of rubbish from the renovation by taking a couple of loads to the dump, as well as sorting out the eastern bank of our front yard.

Alison and John made short work of an assortment of wood cut offs, doors and concrete blocks and carted off close to a metric tonne (!) worth of rubbish to the Willawong tip. In the mean time Sheena and I strapped on the gardening gloves and removed the sad line of lilly pillies to make room for some Xylosma saplings. We've been told that these should handle the clay better and grow to give us a bit of shade and privacy.



To retain the bank and keep weeds from growing, John and I popped out to the local landscaping suppliers to get a few trailer loads of Hoop Pine bark to spread over our newly sculpted and planted area. I absolutely love this stuff as it's got a funky fresh scent and gives you a neat forest floor look.



It was a hard day of work in the sun but I think the results were worth it. Alison and I also finished up by planting a few more Agapanthus further up the bank. We'll have to get more Hoop Pine and plants to fill up the area but by the time we're finished I think it's going to be a nice looking area that I don't need to mow (Yay!).



To celebrate we thought we'd invite Kath and Andrew over to have a look at the place and break in the BBQ. I needed a hand to figure out what to do with the whole meat on hot plate cooking stuff (and John kindly offered to show me the ropes), but I was very happy with the result. The Beefeater puts out a lot more heat than the old one we had in Annerley and I finally got a chance to use the tongs I got for Christmas. All up a very fun and productive weekend.

Roofs, windows and painting

Yet another busy week of exciting changes. There were a few showers which threatened to slow down work but the builders managed to get the roofs up on the car port and patio by Thursday even with the rain. The size seems a little excessive though I'm sure we'll find a way to fill the space.



We came home pretty late on Friday but were still keen to see the changes even in the dark. Our old garage has been framed up properly, the sliding door from the dining room installed and the toilet sealed off. I think the area feels a lot more like a room now that the walls are squared up (I always hated that cavity there). That sliding door lets so much light into our living room now and really opens it up, love it.



The yucky old garage door has been taken off and replaced by boards and a new window, which lets heaps of light in to what was a dark and dingy room. I'd expect that the wall on the right will be taken down next week to be replaced by a sliding door into the entry way. Oh, and the walls and ceiling sheeted of course.



The new toilet is taking shape nicely too. It's going to be cramped but there should still be enough space for a suite and micro basin. The back wall and window are in and the door that used to lead out from the entry way has been sealed off. The outline to the right will lead to the new "utility room".



Alsie and I had some homework this weekend as well. The hardwood battens to be used on our little storage area behind the barbeque would need to be coated with decking oil and we "volunteered" for the task. Lucky for us we have beautiful parents as Sheena came down to help tidy while John offered to show us how to prep the material properly. Unfortunately this turned out to be a lot more labour intensive than our original plan so after over six hours of sanding, brushing, painting and rolling we're feeling absolutely buggered. At least the wood looks good.



Powering through the pain we managed to also get two other jobs done, fixing up the internal blinds that some tradies had broken as well as finally assembling the barbeque. Cooking plates and the cabinet doors are now on so all that's left is to get a gas bottle and cure the gear before chucking a couple of snags on the grill.



As we were losing our old garage, the car's been on the street for the past three weeks while this work has all been going on. I'd fully expected some youths to key a door or hail to plummet down while the poor Civic was exposed to the elements. Thankfully she's survived the stint unscathed aside from a little dust and now gets to enjoy her new home. She might look a little lonely once the building materials get cleared out but at least we'll have a spare spot for her automobile friends to come and visit.



It seems like we're coming up to the end of our little project here. I'd say there's only about a week and a bit of work to be done by the builders, after that it's all in our hands to finish up. Woohoo!