A wee taste

Kitchen day has arrived. 

Hallelujah!  This is one event in the build that I have thought of as a real milestone, and it's here.  We still have to get the kitchen plumbed in, the appliances in and then the electricity hooked up, but I can get a strong sense of what the space will be like when it's finished now.  Before it was all lines on the floor and measuring tapes and pure guess work.

It's massive!  The kitchen is probably a little bit bigger than what Steve or I imagined and yet there seems to be more space for the dining room than we had thought.  One area which does feels smaller (and we were sure it would) is the lounge.  But we can work with it, oh yes, we can. 

First things first though.  The truck arrived, much to the children's delight.  It was a big one, and the driver backed it into our little driveway with amazing skill.  The kids rode their bikes around because it was a sunny morning after lots of rain, and I sat on our doorstep drinking a coffee and we were all happy. The delivery guys were so cheerful and friendly, and the kids loved it all. Sofia was so transfixed she wouldn't go inside to get clothes on (I made her though, I am quite relaxed, but not that much so).

Our kitchen arriving. Note the lovely blue sky - joy!

Little Sofs.  You wouldn't know from this face she is capable of 3 tantrums in one day, but evidently she is!

 

The kitchen installation guy arrived and he was also a friendly man; at the moment I can't rate our experience with this particular company highly enough. They really have been exceptional (Kitchen Systems). 

So da da da da - here it is!  Well so far.  Suspend your logical brain function now and imagine the finished product if you can.

The kitchen bench is quite large.  It looks quite normal-sized here.  We have cupboards at the back for storing platters and dinner plates (and junk!).  To the left at the back is the pantry - it's a really good size so we are very happy about that as well.

 

 

Max and Sofia can hide behind the bench!

A view from the lounge.

View from the dining room.

View of the scullery/pantry.  To be closed in tomorrow.

Our rubbish and recycling drawer! How convenient.  I am very excited about this.  Oh, the little things.

 

 

Also, as a nod to the house's bungalow origins, we've done a few special things in the new bit.  We have kept the bungalow architraves and have re-used a bungalow window in the dining area.  The other thing we've done (well, the builder has done) is re-create our hallway mantlepiece (it's a high one, meant for putting things on) in our fireplace mantlepiece.  It's little hard to see below, but if you click on the picture, you can make it out:

Finally, we are re-painting the house.  The current paint job is just starting to look a bit tired and figure it's better to do the whole lot at once.  The painter is starting on Monday (they'll also be finishing off the interior, which is great).

I have been skulking around neighbourhoods, trying to find the perfect colour scheme.  This is my current thinking (except with a lighter grey).  I really like the contrast of the white trim and darker colour.  Our current colour is like this:

And we were thinking more like this:

What do you think? 

It's all so exciting.

Anna x

Flooreo: Found!

Just a quick one lovely readers.

This one is to showcase our floor.  It is really taking shape and it's so very exciting, because having flooreo looking so good today means two things:

1)  The floor will be sanded and prepped on Friday
2)  The kitchen can indeed go in next Wednesday!

Look what I'm standing on!  The apparition to the left is Max's Alfie

Sofia's arabesque

The sink pipes can also be a seat

 

Tonight, in celebration, I ordered pizza for dinner for the kids and I.  Max is sick, meaning he didn't want anything to eat (which means that he is gravely ill and I should probably take him to hospital) and the girls ate all the potato wedges.  Consequently I had a whole pizza to myself if I wanted.  I don't think I've had a pizza delivery since I was flatting, so it felt a bit weird and completely decadent.  Plus, I didn't give the kids a shower and sent them all to bed early.  Woohoo! 

Tomorrow it's Steve's birthday (38, so young), and Olivia told Sofia that she wasn't allowed to go to Daddy's party (way harsh, Olivia).  Sofia got a bit cross at that, until I said that actually Daddy's not having a party. S & O were a bit puzzled as to why Daddy wouldn't be having pass the parcel, a bouncy castle and a princess cake (they have just been to their best friend's 4th birthday party). 

We will celebrate, just without all the pink.

Here's to a kitchen next week!

Anna x

Where for art thou o Flooreo?

Well.  The floor.  You may have read hope in my writing of nine days ago and you’d have been right.  I really did think our floor would arrive last week.  Instead it arrived today, and I thought I’d be rejoicing however the guy from the timber yard could only supply half of it today and - not only that - he told me we should have gone for matai instead of kauri wood.  This is because matai is much harder wearing.  Er, you cannot surely suggest this after we have waited a month for our timber.  I said, ‘OK, can you please take that lot back and arrange for matai instead?’.  I wasn’t amused. Plus that would have taken another month in all probability. Then I said that I was just kidding and that I would tell Steve to stop walking around in his stilettos so as not to dent the kauri. 

I also have grave doubts that our kitchen will not be going in as scheduled next Wednesday.  It is a bit of an art and here’s progress as of close of business today:

Looking good so far....

The contrast between door and floor

It's a long way to the other side of the room!

 Meanwhile, I received my 3 bags of joy from My Food Bag this week (I was actually supposed to cancel the delivery because I couldn’t see how to make it work without an oven, however I missed cut off!).  So far we’ve had  harissa rubbed fish with couscous and a feta & harissa sauce, and then tonight was a Japanese-style dish with chicken, rice, Brussels sprouts (haters – they rocked; try them sliced and stir fried with sesame seeds and some oil then add a little water to steam them and voila – beautiful).  I fear that the following two nights will be more challenging with a beef hot pot with a pastry top and then a quiche Lorraine!  I can do most things except brown off pastry.  I may well be swooping in to somebody’s house, commandeering their oven for fifteen minutes and then flying out again – I might leave them some pie as a bonus.

Last weekend was a good one; Steve managed to paint the main bathroom white, glorious white.  It looks so much crisper than the cream which was in there (although I quite liked the cream as well, I think the white looks better with the tiles). I’ll see if I can display for you a bit of a before and after special below.  Apprentice guy put in skirting boards today (we’ve watched him blossom, grow up, get more confident; he’s a different boy to the one who started our job).  So now all we need is a bit of hole filling and painting there and then we’ll chuck in the laundry and bathroom-type essentials (a toilet).

Left: After.  Right: Focus on the wall colour not the bottoms, if you can.  Also note that the lino to the right has gone! Underneath the cardboard Sofia is standing on are the beautiful new tiles.

 

Olivia gets in on the action, with Geoffrey the Giraffe of course.

 

The bathroom ceiling, no longer mint green!  That hole will be our skylight.

 

Steve's painting set-up

 

 And the man himself, in action!

 

 On the mouse/rat/monster we have lurking.  We haven’t caught it, although apprentice guy told me he hadn’t seen one in a few days.  I bought some rat pellets last week and then a friend told me a story about how they left rat pellets out and the whole rat family decomposed in their roof.  Hmm.  Not sure on a course of action here.

We may not have caught a rat but we have been lucky on the washing front, in that our wonderful next-door neighbour washes it in her machine.  This means we actually have some clean clothes on rotation!  Not long to go, not long to go, not long to go until the washing flows freely once more.

I leave with a few sentences describing my frustration at the lack of pace now experienced on the build. I was looking longingly at our beautiful new space the other day and I thought that what I was feeling was similar to the frustration of unrequited love (not that I would know, oh no, not me, I have never had that sort of angst – oh alright, maybe once).  The prize is so close; I can see it and imagine it, yet it’s out of reach right now.  Of course, unlike unrequited love I do know with some certainty that I will get the guy (floor/kitchen) in the end.

Good night!

Anna x 

Mouse in the house

It's Queen's birthday weekend and the kids and I are in Pauanui once again, enjoying the comforts of a kitchen and laundry (the kids don't really care about the kitchen and laundry though, I have to say).

This weekend I was lucky enough to have my sister, Nikki, and niece, Briar, keeping us company and we have had a great time.  We visited Hot Water beach (about 50km from Pauanui), and found a cute little woodfired pizza place near Cook's beach called Purangi Estate where we sat underneath kiwifruit vines and enjoyed a bite to eat.

Sofia, Briar and Olivia being mermaids at Hot Water beach.

Back in Auckland, Steve is still painting our house (At the moment I have an image in my head of him on a ladder painting 24 hours a day).  He is currently doing the main bathroom (this bathroom existed prior to the renovation, but has lost a window and has had a new ceiling line added, as well as a sky light put in), and it's taking him longer than he would have liked due to filling lots of holes and sanding back chipped paint. He's painting out the minty green ceiling though so that alone will make the bathroom look as fresh as a daisy.  Here are a few photos of it as it looked when I left on Thursday:

The paint colour is cream at the moment, but will all be painted out to white.  The floor tiles will be charcoal and white in a checker board pattern.  We will use similar green wall tiles along the wall which used to house an exterior window.  We decided to keep the art deco theme which exists in this bathroom, so for now it will just be a mini makeover to make it look ten years younger (would that make it looks 1920's rather than 1930's though... hmmm).

 

A better view of the wall which used to have a window in it.

 

 Max kindly walked through this blue paint and then back out onto some carpet in our old lounge/new guest bedroom. 

Steve got very cross with me because I had left the paint drying instead of cleaning it off immediately.  My defence was that I had to clean the paint off Max before it went everywhere else and looked like something off the Cat in the Hat movie.

Except imagine white walls with blue paint.

We have a mouse with really big teeth in our house, so if Max doesn't destroy the house this mouse will.  You might laugh.  But look at this:

That hole in the heating vent was made by a mouse.  The night before, it sounded as though a big cat was trying to get through the vent and into the kids' room.  A few of the vents have teeth marks in them.

Steve set a trap but I have not heard any news reporting the catching of it, so I am worried it is a really clever mouse and cheese is just not going to cut the mustard.  Which food will motivate this mouse?  70% cacao chocolate?  Hang on.  He/she is an Auckland mouse.  We need to catch him with a double shot trim soy latte.

Steve's dad, Bruce, and his brother Mike have been instrumental in getting the painting done.  Steve has also been lucky to have been fed and watered by Mike and Ann Louise on quite a few occasions now, so I don't think he's resorted to Big Mac Land too much (Steve? Have you?).  My dad is next up with his hammer and saw to build our deck (Dad, I promise we'll get some sort of a plan to you and some wood ordered before you arrive!).  We owe our families a big ol' banquet dinner when our house is done. 

Here's the latest gallery:

This is a view from the newly laid wooden floor in the hall towards the new bit.

This is a picture Steve took of the old floor boards vs the sanded boards.

Bruce busy painting away in the new bedroom.

The skylight showing some blue sky - lovely!

Getting the concrete floor ready to lay the new wooden floor.  What a lovely paint job!

Looking towards the new dining area

The concrete has been laid for the tiled hearth.

 



And that's where we are up to. The flooring is supposed to arrive this week, so I have fingers and toes crossed it does.  I am going back to Auckland tomorrow and the intention is to use the pop up kitchen as little as possible - I have a plan for some healthy takeaways.  I just about drove myself insane last week making some Food Bag meals in the slow cooker and rice cooker - they were really good and the leftovers helped to feed Steve this weekend, but there were so many dishes.  Simplicity is where it's at!

I'll update you on our fussy monster mouse as soon as I can.  Just need to head to Pyrenees to get that rodent a Ristretto.

Anna x