29 June 2014

I have taken a break after the rush to get the doors finished.

Firstly, I needed to upgrade my computer, and ended up with a new box and Windows 8.1  I made a mistake, everybody I spoke to says I should have gone for 7. VERY steep learning curve!

I also had to do a new WOF on our car to stay road legal, that took some time to fix a torn CV boot.

We had plenty of rain this month, and the profiles that will go around the door on the inside (the architraves), was paint stripped, and would not dry properly. As a last resort, I  put them inside next to the fireplace. The last few bits are to be sanded, and then the process of cutting and joining the bits will start.

On Saturday I invited our grandson over to help me tidy up with all the rubbish lying around. That was done sweetly.

We have taken pictures of the outside of the patio door. This also shows the deck and veranda. Nice northerly aspect.

15 June 2014

Yes, we have made the first three years! Originally we have set ourselves a target of one room per year. We forgot about the outside. To date, we have done the front room, which is our temporary bedroom, and the living room with the dining room, and I nearly forgot about the bathroom! We have also done some work on the new kitchen to be. On the outside we have repainted 80 % of the outside walls, rebuilt the decks. I think we are about on target.

We did manage to sand and paint the interior wall by the patio door, and stain / varnished the Rimu door frame that Willie helped build a year ago. It blends in perfectly with the original stain on the doors and skirtings. We also sanded the rod for the curtains. I made it myself and it was a bit rough. I was not prepared to pay the price for a new one. I cut a plastic pipe in half, stuck a piece of sandpaper inside it, and got it as nice as a baby's arm ( no, not that part). That was also stain/ varnished as before.All four of the curtains we have been given are up now. The outside of the doors got a lick of paint in anticipation of a visit from the local newspaper on Tuesday.

Sorry, visually there is not enough progress to justify a picture.

8 June 2014

YES! The grant for the deck has been paid out. We are very thankful to the Council and to our Lord. Everything worked out just fine.

We had a nice surprise on Thursday? Steve, a mate from Hamilton who we got to know through Peet, turned up to have a look at our progress. He follows the blog. It was nice to be able to show him around. And then he had a surprise for us. He had a lot of nails and screws and Rimu timber in surplus, and kindly gifted that to us. Thanks again Steve!

We had a lovely sunny week, and I realised that I have to clear grass in the garden. I spent two days spraying weedkiller in anticipation of cultivating the veggie patch. It has had very little attention during the last summer.

We have done some Gib stopping on the inside wall by the patio door, but it is not finished yet. We have decided to stain/varnish the Rimu door frame. That will have to be done before the architraves goes up.

Talking of the architraves, we have hunted around among our hoard and found (hopefully) enough to do the inside. We are in the process of cleaning it, with scrapers, heat gun, paint stripper. The final stage will be sandpaper before we stain/varnish them. On the outside we will be using smooth board.

We have been to Hamilton and bought the material for a roman blind behind the fancy curtains. That will help keeping the place warm in winter. We will be making that only after the other work is done.

Another week and we will be in our "new" house for three years now. It is VERY interesting to go back to the beginning and revisit where we started.