All hands on deck

I returned from work after the first full day of the builders being back on site to find that not only had they piled up most of the wood and scaffolding that they're going to need but they'd also completely removed the old deck from in front of the granny flat. Most productive!

 

 

Profiling

Our renovation project has entered its final phase - construction of the decks. At the end of last week, the builders laid out lines of strings to show where the pilings will go. The chickens thought this was all very curious.

Mrs Tiggywinkle Goes for a Walk

I saw this little creature on our neighbour's lawn first. We went out later in the day and we found her on our drive. The next day, she was walking up the middle of the road, following the white lines. Amazingly she wasn't flattened when we came back from our trip out. Phew!

Tunnels

Wood chuck

This is my first attempt at stacking wood. I'm rather proud of my wood pile - or wood pyramid is perhaps more like it.

Lichen

I read recently that lichen grows most prolifically on wood which is slow-growing. It's been really interesting since then to look around the garden and work out which trees are growing robustly and which ones are taking their time.

It seems that there's a variety of growth rates on different trees as well - I've been able to distinguish the new growth and the oldest parts of the tree very easily, just by looking at the amount of lichen. 

Website 4

Website 3

Website 2

Website 1

The misty mornings have resulted in some beautiful spiders' webs. These webs must be there all the time but it's only when they attract water droplets like this that we really notice them.

Misty Morning

After some of the wettest weather in living memory washed out driveways and turned creeks into rivers, fog descended on Auckland. One early morning we couldn't even see the top of our drive. It was pretty and spooky all at once.

Winter Colour

Bathtime Beauties

We claimed one of the seven bathrooms to create a new family bathroom - a vast improvement on the old shower cubicle at the top of the stairs, not least because it has a view of the garden. 

 We've tried to keep some of the old features though - like the classic kiwi Feltonmix shower, though the new one is not quite as bold as the original.

Nesting

There are two children's room along the landing from the master bedroom. One occupied, and one not quite yet.

My favourite feature of these rooms has to be the curtains though the lampshades are pretty cool too - not that I thought that when I was growing up with them.

Holiday at Home

I've had complaints that our bedroom looks too much like a hotel room. It must be the first time since leaving home that I've occupied such an immaculate space! We've put some pictures up since these photos were taken though so it's looking a little more homely now.

This room has probably changed least - it's just the furnishings that look different. However, we now boast a walk-in wardrobe and an en suite bathroom which are a little different to the bathroom that we endured before the building work started.

 

Can you work out which is before and which is after? And have you spotted our old floral carpet in the wardrobe? Oddly, we've grown quite partial to it and couldn't bear to part with all of it.

Treetop living

Again, I gave up on trying to make the living room immaculate for photographs so here it is looking slightly lived in.

We like the kitchen, we love the fire and the open space is great. But best of all has to be the view.

 

 

 

Welcome

And welcome to the main house...

I was delighted to be able to give our junk store dresser pride of place in the front hall - it sets the tone straight away!

 

The stairs have been straightened up and some of the space under the stairs reclaimed from the laundry to make larger storage cupboards. We now have a stationery cupboard and a boot room - some of my favourite parts of the project, of course.

I gave up waiting for the laundry room to be tidy and free of washing so here it is looking functional. The best bit has to be the rack which hangs from the ceiling. I can hardly believe that washing actually dries quicker just those few feet higher.

And finally, here's the stairs with the bannisters in place. It's a shame we couldn't get stair gates to match but you can't have everything.

Downstairs

Some of you will have seen photos of the granny flat before. Back then, there was no door on the bathroom, no light fittings and definitely no library corner.

But now I've spent many happy hours arranging our travel books and my fiction on the shelves and it's looking rather tempting.

 

There are bedside tables in the bedroom and light fittings all round. 

And not only is there a bathroom door - there's also a great 1960s lock. 

So what are you waiting for? Book your tickets today!

And the view from behind...

And here's our house from the back. This view is going to change when the deck is added upstairs. Work should start in the middle of next month and it'll be ready for us to sit out in the spring.

You may think that we have overdone the back doors - what house really needs three back doors? But I think we can carry it off... 

And here it is from the end - complete with new fenced-in, waterproofed deck off our bedroom.

We haven't exactly spent much time out there yet but then it hasn't exactly stopped raining since it was finished. I'm looking forward to being able to wander out there on a summer morning and then down into the garden. Lovely.

Home Sweet Home

It's now three years since we moved in and a whole year since we started renovating so it's about time that you saw some results. Over the next few days and weeks, I'll be posting some before, during and after posts so that you can see how the house has changed - and, hopefully, improved. The best place to start is probably outside.

This was our first impression of the house. Orange garage doors, green front door, pale cream asbestos fibrolite cladding with a patch of fake brick. Amazingly we decided to buy it when it looked like this but the vendor painted it before we actually signed on the dotted line.

This is how the house looked when we took possession - a definite improvement but still rather toxic - the asbestos had to go. 

One of the first things to happen once the building works started was the shrink-wrapping. Our house disappeared and it would be another six months before we saw it again.

Finally it was unveiled just before Christmas in all its weatherboarded glory. Double glazing, new roof, solar panels and a chimney!

We'd hoped to match the old colour - the one thing we actually liked about the outside of the house - but it was too dark for the weatherboards to take. We settled on this paler colour which still looks pretty neutral.

 

So what do you think?  I think it's the colour that makes the biggest difference visually - the one thing we didn't want to change! But from the inside the effect has been dramatic - the house is warmer, drier and quieter. We know that it's going to last for years, with just the odd lick of paint to perk it up. Success!

Beginner Baking 18

I'm getting to the end of my baking year now with just a few weeks left before I go back to work. There's still lots of things I haven't attempted - scones, chocolate caramel slice, meringue... But I was pleased to have chance this week to make Eccles cakes - a real taste of home.

I found it a bit difficult to get the pastry circles to stick together and so I was delighted when they came out of the oven looking so authentic. They taste great too - with orange zest and candied peel to give them a citrus flavour. I just need to work out how to cram more filling in each one next time...

Here's the book where I found the recipe - a present from my good friend Anastasia - thank you!

Paddock 3