From building site to home in 24 hours

Thursday morning ... the day before Christmas


24 hours later ... Christmas morning

Who could believe at the start ....

... that the builders would still be going on Christmas eve! I thought I set my "in my head" deadline so far out even I couldn't be surprised at delays ... but I was wrong! It wont be finished for Christmas ... enough will be done that christmas lunch will go ahead ... but the tradies will be back next year!!

They will be working Christmas eve ... when all I want is a couple of days to clean up, recover and become human again.

Builder got his payment ... I was generous for Christmas even though there are bits missing from the agreed list to complete, some they will finish today.

Pretty scaring looking at the kitchen and thinking I've got to miraculously turn it into a beautiful space in the next 24 hours.

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas ....

The lovely electricians connected up the ovens today ... so of course I had to use BOTH of them (after turning them on for an hour or so to get rid of the horrible smell!) ... very exciting that I got to cook in TWO new ovens ... which meant thinking of two things to be the first timers: dinner was roast veggies out of one oven, then we (my brother and I) made gingerbread in the other oven! YUM!!! I LOVE roast veggies and gingerbread!!



The gas tops are still not connected .... looks like there is a problem with me being on LPG gas ... even though the oven was ordered to be set up for LPG, it seems it wasn't. I haven't quite been told about this (heard through one of the other tradesmen) ... so I'm assuming it is a solveable problem that I don't need to get involved in.

Also going in today were the flyscreens ... they look wonderful - even if the cat can't see them and bumps into them with his whiskers ... "engage invisible cat shields"!

The airconditioner guys did turn up to put in the aircon ... pity the store had given them the wrong inside unit ... the lovely label on it had my name and the model number, pity that model number didn't match the BIG writing right underneath it!! So tomorrow morning it goes in (would have been nice tonight since it was quite warm).

The electricians have also set up my inside lights, some of the outside lights, phone line and powerpoints ... just missing a bathroom light which they'll come back to do (oh and no TV for me until next year - they cut the cable!).

The tradesman missing today: the plumber!! I've given up hope of getting the rest of the stuff finished, now I have a working oven ... all I want is some plumbing! A dishwasher, toilet and basin would be juuuuussst lovely!!

Photo of oven and others!

Here it is .......


awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww ... I could look at if for hours!!!

Below is a close up of the stainless steel bench ... still in its wrapping ... will be unwrapped for Christmas (given it was a pressie from my Mum!) ... it is nearly as beautiful as the oven!


I realised I had other photos I haven't shared ... so here goes ....

Below is my driveway on Friday afternoon ...
Rush hour!! That day we had carpenter, builder, 3 electricians, 2 tilers, 2 painters, 3 joiners ... and I'm sure I'm missing someone!!! Monday is going to be about the same ... adding in a plumber, airconditioner installer, flyscreen installer ... gas man? and maybe more?!?!

The dining room is ready to go for carpet ... was supposed to have happened this week but a bit of a mix up ... hopefully tomorrow morning (given I have guests arriving for lunch ... they'll have to carry in their own table to eat off!!). Bonus points if you can see the fatty grey poom-bah in the background!
Most of the tiling in the laundry and bathroom has been done ... I LOVE the tile ... thanks to my wonderful friend who trialled it for me ;-) ... it is quite amazing how little the dirt shows on it!! The bath is surrounded by the tile ... can't wait to see it all fitted out ... maybe tomorrow?! I suppose my brother who is staying from tomorrow night might actually LIKE his own bathroom.
I'm missing photos of the outside ... the windows have nearly all been done ... just waiting on the doors to get their final colour before I take another photo ... that will nearly be an "after" photo!

OMG ... it is IN the house!!!!

The OVEN is in the KITCHEN!!!

After over two years of living in the stables ... all packaged up ... with my nightmares of it being chewed by rats ... it is IN the kitchen!!!

Not quite connected up yet ... and not quite in the right spot ... but it is in the room!

They had originally said it would go in yesterday ... but then said they didn't have enough people to move it, so maybe Saturday :-( ... I woke up this morning with great anticipation ... my first question to them this morning was when they'd move the oven ... "not today they said, maybe Monday" .... nooooooooooooo :-( ... but the builders tricked me ... when I got back from the farmers' market ... THERE it was!! Out of the stables and in the kitchen! Gas guy was there looking to connect it up ... but it will have to wait until the electricians on Monday .... buuuuuttttt ....

best of all ..... so far no signs of it being chewed to death by rats!

Photos to come (thought the builders might not quite understand my over the top excitement!).

Had to stick the car on cruise control as I drove off to do some other jobs ... otherwise I would have been flyyyyyiinnnggg!!!

Oh ... and it is beautiful!!

Pretty shiney floor!

The floors are done ... they look truly amazing!

The shine!!!! In the sunlight they look a slightly different colour. The fumes are rather nasty at the moment ... but hopefully in another couple of days, with the windows all open, the air might be breatheable! I'm just so glad to be back in the house ... though I'm itching to start moving things in. I desperately need to tidy up my current living area ... and it would be so much easier if I could just MOVE things into their correct spots! eg. the telephone ... would be nice to plug it in at an actual phone point vs leaving it on my floor!!

Only one issue with my gorgeous floors .... after half an hour of the animals being allowed on it ...


I'll be investing in some new cleaning things! Nothing I had before will really help it. Anyway ... once the whole thing is covered in dirt, no one will notice a couple of footprints!!

The floor guy did spring some surprises on me though ... apparently NO furniture is supposed to go on it for a week (ummm ... the day before Christmas?!) and no floor rugs for 3 weeks (lucky he told me that, I would have instantly put something down to protect it!).

Yesterday I went up to a place that supplies cabinet bits ... I wanted to get the inserts for my kitchen drawers, but wanted to see them before ordering them (they are much cheaper through the internet, but I can't play with them beforehand). Nice guy who helped me out took me through some of the options ... and I bought the cutlery ones. I'll go back for more once I've got a bit better idea of how things work out (I was also missing one measurement which was a pain!).

Funnily enough the cabinet supplier's lovely catalogue had something the joiner had sworn was IMPOSSIBLE and didn't exist!!!! That stupid half bottle draw ... he said there were no other options, that "the cabinet was too big for the draw" ... I thought he was bullshitting - I knew the kitchen designer knew what she was doing, she wouldn't have designed a cabinet for something that didn't exist ... and as I looked through the catalogue ... there it was ... the EXACT thing that was supposed to have been put in - for the exactly right carcass size! I'll get the builder to hand the photocopied page over to the joiner :-) :-) ;-)

Curtains have arrived - I haven't unpacked them yet as I don't want them to get dirty.

Off to get light globes today so once the lights go in ... I can have lights.

Been having discussions between the builder, myself and the architect about $$$$$$$ ... builder of course wants to be paid before Christmas ... but he hasn't completed the stage. I'd already given him 1/5 of the payment but he's been hassling me for more. I was sticking on that there was no sign-off from the architect ... so the builder rang the architect and told him to come down and see that the work was done. When the architect got here ... he realised that the builder wasn't quite telling ALL the truth, that although the things left to go aren't big (lots of 10 minute jobs) there are LOTS of them to be done (a number of days work) and that it wasn't as done as the builder had told the architect. We've agreed for a bit more to be paid out, but the remaining amount will not be paid until a list of things has been completed:
- Kitchen bench
- Kitchen sink and taps
- Bathroom taps
- Bathroom vanity
- Toilet
- WC vanity
- Laundry cupboard completion
- Hotwater
- Eternal latches and locks (lock-up stage)

Which doesn't even include finishing the tiling, the painting, the rangehood, the skirting boards and so much more!!!! But at least those are the all important things! (I do have to say ... that finally the architect is being helpful vs causing more work ... maybe he did have his uses!!)

Annnndddd .... is today ... THE DAY!!! The most exciting day? The one I've really been hanging out for ... will it REALLY REALLY happen?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! Off to talk to the builders to ask ... you'll have to wait to see!!

Most stressful week!!

I’ve been having a stressful week … finally the wooden floors are to be done … but the delays have meant that I’ve moved out two weeks later than I should, stuffing up all sorts of other plans!!! Then the floor guy let the tilers take precedent over what he was doing, making another days delay. what was supposed to be less than a week out of home, is turning into two weeks … though I think I’ll just have go to back and sleep there with the fumes due to animal juggling (who wants a visitor with two dogs and a cat?!).

The floor colour is a beautiful dark colour … they’ve checked with me a couple of times to just make sure … quite convinced I’ll change my mind … but I really love the dark floor with the light bright walls and windows. It will look even better with furniture and curtains in. They’ve only got the stain on so far … and the varnish will go on over the next couple of days … but still a while until it can be walked on again.

I’m hoping they are able to continue working on the rest of the house … would be great if all the bathroom stuff was in … and the solar hot water connected. Christmas is so awfully close … and I have visitors booked in to arrive … I’m sure they would like a bathroom.

The curtains are ready to be delivered … can’t wait to see them all up. I’ve been working on the cushions for the window seats with my Mum … I just adore all the materials, and we’ve found some great edging stuff to bind them with. The interior designer had picked out a cushion size of 50cmx90cm … and I was wondering how I was going to find a cushion that size – but that is actually a king size pillow size, so although they were expensive fillers to use pillows instead of cushions, they are the perfect size! Photos to come soon of some of these … though it might be until I get the dining table in the dining room that I’ll be able to finish them off (need somewhere clean to sew vs in the dust!).