Home and the range

Friday morning our range arrived. It was very exciting to see it in place, and I had been so busy with other things I had forgotten, if it all went to plan, how great it would look.
We had handed the kitchen makers a photo of what we wanted, and the range hood delivered seemed to be the twin brother of the one in the photo.

This is what we asked for.

This is what we got. You still have to very much use your imagination. It needs to be vj-ed from the top to the ceiling, and the stove in place, tiling inside the range as well as the splash back either side, and open shelving installed each side. The kitchen is an absolute mess, but it's coming together.

At 3.30pm on Friday afternoon, my husband and I and the stone mason gathered around the island bench. Some of the builders also stopped work momentarily and stood around to watch, hoping for a bit of a show no doubt. He proceeded to demonstrate a little stone plug he'd made. 'That's one possible solution', he said. I disagreed with that.

He then told us about the nickel plug on it's way from Italy to go with our taps, and he presented us with a photograph of our taps.

'They're not our taps.' I told him. The tapware company rep had sent him the photo. I pulled out the bottom drawer of our new kitchen and showed him what our taps looked like. It was a bit iffy as to whether the plug would fit under the poles.

This is what our taps look like, except ours are a nickel finish.

We stood around for a while, no one saying much. My husband had to go off and talk to the glazier who had shown up at the same time.

I stayed with the stonemason, arms crossed, trying not to scowl too much. I felt sorry for him actually, he'd tried really hard to come up with some way to fix the problem.

He excused himself and went outside. I went and talked to the glazier for a while about the glass to put in above our doors. Some of the original glass lights remain, but they are an etched pattern, which is unavailable now.

The stonemason came back in, looking a little sheepish I thought. He'd been on the phone.

'We're going to replace the whole thing. I've managed to get another piece of stone from the same batch.' Music to my ears. I immediately felt guilty for not letting him off the hook.

In order to replace the whole top he had to get another piece of stone from the same batch as the other two benchtops in the kitchen. If it was from a different batch, there may be more or less grey flecks, etc.

He said that the faulty piece would probably end up being thrown out, but I'm hoping he was just saying that to make me feel bad.

On Friday I also took a trip out to a tile shop to find something to put on the workbench in the pantry. I needed something in stock because it will have to be done soon. I managed to get a metre of 15mm grey Cararra marble mosaic tiles. They are very extravagant for a pantry shelf, but I got the last metre they had for just under $200. They normally retail for over $750/metre. I love a bargain!

The painter worked on Saturday too. He had some peace and space while all the builders were gone, and he brought along three painter friends (who owed him a favour) to help. They cracked a carton of cold beer and away they went.

I'm happy to say we're very impressed with his prep work. He's also a very likeable person.

While the house was being prepped for painting, I went over to Dulux and got a sample of virtually every white paint that's ever been produced.

I've now got some paint on the walls to check out the real colour. At this point in time, I'm looking at Princess Bling for the exterior and possibly Whisper White for inside...but nothing's written in Caesar stone yet.

This coming week should be eventful. By next Friday I foresee the french doors will go in near the pool, the glass may go in on that deck, the internal stairs should be put in, the front stairs and verandah balustrade may be finished and the massive french door for downstairs should arrive.


Aah! Breathe.

What a difference a dongle makes....
Well, I'm back on-line thanks to my new dongle. That's what my husband tells me they're called, doesn't sound quite right to me? I had no idea they existed until someone told me about them this week, and I was straight to the computer store.
My return to the world wide web is very timely actually because Euphemia is on the cusp of having all her special bits installed.
The new wraparound verandah now has a roof and ballustrading. The small breakout deck is on overlooking the pool.

 The front verandah has new decking, and Val has been busy making our handsome new stairs - old school style, from scratch, on site. He even mocked up a couple of ways we could re-install the wrought iron. We can't put it back on as it was originally, because the top rail would be too low to meet building regulations.
Inside, at the heart of it, the new kitchen benchtops arrived. I was so excited to see them until I noticed a hole already drilled near the sink. 'What's that?' I asked.
'That's for the tap'. I was told.
Apparently, somewhere along the line, someone assumed we were having a mixer, but our taps have two poles, hence two holes are required.
It's a massive slab of rock, perfect in every way except for the damn hole in the wrong spot. We could drill another hole, but the taps will be off centre and the spout will barely reach one of the bowls.

This is the incorrect hole in question. The stone mason is coming to visit us this afternoon to look at possible solutions. I don't know what the answer is. It's such a shame.  Apparently he has already phoned the company where we bought our taps, and the rep just happens to be going to Italy today and can bring back a nickel plated plug next week.

It's our first mishap really, and it's right in the middle of our kitchen, which is right in the middle of our house. I'm going to see that mistake everyday, probably ten times a day. If it were my mistake, I think it would be different, I'd just live with it.

We'll talk to the stonemason this afternoon and see what we can come up with. No one has mentioned the obvious yet.....

On a brighter note, the painter has started, which to me signifies that we are suddenly so much closer to being able to move back in. Although really, he is having to dance around the builders very much. From what I can see, he's doing a fab job of prepping.

Besides a misplaced hole, everything is coming together and looking better than I could have expected. There's only one forseeable complication remaining and that is Myles, our tiler who is yet to show up to even look at the job. He's currently still missing in action. Myles where are you??

The story of Pietro

Before I go, have a look at this. My daughter has a mystical, magical type ability to seemingly hypnotise and domesticate butterflies.

This is a photo of the latest one, whom she (rather oddly) named Pietro.

Pietro stayed with us the rest of the afternoon and all evening, but alas by morning he had passed on. He was put into a glass jar and taken to school, but left in the car by mistake. Later that morning I was at my regular playgroup and one of the mums was lamenting her after school job which required her to help her son catch bugs in the back yard to take to school. '

"I've got a dead butterfly in the car", I volunteered.

"I'll take it!" she said.

And so, Pietro, went on to help children even in the afterlife.

Moving forward

I'm currently at my sister's for Sunday dinner, and while the lamb and pork are developing a bit more colour, I thought I'd duck inside to update my blog (see how devoted I am).

While our plan to move back in the first week of July is seeming a little over ambitious, the house is moving forward all the same.

This week saw the roof go on the new wraparound verandah. I'm so happy with this addition. The original sleepout was added onto the house just after the crash of 1929 and it jutted out quite awkwardly. The new verandah continues the line down the side of the house and around the back, and looks as though it was always intended to be there.

Our kitchen cupboards also arrived this week (see below). The poor men who delivered them had an unfortunate encounter with one of our neighbours who is often frustrated with the distance people park to his driveway.  Parking and access is just one of those things we have to deal with in Red Hill. 

Our pantry has been fitted out with shelves, and my clever husband whipped up some decorative brackets to sure up the shelves. 

I squealed with delight when I saw the pantry. I'm ashamed and embarassed about being so excited about a store room for food. In my dream house I have been concocting since childhood, a butler's pantry like this is a must - don't know why. Just is.

Val the builder was talking to me about the front stairs this week. He needs to order the materials and he was trying to talk me out of having risers, but like the pantry, this detail is a must.  It is quite amazing seeing one of our goals (living in such a house) come to fruition before my very eyes, piece by piece, day by day. I love it.

A couple of weeks ago we had two little men come and vacuum the bird/bat/possum poo out of our ceiling. I feel an odd pride in Euphemia, nothing about her is average. Usually they suck out 40-50kg of droppings,  but out of ours they got 230kg and it broke both their vacuum cleaners! 

At the end of this past week the builders also built the breakout deck which extends from our living room to the pool. It's narrow and is only meant to open up the room via folding doors so we have clear vision of the pool. This deck will have glass balustrade, a modern touch, but it's the safest option and will also let that splash of blue infiltrate the living area.

I must go now. The lamb is nearly cooked and I can hear jokes outside that may just be about me (I've a mild to medium case of paranoia).

 

A progress report

Apologies again for the time lapse between posts. We are really in the thick of things at the moment and days have been passing incredibly fast.  Is it just me or does time really go a lot quicker during school hours?

We have had no major hiccups and barely any minor ones that I can think of either (touch wood). In fact, we have had a massive bonus by being able to extend ourselves a little further and have downstairs built in also. It won't be fitted out but it will be the lock-up shell, ready to finish at some time in the near future. The space downstairs allows us to put in the internal staircase, and it will be the perfect area for our children to play.

This is what I have discovered so far with this, our fourth renovation. I wouldn't call it advice, just what I have found works for us.
Firstly, I recommend keeping a slush fund. I have ours set aside for 'finishing touches' including; interior and exterior painting, floor polishing, security grills and awnings.
Over estimate the cost of things too, if you happen to have any money left over, I'm sure you'll find a use for it further down the track (this is starting to sound like advice isn't it?).
We have been in the process of getting painting quotes. In fact, we had a moment recently where I was sure we were headed for disaster. I was asking our builder what he thought we'd need to pay for painting inside and out. He's very experienced and his rates are more than reasonable. He said, 'oh I'd say about thirty thousand.' I was chuffed, that was dead on what I'd budgeted for. 
He went on 'well that'd be for the inside, probably another thirty for the outside'. I nearly threw up on his work boots.

Our first official quote was a marginally better $22k. I had visions of us painting through the night for months on end.
Then a breakthough...the next quote, and the quote after that came in at around ten thousand dollars for inside, and about the same for out.
We will pin down the painters this week and will probably hire one painter to do inside and the other to do outside at the same time so we can move back in sooner.

This brings me to my second recommendation. Only choose contractors who you like personally (a lot of people may disagree with this). But my thinking is that you have them working on your house and you deal with them on a daily basis for the length of time they work for you. Obviously you also have to be confident with their work and their quote has to be reasonable too.


Another thing, shop around for pretty much everything. You can save an incredible amount of money. Let me give you an example. We knew that we wanted a clawfoot bath, and we picked one out we thought was just what we wanted. I happened to ask where it was made - guess what? China. A few days later I was in a smaller boutique style bathroom shop, and I was telling the lady who owned it how we had picked out our bath already. She sternly warned me about buying an inferior Chinese made bath, and insisted we'd have  to pay a minimum of $6000 to get a decent clawfoot. Apparently Portugal is where it's at as far as baths go.
Whilst I was confident that we would not be forking out $6000 for a bath, it definitely played on my mind. We have been concentrating on buying the best we can afford of everything, afterall, Euphemia is our keeper and anything that does not stand the test of time will be our problem further down the track.
I began to research cast iron baths on-line and found the actual supplier of the Porguese baths. They sold me a bath for half the retail price. They coat the baths with whatever colour you choose, ours is Dulux Silver Grey and it's currently waiting in our hallway while the bathroom is prepped.
We also found the shower for the ensuite in a bathroom shop for around $2300, but managed to get it elsewhere for $1800.
Speaking of bathrooms, the inspirations for our main bathroom are below.

...and my personal favourite below.

Of course it also pays to be very prepared, but be ready to make minor changes along the way. We have a wonderful builder, Val, who often makes suggestions to us along the way. He came up with a better place in the kitchen for the placement of our fridge, and has assisted with the details along the way. I think sometimes you can look at a plan so many times that you can miss an obvious solution.

We are having a narrow deck built out near the pool with folding french doors leading onto it. It was the builders' idea to have the french doors custom made with arched glass at the top to replicate the recycled french doors already being used in the nearby dining room (you can see the recycled french doors below).

Here are some photos of the inside of the house, a couple are of the new downstairs area. It's still a terrible mess, but progress is ahappening.

I have run out of time now, but will try not to let so much time pass before my next post.

Progress 

I managed to get to the house this weekend and take some photos of the work in progress. It's quite the mess, but remember you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs.

 This is the new main bedroom. There was a window here but it has been removed to make a doorway leading into the walk in wardrobe, and through there into the ensuite.

 This is general garden variety mess with timber on its way in, lying next to timber on its way out.

This is the view from where our kitchen will be looking into the dining room on the left and the lounge on the right hand side.

The photo above is taken from where the dining room will be, looking through the kitchen, and into the walk in pantry. You may not be able to see what I'm talking about. This reminds me of when I was pregnant with my children and I would go to get ultrasounds at the clinic. The radiographer would be telling me what was what, and I'd nod along, but really it was like looking at a lava lamp for me. I couldn't tell which was up and which was down.

 Finally, to finish on a more upbeat note, this is the view from our new back verandah. While it's not a water or city view, it is certainly uplifting all the same.

Phoenix rising

Apologies for not updating my blog for many weeks. We have now moved out and work has well and truly commenced on Euphemia's facelift.

I plan to take some photos of the work site when we are there on the weekend and I'll post some on my blog. 

While there is floor to floor rubble and power tools, walls have been torn down, new doorways cut open and windows boarded up, and amongst the ruins the new look Euphemia is taking form. 

At the moment she's got a face only a mother could love, but it's so exciting to see the transformation under way. 

By the way, someone left a comment asking why we are doing our floors black. The reason for that is that some floor boards are rotten and need to be replaced, making the floor patchy, but mostly we just love the look of dark floors.

We have found a great Porter's Paints product called Palm Beach Black. It's a dark timber stain for floors which has a sheen similar to charcoal. 

I've decided to do the walls white, with white doors, window trims, ceiling and white skirting boards - we're not exactly breaking new ground. The effect will be that of a blank canvas, Gallery Domesticus. Our new home.

Good Friday
Just as we spent Good Friday last year moving into Euphemia, this year we have spent it moving out.
For me, this hasn't come soon enough. While the children have coped very well, I am getting weary of cleaning my teeth at the kitchen sink, preparing dinner without the advantage of a cooker, drying clothes without a clothesline, and spending half my day, bottom up in the air (which is becoming bigger by the day thanks to takeaway dinners), digging around in boxes and bags looking for whatever it is I need.
Our cutlery is currently stored in an old beer box.  We have packed and broken so many drinking glasses that we're now down to two - total.  It seems in nearly every corner of the house there are little campfire sized piles of miscellaneous items waiting to be packed. A typical pile may consist of a pair of socks, a screwdriver, a copy of Winnie the Pooh, a piece of the vacuum cleaner, some junk mail, and an ipod recharger. All too hard to sort out for this little black duck I'm afraid.
My desk is piled up so high with papers that whenever someone removes something, or deposits something else on top of the pile there is an avalanche.
The chaos is such that just maintaining our usual level of day to day duties has become a challenge. During the week at school pick up time I just happened to overhear a group of mothers talking about what their children were wearing for fancy dress to school....the next day! Apparently, they all had to go in some sort of national dress dependent on your family's own heritage.  We also had to take along some afternoon tea, also with an international flavor.
We are English, Scottish and German, however, all I could unearth from the dress up box was a Dutch girl's outfit which I picked up from a vintage clothing fair a few year's ago.
I also got the bright idea of sending along 24 tiny bottles of Italian peach juice, which were a real hit.  Another disaster narrowly averted!
I am so thankful for school holidays, that radically reduces my 'to do' list. However, over the past month I have made so many pledges of good things to come for the children, I'm going to have my work cut out delivering them.  I've been forever saying, 'no, we can't go there (do this/see that)', but once we move out we can!' The sweet little things have been so patient and tolerant of what their parents are putting them through.
While there is utter chaos upstairs, things have improved a lot under the house. The builders have cleaned up the site, finished the excavation and put in the retaining walls.

Meanwhile, whilst packing I turned up the receipt from the first builder dated December 14th, 1904. I also found the specifications, or instructions, for building the house.

The instructions are concise and precise, and read:

"Contractors are to make themselves certain as to levels of ground, as no extras will be allowed in height of stumps, steps, etc.

The shortest stump to be three (3) feet, six (6) inches out of the ground.

Excavate holes for the stumps to a depth of two feet, six inches. for all stumps over six feet out of the ground...."

And so on it goes, step by step on how to build the house. Towards the end of the document it gives instructions on the drainpipes, taps and bathtub.

The specifications are in very poor shape, but we will see what we can do to keep it in tact.

Tomorrow is my mother's 70th birthday party, and I will be spending most of the day hanging fairy lights, wrapping prunes with bacon and making a birthday cake in the shape of a large pineapple.

Sunday we plan to do some more packing and move out more furniture and then finish the rest on Monday - my 38th birthday.

My husband starts his new job Tuesday, and then by Wednesday we'll be officially out.

Our builder will be sending in a second gang the second we're out the door, and the facelift will begin in earnest!

Happy Easter to all!