Pre-roof shout roof shout

Tonight I wasn't invited to the builder's pre-roof shout roof shout.  Instead I was behind my little wooden plank wall listening to the clink of bottles and laughing while I tended to some crazy little people, called children.  One of whom had been throwing up all day - Max nearly lost some weight.  Somebody call the dietician!

Not one to miss out on a party, I went to visit anyway at about 6pm - with a groggy, half-awake Max.  Pretty soon the girls came around the back too, Olivia in her knickers and Sofia trailing behind her (thankfully fully clothed).  All of the builders were there having a few drinks; about eight in total.  They are nice guys and I have met most of them in their comings and goings and the boss had done a shout for them.  In case you wondered, they drink Woodstock bourbon and cola and Heineken, and they eat chips.  So that makes it easy when ordering stuff for our roof shout next week.  I was waiting for a Woody to be proffered, but sadly it didn't come!  I am really glad that they had a team building session which - as everyone knows - is great for team morale, but it's still our house (hear me get all pre-historic and territorial) and I would have loved it if they'd let me know/invited me.

In the end, it was great to have more than a passing chat with them.  The boss had brought his wee son who is 22 months to Max's 19 months, so the two of them looked like a cute pair with their blonde heads together sharing (sort of) the building tools, and possibly germs (sorry little Brooklyn).  Learning how to plug things in to an electrical circuit, things like that.  It turns out that one of the builders who is so shy and quiet, has a voice! 

Time for pictures?  I think so.

Where Livvy is walking is where the festivities occurred this evening.

Sofia is climbing up onto what was the old dining area.  You can see the door to our main bathroom where Livvy is standing.

This is the view from the old dining room back into the extension.  Pretty cool to see some of the heights.

This is the main bathroom's new roofline.  It's only slightly different, and will look fantastic when done.

Sofia is practicing her say cheeses.  I don't know what Olivia is doing.

This will be the study!  Look at that beautiful dead Jasmine out the window!

This is the view towards the new kitchen.  This door will be in between the kitchen benches - I felt like we needed an opening/exit with a long galley design and I think it will be fantastic.

This is the new back entrance - family and friends entrance.  It goes into the new boot room.

Final pic - this is the fireplace.  You can't tell much from this about how it will look, but this part will protrude out into the lounge by 15cm.

This is the look we are going for, except we don't want the TV so high up, hence our lower setting.  The plan is also to paint the wall a shade of grey - our fireplace is black as is the TV so this will help to ''hide' the TV a bit more.  Plus I am loving grey at the moment.

 

That's it from me for now, it is time to wash the remnants of today away. 

Oh, before I go - our place doesn't need re-wiring!  We are very happy with that.  Next week, the roof is on, and our beautiful big stacker doors are coming on Thursday or Friday.  Over the weekend, Steve and I need to put our order in for our electrical supplies and switches.  We have decided halogen and dimmable for our lighting.

 

Oh, and another note - our very special glass lights from Australia are in customs, waiting for us to pay NZ GST on them.  Pinged double-time.  That's a trick for young players!

 

Anna x



 

Our new apartment

It's been a while since I last wrote, but here it is! It's been really nice to have some time away from our beautiful building site this Easter.  We went to the Coromandel and we were able to step outside the front door onto a lawn peppered with kids toys rather than nails.  We had swims in the ocean and BBQs! 

This entry will be more like a picture book than a written piece, however I will say a few things: the first is that my title about our new apartment is in light of the fact we are now without our main bathroom and laundry (well, we do have outside laundry access underneath a tarpaulin) and without our main peeping windows!  How will I keep an eye on the builders now?  And will we wither and die without natural light?

The second comment is that there have been two dicey moments for us - number one is that the boxing for the fireplace means that there is no room for a flue and number two is that one of the purlins was not evenly spaced at the back of the house.  Cue a meeting between Steve and the main builder guy this morning re the two above issues.  Apparently the fireplace boxing is not structural and you can just whack it out and while Steve and I were not too upset about the uneven purlin, it is now in the correct place.  Breathe out - I know you were holding your breath but it will be OK!

Here is my pictorial essay of the last five days:

Relaxing at the beach with the beautiful people.

Steve and Mike with the BBQ that meant we enjoyed some choice chicken and luscious lamb.

Back at home:  Check out the artwork where the window once was.  They are holding a conference on where to place the next hand print.  Sofia just agrees that she loves hand prints.

 

Why is this big red bin full?

 

Because, says Max, the roof has gone!  Well, some of it.  This view is looking out towards where the old french doors were.

 

Check it out.  No peephole for me.

 

Our gorgeous new wall art instalment.  I call it "Woody".

 

The other side of the wall!  Accessible only from outside.

 

The missing roof above the old french doors/dining area.

 

Just in case it rains the roof is wearing its parka.

 

Sofia and Olivia play their favourite new game: climbing the frames!

 

And Max ponders where he will throw dirt from next.  Down his mothers top was not a good choice.

 

 

A roof shout is planned for 3pm on Friday afternoon!  Woohoo.  Steve wonders which beer the builders will drink and if we should cook some sausages on the BBQ for them.  I think they will drink anything, and eat anything if the rubbish out the back is anything to go by.

 

 

Over and out,

 

Anna x