Drudgery, part the millionth
Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 2:59AM I'm scooting through house renovations as quickly as I can, but the past week has been a haze of getting 'er done.
Tuesday we had the asbestos removed, which meant we could see straight through the kitchen wall into the laundry! And I felt like I could REALLY BREATHE, for the first time ever. All that nasty asbestos, gone!
My house is made from what they call "Oregon timber" here in Sydney but I know it by its true name: Douglas fir. I was so pleased to hear my house was made of the same trees that I grew up surrounded by. These two-by-fours aren't the smooth sweetish pine of modern times, though: they are splintery and rough-hewn, scratchy and dark. Still, to me, they are beautiful.
We made our mark on the house. We are now part of its history. I've spoken before about the previous owner, and a few more little stories have come about. The house was built by the previous owner for his bride around 1950. She was the kind of neighbor who loved to garden and have cups of tea. I feel a bit like she haunts us, but only in a nice way. Houses move on to other people. We bought a house with a wonderful history.
And we've been magically able to keep a lot of that history alive.
Here is the old bathroom door. We are putting a toilet into the bath and leaving the existing one in the laundry, but there was no point having three entrances to the laundry room (outside and inside) so our builder Clark has closed up this door. It's Villaboard on the other side, but he recycled the splintery, rough-hewn timber from the wall he took out to frame this in. I love that he did that!
But of course, the old plumbing had to go. The hot water line was running up the OUTSIDE of the kitchen wall. Yikes! So our fantastic plumber Laurie spent Friday snipping, welding, drilling holes and making bends. And in the end he took the old, crappy (heh) toilet out and capped the hole in the floor. Ready for making new.
This is for the kitchen. Isn't it just super? Shiny and new!
I haven't been idle, either. I spent yesterday feeling sorry for myself (Mr Poppleton is away on a business trip) so I took the baby to Nanna & Granddad's and painted undercoat on most of the living room walls for three hours. I stopped at the rendered brick because I ran out of time.
I just love the difference the white makes. That whole room will eventually be sky blue, but for now the white is just so bright and cheerful!
And Mr Poppleton would like everyone to know he has not been idle, either. This week he and his mum and dad spent three evenings building my kitchen cabinets.
They are awaiting doors and handles, but Clark will manage that when the flooring is up and the kitchen walls are reclad!
More painting. I should really be flicking back to the "before" images, where everything was dark and moody because the timber was stained really heavy. Having it all white just freshens it up so much.
Those are Clark's two by fours in the floor there, but those boxes? Those are my living room tiles. Brilliant! I'll order my bathroom tiles as soon as I get a quote in from the tiler. He is mythical at the moment, but this week will be the week I get this house on track!
If a certain someone complies, that is.
Oh man. She's so perfect. I hope she understands someday how most of this work is for her. We are making a home for her.
Well - off to work I suppose! Today is more undercoating. Going to get the living room and hallway 100% primed. Boom. It's good to have goals, I guess. But just before I go, a sneaky look at something I did while husbandless-induced-insomnia had me in its clutches last night:
Hmm, it looks like a Nicey Jane quilt top...hmm...we shall see I suppose!
Cheers! xx
Reader Comments (2)
love LOVE love that last shot of the white walls. it looks GREAT. (makes me want to paint! but, thats not going to happen. :)
Looking good! I'm trying to wrap my head around buying a "fixer" and you're giving me confidence that it can be done. I can't wait to see the finished product!