The home stretch?

When the aluminium window frames went in it really started to feel like we were on the home stretch. And just quietly so it should have, it was only about a month until we had to get out of our rented house.

As the frames were going in, the sheeting was being done so that the glazier could come back and do the glazing. It really was starting to come together and feel like the house we had imagined.

While all of this Puddleduck and I went shopping for our temporary kitchen. Apparently this wasn't as exciting for a three year old as it was for me!

Here's a picture of our kitchen in boxes in the middle of the floor of Puddleduck's room. The new timber is Blackbutt and is all ready to be sanded and polished.

I also went shopping for an oven. It turned out to be too big to fit through the front door. Oops. Although, given it is very pretty and cleans itself from top to bottom, I have to confess I didn't really feel as guilty as I should have about workmen and delivery men having to hoist it over the deck wall.

Frames

Next step was the frames. The timber for them had been around for ages and I have to confess I was incredibly keen to see them finally go up and get a sense of the rooms - especially the two front bedrooms downstairs.

So once the frame went up in between them we spent a fair bit of time stepping out how big they were and working out what might go where. Needless to say we didn't really reach any firm conclusions and furniture will no doubt be moved around countless times before we are happy.

It was also really great to see the wooden frames for the kitchen windows go in. As the kitchen windows and door to the back deck are a big feature of the house it felt a little as though we were a little closer to actually having a finished space.

It was a slightly bittersweet moment when the floor upstairs was pulled up. I had really wanted to keep it in all its wonky and dilapidated glory. Especially knowing it was original and had been there when the house was a Cartwright's. However, the builder promised me he would find equally imperfect, yet structurally sound timber to replace it. So I said goodbye to the floor.

Rebuilding

So it's been a little while between posts - it hasn't been from a lack of progress or a lack of enthusiasm, but rather a lack of hours in the day and a tendency to procrastinate.

Once the slab was finally repoured we were able to start getting some frames up and the brickwork started.

This is a shot of the hallway going past the main bathroom on the left and with the courtyard on the right.