Before Anzac Day weekend

The camera ran out of battery one weekend so I took some photos of where we left off...


The el cheapo bed we scored from IKEA. The bed was only $29 but the slats cost us another trip to IKEA and $40 so all up a double bed for $69. We'll be finishing the pine in some colour we have used in the house (probably to match the stairs) but that's a project for another day. We will need to wait till 25th April to actually "install" it according to the Chinese Farmers Almanac.On the 25th we thought we'd actually put the rest of it together including the $100 double mattress (new!) I bought via ebay. Picked it up in the ute from the city of all places. But it looks soooo comfy esp compared to the mattress pad or even the sofa bed... at least we'll be less dog height!
Whilst waiting for the next thing I could do inside I thought I'd start pulling out some weeds. Managed to get a fair number of them and found all these rocks (ha!) so pulled them out to build a bit of a framework/constraint to work in. This is the shady side but at least has less rocks. Maybe put some herbs in here? Lots of light just no direct sunlight... hmm...
We have blinds! Got them via halfpriceblinds.com.au which stuffed up the delivery... but we finally have them installed. Makes the place look a lot more finished even if there is now a little less light during the day...
Starting to put some nik naks on the shelves. The colourful mugs and crockery looks pretty good!

Easter Break (Part 3)

Pretty much last day of the Easter break we are up and just finishing off a few things...

The robe doors are painted and have been remounted...
Fancy blinds (from dealsdirect.com.au) were installed and look pretty swish for a laundry!
This is the before photo of the tiles before they have been stuck to the wall. See the dodgy paint job that is done before the tiling? But at least that room paint wise is done :)
Feature wall is now painted. Makes a huge difference to the feel of the place! This was done in Rialto which is the same as one of our feature walls at home too. Thinking of getting a glossy version of this colour for the front door too...

Easter Break (Part 2)

Batman is trying to help Will read the tiling adhesive container... I don't think he'll be able to reach the areas to be tiled though! The two additional rows of tiles are to be stuck on so they are in line with the tiles in the shower... Lazing on the job again!

Easter Break (Part 1)

Since I'm clearing a backlog of photos and blog entries I thought I'd better do a properly... and so there will be a bunch of entries rather than a mega entry to cover the last two months :)

Easter break scored us some child slave labour (well sorta... I got the free labour although P is a bit older than a child... she has often been mistaken for a child at a distance).

This was the most elaborate meal we have had up there... we had oodles (that's noodles with vegetables and tofu for the uneducated) with fried pork chop (was deep fried the day before and brought up to just fry up). (as you can see Batman was in dire need for a hair cut too!)

Batman wasn't the most helpful this weekend and managed to get a fair number of patches of paint on his backside and tail when getting too close to the wet paint.
P concentrated on skirts and window frames which was a great help... See the fully asia curtain we to block out the heat? (it was an old table cloth -- so daggy!!). P certainly went out of her way to get to the skirts.

February and March 2010 updates

The paint has been sitting around so long (wall colour paint) that it required a lot of mixing. It's pretty though!

This was the Satin paint we used for wet areas so it's a little bit glossy too...

The first door which was painted and hung back on is the storage room door. Too bad the inside of that room will be one of the last to be done (if at all... I did start painting undercoat in there so it will have to be finished at some stage)
The kitchen is looking pretty good. We just now need to hook up the gas and buy a microwave for completion! The tiles make a big difference.
The stairs have been a huge effort to get to this state. We must have spent near $500 just in different wooden finishing 'stuff' (paint, stains, varnishes etc)
Toilet is now done :) and the loo is pretty comfy if you want to come up and try it out.

Easter is a mere couple of days away now so no way are we going to be able to go up and relax! On the agenda this long weekend is lots of painting. The goal is to finish all the (wall) colour painting!

In terms of what we (and the builder) have completed in the last two months:

Finished tiling

Finished kitchen

Water tank overflow pipes fitted

Outdoor stairs stained

Stairs (inside) stained (and resanded and stained again... )

Undercoat completed

Started to paint the colour on doors, skirts and walls.

Completed rooms (ie ceiling done, floors completed, windows painted, walls painted and doors painted and hung):

- toilet (although I think I detected some faintness in the paint above the door...)

- laundry

- kitchen (except for the floors)

Progress photos for Feb and March will be posted once I work out where they all are!

As at end of January 2010...

Next time we may get around to staining the steps to match the rest of the deck. This is the "before" shot... It looks pretty good from this perspective!
The dam now has some plants in it. Some from ebay and some from our pond in the garden. Let's see if the wading in and planting will take effect and still be there the next time we go up.
Still to go for us to complete:

Inside:

- Undercoat the upstairs plasterboard walls

- Undercoat the two end walls

- Undercoat the wet rooms (but wait till tiler goes through)

- Undercoat any architraves missed

- Stairs (putty, one more coat of CFP, stain and another coat of CFP)

- Liming ceiling panels

- Sanding and then Coat of Ebony Sikkens on balustrades

- Paint architraves and skirting (2 coats)

- Paint walls

- Prime and Spray paint internal doors and original front door

- Coat double doors with 'something' (TBD)

- Floor boards installation

Outside:

- Stain (and oil? ) steps

- Putty and Oiling the rest of the wooden bits

I really want to get it done before Easter 2010 but it's not looking likely at this stage...

Weekend progress (Part 2)

Will brought his weather station and put it in the mound. Looks like we'll pick up enough wind for a wind turbine to be useful!Kitchen is almost done :) Drawer fronts are on and Handles are on! We decided on all horizontal rather than a mix of horizontal and vertical handles...

Will is installing the pipes for the overflowing water tank so it doesn't erode all the sand which is the foundation of the water tank.

Pretty much done now! Just may need a bit more length before putting on the mozzie blocker stuff.