Reno #24 + Grandad

The lounge looked a little more like a lounge today ..  Wondered about red for a start, but looked a little loud.  Seemed to get the colour better by the time we got home..

Last week the wallpaper arrived for the Lounge, so the painter got that up and painted.  Pretty nice anaglypta styles they have these days... I liked it anyway :)

The lady from Auckland tells me all the wall lights have arrived, so if I put some money into her account she will courier them down... just have to work out who needs paying first this week!
Last week, the windows were taken out of the spare bedroom to have new reveals put on them, so awaiting architraves around them now to finish off and get the bedroom back into order.

After this one they took out our bedroom window, and that was very much 'open2view' on Monday, and still has a gap all around the window awaiting architraves too.  The outside is being clad slowly.  Graeme got taken off the job Thursday/Friday last week so I was allowed to be unwell!!

Trouble is nobody told the electrician or painter... so we still had tradespeople around.

Dad managed to get some roses planted..

This is where Dad and Blue like to spend some time.. and the Dining/Smoke photo I was trying to email you the other night bongs!

And this is our special g-nome we have installed in our back garden :) She is being very patient with our building project, noise and dust !

Grandads last supper at Wensley House (for some reason he needed help with the meat/vege, but had both hands in the desert), and his new room at Otumarama which opens out onto a courtyard.

First Sunday meeting back at Nayland Road - it was raining so we got the wheelchair taxi and Grandad recognised the taxi driver that used to bring Grandma around..!  (After he said about Sollys - Golden Bay freight trucking company- taking the people (cows) away after the meeting ..

That's us for now.  Hoping to get some shelving done in the hall cupboard and Marks bedroom so they can be used this week, and the heat/fan/light vented back through the roof so the shower can be used.

Reno #23 + Grandad

Its been quite a week, hard to know where to start.  Dad has been enjoying his style of cooking on the griddle..

We put the two main ceiling lights together for the lounge, and it was good to come home one night to see the electrician had hooked up outside lights and the lounge ones too :)

Marks bedroom has been wallpapered and painted and the carpet patched..

The tiler has finally started the Wincklemans in the front entrance, and will get on with the steps this week. Each step just has a dark grey edging tile like the one in the front of the photo.

Graeme is back finally from selling his house and shifting, has taken all the cladding off two walls of the  spare room, yes and that is a jackhammer!! Its so much fun waking to that kind of noise.   Concrete everywhere again, and now starting to reclad with timber.  The windows have to be removed for new reveals as we go, so a mess inside the room as well :)

Roy got the front garden boxed and poured Friday, so might be able to get the digger in to remove the hard fill and put some dirt & compost back in to plant the roses soon.  We had to cover the front entrance for the tiler... then 6am saturday morning Stuart was standing up there trying to get it down because the wind was trying to remove the gutters with it!  Glad we're not having sails again.

And this was lunch today.. Grandad stopped eating last week, managed to feed a couple of bits just with his fork, but then couldn't work out how a spoon would work better for him... so he ended up being fed, and couldn't even finish it.  Seems his right hand isn't working as well as the left and certainly not with it.  He did have a nice smile when I asked for one though.  He is wearing a lifting belt to make it easier to get in and out of a chair and the car.  It took three men to cart him down the stairs at Muirheads this morning..

This is how Stuart cleaned the garage carpet at Kihilla Rd friday night... vacuum system wasn't really sucky enough (or maybe it was really sucky!), and the carpet clung to all the jacaranda leaves and twigs!

Removing most everything from the wardrobe, I couldn't help but leave the hats - seemed to ens-cap-ulate the past!  Left a lovely bunch of colour on the dining table for open homes yesterday and today.  

There were 12 lots through yesterday, and 10 today, so will be interesting to see what comes of it all.  Its been a lot of work and a lot of down memory lane the past couple of weeks.  Ross decided he'd lay low instead of help with the cleaning... can't really blame him.

If anyone wants to view more photos - http://www.nz.open2view.com/properties/274665 

The rhododendron is in full bloom and looks gorgeous.

 The garage looked huge once it was all cleaned out..

That's us for another week.

Reno #22 + Grandad

The timber floor has been down for a week or two and we've been gingerly walking around on it with mats, drop sheets and cloths, wiping up any water spills.  Some beautiful timber!

Friday morning first thing the floor sander arrived and between then and saturday there have been three coats of a moisture cure polyurethane put over it.  The stench tickled the nose when I parked after work in front of the house!  We weren't allowed on the floor or open any windows until yesterday afternoon, and couldn't walk on it until sunday morning in socks.  So, we've been baching in the sleep out.   Guess it felt like a wee holiday - change of scenery anyway.

The plasterer has been around the tidied up the blockwork around the base, so we'll be able to paint that now, and get a garden sorted out in front to put the roses back in - hopefully before they expire!

The Electrician has been to fit a few lights, so we are able to see something after dark around the kitchen.  Re-using all the copper & brass lights I had, and awaiting a couple more to go with them.

Our builder has mostly constructed the tiny deck around the chimney on Friday and just needs to add a step up to the door and one down onto the drive.

Some things are blooming in the garden - amongst a lot of unkeptness and weeds!  When the sweet magnolia blooms again...  The pair of them at the back garden look spectacular.

Grandad has moved into his new room, but is really sick with another infection, so not sure he was appreciating much.  Certainly didn't want to sit in his chair once we moved it in, and now has a dresser with mirror (that was Grandmas) to give more room for his clothes.  Didn't seem to understand what 'put your hankies away in the drawer beside him' meant yesterday ... he's on strong antibiotics again to get rid infection again - and as soon as we went put his feet up on the bed again.

Grandad gets morning sun - this is his ranch slider out onto deck, and there's a bird feeder there too, so we'll have to remember to take some bread - like he did for Grandma :) 5 years last week since she left us!!  Hard to believe really.
Isaac was in a great mood today, and perhaps overtired after lunch as he giggled so much when jumping onto the chair and back to the wee stool and nearly toppling off..

 Loved having Grandad read him books too - specially about building and diggers and trucks.

That's me for another week.. next thing we await is tiler for the front deck and steps, painter arrives tomorrow to finish off in dining/smoke room and marks bedroom ceiling and timber work.  Then I need to order wallpapers for all three rooms.  Week after next before builder starts removing all other hardies - taking windows out as he goes... so want this mess cleaned up before the next one starts :)

Reno #21... How many more do you think?!

Tonight the Electrician has been and hooked up the electric part of the stove, so Stuart is boiling the spuds on the ceramic side of the cooker!  We await the plumber to do the gas side of things - hopefully before the weekend.  But we have ovens and a grill!!

The fridge & freezer is storing all the things it should and I'm enjoying the water and ice on tap - not that there isn't enough falling outside again today! Haven't had purified water for 6 months.

A couple more pics of the kitchen spaces..

Our builder has got a good way over the dining/smoke room with rimu overlay flooring today.  We find that the granite hearth has a crack right through the centre... so await the stone people looking at that.  May have to disconnect the fireplace, smash it all up and start again!!

Marks room has been gib coved and stopped in the new parts, paper stripped and finish coat of plaster on.  Sanding now and that's ready for architraves and wallpaper.

Lounge is just about there, only painted dado to go around top of panelling.  Painter finished the rest today, just wallpaper above panel and carpet to come.  Very happy with the rose cornice and light centers.

Just a couple of addendum photos.  Grandad enjoyed some crayfish sunday dinner with Stuart.

The flooring cutoffs make good building blocks for Isaac & Grandad.. the best part is smashing it down :)

Now time to go eat the mashed potatoes (with a fork as we haven't yet found our masher) and the slow cooked lamb shanks.  With some luck, this weekend may see the end of our dust - until the floor sander and finisher comes and we allow the builder into the laundry area !!