Monday, November 30, 2009

The Renovation Saga

I've had so many lovely emails asking how the renovations are going, with messages of support and words of encouragement. Thank you all, I appreciate each and every one of you. I'm taking your advice and not doing much housework at the moment. Although I can't help myself, and I have to vacuum at the end of each day, and give the bathroom a once-over, but that's it!
So this is where we're at at the moment:


The upstairs floors are down, wall frames are up and roof frames too. It's all ready for the roof and cladding now. There's been a bit of a delay with the roofing. It was meant to be going on on Friday, but when the truck arrived with the roof sheets (all pre-cut) they were the wrong colour! They were grey, but not the right shade of grey (and we all know how important getting the right shade is! That would be like making a card and having your ink colour not match your cardstock! LOL). So the correct colour has been ordered (at no extra expense to us, because it wasn't our mistake, thank goodness!). That will now go on on Wednesday, and it is all quiet here at the moment because until that goes on, they can't do the walls, and until the walls go on, they can't do the windows, etc etc. We're still hoping for lock-up stage by Christmas (keep your fingers crossed for me!)
Now inside...Here is Amy's room being demolished, and that wooden framework is where my Craft Room used to be: That all got knocked down on Thursday morning. I must say that I'm glad last week is over! We were away all last weekend, so I had 3 days to completely empty Amy's Room, my Craft room and our Dining Room. I originally thought I would have until Monday (today), but things progressed faster than I had anticipated! Thank goodness my Mum came and helped pack boxes, Dad came to help disassemble and re-assemble Amy's furniture in Jacob's room (it wouldn't fit through the doorways and down the hall), and Mum also had the kids for 2 nights so we could work until the wee hours doing it all. Dave has had an average of 12 school formals per day to decorate over the past few weeks, so he has hardly been here at all, and I still had classes last week too....madness!
The dust and debris has been incredible. I was warned, but I don't think anything can prepare you for it. My kitchen adjoins the dining area (you can just see the top of our servery bench at the bottom right hand corner of the pic above) and when the ceilings came down, there was dust and muck everywhere. It coated all the kitchen surfaces, every crack and crevice, and even managed to find it's way into the rooms whose doors I had shut....lovely!
My "Craft Room" is now in our bedroom. It's definitely not ideal, but at least I still have somewhere to stamp! If I didn't have that, I really would go insane!

That's our bed at the bottom of the pic, so my craft desk is literally 1 metre from where I sleep. I have been banned from any insomniac stamping though! The desk is much smaller than I'm used to, so I'm having to be a very tidy stamper and clean up as I go!
We had another drama on Friday (having not yet gotten over the roofing drama) when we came home from buying bathroom fittings, to find a wall going up where there's not meant to be one! It's pretty much where the builder's ladder is in the pic above, and somehow a dotted line on the plans got coloured in, somewhere between the plans being submitted to council and the final draft being signed by us. Unfortunately, it's not just a matter of taking the wall out, because they have it supporting a steel joist that's holding up the second storey! We are still waiting to find out what's happening there. I'm insisting that the wall can't stay because it's right where my Craft desk is going!! ....so, the saga continues!

Well done if you've made it through all this. I'll keep you posted (or would you rather I didn't?!)

7 comments:

  1. Just think how beautiful its going to be when its finished.

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  2. Noooo, don't stop reporting to us about your house.( unless it becomes a chore for you). I would love to see all the new lovliness(?) as it unfolds.
    Jane M xx

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  3. Wow Relle, how exciting, but I can imagine that it's definitely a case of just getting through this part and keeping an eye on the prize at the end! The fact that you have continued with your classes right up until crunch time (literally!) is just amazing. You're truly an inspiration the way you just get on with things and stay positive through it all :) Love you lots.

    S x

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  4. Holy Cow Marelle! I thought I was good coping with the disruption when we had our bathroom reno done but this is unreal!!!! You need a medal I think! lol

    Keep the reports coming, I will enjoy looking at your gorgeous new and improved home as it comes along!

    Karen

    PS - my stamp station is in our bedroom too along one complete wall! I am too tired at night time to ever do any late night stampin' though! lol

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  5. Wow Marelle......Lana is just seeing the end of her reno, and you should feel good....her's has nearly been 18 months!! Take comfort my dear, keep smiling and when that's too hard, go and stamp!!

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  6. Hang in there Marelle, it will be worth it in the end and I am sure the wall issues will be sorted out. Take care.
    Adele
    xoxox

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  7. Wow, that's a huge undertaking. Thinking of you during all the drama. Looking fwd to the blog hop tonight.
    Cheers,
    Fiona

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