Week 18, day eighty-six

Friday, 27 May 2011

Charlie and Emma, this one's for you – cos I know you're out there, and I know you wanna know! Otherwise I'd probably continue to put off this update as I feel a tad overwhelmed with both paid and unpaid jobs...

Gutters, pipes...

So things are still speeding along on The Block. The visual pace of change may not be as obvious to the untrained eye, but for those who are required to make quite a lot of decisions all of a sudden (that is, moi) things continue to steamroll. Flashings, cappings, downpipes and guttering are all on, making the roof look neat as. We are fully clad and beaded, and the carport roofing is now all in  place. The rest of the glass for the windows was supposed to be delivered and installed today along with door handles and locks (the choice of which was an ordeal rivalling that of taps), but it appears they didn't make it – otherwise we were to be at lock-up this arvo. Ah well, we can save that particular celebration till next week, I guess...

Bath settling in

Plumbers have been busy getting all our piping and tap outlets in place, and we have a bath! Sitting in a wooden frame and with a soggy mortar (I think) bottom, it has been half-full of the most frigid water for the last couple of days (I presume this serves some purpose but haven't remembered to ask). Looking forward to having a slightly less chilly first bath in our Mizu Soaker one day in the not too distant future. We also managed to upgrade from a fairly short 1550mm bath to the 1700mm version, due to a change in the internal wall in the bathroom (from brick to plasterboard, gaining us that extra 150mm or so). The bigger one now fits snugly along the side wall as if we always planned it that way. Now to the next dilemma: tile choice. A lovely job for Mat and I this Sunday as we drive from one western Sydney tile hell to another...At least we've managed to offload the kidlets to friends for the day, so we don't have to endure endless whining as well!

Foreground: shower mixer; background: basin taps

Electricity AND gas meters – so modern!

External bricks were all cleaned this week, and very nice they look too. On Monday Trent the Brickie returns for a short week to start on the internal walls, firstly the lounge/fireplace wall. The floors remain unsealed; we've decided that best course is to tape up with plastic sheeting and top with carpet everything Trent doesn't need to access and hope it remains in good shape... After the walls are painted (a few weeks after bricks have been laid, to ensure mortar is dry) we'll pull it all up, check for damage and decide then whether or not to try a light grind (the bank may well make that decision for us by that stage!).

Pink-batting it up

Insulation is in, wiring is sorted, and next week we meet with a local man of wood who may build a kitchen for us (or may not, depending on his quote – if not, those good folk of Sweden may build our kitchen, via China...). Picked up our tapware this afternoon and it looks pretty good to me (tho' I still covet Arne's wares). The plasterboarders (is this a word? not that that's ever stopped me before) also arrive next week to whip up some internal walls for those sections that are not being bricked up, so by the end of next week this may be looking even more like a real, live house. Exciting times!

Immediate jobs, apart from tiles: need to get onto lighting and kitchen appliances pronto-ish – anyone with Sydney-area or online tips as to where we must check out for these items please raise your hands...

Week 16, day seventy-six

Sunday, 15 May 2011

Okay, it's officially winter, doesn't matter what the calendar says: this morning we discovered that the fish pot had frozen over. Undoubtedly this is normal in mother nature's world and fish cope with such events all the time, but we're slightly worried about whether Swish Fish, bred in the near-tropical climes of Stanwell Park, has fully adjusted to icy events like these. In fact, we haven't seen him since, but hope he's sleeping/hibernating/whatever fish do near the bottom somewhere. And hopefully my slightly mad city-slicker attempts to cheer him up with a few jugs of warm water don't have a negative effect on nature's plans...

Beading has begun on The Block, which refers to the thin pieces of timber that cover up the places where the cladding sheets join. They look very nice, but seeing them has raised whole new colour dilemmas (where the beading joins a fibro sheet to a Weathertex board, does it get painted the fibro colour or the board colour? 'Cause they ain't remotely the same...) Is it acceptable to phone a friend on these matters, ie one's colour consultant? Luckily our painter, Warwick's father-in-law Phil, is another Zen type, so maybe he'll have all the answers.

Almost all clad now

Need to decide on what we're going to do with our concrete floor soon, as it seems that sealing it before the brickie arrives to do his internal walls could be a good move - then if mortar spills, it should wipe off fairly easily. Warwick has put the idea in my head that if we were ever going to lightly grind or polish the slab, now is the time to do it, while there are no internal walls for grinders to butt up against. He had to grind a small spot when he was doing the five-hour installation of the sliding door and said it looked great... Damn! Had no intention of doing this and now I'm thinking about it - and it's ruddy expensive to pay someone to do it, or hard work to do it yourself. Anyone care to push their barrow for either side of the case?

Arne's Vola from 1968!! Genius.

And this weekend's homework has been taps: Waz sprang on me late last week that James would need any mixer taps (those nifty ones that mix cold and hot warm in one tap, for those living in the dark ages like me) by Tuesday. Jeez, Louise! If he had any idea how many tap catalogues I've collected over the months, or how much research I feel obliged to undertake before making any small decision, he'd know that's approximately fourteen days less than I need... But here's where I'm at. I know what taps and spouts I want (Arne Jacobsen's Vola range, designed in 1968 - no thanks to architect friend Todd for bringing these outrageously expensive things of beauty to my attention). I can't have them (prices range from $1200 to $2000 for ONE set). So, after much hunting around for an alternative that I have any chance of finding for Tuesday, we've settled for the Methven Minimalist range (right) - not quite as nice as Arne's, but hey, who am I kidding? Designer Danish tapware is probably not a true reflection of my current lifestyle...

And to bore anyone who's still with me even further, what do you reckon about our clean-up day outdoor-table chair find? Picked up six of these Nabco numbers around the corner - they were rusty and dirty from years of neglect, but a bit of vinegar and scrunched-up alfoil scrubbing later (works wonders on rusty chrome, ladies) and they've come up quite nicely. Either that or they're a heap of 70s/80s junk – I can't quite decide. In any case, they're free, and that is an excellent selling point at this stage of the proceedings.

Week 16, day seventy-four

Wednesday, 11 May 2011

Too much to report! But first, the most exciting news of all (according to Rosie and Jem, anyway): just had the first snow of winter (well, autumn even!) tonight, as the pictures will prove. Been UTTERLY freezing all day after this cold front has moved in - air temp was around 5 degrees all day, but with wind chill that dropped to about -6 this evening! Still a thrill to see snow up here, and makes being freezing all day seem worthwhile...

Caught one

Rosie giving a bit of dining/lounge perspecti

Meanwhile, back on the Block, Monday saw the delivery of the rest of our gorgeous windows and door frames, and as of this arvo they have all been fixed in place. Quite a few of them still have glass missing - this has to be glazed (installed) separately, otherwise they would have been too heavy to lift into place! I think the big hallway window was 100 kilos anyway, even with half of its glass missing... They look amazing, and I'm so glad we went with the local craftsfolk for them - they're clearly very skilled, and from my perspective, at least, they were easy and pleasant to deal with. Love 'em.

Morning tea

He got legs...

Our BIG bedroom windows – curtains?!

High and tall front windows (through the now-bare maple)

The 5-hour slider installation...gulp...

Southern wall

External cladding started on the southern side last week (straight fibro along there), and yesterday the fellas started cladding the front with the Weathertex vertical boards we're using in some other sections – the house has a combination of both right around, just to keep you on your toes. These are a snazzy eco-ish product: sheets made of compressed eucalypt offcuts, with no glues or other nasties in them. Love the verticals too – looking very Brady Bunch, methinks – and it's amazing to see the difference putting a skin on the whole shebang makes. Still to be painted, obviously, so no prizes yet in the guess-the-colour comp. Warwick's aim now is to get us to lock-up stage by about the end of next week, then the brickies come about a week after that to start on the internal walls.

See front pic above – now it looks like this!

Front door (with anti-builder protection!) and kitchen window, clad in fibro

Internal bricks (awaiting Trent), flashings and gutters

Paul the lovely electrician (no relation to James the lovely plumber) arrived last week to start on the wiring, and he handled both Mat and me visiting the site (separately even) and wanting to be babied through the whole process with aplomb. Despite my sparkie heritage (hi, Dad), I really don't think lights and plugs are my forte – the whole thing has had me bamboozled on more than one occasion, but Paul has been kind and tres helpful, walking through every room with me and making sure everything is going to work. I think he's a Zen monk on the weekends. Thank god for tradies with social skills!

Simple enough...

Hmmmm...

Ye olde pink bats

In the meantime, I've been spending far too many hours learning all there is to know about heated towel rails. Hard-wired or plug-in? Wattage and IP rating? Chrome or stainless? How many bars are enough? Rounded or square profile? And so on – trust me, you don't want to know any more. I think we are officially heading into ten-decisions-a-day territory...

Week 15, day sixty-nine

Wednesday, 4 May 2011



After a couple of short weeks, a royal wedding (always throws me) and another dose of autumnal viral nastiness (mine, again – I'm thinking there may be  some general immunity issues here), finally getting back into the swing of things. Spent a lovely night in Sydney over Easter at our very elderly friend Sas's fortieth dinner par-tay and caught up with lots of friends too-little seen. Mat and I had a sleepover with friends Tahmina and Michael (our first without both kids, believe it or not!!) while the wee ones had a night with their cousins (which made them ecstatically happy also). Must share a couple of pics of Tahmina's utterly gorgeous tiles in their recent bathroom reno, the basic idea of which I am very seriously contemplating stealing for our bath 'feature' tiled wall (can't afford it all-over like this, unfortunately!). Beautiful, non?

Through the carport 'gate'...

So the fellas have been working on the carport mostly, this and last week, along with some framing detailing and other fiddly bibs and bobs. Weather has been horrid, on the whole - constant cold, drizzly nastiness, and Warwick has not been his usual chirpiness for a while (I'm hoping it's the weather and not the job). Think the sudden rush of wintry weather has been a shock to all – the colours of autumn are here and gorgeous, but the cooler yet sunny days disappeared in flash of La Nina sogginess. Today was divine, though, so fingers crossed we might get a bit more autumn sun before we plunge into winter proper.

...and back again

The props will need to go to park the Subie, methinks

Double-glazed, handmade beauty

Go on, admire the brass tracking

Excitement of the day was the first delivery of windows: kids' bedrooms, bathroom, laundry and kitchen. Utterly lovely they are too. Most have been put into position, and Warwick got the boys to cover them over with thick black plastic this arvo in the hope that the cockies soon turn their attention elsewhere... You may remember my 'issues' with our neighbour's bird-feeding habits, and the fact that large flocks of both pigeons and cockies were visiting her daily to partake of her oh-so-generous scattering of seed. Mat has since had a friendly word about our concerns on this front (particularly when it comes to our large and delicious windows) and she assures as that this partiucular bird-community service is a thing of the past...yet still they come. Ivan saw twenty of the buggers perched on top of our framing pre-roof early one morning, happily tearing strips off the timber. Another neighbour kindly called us at 7am a couple of days ago to report that she was watching a cockie on our roof having a crack at the temporarily exposed roof insulation. So suffice to say that this is an issue still striking fear in our middle-class hearts – tips and tricks welcome for cockie discouragement (mostly legal recourses preferred, but anything considered).

One bathroom casement

Very happy with the windows, though some small concern that getting only the bottom section of the tall bathroom casements frosted might have been overly optimistic, given how long it may take to get a bit of foliage cover on our southern boundary... Margaret may soon have greater cause for regret that we are now neighbours than the fact that we are clearly not bird lovers!!

A street perving window for Mat

's wash-up

Kids' bedrooms (with in-builts still to split them)