Home stretch - things are getting finished

Bit by bit, things are wrapping up and the pieces of the house are going into place.

A few weeks ago we had an empty kitchen.

Then one happy day for Mish, the kitchen cabinetry arrived. This is Mish cooking breakfast on our
portable induction plate down the bedroom end, while the truck backs up the driveway.

Two days later, most of the kitchen cabinetry is in.

And today, beginning to unpack boxes and put things in drawers. Mish heaven.

Our kitchen floorboards couldn't be saved thanks to a gummy substance discovered under the tiles. Bum. But at least it wasn't asbestos. So the floor boards came up and the builders discovered a bit of extra work needed to be done with the bearers (of course!)  and we now have a plywood floor waiting for a beautiful black marmoleum to go over top. 

Still to come in the kitchen: flooring, blinds, lighting, stainless steel bench top (coming in the door in one veeeery long L-shaped piece in about two weeks), induction hob (seen above in cardboard box that was quietly chewed by Plum under the bed one day), and fridge (it's down the hall). 

Other bits getting ticked off include building the deck outside Mish's studio. Decking arriving:

The piles of topsoil and sand have come out of the soakpit we had to dig for drainage in the middle of the photo. We can plant over that, it's like a Lego system of plastic crates and matting underground. Just don't drive on it haha.

And the rain chain project. The chain will fall at the back door into the copper water heater we took out in Newlands and have been saving for 12 years for something interesting.  That time has arrived. Mish cutting the top off.

And the green glass bricks over the library entrance - they're in! 

The first of our tradies have left the site. Momentous! 

The painters finished yesterday and we lifted up the thin plywood sheets laid down over the floors to protect the surface from painters, plasterers, etc. Then we swept up, picked up, vacuumed, and hired a carpet washer and gave the guest bedroom a good clean. It's beginning to look and feel like a house again instead of a worksite.

Which is rather nice cause both of us are down with a rotten cold that's making us cough our guts out. I've had it nearly two weeks and I shared with Mish a week ago.  We've never been sick at the same time. No energy. Most inconvenient.

Running away yet again

This time to sister Arlene's small farm to look after their new pooch Bo, another huntaway, while she and kids spent a sporty week in Queenstown.

At this stage of our build we are so loving peaceful places to just hang out. So nice to have electricity at night - and an actual kitchen!

An  Australian with gum trees in the back paddock.

Bo spent the entire time relaxing too. He's a failed farm dog. Only three years old but far too laid back for the farming life. So he was no trouble. 

By the time we got home this time the worst of the disruptive works have passed. Phew.

Running away again

 New Plymouth, yay! 

A four hour road trip up north - we ran away for three days. It was getting fairly stressful, living in the works with tradies everywhere coming and going and trying to stay out of their way and dust and power cords all over the floor and so on.

Pukekura Park was far more peaceful.

We stayed at Fitzroy Motor Camp (I had my first birthday there) on the beach at New Plymouth. Mish and I camped in a tent there in 2000 when we did our two month drive around NZ. 

Had a lazy few days, walking around favourite places in the city and beyond.

Monica's Cafe, always good.

Full moon under the Wind Wand on a wet waterfront walk.

Stopped halfway home at the cleanest cafe in the world, the funky fifties Viv's Kitchen with cheap and chokka toasted sandwiches.

And back into it for a few days, before running away again!

Into spring and mere weeks to go in the works

The last bit of gib going in - the guest bathroom's skylight. 

There's still a bit to do though - builders have still got to build the back door ramp and steps outside Mish's studio. Kitchen arriving end of the month, plasterers and painters lining up to work inside. We're moving things from room to room and out again as work gets done by every trade.

We went into town to admire the cool metal shelves Mish has had made for the library cheese boards. She's had fun. 

Cheeseboards from Gouda have arrived and are stacked up in the mistresses bedroom, and the vanity from Italy has finally arrived after much delay and one of our few glitches. 'Fly it in now at your expense,' said Mish. And they did.

We're enjoying living in the new wing, crowded with household goods though it is.  The old house has no power and our cool spring nights involve extension cords flowing over the floor so we can access heating, light and internet in the living room. Works ok - but we'll we glad to not do that (it'll be a month when everything works like it should). 

Not living in the living room

 Cause we can't get in there.

We've run away again

With superb timing, my old mate Diana who lives around the corner from us and her partner Robynne have gone south for two weeks. And we are camped at their place. Wahoo!

The builders and all the other trades are now in every room of the old house except the living room and we can't yet get into the new wing. Living room is stacked with boxes and furniture and the electricity is off. But we have a haven. 

Ripping off the gib in the writing room. 

And looking in the other direction back into the house through what was our two adjacent bathrooms.

Every room has something going on and the centre of the house is gutted. Mish is 'yeah!' and I'm OMG.

Tim's standing in what was the little loo - knocked out so we can now walk through to the new wing.

The kitchen has been gutted too. Mish calculating bench dimensions. Old tiles are coming up ok with 1950s floorboards underneath in good condition.

Just walked around to the house to get a couple of things and for Mish to ask and answer a few questions (a daily occurrence). We're days away from being able to move into the new part. Overnight we've had the most rain we've had this year - we haven't lost a day of the build to rain. 

That's nice, because yesterday we planted a persimmon tree. Mum grew this from a seed over ten years ago and it's been in a pot since then. She passed it to Mish  about five years ago and we'll grow it for leaf colour just outside her new studio. Root system is good, leaves are about to break and it's going yay rain right now. 

Jolly hockey sticks!

 The winning team in a hockey quiz night fundraiser!

That's Fiona who I used to work with on the right, her husband Matt, nephew David and his partner, Shani, and us. An ideal combo of ages and knowledge, and a fab sign.

In the living room with the Olympics and changing windows and doors

Starting position, on your blocks. Tim's about to rip out the first frame in the living room.

First one gone.

Then, for a  few days we had a big plywood box for a living room. Quirky and a bit cool - mid winter.

And today. All in and framed up and double glazed cosy. Sliding door on the left and picture window at the end of the room. The Olympics are over and builders have moved on, so we can stack up the living room again with boxes and stuff from other parts of the house. Everything is everywhere.

Guest bedroom

 We'll spruce it up before anyone arrives.

The busiest day

Our busiest day yet on site.  Sixteen people with tools and radio. Two extra builders today and they are working on windows and doors. The biggest windows are frames only due to the weight of them and the glazier will fix that later this week. In the meantime we'll be kept in the dark with plywood over the big holes in the walls. 

This image encapsulates the action today: rain, front door out, living room doors out, bedroom window about to come out.

Works update

More painting, plastering, and tiling. These guys have to finish their work in the new build this week so the floor dudes can come in and do their stuff. 

Our meticulous tiler working around the bath.

On the other side of the hall, Mish is pretending to wash her face in the basin that isn't there yet. We love our mosaic tiles around the mirror that isn't there yet - they glint and change colour as you walk by.

Mish in the shower area beside another mirror that isn't there yet. This one will have a special feature invented by us  - come and see it!

Meanwhile, in the mistresses bedroom, the painters had to take the sliding doors off to paint them.

Mish took a ground shot under the lemon tree, looking up at her studio and down the south side. Planting and sculptures are planned for this area.

We're up to plasterers and painters and tilers

Another very busy day on the site. Mish will need a wee glass of merlot come five o'clock when the yard clears. 

This morning:  two builders, four plasterers sanding, three unexpected painters, two tilers in the bathroom, and one plumber arriving any moment to hopefully fix the bore which has stopped working again.

Last week, Mish up the scaffold experimenting with soffit colours (very similar shades of grey).

Over the weekend we wandered through the new build to finalise paint colours. The painter has quoted for three colours so he is now requoting  haha. We have eight colours, with splashes of bright colour here and there, and a metallic bedroom ceiling that will be tricky to apply. Doable, but tricky. It's only money.

In the bathroom area, perhaps a splash of colour to match the gold highlights in a small run of tiles? The panel behind Mish's head is now orange. Yeah!

We've officially moved to stage 2 of the build. The builders have finished building the extension and the other trades are swarming in that area. Builders are now busting through bigger spaces into the old house. This is our new back door -  a porch and ramp extravaganza.

We are in organised chaos inside the house. Moving boxes and things around and out of the way and going pretty well thanks to getting a storage unit and having a big garage. Soon we'll have to ramp up moving things out of the way as the builders begin to knock down walls inside, not just on the house edges. 

Tradie breakfast at our place

7am this morning, we threw a bacon and egg roll breakfast for our builders and we all watched the 2024 UEFA final.  Spain 2 England 1.

Meanwhile, the cheery plasterers arrived for their first visit, and they just started work. On stilts!

The garage

 They started neatly on their half, but bit by bit the builders have taken up the whole thing! Looking forward to getting my table tennis table set up again.

One night in the city

We had a fancy new switchboard installed last week so decided to run away to town while the power was off for hours. Drove to mum's and left the car at her place to train into the city. Walked across town to our hotel, picking up some books in one of our go-to bookshops and checking out the outdoor shops. A city moment.

Delicious dinner at a modern Vietnamese (Apache) and excellent breakfast next day at a very trendy cafe (Acme).

Loved the upmarket porridge.

Headed out to an immersive art installation showing a film of eight years of Wellington's winds at a day a second. Cosmic.

Then a bit of shopping (she bought it).

And up the cable car into the botanic gardens. Bit drizzly but lovely temperature for the middle of winter. Contemplating.

Walked back down to the city through the gardens, popping out at my favourite city restaurant (gosh, look at that): Where's Charlie? (best Vietnamese in town).

And train back to mum's. 

In the linkway

 

The annual NZ bird count 2024

The bird count is a  citizen science project we've been doing for a few years. It runs for a week in winter - where people observe and count birds for a hour. 

We had a beautiful day and went outside with our coffees to do double duty of bird counting and talking about landscaping when the building is done. Loads of sparrows around, plus several blackbird pairs that live in our yard. Five tui which is wonderful - they are tucking into camelia flowers at the moment - silvereyes, goldfinches, seagulls, one starling. The usual suspects.

Mish is experimenting with a layout here. Pipes and wood outlining another corten planter box that will enclose a seating area on crushed limestone and abut a herb garden. Maybe. In the background is a probable paint colour for the old house too. It's chartreuse, a bit greener than it looks here, and is firming as the favourite. 

Not sure what is happening here, but it's the weekend (cause this is where the builders park) and she's still in her dressing gown. This is the push out space which will increase our dining area. (And allow for a better view of the cars, which one of us has no problem with at all 😀.)