Renovation - the final countdown

This is probably the last blog post before completion. We are still on track to finish next Friday and the floor sander was working hard today. Things are really close now and the builders are working on the final details so it's difficult to find any photos that show the progress. We are down to the big decisions like door colours, positioning of lights and finishing off outside. This means there are less photos this week and you have to look harder to spot the differences... although the difference between the first two photos should be fairly obvious.

 Otto is pretty excited about this door (the back door).

Both the toilet door and the bathroom door are painted yellow.
The orange and the yellow colours have been carried over from functionally similar doors in parts of the house that were demolished.

And the door between the kitchen and the laundry is this blueish colour.

Most of the heaters are fitted to the hydronic system but it's not quite finished off yet.

Things are also going on outside the house. The trellis has been removed from around the verandah and unfortunately it couldn't be repaired. We've gone instead for this mesh which has been painted black and which you can sort of see in this photo. The idea is that the sandstone footings of the house are more visible. The posts will be painted white.

Overall the verandah is progressing. The electrical cable has gone, the footings and supports are being stabilised and the rotton wood is being replaced

But the biggest change is that the brick steps have now gone and the new railing has been installed. This might take a bit of getting used to.

There are lots more things that we don't have photos of but from next weekend we have the place back and can take all of the photos we want!

42/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015.

Super Sofia!
Otto: now I am three






Thanks to Jodi for hosting the 52 project at practising simplicity. 

You can click on the button (here or in the side bar) to see all my 52 posts.

41/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015.

Sofia & Otto: on Coningham beach. Beautiful spring sunshine, very cold water!






Thanks to Jodi for hosting the 52 project at practising simplicity. 

You can click on the button (here or in the side bar) to see all my 52 posts.

40/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015.

Sofia & Otto: selfies






Thanks to Jodi for hosting the 52 project at practising simplicity. 

You can click on the button (here or in the side bar) to see all my 52 posts.

Renovation - the final month

We are pretty close to the end of our renovation now and while there is still quite a lot to do, most of it is finishing things off. Here is one of the windows that will house a seat and as you can see, the finishing touches need to be added.

These are the seats that go in the windows and double as storage drawers. They are sitting on their backs so the open side in this photo is actually the top which gets a wooden cover, then some cushions. The side facing up in this photo is the front of the drawers.

Above the new steps in the hallway is the new raised floor with everything starting to come together here. The windows on the left are installed in the old door frames and the new door frame has been installed for the big pivot door to separate the old and new parts of the house.

This is the big pivot door that goes about where Miranda is standing in the photo above.

These are the shelves in the pantry/laundry which have just been installed. 

 The tiling has been done outside the backdoor. It's the same bluestone tiles as in the bathroom and laundry.

There are lots of little things going on like finishing off this door frame - and obviously the corner window next to it.

In the big room where the new wall was installed the bookshelves have been fitted. This photo doesn't really give the impression of scale but they will hold a lot of books.

The bathroom is progressing with the vanity due to be installed in the next few days on the left hand side of this photo. The bricks on the wall are very old and are being painted and left as a feature.

Here is the shower. The shower window is currently boarded up but will be replaced with clear glass. The view from the shower at sunrise is one of the highlights of the house.

 And the bath. The windows are going to be replaced soon with opaque glass.

The electricity supply was switched over this week. The wire now goes to a pole near our driveway then underground to the house. The old wire was removed so there is now a clearer view.

In the next few days the kitchen cupboards will be installed and then the floors will be sanded throughout the house later next week. We are expecting to finish two weeks later than initially planned but that means we will be moving back in early November.

Simple Pleasures #12 - spinning

Otto has found a new way to enjoy our backyard swing - Ian captured this video on the weekend.

Just after filming this (after spinning for a while) Otto came off and staggered about drunkenly, getting up and falling over a couple of times. (Un)fortunately the camera wasn't rolling for his post-spinning antics.

(If you are viewing this post from an email you might have to click on the title to view in your browser to see the video.)