Extensions
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When We Invite You To Dinner
We invited friends for dinner last week, we decided that in their honour we would rip out a wall. It would be much easier to fit everybody in that way. We were delighted with how much air and light was let in. Eventually the wall to the left shall also be pulled down, opening up the room even more. And now we were ready, with two tables we could easily fit 18 people. Eventually this room will be my kitchen, in the foreground, (the room we built earlier in the month) running into the dining room.
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An Internal Mess
My brother Chris has just been for a visit, he arrived off the plane with his plastering tools, keen to teach us how to plaster. It was incredible how much he actually accomplished in such a short time. The hallways and our loungeroom all received their base and top coats. Plaster dust was throughout the house! When PC came home he was quickly ‘apprenticed.’ My skills need more work. Now Chris has returned home, PC has graduated and is continuing alone. 2 more bedrooms are nearly complete and we have begun pouring over paint catalouges.
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No More ‘Big House’ and ‘Little House’
Last August we laid a walkway between the ‘big house’ and the ‘little house’. Boxing Day we began the task of making one house, this area will be our new kitchen and dining area. The carport had to be removed first, we were rather hampered by the rain and the weather forecast predicted rain for several more days. The iron had to come off So that the battens could come down and the posts pulled up. This frame has been our temporary wall for months, it is now moved and laid down for now. We could then cut the floor sheeting and nail it down. Next, part of the wall…
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Completing Floor Salvage
Monday last week we received a phone call to say the timber salvaging needed to be finished by the weekend and all timber removed. As we had plans to be away for the weekend we were in at the School this week working from 4pm until 8.30pm each night. Flooring still had to be pulled up. Timber had to be carried into the end room and sorted into size piles before exiting the window. The boys were troopers and put in a couple of hours each day before PC arrived after work to help. Koala was an invaluable part of the team as chief babysitter. We slid the timber out…
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Salvaging Timber Flooring
PC and Team have spent days over the last three weeks salvaging timber flooring for our extensions. Our local Convent (to the right, Church is in the background) is dismantling their old School (picture taken from the School looking out over the rooftops.) Remember my find of blackboards and corkboards? During that visit it occurred to PC that under the carpets lay timber, sitting on concrete floors. We inquired, researched and made a bid which was accepted. The job that now lay ahead was to ‘rip up’ five large rooms of yellow box, which we will then lay in our new extensions. First they had to roll up the carpets…
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Designing Our Learning Room – Help Please
As we slowly start to use all available space in the extensions, I can see the time is nearing to consider the design of our learning room. Up to this point I have resolutely not even thought about it as I haven’t wanted to get too excited. Obviously as we have been homeschooling for over a decade now I have an idea of what would be wonderful additions to have, I am also considering our weaknesses and strengths.(I know doors are probably better for us than shelves) I know I want tables rather than individual desks and a reading lounge is a must. This will be our main learning room,…
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Enough Shelving?
A couple of weekends back we scored a blackboard($20!!) at the Convent school garage sale:) Currently it sits in the shed awaiting the renovation of the Learning Room:) There were other items of interest left in the abandoned classrooms. Six cupboards of 12 metre lengths each. PC and I gave serious consideration to purchasing these, for $30 each we would have immediate shelving for the extension. Downside the interior was of chipboard, upside it was good quality chipboard, was finished very nicely and the outside was timber veneer. We purchased the lot, but it was a huge job to saw up all those cupboards and load them up. They had…
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The Two Became One
This past weekend we picked up hammers and began work again on the house building. It was time to join the ‘two houses’ together. First the bearers had to be bolted down. Then the joists were added. With a lot of help from the ‘work crew’. We then removed the window on the ‘little house’ and added a door. On the newer side it was a matter of slitting the sarking where a door was waiting. Floor sheeting was laid down and we can now walk with ease between the two buildings. We are totally excited to be at this stage!! The ease in which we can walk from house…
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City Cousins Come to Visit
Last Weekend we were blessed to have PC’s brother, wife and children visit for four days:) We were very excited as they have never stayed with us before. Every day the children played from dawn till well after dusk. Country cousins introduced their city cousin to the delights of mud cuisine and making homemade lemonade with homegrown lemons and copious amounts of sugar. Many an hour was spent playing in the tree house down in the bush. (This impressive construction was made by Michelangelo and Uncle Dominic) Note cousin S. standing next to Jem, he is a couple of months younger but a whole head taller. On the last night…
