Day 283: Leave the light on

Another day, another 8 hours of housework. 

In the joy of coming home, I had forgotten how awful unpacking is.  And combined with cleaning, it is even worse.  I am a firm believer of outsourcing housework (other than ironing; I don't mind doing that) and can live with doing it occasionally, but the current situation is like Groundhog Day for cleaners.  I am sweeping down and about to wash the floor that was swept down and cleaned three days ago because as we make our way through the house, we are stirring up dust and dirt in the uncleaned sections so by the time we get through once, it's time to start all over again.  However to cheer myself up, I put together my beautiful "Orchid" light made by local artist Marc Pascal.  Stos doesn't really like it and Bob will hate it (along with the beautiful "Lace" light) but I think it is gorgeous.

The other bright spot in coming home is our fabulous internet connection.  We are now back in the modern age of technology and the wireless access is here is great.  We have changed telcos and so far, so good.  The iPad is really coming into its own as a secondary device in the kitchen with the laptop in the study for serious stuff.

Day 281: Glad all over

Well, we are home. It was chaos and still is but it's great to be back. Moving in day started with the removalists turning up an hour before they were supposed to but they were fine about it and filled in their time until we arrived by having a snooze. Then it was collectively decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to use the front entrance as the wooden floors had only been finished the previous day, so everything was put into the garage, lower level and kitchen. The very large and heavy kitchen table had to be left on the drive and moved later by me, Stos, Bob and Sparkie Dave; up stairs and over balustrades, all the while trying not to hit the walls or glass roof. Also, there was no time to clean, so we are trying simultaneously to unpack, clean and put furniture in the right places. Exhausting! The best news all week has been that the house guests don't arrive until 31/12 and not today as expected so there's a bit more time to get the place into some semblance of order.

It's still a bit messy around here so I won't put any photos of the house up today but here's a very cute pic of the girls who are still getting used to the new surrounds.

Day 272: The Final Countdown

 

Just because there haven't been any blog updates in the last week and a half does not mean that things have come to a standstill.  Oh, no.  Unfortunately STLT temporary HQ had to move to yet another temporary location pending moving home on 23/12.  One of the directors also took a short trip north, so between moving, travelling, general disruption and dodgy internet connections, there hasn't been much time to update the faithful.  There is actually a lot to report.

The condensed version of progress to date is:

- The kitchen is in and the benchtops have been put on;

- Painters are working furiously (and as we speak);

- The front fence is up, but unfortunately none of the gates;

- The plumbing side of things is finished and Pete the Plumber has taken off for a well deserved break;
- Electricals are partly done (more on that later);
- The kitchen/living area floor has been sanded and sealed.

The place has been a total hive of activity:  on Thursday, I went to pick up the decorative screen made for us by Ro Baby and dropped it of at the house.  There were 6 painters, Bob, Pete and Sparkie Dave present plus some bloke who had come in to have a look at the house, as he is currently deciding whether to rennovate or detonate.  Dave was very excited about the trapeze lights, pop-up powerpoints and the fancy lightswitch/powerpoint covers in the kitchen.  It's great that I'm not the only one who thinks they look fantastic - I don't expect this from tradies given that they see this all the time.  Dave was supposed to be finishing things off at the house yesterday but to Stos's surprise, none of the pendant lights had been hung and nothing else that we had expected to be done had been touched. Very strange as Dave is very reliable and meticulous.  But a phone call from Bob later in the day explained this - poor Dave was in hospital with some sort of infection.  It looks like he will be back at work on Monday but we will have to wait and see.  We wish him a speedy recovery.

Still quite a bit to do this week including showerscreens and various bits and pieces, however there is quite a long list of things that will not be done and have to be slated for after Christmas. At the moment, focus is on getting the things done for issue of the Certificate of Occupancy.  Other things listed for this week are showerscreens, floors at the front of the house to be sanded, carpet to be laid and now completion of electricals.  The brightest note of all is that we have our girls back.  They are dirty and unhappy about having to stay outside but it is wonderful to have them back after nine months.

Day 261: Underneath the colours

I love these tiles - the colour combination could be so wrong but works beautifully.  And it will look even better once the white tiles are laid above.  While this is the wall of the second bathroom, it's definitely not second best.  I think I'll have to come down and have a shower in here every so often to admire the effect of this border and the same tiles in the recessed shelf.  W is doing a great job.

Day 259: The green, green grass of home

Well, there's no grass; it was all chewed up during the demolition.  But I have beautiful green feature tiles in the ensuite: 

They look a lot better tonight as all the white tiles are now up, but by the time we got there it was too dark to take an updated photo.  And I know that the New York correspondent eagerly awaits his Monday morning update.  The blue waterproof membrane isn't the best background but they still look great.  So much has happened in the last week; the kitchen cabinetry had gone in, the study desk and shelves have been installed, the floor tiles are all laid and grouted, the downlights are in under the eaves and in the kitchen/living area.  The kitchen is a bit hard to photograph because it is big and the light isn't good because of the room size, but here's a look at the study:

I am looking forward to going back to working one day a week from home again with such a beautiful area to use.  Now I just need to commit to keeping it tidy.  The kitchen guy has given us lots of shelf space and built in a filing cabinet (shown) and a regular set of drawers at the unseen other end.  So together with the nifty bookshelves attached to the back of the pantry in the kitchen:

I think that 's a licence to go out and buy more books.  Stos will be thrilled!