Busy Bees

Thought it was time for an update so you can see what we have been working on around the place. But first a wrap on the weather. While kiwis are expecting a humid week with not much sun, we have recently had the most glorious autumn weather. So unusually warm right up to Saturday that people were talking about it when you met them in the street. But good things come to an end and yesterday was not too bad even if a little cold. Today it's just cold and the dark clouds are now rolling in from the mountains. There will be snow underneath - you can feel the ice in the air. Luckily I cleaned out the fireplace last week and we lit our first fire last night. Nice to see the glow of the flames again but with it comes the dust, ash-clearing and bringing in the wood.... I had almost forgotten how much work it is to have a fire!

First update is the ramp for our guests with a wheelchair or walker. Wouter has made the gradient very low for ease of use.

before the ramp

It was good to get rid of the old building materials from out of the house when we converted the bedroom to new bathroom and loo. All the old brickwork has been used as fill and the side stones were collected from around the property. The concrete on top was left over from doing the inside renovations, we only had to buy the dye to match the current tiles.

finished ramp

Next is the path just inside the front gate where our visitors on foot arrive. Before we did anything it was bare earth and because it is hidden behind a tree and gate, no sun was getting there to dry it out, meaning muddy or dirty feet when you came through the gate. Also you had to step down into the dirt and then back up onto the driveway.

stones sorted, edges done, ready to go

Another problem was that once through the gate it wasn't really clear where you had to go to reach our front door. So we made a small semi-circle of stones to level things out, keep feet out of mud and make it clear you must go onto the driveway to reach the house. When I say "we" I mean that I sorted the stones and Wouter did the rest.

artist at work

The best thing of all was that we didn't have to buy any materials for the job - we collected the stones from our garden over the last year while we've been working, the cement, sand and builders mix was from another job. We're pretty pleased with the result.

finished path

The next thing on the list is the front entrance. When we arrived, looking from the road, the left hand side was not done at all - completely bare concrete blocks. The right hand side was partly finished and partly bare. There was a crack underneath the letterbox, the letterbox was rather grotty. Nothing matched - the grey blocks, the half done side and the pillars - all different materials and different colours. There was also a Wellingtonia growing on the lhs which we removed some months ago as we both didn't like the tree and we want to put something else in there instead.

before

Wouter decided to use a mixture of good old whitewash but a bit thicker and slightly coloured with chaux. The result is a rough texture and uneven colour, but we think it's great, very practical and also very cheap to do!

nearly there...

painting over the apricot coloured posts to match the new walls

Continuing work in the hangar is also important if we want to have workshops this coming spring and summer. Before work could begin in there Wouter had to remove a large 1000 litre oil container. Wouter offered it for free to someone who was going to come with a tractor and take it down as it was resting on a wooden mezzanine. However, they didn't show so it was down to the good old rope and tackle. After it was on the ground we used the car to pull it along on beams of wood to save it digging into the concrete and then the driveway.

artichoke

Meanwhile I have been trying my hand at making decorations from things out of the garden. Inspired by one can of gold paint I first tried an artichoke I picked a few weeks ago - the ones I picked recently are no good for spraying as they have gone slightly moldy from being out in the little rain we've had. But the good news is that I have plenty of seeds to plant more for next year.
The next decoration is made from sticks we pruned off the trees last year, tied together with some old string and sitting on a board Wouter kindly made for me, cones placed around the bottom - then sprayed with gold paint.

Lastly a wreath for the front door. This is made from strands of Virginia creeper which were growing through the stones on the ground, wound around each other to form the wreath shape, sprayed gold. Next I attached some suitable greenery from the Bay and other evergreens, and finished off with some gold-sprayed cones.

Last week we were given 4 kilos of olives. The owners didn't want them so I went down on my bike and picked heaps from quite a small tree and came back with a backpack full of them! Why not try my hand at brining them? It will take some time, patience and lots of water to get them to the edible stage, but it's a good opportunity to used something which was unwanted.

Cassy is blissfully unaware of all the work going on around him most of the time. This is one of his evening poses, curled up on his duvet, complete with squeaky cellphone at the top of his head and squeaky baguette under his nose....

Entrance Hall

It's a while since I posted a blog with pics. We have been busy with lots of things as the weather becomes more agreeable. But one task which is complete, apart from maybe some further wall decoration is the entrance hallway. You will remember that we had some dark green, yellow and orange velour type paper on the walls, and on the floor the greeny-brown tiles which were also in the kitchen and living areas. The ceiling was a sort of brown paper we've never seen before - it took a lot of paint to make it a soft white - I think about 5 coats.

front entrance

towards the loo

towards dining room

So a list of what we did - clean, paint ceiling and scotia; strip walls of all paper, sand to remove any glue residue, apply crepi (this is a type of plaster) and then paint the walls; lay and grout floor tiles and plinths; decorate with some second hand chairs we found and our own cabinet and some new light shades; remove, paint and reinstall radiator (this was an awful job....); painting the doors was a huge job and the photos below don't really show the pooey pink they were before they were painted - each door has 18 glass panels and 2 undercoats and 2 top coats each makes........ (18 panes x 4 coats x 2 sides x 3 doors = 432!). One door remains - the door to the dining room. The current one is not big enough for wheelchair access so we have another ready to be installed once the doorway is adjusted.

towards our room

lamp

Now we feel that the house takes on more of our character and has a brighter atmosphere.

Another decorating story to come as I'm just doing the finishing touches in the loo and back bedroom - after that it will be work on the new bathroom and toilet with special attention to wheelchair access. And of course this will include a stairway to the first floor - we currently have a 'trap' (pull-down stairs). All these things are joint efforts as I need Wouter to do things like removing door handles and knobs, taking down and hanging doors, and so on, and he leaves me with painting while he does another 101 jobs elsewhere in the house or outside.

What else? We are working on the web pages so that we can be googled and hopefully get some business from 1st May - yes, we are mad enough to believe we can get all this extra work done by then.... You've seen the TV programmes where the first guests arrive and the painter is leaving by the back door!

Also we are busy in the garden preparing for our vegetable and flower crops - have bought lots of seed packets and are weeding, working the soil and planting. Temperatures are becoming more like NZ spring with cool mornings and lovely afternoons. The days are more sunny with about 4 days a week full sun and the other 3 grey, overcast, and a bit of rain - almost perfect.

For those of you who haven't had an update recently, after a few meetings and Wouter registering as an auto-enterprise, we are now waiting for the siret number which allows Wouter to trade as an ebeniste and for us to be able to get health insurance. So everything seems to be coming together at long last.