Extensions - Renovating
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Dining & Learning Rooms Gain Floorboards
Two weeks ago we turned our attention to a new project on the never ending Owner Builder list; to finish laying floorboards throughout the house. Firstly the area needed to be prepared, eight and a half years of grime needed to be removed so the glue would hold, and joins needed to be sanded down evenly. Prior to beginning this project I was a little daunted as it was the first time we’d floored without any of our older boys, we would be relying primarily on Girl Power. I couldn’t be prouder of our Girls, they worked in sync, anticipated moves to keep it all flowing and wielded that nail gun…
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Kitchen Coming Together
‘Behind the scenes’ here, kitchen progress has been moving along. Two weeks ago our cabinet makers delivered our flat pack, oh the excitement! First task was sorting and matching cabinet pieces, rather a large task undertaking that Michelangelo(17) took care of. Bass(5) was excited to be given the job of sorting the huge pile of screws into ‘like together,’ he was happily occupied for an hour. Constructing all the cabinets took several afternoons and nights, a project made easier thanks to the preciseness of the cabinetry. Michelangelo impressed us with his diligence, often working in the afternoons by himself whilst PC was at work. The floors had to be checked…
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Walls Are Up!
It is mid winter here, so having no external walls on our kitchen created a strong desire to build the framing and get those walls up ‘post haste’. To this end PC ‘burnt the candles at both ends’ last week, arriving home after work only to turn his hand to building. His ability to create and solve anything as always continues to impress me and I’m always grateful for his talents. When in the midst of a project and your framing gun finally ‘bites the dust’, this of course means you must buy a new one, reporting that PC is most happy with his new gun. (Old gun pictured) The frames were both installed…
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An Unimpeded View
The weekend before last we began the next phase of our kitchen renovations. After impatiently patiently waiting for weeks our windows finally arrived. Before installing the windows, the external walls of the kitchen needed to be removed so new wall frames to include the windows could be built. Stripping walls back to their studs in our ‘old’ house is always illuminating and is guaranteed to bring forth plenty of comments about old building code practices and dodgy workmanship, the ‘enthusiasm’ is sufficient enough that even the younger children are conversant in head shaking and mutterings about framing and studs or their lack thereof. Take the window above, no supporting beam, the window sag is now explained. Attention…
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‘And The Wall Came Tumblin’ Down’
I haven’t chatted building here for awhile but be assured that progress is happening. We’ve turned our attention to a major project, building our new kitchen. Just imagine me beaming here 🙂 Part of the new kitchen plan is to change from a boxy room layout to an open living plan. Hence six weeks ago this wall came down and what a filthy job it was. Once again it was time to ‘marshall the troops’ to assist in gutting the internals Isn’t it every lads dream to be able to saw, knock down and kick out their walls? Always surprising at how long it takes to dismantle a room and…
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Library Reveal
Last Sunday on Mother’s Day I was crowned ‘Queen for the Day’ and my family gave this book loving girl an absolutely fantastic gift! All day they carried, dusted and sorted the seven thousand books that were scattered throughout the house, into our new library and created our now favourite room. Without further ado, let’s take a tour.. I’m now most likely to be found in the library soaking in the atmosphere, blessed, so very blessed. There is still book organising to complete, seating to purchase and picture book display shelves to build, small details, I’ll potter along. Simply ecstatic with with our space. A huge thank you to my family, in particular to…
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Library Ready And Waiting
Once our library floor had been laid it was time to turn our focus to sanding and polyurethane-ing the floor, therefore last weekend we hired a sander and began our first foray into finishing a floor. After PC ran the industrial sander over the floor a few times; Michelangelo, Princess and PC puttied all the nail holes. When we laid the floor we had secret nailed but as our timber was recycled it contained many previous holes. As our flooring was recycled it came complete with ready made ‘character’ in that they had been worn unevenly across their surface in their past life in a classroom. To keep some of this character we…
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Library Floor Has New Look
Two weekends ago we began preparations for laying the flooring in our new library. As I’ve shared previously our timber is second hand timber, stored for several years from when we salvaged all the timber from a two storey Convent school prior to demolition. First task is to clean the floorboards from decades of dirt, accumulated as they sat under carpet being tramped over by hundreds of feet. PC set up a ‘cleaning station’, wherein each board was placed in a ‘slot’, the ‘criss-cross’ saws were run along the groove of each board pushing out the dirt, sometimes the tongues needed cleaning too. For two days the children worked tirelessly carrying the boards from the…
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Library Receives Its Makeover
Once we’d completed sheeting and plastering our new library walls, next task up was painting. It’s currently school holidays here in NSW so this was a task the children and I could tackle mid-week. Jem (7) was keen to help, so once I’d given him a few basic tips on how to ‘cut in’ the bottom edge of the walls he was ready to go. Jelly Bean’s (11) job was to ‘feather’ his edges. Princess(14) helped roll the undercoat on the walls and Michelangelo (16) rolled the ceiling on his own. In fact he rolled not only the undercoat but both the topcoats too, there are advantages when your children are taller…
