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.