Do do do, looking out my back door

 Classic New Zealand wooden 1950s house, about to get an update.

This is the view of the back door and garage, on the right. The new back door will come out onto a ramp about where the gas cylinder is, and the new wing will go down the left side of the photo. The dodgy mud room gets demolished day 1 of the works. We'll get  all new windows for the house and a nice bright paint job at the end of the works.

We've cleared the space and just waiting for the builder now. Getting close to ground breaking.

Meanwhile, on the other side  of the property, Mish has been doing her own groundbreaking, making a nice even platform so we can come and go from the park side gate a bit easier. It's too steep and overgrown to access the park that way, we go through to water and weed around our guerilla plantings. 

Building consent approved and we start to move stuff

It's approved! Our building work will begin within weeks.

That means imminent demolition of the mudroom at the back and everything in there has to come out. My dickey shoulder is a nuisance so we've enlisted the nephews to lug big heavy things around.

Today, Alexander came and he and Mish walked around the house with her big pine cupboard, in the rain. Days of hot dry weather and today - of course.

That and a bookcase came into the living room (it's going to be a tad cramped for a few months) and then some big pots outside and then concrete posts. The posts came out of the old fence and we've kept them for a future artwork. They're now out of the way for the duration of the build.

The rain increased and here are two drowned rats tackling that final job for the morning.

We do need rain and we love it - but that was bad timing. We're getting the remnant of Cyclone Kirrily from Queensland for a day or two of good rain.

Verandah works

Actual roofing work! This was part of the renovation but we've been able to move it forward and do it as a separate job before the main works.

Hopefully these bright new panels with extra fixings won't bang and crack in a big wind like the old ones did.

Getting the yard ready for the builders (looking like 2024 now)

We've moved plants and pots (some multiple times) and wood piles and concrete bits and resource piles and veg boxes and trees. Etc.

The old veg boxes are now completely disassembled and we have a new veg garden on the other side of the yard. We have a lot in pots and planters and some of them will be moved again when the reno is done and dusted. 

Sunflower seeds saved from two years ago have just gone in on the right. 

 And a ride on Peka Peka beach. Mish is loaded up with a smooth chunk of driftwood she HAD to bring home, in an improvised backpack made from a rainjacket.

Fence painting

The paint has been sitting in the living room for a few weeks. Today's the day.

Done!

First coat, anyway. Second coat tomorrow. Mish hanging out to plant along the new fence, both sides, and get cracking on her garden plan. Winter in a week or so - that might put a dampener on it hahahaha

Concrete water tank gone and tree ferns follow

 The digger is where the water tank was; that's the top of it on the compost. We've saved that bit for gabion stacking later. 

Taking out the two tree ferns that grew bedraggled by the water tank.

Moving them into the yard with water tank bits in front. Needing a bit of weight as they were heavy to drag along.

And into the driveway.

They're now down the drive and in a shaded and sheltered happier place - we hope. 

Front entry is done

We're calling it done. 

New front steps sidelined with rocks from NZ beaches, planter boxes filled with grasses and crab apple tree and some Mish favourites and mulched, and the water feature is connected, reasonably balanced and bubbling.

 

Three sheds

Our brand new shed; not yet packed out. 

Plus, at the moment we use the old water tank as a shed for spades and things and wood fire pellets. Mish took the door off today. Tomorrow that gets knocked down (it's in the way of the new build which will happen...).

And the little shed that we've been using for cardboard and irrigation bits and pieces. Diana and Robynne are carting that away soon (it's also in the way of the new build, which will happen...).

Loads of sunflowers from last year's crop, all from saved seeds.

So our shed empire will get knocked back to one borer-free nice new shed (yay!) and the garage (with borer but also yay! to have a garage).

Driveway works

 Underway!

We have a long driveway down to the road, there's a lot of land there and we aim to make better use of it.

To get some useful land back we've moved the electric gate down the drive a bit and for days now we've had landscapers landscraping. 

The works are horrifyingly huge from the driveway looking up, but when the tsunami comes we'll be behind the massive amount of timber poles and boards and compacted sand and concrete, having a cup of tea.

Concrete truck offloading.

Lower retaining wall in place and poles for the upper level wall, braced for the concrete pour. The old fence is coming out and we'll gain some flat land on the top level.

They've cut the water pipe twice and cut the bore hose today. Ooops. But, they've missed the wi-fi fibre and that's great. Apart from the wasps (two nests in the bank and several stings) and the water issues, the job has gone fairly smoothly so far. 

Every morning we're up at sparrow fart to move a car or two into the park's carpark next door as there's no way we'd be able to drive out during the day.

Hanging over the existing fence and looking down at the second concrete pour.

Work has stopped while they fix the bore hose, so we popped out to check out what we've got so far.

Mish at the top of the drive.

And telling me about something down there in the lower drive. 

Mish now thinking about what we'll plant in these new terraces to soften the Great Wall of Raumati.

Trip hazards (aka site design)

Is anything happening with the reno extension? A little. The architect is about ready to submit plans to council, but the builder won't be ready until 2024. Meanwhile, the funds are recovering (hopefully). Availability of supplies, materials and people, was improving, but thanks to Auckland's floods and Cyclone Gabrielle causing so much damage up north there will be shortages again.

Climate. Covid. Sigh.

Meanwhile, Mish is having fun laying out bits of wood and hose and spray paint to show how the new building might look, and where landscape design elements like the new veggie boxes could go. This is the deck area coming off her studio. The French doors (in yellow) have gone, replaced by glass sliders. The bench seat is in her studio, the framed area  is the deck and its steps leading down into the garden.