coffee is the key

Espresso has a lot to do with why we got so much done today.  so strong it could hold a teaspoon up on its own.  like rocket fuel - crazy!

today i spent a long time agonising over curtains - its one of those things you can so easily overcapitalise on.  obviously i could spend thousands on curtains - but i just don't want to.  so in the end i got these - all matching for the bedrooms and I'm pretty happy.  extra large curtain track and its absolutely coming together.  Also i put these curtain tracks up all by MYSELF! HA! take that - stupid curtain tracks that thought they were going to beat me down - not even close! I'm way too awesome!

Tuesday I'm getting the feature wallpaper and ill be just about DONE in here! 

Quick reminder of what it looked like:

Meanwhile.........

its so rewarding when someone comes that hasn't been since the beginning - the shock value is a lot of fun to watch.  Meanwhile the bench top is actually gorgeous! well it is to me when i can see the potential!  i can't wait to see it finished - its still a while away yet - but its looking better and better every day. exciting!

also something thats really exciting! this cast is coming off in TWO days time! YIPPEE for Mac!

oh so tired

Today was an odd day - it was a tired day. another hot day.  we got to the house, worked hard all morning and then sat down to a late lunch - reilly and i looked at each other and admitted we just wanted to go home (to our house).  it feels a bit like skipping out of school early.  but we got to a point where there was a natural stop - and then we either pushed on with the next stage (until 5-6pm) or as we did today we just decided to go on home. the kids were very confused - it was funny.  they kept asking if it was dinner time (because we usually leave just before dinner).  we have had a whole afternoon at home - nice.

also funny things that kids say -
Kid 1: "Gee mum, you don't have any paint on you!!"
Kid 2:  Eye roll "She's only just started dummy".
Me:    ........  :-(  ek!!

I'm actually terrible at painting myself. i don't really see it any more, but Ive got paint over most of my body - still go to the super market - paint and all. i think you get to a point where you really don't care any more. meh!

Benchtop in progress!!

Undercoating!

Im happy that I've done this room all by myself so far.  also - we brought a brad gun for the compressor - its flipping cool! a little mini nail gun that self punches the nails making my life WAY easier! i love this thing - plus it was very cheap - plus the nails are cheap too.  line up my MDF thin and bang bang bang - over! its lovely.

just keep swimming

Literally, work work work, run out jump in pool, aaaahhhhh...... straight back into it.  no towels required, drip drip - dry.  its humid and hot. some days i think i smell like a goat.  how awful. luckily the chlorine in the pool sorts that out quite quickly.

I've tiled the fireplace! i love it. it still needs a surround to be made but i plonked it back together and i like the look of it so much.  open fires are terrible for heating and its better off blocked off - heat pump is on the way - much better option. but for looks sake - the new tiles are much better.










the bench top is in progress - its a big job when your making it yourself out of wood! its going to look great - its labour intensive though.

Ive started the first bedroom - officially that was supposed to begin next week when the kids go back to school - however, I'm jumping the gun a little as I'm an impatient kind of girl.  i love how its coming up so far - I'm really looking forward to choosing the feature wallpaper - who knows what will end up on the wall! i won't know until I've been into guthrie bowron and had some inspiration!

The panelling takes a crap load of glue - I've been using max bond which has been doing a great job -but costs $7 a tube - used about 5 tubes in this bedroom - really not so bad on the whole - but found out that bunnings do a box of 6 construction adhesives - for $6!!! no kidding! 6 tubes $6! when i went in there - usually i like to go to Mitre 10 - way better service - but the reality is - Bunnings is cheaper for a lot of basic stuff - i had to convince the woman that there was such a thing as a box of 6 glues - it wasn't until she looked it up on the website that she believed me!  I've ordered 5 boxes! yippee!! now thats something to get excited about.

Back to the kitchen

Back in the kitchen its looking really tight.  Taking my time on the wallpaper has been paying off.  Listening to National Radio, cutting, pasting, placing and smoothing - its actually hugely therapeutic. I found my mojo and just kept on going for the last two days.  Now its done - i ended up using 5 rolls of wallpaper @ $20/roll - which makes this a pretty cheap transformation!

The cabinetry is now all joined together - I'm happy with the detailing its come up well - we are getting organised to make the bench top next - with a bit of planning and a bit of luck we might be finished that bench top by the end of the weekend.  It will be great to have a sink here and a workable  area for preparing food.

its coming together!!!

Its absolutely coming together beautifully. I was hoping we would be finished by friday night and despite staying until after dinner, we didn't quite pull it off.  however, I'm glad to say that things have been progressing nicely.  not to say things haven't been without a bit of stress - like cracking the mirror with one too many turns on the screw - or me thinking i knew where the studs were when in fact i knew where ONE stud was and assumed i knew where they all were - rookie mistake for sure.  Oh not to mention putting in the tiles above the vanity and then realising they were not centred when they were STUCK DOWN - pulled the vanity off the wall and moved it along 10mm sorted it out easily, but meant more bogging and sanding and painting.  its just time at the end of the day.

One cracked mirror - and all my nail holes searching for a stud! AAAAGGGHHH!!!!

Ive also been sneakily doing a bit of wallpapering in the kitchen/dining.  LOVE LOVE LOVE this look so much.  Ive been working very hard at all of the little below the radar stuff - things that take up an enormous amount of time, gap filling every join, smoothing, painting.  buffing out drips and then re-painting.  Its tedious boring work, but it meant i was closer to wallpapering! yippee!! this is where i finally see the fruits of all of that crap dirty work.  right here! to say that I'm satisfied its turning out is probably an understatement.  its funny because I'm finally feeling like this is MY house, I've been wrestling it off the last owners for the last four weeks and today finally i feel like the tide has turned and the house is now firmly mine.  Our hard dirty hot work makes this house now feel like me - its so exciting.

its the fiddley stuff thats annoying...

There are so many little things to tidy up - gap filling, second coat painting, switch covers to fit. its seems like we are almost there (finished) but then i need to add another little job to the list.  SO - the walls are painted, the bath and the shower are sorted.  the TOILET goes! YAH! this was huge for me as we had no toilet for a few days - ick!  there is dust everywhere but its shaping up so well - in fact I'm really happy with how its turning out.  i look back at that first demo day and think - that was just ONE WEEK AGO TODAY! its been a pretty huge week.

Today i picked up our tiles - lucky to have found some fab tiles on trademe - and got them on the bath surround before lunch time! they were a tight squeeze in the end as i had allowed an 8mm gap (which is what i would normally use on a bath surround) but these luxury tiles were 10mm - enough of a difference to be a bit of a pain - but i was happy with how i went - especially as i had to work out how to cut tiles with a masonry disc on the grinder! new skill learnt today.  working out how to get the disc off in the first place had me cursing.  then going to the hardware store to find the right disc (in the right size) then cracking a few tiles working out how to get them just right.  Well - it was actually awesome when i had them in and looking great.  Grouting happens tomorrow!

going nuts in the bathroom....

theres staying busy and then theres mania.  we hit mania - and soon i feel a crash coming.  Work all day, home for dinner, go back, work some more! we now have functioning light fitting! its awesome.  the bathroom is going beautifully. there is paint on walls. windows are finished. the bath is now in with a liner attached to the walls. tomorrow plumbing is being connected - more painting, some awesome wallpaper and a fit out and we will be DONE! by the end of next week hopefully the bathroom will be COMPLETE! how nice will it be to have an operational bathroom!   also - another lesson learnt, probably buying bathroom accessories from Chinese people who speak very little english not a great idea. bath is longer than i wanted, but it works so thats fine.

Ceiling PAINTED! my gib stopping is UNSTOPPABLE!

Karen Walkers Qtr Periglacial Blue

bath cradle made and now in the bathroom - the gorgeous wallpaper i LOVE! Guthrie Bowron always makes me feel better :)

BATHROOM

Without a doubt - the room in the house that is in the worst condition.  Im saddened that people were living like this.  I was VERY surprised and VERY happy to find NO rot under all this, there was a lot of damage to the bath cradle (which was cast flipping iron and weighed a TON!) but we weren't keeping that anyway, so out it went.

In-Laws are in the house - the kids are SO happy! They aren't getting dragged around with me this week, they are going to parks, playgrounds, on nature walks, museums, or just staying around home.  BLISS! as for me, have kicked it up a gear to take advantage of child care and we are going crazy in the bathroom.  Demo this time went much much better. in two days - have gutted, sorted the plumbing, and started the re-lining.  Waiting on the bath/liner/screen combo to arrive from Mitre 10 - hopefully hopefully by Friday so we can start the fit out - thats assuming that i can sand that gib stop, undercoat everything and get some paint on the walls!  going to give it a really good go!!