It only took two days ... WALLS!!

A big load of plasterboard arrived on Friday ... then Saturday, when I was only expecting one builder (who was picking something up and leaving) I got a whole lot ... and the plasterers! In just two day's they've nearly completed the walls. There are a couple of sections missing (I think they ran out) ... but otherwise it is done!

The kitchen:


The bathroom:

The dining room (which now feels bigger):

The laundry:
I can't wait to see what happens next!

Dying of thirst? Find a rose!

Today I'd planned to chop down the big Cecil Brunner type rose at the front of the house ... it's got a bit out of control and was wrapped around one of the veranda posts - which needed painting. Good thing that was my plan ... I'd gone and got the tools, to come back and find the builder and painter considering what was going to be done with it today!! Once I got it down to just a tiny bit ... everyone noticed ... the rose was DRIPPING! One of the builders put a bowl underneath to see how much was coming out ... the bowl filled over! So if you're dying of thirst ... find a rose and chop it down!! (dead soft toy donated by the puppy to complete the scene!!) Lots of other developments have happened over the last couple of days ... finally we have windows in the dining room. Click on the outside window photo to see the larger version ... you might be able to see the detail of the weatherboards they've put between each window. The bath frame is in ... can't wait to see it all tiled up!! The builder was saying he's going to put some insulation around the bath in the frame ... which might help keep the bath warm!

The back door has glass in the panels - a door would be lovely too! With the veranda posts being painted I can now see how they are turning out ... I did really like them when they were white ... but the green does look fabulous too! Maybe in a couple of years I might change them back to white. The solar hot water was supposed to go in this week ... but it has been put off for another week. It is such a pity it has to ruin this pretty roof line!

Slow going

Things are still very slow around here ... not many of the original crew working on site ... and days when no one turns up! The roof is at least on and apparently water tight - rain will tell!! Gutters are nearly done, some down pipes and I might start getting some water in my big tank. The plastering that was supposed to be done the other week ... hasn't happened.

The big thing this week was the arrival of the bay window roof bits ... I've been dying to see how they would turn out ... they look a bit smaller than I was expecting ... but they certainly do finish off the bay windows! Much prettier than other options I've seen.

Below is the corner of the french door to the kitchen ... the fun with the veranda has meant that the corner doesn't work properly ... it will be changed again from this ... hopefully I'll get a bit of architrave around the window - as it is going to look odd with the architrave being dark green.

Solar hot water system should be arriving tomorrow ... the joiner was supposed to come out last week and discuss the kitchen etc ... he still hasn't arrived. Christmas is looking more and more like a BBQ :-(

One post I missed doing last week was after talking to the interior designer ... we spent a couple of hours going through fabric choices ... a fairly difficult task, nothing seems quite right! I have decided on about 11 fabrics though!!!! Just got to hope they are all available now! I chose the colours for the curtains in the dining room, the dining room window seat ... and the kitchen window seat ... still to be confirmed are the kitchen curtains ... the colours just weren't quite right (it seems so simple ... just a shade of cream!).

After picking out all the fabrics (and not thinking too much about how much it cost) ... I thought I'd google the fabrics to put together a document of them all (and maybe share them here) ... didn't find many of the important ones so the others don't seem very relevant ... but whilst googling I found myself a bargain ... one of the fabrics which I need most of, I found on ebay ... the right amount of fabric ... and the cost for the entire amount was less than a 1/4 of what I was going to pay!!

I'm currently trolling ebay looking for the perfect kitchen table ... that'd be nice Christmas present to myself!

A new countdown date!

The builder has set a new completion date ... 7 December ... who else is putting money on the builder being at my place on Christmas eve?!? (and not for pre-Christmas drinks!).

The plaster who was supposed to come Monday, was put off until Wednesday - looking at the site this evening, I can't see that they'll be plastering tomorrow!! The roofer did work late on Monday, but not around today ... I got a couple of gutters up, but I can still see daylight through the roof!!! Surely the capping on the roof was more important than the gutters?! Can't work out how they are going to put up plaster whilst missing most of the windows and part of the roof.

Today there was no one on site! Very frustrating!

The first room!

Here it is ... the first room! The living room has been extended, and it is the only new section that is being lined with boards in the same way the old part of the house is. You can see near the french doors that they reused some of the old boards (which I'm happy with ... I wanted to recycle as much as I could).

The floorboards have arrived ... not quite the recycled boards I wished I could have ... the builder wasn't really into that concept!! Let's hope they look OK in the end.
I have finally ordered my rangehood ... that really was an icky decision ... nothing really was right ... so I've gone for one that has the fan on the outside of the house, to hopefully make it quieter. There was another one I would have liked ... unfortunately it wasn't going to be available until December ... and that wasn't really going to work (I could just see me trying to get it installed the day before Christmas!). The one I've chosen isn't quite big enough (those were twice the price) but given I don't really cook that many things that need the exhaust, hopefully it will be fine.

I'm starting to realise I'd better get my orders in if I want things installed before Christmas ... but it is a bit hard since I don't have a sealed roof yet ... and I can't measure windows when they don't actually exist! Curtains I think are going to be really important ... summer is going to be nasty and I'll need the block outs in before Christmas.

I've got a list of must haves before Christmas:
- air con for the kitchen
- solar hot water system
- carpet in the dining room
- window seat cushions
- new TV

I'm sure I'm forgetting something important!

My storybook cottage

It is just sooooo pretty!! My not-so-little-anymore storybook cottage.

Above is the west side of the house ... to the left is the bay window for the kitchen, the center is the main kitchen bench window, then to the right is the dining room bay window. I do love the white (undercoat) veranda posts/window frames ... but they'll all go dark green to match the original - I know the white looks prettier, but ... I know I'd never keep it clean!

Above shows the kitchen living room new french doors, the kitchen bay window, then the dining room french doors. The veranda to the left is not quite finished yet.

They have started installing the "back" door ... the main door that will be used. The plan was to replicate the front door, which - other than some minor changes - it looks like it will be beautiful. That is my ensuite sitting under the veranda, very pleased with how that fits in (though the little window is a pain to open!).

The kitchen has its plumbing rough-in and electricals ... the bench is going to be over 5 metres long ... certainly beats the tiny area I had before! I can't wait to see how that window looks once it goes in ... it is the only one that is quite different to the originals - much wider compared to the height.





This photo shows the bathroom window - the bath will sit just below this, the vanity to the left of it. I'm glad all these decisions are already done ... nothing really left to decide in here except the light!










All the rough in electrics have been done ... so there are wires going everywhere ... and I'm not even having any fancy systems! I would have loved to go for the home automation stuff ... but that cost just was a bit beyond the budget. Hopefully the technology will become cheaper and I can look into it in the future. This photo is of the small side of the kitchen (the sort of breakfast area).


The only slight worry at the moment ... no builders for two days ....

So many things today, which is the most exciting?

After being out all day today I came home to many exciting things. So many, each turn around the house revealed something new! I think .... I vote the photo below THE most exciting:
OK ... so they look like boring floorboards (with a doggie foot!) ... I know I've nearly gone completely mad this past week ... buuuutttt ... this is the living room floor that I want to be floorboards, I desperatly wanted the original floorboards (the builder kept talking about putting in new ones to match the other new ones) ... and I had no idea what state they would be in, but there was a high chance they would be like this previous photo - of the kitchen floorboards - completely useless and in need of total replacement.
Instead I have beautiful floorboards that look in wonderful condition!!! Yippeeee!!! You can see the darker side where Black Japan has been applied ... I'd like the darker colour eventually for the entire floor. Hopefully, that also means that the hallway will have the same pretty floorboards that are useable!!

They've also removed the temporary wall that was put in the living room, opening it up so I can see its actual size and the impact of the wonderful french doors. I love this room!

I was walking around the house thinking "I'd just love to live in this beautiful house" ... and not too long until I get to live in the rest of it!

I didn't even notice a HUGE addition until a bit later ... you can just see it peeking behind there ....

Yup ... my big tank went in today!!! It is sooo very nice (not that I can quite work out where the water goes in ... but I suppose that's the builder's problem!). Very pleased with the colour to match the house/garage ... now for some gutters on the house so it can actually fill with water. The other tank is already 3/4 full!

You can see why I was so excited tonight ... and beyond the little things, there are lots of smaller things going on - like the architraves on the windows, more painting and more!!

Oh I nearly forgot another big thing ... all my bathroom supplies arrived! Not that I can really tell what the bath looks like when it is upside down, or the shower in its boxes ... but they are here!!!!