Time to Double Down...

...in renovation town.

 

You've probably been wondering what we've been up to of late, and why the lack of blog posts? No?! Oh well, I'm going to bring you up to date anyway ;-)

 

It seems like only a few weeks ago that we had just finished up Christmas, gone back to work and school, and pondered upon how far away Easter was and the time we had up our sleeve to get things done at the new house before our targeted move in come Easter. And now, with Easter only a few weeks away, we are wondering what happened to all that time. We knew we weren't the only busy ones though, as our regular blog reads funandvjs and westendcottage were intermittent in their blog updates, just like ours. Turns out that funandvjs are moving house into a new house (meaning new project), while westendcottage was battling the final push through renovation fatigue to get done and dusted so that they could move into their fab newly renovated house. We too have been busier than a very busy thing on national busy day, but I think that the following Dilbert cartoon might offer some perspective on how to find that elusive 'work life' balance...

Then again, maybe not. Kate has taken the lead and is running the new Stage 1 of renovations at our 'Cabin by the Sea'. As regular readers know the new house was in major need of bathroom surgery, so Kate has cracked on with arranging the builder, plumber, tiler, wet sealer, and electrician and also organized the demolition work to be done so that the bathroom can be completed by Easter ready for us to move in. Of course that means sourcing and ordering all the tiles, windows, bath, shower, fixtures and fittings - all of which will feature in a blog post on the new house when we finally move in. In between coordinating all of the above (and the usual kids routine), she has managed to weave her magic and 'remove' the ghastly yellow the previous owner had liberally splashed around. Here's a quick snapshot taken the day we got the keys...

 

 

 

And here's a really rushed cheeky shot showing Kate in action, goodbye mellow yellow (not as easy as it looks)...

 

 

I have been busy with work, still doing some study, and relishing the opportunity to get out to the house on the weekend to lend a hand. To say I have thoroughly enjoyed sugar soaping the ceilings and painting them white is an understatement! Jokes aside, it is always good to see progress, even if it is only a freshly painted ceiling. Not only is it a different renovation, being a low set masonry block home versus the current house which is an elevated post war Queenslander, it's been a very different experience for me being hands off and only seeing the house on weekends. I take my hat off to the amount of work Kate has done, including doing research and having energy assessments done, as we want this to be an energy neutral house as much as possible. This is another area that Kate will do a blog post on later, as it's far too lengthy to go into now, not to mention she knows infinitely more on this than me.

 

Unfortunately though, the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes come undone, and about a week ago Kate was involved in a car accident, that has just added to the number of balls we are juggling. She was 'T-boned' by a little old lady (80) who didn't look and went straight through a give way sign. Thankfully (there are small things to be thankful for) the Captiva did its job and Kate walked away without any major injuries apart from a shoulder injury, which has prevented her from painting this last week. The other lady's car though was a write-off, but she was ok as well. On the downside, that has meant getting a hire car, then a loan car from the panel beaters, but it also means we don't have a car with a tow bar when we need it over the next few weeks. Oh well, we'll work around it, it's just another of life's many challenges.

 

So that's about it; that's what has been happening in the land of Sunshine and Paint Pots. We'll try to post more regularly over the coming weeks, in-between prepping the new house to move in, and getting the Queenslander ready for sale. Wish us luck !!

 

Cheers, Col

 

PS. Here's another shot from the innovation house, Kate and I both want to work a wall like this into the design of the new house, when we finally do get to our new master bedroom renovation. Ciao !