Craft actually

Man Shed

Once the old shed came down it was very quick for the new one to appear in its place. 

After two weeks its nearly finished and the builders are just finishing off the inside this week.

It has two rooms - one for a study and one for a sauna (no I'm not joking). I think Smithy has put everything in his man shed that I wouldn't let him have in the house like the bright red walls in the study. 

Its been gorgeous spring weather the last couple of weeks. Coffee with the girls has been outside a few days and we had a BBQ yesterday. The magnolia is starting to bloom.

Entrance

When I saw this entrance pictured above in December 2008 Livingetc I thought of four hooks I had bought a couple of years ago on our summer road trip to Provence. I thought they were v. cool (being French and all) but had never figured out what to do with them.

I collected some more hooks, umed and ahed about it for a few months and finally bit the bullet today and put them up in the hall.

I like the effect although not sure if I've put a few too many up. But it beats throwing coats over the bannister or nearest chair.

I bought the horse head hook on ebay, the silver hook is Ikea and the crown is from Cox & Cox. I looked at my inspiration picture and realised that what it really needed was the bright yellow Selfridges bag to complete the look.

kitchen/dining/sewing space

...and not necessarily in that order of importance!

We made lightening raid on IKEA last week after deciding to stop agonising over trying to find a beautiful, preferably vintage, timber dining table and just get SOMETHING to eat at. We picked up some new bright covers for the chairs to replace the faded, dull navy ones, the desk chair and a couple of cheapo bar stools as well. Which means......

.......the renos are DONE! I took this picture of my latest efforts on the BB quilt this morning before heading to work....and it was HARD to drag myself away with that sun streaming through the skylights and my sewing machine beckonning. I was so proud of myself.

Strange noises

It may not be obvious but I do try to keep a kind of positive, upbeat kind of tone the the blog and I try not whinge too much in an attempt to keep this a nice happy place. But ...I just have to share this with you.

I haven't done a reno update for awhile because although the renos are pretty much finished and the house is fabulous, we have reached a bit of an impasse with the builders about the Snagging List. Also known as the "Why is our smooth grey polished (beautiful) concrete floor rough, slimy green and kind of sticky?" List. Apart from that small issue, I have been going on a little bit  about the finishing of the tiling not being up to my exacting spec ie roughly straight and even. Anyway Smithy tends to respond with a slightly sympathetic masculine grunt and a look that says, "I hope she'll stop going on about the tiling soon".

Tonight I'm at home by myself watching an episode of 24 at quite an exciting part. I hear a huge crashing noise and after I land back down on the sofa I go to investigate. Happily nothing to worry about, just some of the tiles landing on the floor. Phew.

I think it sets of the Waterblade tap rather well, don't you?

Week 23 and 1/2

I am a very happy girl tonight. We have cooking facilities. And very beautiful they are too.

Week 23 - Light at the end of the tunnel

So close and yet so far! Its very frustrating living in the *nearly* completed house, minus little essentials like a shower and kitchen. Although they must just be "nice to haves" considering we have now been living there for a month.

Things seem to be moving at a glacial pace the past couple of weeks.

For example, the bathroom. The top half looks beautiful and is practically completed. Until your eye travels down and you notice one last panel to tile. We're also waiting for the shower screen to be installed before we can enjoy our fancy new shower.

The new front door went in last week. yay. But still waiting for the top panel above it to be replaced and the messy electrics to be boxed in. boo.

And most exciting is the arrival of the kitchen worktops tomorrow. Can. Not. Wait.

Week 22

I arrived back in London on Monday night and was greeted by Smithy at the airport which was lovely. I was hit with a bit of jetlag this week and also have been struggling with the dust in our little homely building site. These lovely flowers cheered me up though! awww

And Steve had sneakily told me that the kitchen wouldn't be done this week but I came back to find it half installed and by the next day it was all done bar the work-tops (or benches for those downunder). Yay! Unfortunately its another 7-10 days for those so we are back to the ready meals for another week or so. Boo.

   

And the blue cupboards above are not a lapse in taste but is just the protective covering over the white doors. Don't panic (as I did). I'm so happy with it all and can't wait for it to be finished so we can really use it. The jury is still out on the "polished" or not so polished concrete floors. There are still two coats of stuff to go on it so we shall see....

And there was some glacially slow progress in the bathrooms this week - it felt like they were adding about 2 tiles a day. But I was very happy to see the wonky mosaics had been fixed where the gaps had varied wildly from the rest of the wall.

Maybe this time next week we will be having showers again?!

More of Week 22

Week 19

Well one room is finished - our bedroom. They guys came and laid half of the carpet upstairs on Saturday. But the bathroom looks a little way off. They are planning to do the tiling this week - I hope we have a working loo by the end of the week!

The Sputnik has been installed in the living room and it looks FABULOUS!

So apparently the concrete guys turned up to do the kitchen floor on Friday but the mix was too "sloppy" so its now scheduled for early tomorrow morning.

Its getting tantalisingly close. I wish it was just that bit closer so we could get our tree and start decorating!

More pics from Week 19.

Week 18

Two weeks to go and the tension is building.

The schedule went slightly pear shaped as early as Monday when the final pane of glass failed to arrive. Finally on Friday the frame was installed but the weird foamy glue holding it in place needed to dry before the glass could go in. As a result we are still not yet at "lock-up" stage but should be on Monday.

The big developments this week were the wooden floorboards laid in the living room and the bathroom fittings upstairs. It was a shame that the floorboards had been covered so we couldn't see them. I think they have been sanded but not yet oiled. Which will make the sofa delivery on Monday interesting! Yikes. But I'm sure our resourceful builders will deal with this in unflappable style. Hee hee (nervous laughter).

The part of the floor we can see looks beautiful and I can't wait to see it finished with the stain on it. And after testing out various bathroom equipment I'm very happy with that too. I have to admit when I saw the sink there was a moment of - "so thats what we chose!" I think we selected the bathroom fittings back in about April so its a bit hazy.

Despite these major areas of progress, I think we were most excited to see the opaque film on the front windows. We had a cermonial taking down of the nasty nets. The light in this room now is fantastic. I'm not yet sure if we will need any curtains here - possibly but I think we'll live with it bare for awhile to get a feel for what we want.

Significantly, behind schedule is the kitchen floor. This is now scheduled for this coming week and given that the concrete needs two weeks to cure I am slowly coming to accept we won't have a kitchen for Christmas. But if things do go to plan this week then we may be able to install the cooker and have a makeshift kitchen set up.

It looks to me like there is still a lot of finishing to do so it will be "interesting" to see what can be achieved in the next couple of weeks.

Week 17

Three weeks til Christmas and the countdown is on to have the house ready before then.

We are hoping the schedule will go something like this:

Today:

• Last of the windows in so the house is at lock-up stage

This week:

• Floorboards laid and oiled
• Underfloor heating laid in the kitchen
• Polished concrete poured in the kitchen (I think this will be a long shot)
• Bathrooms in

Next week:

• New sofa arrives on Monday (the ONLY day they will deliver before Christmas)
• Carpet in upstairs
• Bathrooms ctd?
• Kitchen???

Week after:

• Move in?
• Get CHRISTMAS tree!! Yay!

Phew not much to do eh?!!

In the meantime we were very very excited on Saturday to have a clear sunny day to fully admire the finished roof windows.

Some more pics from Week 17