Now we're getting somewhere... part 1

The last few weeks have felt a little like work on the house wasn't really going anywhere (ie having to describe exactly what the finished product would look like to everyone who came to visit because NOTHING even vaguely resembled what it would look like). There was also a minor hiccup today with some of the kitchen cupboards (a trip to IKEA was in order to pick up two missing screws and another trip will be in order tomorrow to take back a cupboard that we discovered today was cracked) but otherwise today there was a small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

The floors in the bedrooms were the first things to start to take shape.


This is the floor in Ali's room just after sanding...



The floor in the boy's room after the first coat.

... and later today some posts appeared out the kitchen window in readiness for some slats to make a fence down the side (pavers still need to be cleaned and replaced but the drainage is in and the posts are ready to go).



There was also some kitchen area prep done and the cupboards put together and the air con went in today too. More business tomorrow: another trip to IKEA, hopefully a kitchen more or less completed, sanding doors and architraves and perhaps even some gardening.....

Stay tuned!

"And there was evening and there was morning"...

Busy weekends

The last two weekends have been FLAT OUT!

Last weekend we pulled out the pavers under the kitchen window in readyness for some drainage

This is what it looked like before...

... several hours and a few creative swear words later (who is Richard Cranium anyway??), this is the result. Note the bouganvillia root - one of many we had to pull up or cut off.

Some 'before pics' for where the drainage and paving is to go...

This weekend, more drainage work and today the kitchen was taken out!

Before today...

... after today

Tiles attached directly to gyprock... hmmmm....

In between pulling up pavers, shovelling dirt and clay, pulling out a kitchen, there were quotes for blinds, attempts to chase up the benchtop for the kitchen and get the lock on the front door fixed... "busy, so busy, so very much to do..." but we're getting there...

"And there was evening and there was morning"...

All in a day's work

Thursday was a very busy day this week - I was 'kid free' for a day so made the most of the time available... 6am start at the house! Painting was the priority for the day, however, by the time the first builder arrived a little before 7, it became apparent I was going to be spending a fair bit of time answering questions and talking to tradies - one in particular! But first, some background...

A few months ago I had a quote from the builder who did the initial building inspection to do some work under the house (the bearers and joists are the same size apparently and so cross-bracing was needed to provide further support). He arrived that day with a collegue who I assumed was also a builder. They got to work under the house measuring to see how much timber would be needed for the job. While the quote was being drawn up by the builder, his collegue started chatting to me about other work that needed to be done on the house. I mentioned painting as one of the jobs (actually, I think he brought it up in that conversation) and he quickly produced his business card: "Rocky and Paintwinkle - Painting Services"! When I got over the giggles from reading the business name, I asked him to give me a rough estimate of what painting the interior of the house would cost. He thought for a moment and said "oh, about 3... maybe 4"... now I've not had a quote for painting anything before so had no idea of the units for his numbers. "3... hundred?" I asked hopefully. It was then that he got the giggles and said "no. 3 thousand". I tried to maintain my best "oh ok" poker face and tried even harder to give the impression that I was considering his quote but it didn't seem to work as he followed up with "that's a little out of your budget?" which I had to admit to him was the case.

Fast forward to this week, and the first person to arrive at the house on the day the work under the house was to be carried out was my friend who will now be know as "Rocky" of "Rocky and Paintwinkle" fame (I have no idea what his name actually is but he looks like a 'Rocky'). I had was painting the window frames and, after the building materials arrived, Rocky was waiting for the others who would be working with him to turn up so decided to come and chat to me. So I had a professional painter, watching me paint. He could have stood quietly and made small talk about the weather but instead insisted on pointing out what I should have been doing to do the job 'right' and I soon learned why he would be charging several thousand dollars to paint my house - he would be going over every crack in every piece of timber/wall with a microscope and wood putty at the ready! I'm sure he is very thorough and does a fantastic job, but, as he said initally, I couldn't afford his services.

Soon after, the timber arrived...

... and the other builders and they set to work under the house. Not long after that the plumber also arrived as did the guy who was going to replace the glass in the bedroom window (after the removal of the air conditioner). The fence guy also came to give me a quote for a new front fence and gates, so it was definately a busy place by mid morning. In between talking to various people about everything from toughened glass to rerouting a gas line to the types of gates I wanted, Rocky seemed to be close by, always offering some advice or just quietly telling me he has a 'mate' who could do it for me cheaper. It got to the point by the afternoon that if I saw Rocky coming, I was going in the other direction! I know he meant well, and was only trying to help (or perhaps he works on commission for drumming up buisness for his 'mate') but his advice was starting to wear thin after the first six hours.

So, after a very busy day, there didn't seem to be much to show for it (most of the work was done under the floor) and I was feeling a little deflated (or maybe just really tired). So, at about 8pm, after a brief escape for dinner, I set to cleaning up what I thought was just a pile of leaves at the side of the house. This turned into a much bigger job than I'd anticipated and, and hour and a half later, with 7 full garbage bags and a spade with a broken handle,

I could see pavers from the side of the house to the fence. A quick sweep up and all was looking quite tidy outside the kitchen window.

"And there was evening and there was morning"...

Taking a turps shower

Painting, painting, painting! Most of the last two days has been spent... painting! I had delusions of doing all eight windows (undercoat and two coats of my beloved 'white swan') in two days... yeah, I was kidding myself. The windows are quite large - floor to ceiling - so painting the window frames is a pretty big job and I doubt a professional could get them all done in that time. My haste to try and get most of it done resulted in 'white swan' all over me but I think there's still more on the window frames at least.

I spent all of yesterday painting and decided, after going home briefly to feed a little person in the evening, to go back to the house and paint some more. So I headed back to the house, made myself a cup of tea, turned on the radio and sat down on the floor to paint - good therapy! After what seemed like half an hour I looked at the clock and relized I'd been there for nearly three hours... oops! It was almost 11pm and, given that I'd need to be up early the next day, I decided to call it a night.

Other work that's been done along the way - the ugly sliding door from the lounge room to the kitchen has been removed and the door frame replaced, the air con in the bedroom window is also a thing of the past and a few other smaller things have also been patched up. Also discovered my skills as an expert fisherman (woman?) when I had to retreive a window winder (windows open outwards via these small winder knobs) from a large can of paint after one of my trusty assistants dropped it in there. He redeemed himself today by providing us with a yummy lunch so it's all good now.

"And there was evening and there was morning"...

Tiles and sandpaper

Saturday was predicted to be 'the hottest day so far this year' and, by 9am, when the temperature outside the car hit 35 degrees, it looked like the weather guy got it right for once. Off we went to the bathroom store to choose tiles, fittings and generally get ripped off by the smiling sales guy. The air con in his showroom was a welcome escape from the heat outside, however deciding to part with so much money for the sake of a new bathroom was fairly nerve wracking.

Next job on the list for the day was another trip to the hardware store to pick up a sanding tool and a few other things before heading back to the house. The sanding then commenced with gusto and, after about two hours of blood, sweat and tears (literally), it was decided that sanding back the window frames and varnishing them wasn't such a great idea after all. Much of the timber has aged and weathered to the point that sanding it wasn't going to improve it's appearance so it was decided to just paint the window frames instead. So from there the sanding went on, however, just with the intention of preparation for an undercoat and two coats of "white swan" (how many names are there for 'cream' anyway???).

"And there was evening and there was morning"...

Taking out the laundry

... literally!

Friday saw the end of the laundry. With some 'brute force and ignorance' teamed with a trusty hammer, the laundry cupboard met it's match.

While that was taking place, I took to removing the various means by which the previous owners had chosen to dress their windows. Most involved the removal of curtain rod brackets which were being held up with a variety of screws, thumb tacks and cup hooks. There was also the occasional venetian blind which caused some problems but, on the whole, the process was fairly smooth.

The dining room windows - ready for some paint!

The heat finally got to us after lunch, though, and it was decided a trip to the appliance store was in order to purchase whitegoods. The sales lady was initally impressed at my 'organisation' when she found I came prepared with a list of the applicance I wanted, complete with model numbers for everything. Her smile soon faded, though, when, on giving me a total price for all the items, I informed her I had found a cheaper price elsewhere. She scurried off to see if she could match the price I had for the appliances and came back to tell me it was possible, even though she was probably secretly cursing me for taking away at least part of her commission.

Next stop: hardware store was in order to purchase the requisites for sanding and varnishing the window frames. While attempting to park the car, I received a call from someone I'm soon to become a big 'fan' of: the air-conditioner man! He wanted to meet me at the house for a quote 'in half an hour'. If I couldn't make it then, he'd come back in two weeks. Not wanting to wait any longer than necessary for the air-con to be installed, off we went back to the house.

Later that afternoon also saw the delivery of the rest of the kitchen after much confusion as to when it was going to be delivered. The same delivery company has been employed to deliver the benchtop when it is made so here's to hoping it goes more smoothly second time around!

"And there was evening and there was morning"...

The PERFEKT kitchen

... unfortunately, though, by the end of the visit to IKEA on Thursday, no one could give a FAKTUM about the thing!

After many hours of playing with the kitchen planner program from IKEA's website, I finally had a plan I was happy with. So, with printouts and measurements in hand, off I went to what I thought would be a fairly quick and easy process of ordering a kitchen. WRONG!

The initial plan to arrive at IKEA early so as to 'beat the rush' (because everyone knows the kitchen department is the busiest part of the store - no, seriously, it is!) was a good one. Unfortunately, we were so early, the showroom hadn't opened yet so off to get a coffee and for the hundredth time in the space of a week, check the measurements were correct (particularly for the benchtop - custom made!). Once we finally got into the store, we made it to the kitchen department and came across a very friendly service assistance who insisted I order and install the cupboards FIRST before then checking all the measurements for where the benchtop would sit and then later ordering it separately. Little did he know, he was talking to 'reno Mum on a mission': "sorry, I need to order everything today"... so he reluctantly sat down with us to go over everything, make me fill in forms and sign at least one disclaimer before taking lots of my money, shaking my hand and saying "good luck with it all!"... good luck indeed! It was then that we learned the kitchen that had just been ordered would need to be collected from the downstairs warehouse THAT DAY...

Now, I've always been a fan of IKEA's ability to flatpack anything and everything conceivable, but even with the mastery of flat packs, a whole kitchen was always going to be a challenge to take home in the car (even the Outback!). We did manage to squeeze most of the smaller parts in the back of the car but the larger pieces just weren't going to fit. The lack of suitable transport meant the employment of the services of IKEA's transport company to deliver the rest the next day.


"And there was evening and there was morning"...