I'm Back & the House is Becoming a Home!

I can't believe it's been two months since I last posted and, not only that, but the house is still being worked on!! Since we moved in we've had tradies here pretty much the whole time - whether it's working in the garage, making gates, putting in mozzie screens, touching up paintwork, putting in glass balustrades, handrails ... the list goes on.

Right now the landscapers are finishing up and although I still don't have a washing line (!) the garden is starting to come together. Even just having some grass helps make the place look less like a building site. But I can tell you I'll be very glad when they've all gone. I'm sick of looking at builder's cracks, finding cigarette butts in the garden, listening to power tools, having issues with sub-contractors and just trying to get stuff done without being interrupted.

Having said all that, the house has turned out fab and I don't regret a minute of it. It may have been a long and, at times, frustrating journey (sorry to use that word!) but it's been worth it and may I never have to move house again for a very long time!!

So, finally I've taken some updated shots to show the house being turned into a home. These are views from around the deck ...

The pool was finally completed two weeks ago much to the girls' delight! For those who are interested, we used a metallic blue mosaic tile for the top trim and seat and a product call Gemtex - which is a mix of coloured glass and concrete - for the inside.

View showing roof pebbles, a feature Yucca and the louvre screening.

A bit of my own gardening - succulents on the table and six different herbs on the railing. Star jasmine will eventually climb up the back fence.

Another view of the herbs and the rebuilt rockery, where the barbecue is (just out of shot to the left), and the transplanted tree ferns which amazingly survived.

We've got cream cliveas and cycads, star jasmine along both fence lines and on the top part is my mini vege garden which has a tomato plant, strawberries, a perpetual lettuce, rosemary and rocket which is still to sprout.

So now that I've finally got my blogging groove back, I'll return with shots of inside!

Take care
Jx

Four days to go!

I've been really slack with my blogging, I know, I'm sorry. And some of the tradies have been really slack on site, too! The painters have been sacked and replaced by a new team and the pool man has been fired for not turning up. The painting is only half done, there is no carpet, no wallpaper, no study joinery.

We move in on Thursday and this is what it looks like ...

The carpet is being laid on Wednesday and the stair balustrades are going in Thursday morning. Talk about tight! But at least the front door's in.

And we have an entrance.

We have kitchen benchtops, a gas hob and a new fence behind.



We have some lovely bathroom tiling.

Master bath

Girl's bathroom

We have a louvred privacy screen on the deck.

A partially formed barbecue area off the deck.

And a fence-less back yard which better be fenced when we move otherwise Ruby will be roaming!

And at least they're trying to look after the floors ...

No matter if the paint's still tacky I can't wait to move in!

P.S Tomorrow I'll show you two pendants I've just picked up which are yet to be hung ... Jx

Update: Two and a half weeks to go!

Okay, so things have been getting a bit stressful over at my place. The builders have been working towards us moving in on September 10 and so we decided to book the removalists for the 12th. But despite them going all out, there has still been quite a bit to do and we weren't sure they would get done. On top of that, once the inside is complete, the architect has to do a final 'defects check' (crikey!) before the inside is given the all-clear. Soooo, we've asked our agent if the landlord would mind terribly if we moved our move forward to the 16th. Haven't heard yet, but am crossing fingers!

In any case, the good news is that the concrete for the parking bay in front of the garage has been poured - after finally getting the go-ahead from the engineer that doing screw piles instead of deep-set piles (which are time-consuming, expensive and come with the risk of hitting goodness knows what boulders or pipes below). And to ensure access is guaranteed for the removalists, we'll wait until after we're in for the guys to lay the stone flagging.

The stone masons are doing an amazing job with all the stone. Here they are out the back. It's a bit hard to see properly but they're rebuilding the old rockery (to the left) using a mix of the old boulders and new and adding bigger and better steps from what will be lawn up to the BBQ area and onto the deck.

After a few false starts and some tiling mishaps (oops!), the bathroom tiling is well underway. The photos don't do it justice at all - the lighting or something not really working but they give you an idea. Above is the master ensuite - the back wall where the shower and toilet will go is  in small pearly white mosaics, and below is the guest ensuite with the same kind of mosaics but in gun metal.

I think the grouting will make a lot of difference!

That's all for now, folks. Have a great week!

Still no Roof but think about the Kiwis

Well, we're nearly at the end of February and we've still got no roof on the house when it was supposed to be on before Christmas!

And the reason is the gutters. I know - who would have thought a gutter could cause such a lengthy delay?

Turns out our architect had specified a special design of the guttering in keeping with the aesthetics of the build (which we weren't really aware of or maybe we just weren't paying any attention?!) and this has been causing some design problems for the company making it. While we, of course, appreciate good aesthetics,  we would much prefer a gutter that worked than just looked good!

Anyhow, I believe progress is being made and it is now on 'critical path' as they keep saying (which is builder's speak for being urgent!). 

Yet despite all of this, I feel hesitant to really complain about anything at all when my fellow Kiwis in Christchurch are suffering, what is being said to be, the worst natural disaster New Zealand has experienced. My heart goes out to them and so, really, who cares about gutters?

News from the Building Site

Popped down to the site today for a meeting with the architect and project manager. And this is where they're at ...

The brick work on the lower level living area is complete.

This is a view from the rumpus room through to the guest bedroom.

The rumpus room wall and windows (which will be louvres), east-side.

The guest bedroom ensuite (I know it looks a little prison-like, but squint a little and you'll get the idea).

You walk in and there's a window to your left, the vanity and mirror straight ahead and the toilet and shower to your right.

5.5-tonne Deb takes a break in the guest bedroom.

The old garage is gone and is now replaced with excess soil from the levelling of the second 'wing'.

A pile of old bricks ready to be used on the second wing.

The pool is formed.

Yipee for progress! Have a happy weekend folks ...

And The Bricks Keep Going Up

A new house is being transformed from the old. 1920s bricks are forming the internal wall structure of the new house and the guest bedroom takes shape.

The rumpus room east-side wall and windows are formed.

Hugh takes a rest, but I am worried that the dimensions don't look right. The wall length between the two long windows is meant to be 3 m but doesn't look like it to me! Of course, as it turns out, it is an optical illusion but I'm thankful the architect checks it out for me as he discovers that all the door heights are too low!! Oh no! While they would have been picked up as my husband would have skimmed his head on them, it is much better the error can be rectified now rather than later.

{Moral of the story: It pays to check everything!}

There's now a delay with the pool formation because the poolman has been held up on another job, which means we can't lay the second slab and progress the brickwork on this wing. Grrr!

{Moral of the story: Must remember that patience is a virtue}

 

Spring may have sprung but there are still no buds on our frangipani tree.

{Moral of the story: See moral # 2 above}

Wishing you all a very happy weekend!

Let the Brickwork Begin

After not a lot of action, we now have lots happening. I had a site meeting on Friday with the builder-project manager, the architect and his side-kick, an Irish work-experience architect and the foreman, plus four brickies and three other workman working on the site. As the only female there, you could say I felt outnumbered! But it was very exciting to see the old bricks from the original house being laid as part of the reverse brick veneer cladding. Already the outline of the downstairs rumpus room, guest bedroom and ensuite and their window placements are clearly visible. It was amazing to finally get a concrete - so to speak - feel for some of the house and to walk through it. Over the next two weeks, the pool will be formed, more bricks laid and all the dirt next to the concrete slab moved so the second slab can go down. And next time I'll remember to take my camera on site so I can take better pictures - instead of taking them behind the fence after everyone had left for the day like I did here!

The alcove, if you can call it that, in the middle is the guest ensuite.

View through Hugh, the digger.

The concrete block retaining wall on which the second slab will be formed. The rectangular bit sticking out is where the bath in the master ensuite will be, with a window so you can look out at the trees beyond.

My friend, Hugh the digger, takes a rest after a long week's work.

I think I know why I love him so much: his colour brightens the drab grey of everything else!

Even the frangipani tree, which hasn't come into flower yet, is grey.

Hugh's girlfriend has come onto the scene. I think we might have to christen her, too ...

Week 7 & 8 of the Build

Don't you love a good footings pipe? I do - especially when they're going in the ground!

Unfortunately we lost a whole week because of rain so not a lot has been done. Basically the foundations need to be laid and the pool formed but the guys couldn't do it as when the ground gets drenched it needs three days to dry out.

The good news is it's sunny again and the weather is forecast to be fine for the next seven days and the guys on site are now working full steam ahead to make up for lost time.

The plan: form and slab the lower living level (the top 'wing', seen here, on the higher ground), the bricklayer to start laying bricks on this level, then do the same on the lower level footings (ie the bedroom 'wing'), finish the pool excavation and form the pool (ie pour concrete).

 The bricks from the original house sit in a neat pile waiting to be re-used.

I know this doesn't look at all interesting but it was exciting for me because this is the first time I've been able to see exactly where the kitchen splashback will be. You can see its spot marked in fluorescent on the fence (but it will obviously be further away from the fence line). What this means is I can have my desired clear glass splashback with a beautiful view of star jasmine growing up wires from planters fixed to the wall - rather than the view of a grotty fence or a motley collection of trees. We will replace the old wobbly fence and make it a little taller and scrub up the stonework so it looks a lot nicer as well.

That's all for now, folks, and so it's goodbye from me in my sparkly Target gumboots!

One Sad Recycler

I'm feeling a bit down today and it's all to do with nails.
Yes, that's right, nails. And I'm not talking about a bad manicure.

I'm talking about hidden nails in the original hardwood floorboards from our old house.

I've been harping on for ages about how I was going to get a table made from them and when we finally get around to talking with a specialist furniture maker (today), we discover there are hidden nails in the boards which mean they can't be tarted up in a machine. Even if they're taken out, they'll leave large, unslightly holes.

We found all this out after making a trip up the Northern Beaches to Mona Vale where craftsman and furniture-maker Jeffrey Broadfield has a studio. I learnt about his work when I did a story for Green Magazine on ultra-green architects and lifestylers Ashley Dunn and Lee Hillam of Workshop 1. Anyway ... It wasn't until Jeffrey put one of the boards in his machine sander to check out the wood that he discovered the nails. And, thankfully, didn't ruin his machine! The sanded wood ended up like this ...
 

Jeffrey does some amazing things. He showed us a massive door made from ironbark that was 3 metres by 1.8 metres, custom-made for someone's house and a bathroom basin made from recycled wood surrounding a copper chef's bowl - very cool. My plan had been to have a long, narrow trestle-style table that could line the stone wall which will flank one side of the entrance hall.

But, alas, useless timber and a floorboard table we will not have. Sigh ...