living is easy

Here is the dining room table. you can see how it is dwarfed by the space for the dining area. It is great as I can now have the night class at my house and I don't need to go anywhere. Yeah!

Lounge room but the curtains should be up soon.

Here it is the new expense. The coolest shower door in all the land. It was so neat this morning having a shower and no water all over the bench. Also the top has a ledge which seems to keep the steam from going out of the shower - it was going out the window instead. The door is safety glass and very heavy as well so it shouldn't break.

Kitchen all in working order. The labels have nearly gone from the doors as I mostly know where everything is now.

New mirror

The new mirror is in the bathroom. it looks really cool and today Tim was in and hung all the rails so I can now hang towels, toilet paper and curtains up so that is neat.

It has been a fun two weeks as the first month in the new house is really huge. I looked at the new dining room table today, which I thought was really big and it is dwarfed by the new dining room space.

I am gradually getting all the things moved from the old house - it is on the market and you can view it on open2view.com which is great. there have been a few people look at it but hopefully in a couple of weeks I will have it all emptied and sorted out. I did a bit more tonight, emptying out the hall cupboard but lots of things need to be sorted and thrown out. I also fixed the bedroom curtains so that was neat.

Here's the carpet

Here is the carpet. The first piece of furniture is across the way so we could check out how the curtains looked. Chosen some others which are much cheaper and will be a nice contrast in the room.

You can see the corner of the dishwasher in the photo - ready to go in on Friday.

Moving In

Outside is looking good but have not thought about a gate at the moment. Still the new pavement is done and all the fences are completed including the back ones. We are busy shifting some of the minor stuff - Neil is shifting books today and hopefully on Friday we will be able to do lots of the furniture stuff.
The Kitchen is nearly complete with the oven, cook top and range hood in with the fridge and dishwasher to go in on friday I hope.
The garage looks really good with its carpet down. Yesterday Russell drove in the garage in his SUV and there was heaps of room so that is really neat.

kitchen floor and drains

The kitchen floor has been laid. You can see the tiny feature tile around the edge which looks really cool. The window will have a roman blind in a bamboo style so it will add an extra texture to the room. Just wait until the appliances are in - all new for me this time around. This will be the first new appliances I have had since I bought a microwave in 1992.


All the drains for the water, sewerage, electricity and telephone have been done and unfortunately they had to dig right across the road to connect the sewerage. More Cost!!!
Today hopefully is the inspection day and then they can be filled in and the landscaping done. the third photo is the front garden which will be predominantly grass area with a minimum of gardens. yeah!

Its Exciting

The side fence is going up as fast as you like. The boys have done a really neat job of it and it is amazing how much more space there is without the hedge.

Also today I have mostly decided on the curtains for the rooms and they will be very safe but should be nice. The only choice left to make is the conservatory but think I will be leaving that until next year after finding out how it goes.

The old house is nearly on the market, Jacki has put the signs up and I am hoping that there will be some of the Northland girls to help do the gardens and clean the outside of the house over the coming weekend.
no photos today as it would not upload but better luck next time.
diane

Office up and running

The office desk has been put in and it looks really great. I am very impressed with the way it has turned out and it will look really great with the vertiface board on the walls so we can see the pinboard area. I cannot remember what colour I eventually chose but you will get to see it soon as it should be in before the end of the month.

Wardrobes are cool

The wardrobes are in and really cool. There will be lots of storage in the spare bedroom for extra blankets and stuff as well as guests. My walk in wardrobe will be a challenge to get organised. Lots of hanging space and a neat space for my scotch dresser at the end. I don't think that I will have enough clothes to fit all the rails but I will be able to space them out a bit more. It is really cool to see the space for my shoes and they will be safe there instead of cluttering up the floor area.

This is the wardrobe in the spare bedroom and makes nice use of the wardrobe in this room.

New Garage

My car has a garage. Yeah After spending most of the year outside my car (fondly called Bertha) is now in her very own garage again. She has lots more space than she did but this garage doesnot have anything in it. Hopefully next week I will be able to try her out in the other new garage and then she will feel like she is getting ready to move. Only one more month hopefully and we will be moving next door. This garage has a new door as well which is insulated and really good.

Bathroom coming along

The bathroom is tiled and the fittings are in. Notice the great space for the shower, and the wonderful feature tiles across the bathroom. Even the window space has been tiled. It has been a mission getting the bathroom tiled as the tiler had to go into hospital so that was a little delay. All the tiling is done now and just the grouting to be done.
Slight problem with the toilet as the basin is just a few millimetres too wide to fit where it should. Who knows what the solution will be - a bifold door, no door has been suggested by some at work or else the door opens outwards. My favourite solution is the third one. Still the toilet looks great and I love the basin so that is neat as well. It took me a long time to find the right one.
This is the best thing since sliced bread a laundry hamper in my bathroom. This storage unit has all the space for the towels and they will actually fit in the cupboard so that is really neat. The little hamper is able to be taken out to the laundry so that is cool. Saves the floor space and keeps the clutter down.

Driveway is in!

Saturday 30 August started early with the builders arriving to start the concrete laying for the driveways. It was quite exciting to see the truck with the black concrete being unloaded and laid around my back steps. You can see Shane, Matt and Murray laying the concrete with the assistance of an extra worker.
Here is the last bit of concrete being smoothed out before we had morning tea - supplied by the owner. small thanks for working extra on the Saturday. The afternoon then turned out really warm and Murray was a bit worried about the concrete drying out quicker than expected. I then spent some of saturday and sunday watering the concrete so it would not dry out too fast and crack.
Monday the earthquake lines were cut in the concrete and by Thursday it was fine to walk on. Really exciting on Friday night - the garage door has been connected to the electricity and I can now park the car back in a garage. Really great as Monday and Tuesday this week have been wet so I don't get too wet getting into the car.
Yeah another step on the way.

Walls are on the way!!

The toilet has been wallpapered and when I saw it wet I was disappointed in the colour (Friday) but today mum and I walked through the house and it was much better. I was disappointed initially that the paper I had chosen was not available until end of November. Now that the second choice is up it looks fine. Not as textured as I had hoped and a more even colour but will be easy to make my furniture to fit.
This is the workroom with the wallpaper on and the hole cut in the wall for the ironing centre. The wardrobes have all been papered and the two bedrooms will have fitted wardrobe, but not the workroom. The wall you can see will also have vertiface board, which can be used for pinning things on.
The wardrobe and wall of the guest bedroom so you can see the room is light and airy for guests. You can book in at any time.

Major Movement today

There has been major movement onsite today with the outside work starting.
The digger arrived and the camellia went by 10am. Next was the driveway so Bertha (my car) will be living on the street for the next few nights until the new driveways are put down. It was quite a major as the concrete was very thick in places and certainly had not been shifted for a number of years.



A slight accident with the digger and Murray thought the house had been disconnected from the electrical grid but fortunately not.

Also being done is the removal of the back fence and the replacement of the fences with new (second hand) ones. Hoping that they will happen over the next few days as the weather is supposed to be good for at least two days. This morning started with rain and then some sleet and then it has been sunny so here is hoping the change will stay. It will be great once the concrete is down not to have a big puddle outside the back door.

Brickie is Finished

The outside brick work is finished and all that needs to happen now is the painting of the garage for the old house and above the windows. Murray has been around and is talking about trying to get the driveways done but it will not stop raining. I would like to get the fences done soon as well as that would really feel like something major is happening.


Bathroom cupboard: This is in the corner with the basin unit out to the left. I had this made to fit as all the ones you could prepurchase did not fit a folded towel. The bottom of this is a pull out drawer for the laundry. Quite neat if I think so myself.
Next step on the bathroom saga is the tile story. I had finally chosen the tiles needed and given them to murray to order. He did so and the wall tile was out of stock - not in until october. Mum and I went to New Plymouth to have a look at another option, which we duly chose after much debate. fast forward to the monday and the guy from the tile shop rang to say that someone had been in on saturday and ordered all of the tiles I had chosen and there would not be enough left for me. So onto the third choice and do you know what they are a 1/3 of the price as well. yeah!!! at least the budget is pleased.

Painting Underway

The painting is underway so the inside is getting closer to being finished. I finally chose the colour for the doors and although I wanted a lighter shade it was not available. Still think that these look fine.

Photo of the large storage space in the garage. you can see from the previous blog that the garage door is on and it is the same colour as the roof. I think that the house looks quite stylish and hopefully will not date.

Kitchen is In!!!!

The kitchen is in and looks fabulous. I am really pleased with it and it certainly is larger than expected.

The bookshelf on the lounge side looks really neat and will be a great asset for keeping the place looking tidy. I will also have a space for the writing desk so that is something I had not thought of before.

The space is certainly looking like a house now and I can visualise the furniture in it so that is great. This week I am hoping that the painting and wall-papering will be done.

What a surprise!!!

Went home at lunchtime today - 6th August and walked through the house. Look what I found when I went inside. The guys have been putting the kitchen in and I didn't even know. It looks much lighter than I expected so I am pleased as I was worried about it being in the dark corner of the room.

You can see the wonderful feature on the breakfast bar and the next photo has the bookshelf which has the same feature at the back. This was deliberate to break up the whiteness of the colour.

It will be exciting as I am going to have a dishwasher so it will be fun to see the appliances in there in a couple of weeks or so.

Here is the rest of the kitchen in the garage ready to be put in. You can see along the back wall the garden tool cupboard and where the laundry will be. The laundry was going to be in a seperate room but I decided that I would not worry about that as it would be easier to use if it was all one space.

Getting there

The weather is finally getting better and the drains are not pouring. Mark informed me today that there are 4200 plus bricks on the house and that this has been the longest job, but the paper also mentioned that July has been the wettest month (208% of rainfall and only 66% of sunshine hours) since 1938.

Hoping that he will have the bricks finished by the end of the week, you can see him in his blue tent that he made to try and get the job done.

As you can see the old laundry has started to have its makeover. The colour is not too dark but looks quite good and it will be all over the room including the doors. Here is hoping that I can get the new lino in soon as well for that room.