Well, we have been in for a month now. We have only received one piece of the ordered furniture to date, a living room rug, so the house still looks a bit barren. There are two new mattresses (still awaiting the beds). It is amazing how these are delivered in post-like cartons, and then inflate once you unwrap them into proper quality mattresses.
We are removing things that don’t work, like broken fly screens, cables and wiring that go nowhere, etc. We are also clearing up the area under the house, I see a rubbish tip run in my near future!
Tip: Just take things away, remove what doesn’t work any more, and then take time to decide whether we need to replace these items, or if we can live without.
I did finish painting the loft, will post some photo’s next week when the bed for the loft has arrived!
I also bought some plants. I know, our garden has more greenery than needed, but being Dutch I love having a bit of greenery indoors. Via Facebook Marketplace I found four lovely Arcadia palms, and Mike got me some rattan pots from bunnings. I also snipped off some spider plants from along the roadside, and have put these in some water. They will go well in the bathrooms!
And we are making headway on our larger scale renovation plans. The kitchen renovators are booked, Kingsman Kitchens, and the final measurements will be taken on Monday the 12th April. Hopefully the kitchen will then be installed by late May or early June.
We have had some problems trying to get somebody to coordinate our bathroom renovation, but it looks like we have made progress now. With the booming property market many builders and trades are fully booked to the end of the year.
We have already purchased the fittings, from Highgrove Bathrooms, yes… where else eh? Fingers crossed they can be done by the middle of June as well.
I had to give up on the idea of a freestanding bath and walk in shower in the master ensuite. Instead, there is going to be a spacious walk in shower in the ensuite, and the clawfoot bath will be relocated to the deck outside the bathroom. Yes, bathing under the stars!
You do get to meet some interesting characters in the process. One, an Essex man in his mid fifties, turned out to be a great motivational speaker on how to enjoy life a day at the time.
We have been focussing on carpentry and smaller jobs this week. Mike removed two of the broken fly screens, and we needed a carpenter to fix the door surrounds. We walk past a local carpenter everyday and I had taken note of his phone number. Dave turns out to be quite deaf, still works of a flip phone and provides his bill neatly written out on paper with a carbon copy, but his work is excellent!
Not only do we now have two outside doors that actually close properly, he also took on the challenge of the master bedroom door. This door had a gap underneath varying between 30 to more than 60 mm, and the door didn’t close at all. Dave took the door off its hinges, planed it, put a new section under it, worked with the frame, and with the original 150 year old door lock, and we now have a rectangular door which closes smoothly on its original cast iron lock. I don’t know who was more excited, Dave or us!
We had Josh and Sanjana visiting over Easter, and they got me into two new apps; Merlin Bird ID and Skyview.
The Merlin Bird ID allows you to take your location, answer some questions about the size and colour of the bird you see, and helps you identify them. I have had a great time using this one already. It also plays back bird calls, and the crows here really don’t know what to make of this call coming from a two legged human.
Pandemic Roadtrip 