so this connects to that...

Adam and Drew, master and apprentice of electrical spaghetti...

where's you wheelie bin?

no timid little wheelie bins here - another full mini-skip load for us! 6m3 full... Drew put the leftover plaster sheets in for me, but after that it was all me! Filled it up with mainly bricks, concrete, timber, but also a tyre, the inner steel tub from a washing machine, an overhead kitchen cupboard and more. Good exercise though!!

A much cleaner carport as a result - still a lot of Grandad Hillary's ubiquitous concrete and bricks leftover... his type of landscaping... but we're aiming to break it down and use that as fill later on.

Painting inside is all done - next is the bathroom vanity, the electrical fit-off (big job), bathroom window issue to be sorted, tiling, bathroom fit-off, and then, maybe then, the floors to be done. Then we can put the kitchen back in, and then look at moving in! Will still be some other minor jobs - like the wardrobe innards - but we can move in and work on those as we go! Closer, closer...

a bright spark(y)

Drew wired up all the GPOs in the house... General Power Outlets to us plebs, Gippos to those in the industry. Handy having someone who can do the electricals... means we certainly have got our power and lights covered!

And this electrician comes air-conditioned too!

All outlets bagged and tagged so they can't get in the way of round two of the painting (which comes after the patching of certain divets and sanding of certain bumps etc).

bathroom sheeted!

Now all the walls and floor and hob are sheeted and ready to be (plaster) set (including the cornice). Then we have to sort out the vanity situation (including the long-awaited laundry chute - yay! - something only women can understand or get excited about I think). And then there's the window situation to sort out. And then the tiling. And the door. And the tap hardware. And the glass shower screens. Yes, never as simple as you think!

a little bit of colour

It was Pear and Smooth Chocolate, but I changed my mind at the last minute and went for Bean Shoot Green. Now the (collective) male opinions aren't sure about the green, but I say "trust me"... once the floors are done the strong colour will be balanced, and it will also be tempered by the Hog's Bristle walls (only showing in the last photo).

There's still another coat of everything to be done, so everything will fill in and darken up a little. Isn't paint wonderful? ... instant feeling of progression and it all coming together.

So still more painting, ALL of the bathroom, more plumbing, all architraves and skirting boards to be done, then the electrical fit-off (lights, switches and GPOs), then the floors, then putting the kitchen in, fitting the wardrobe internal bits, and probably a lot of other things I've missed out. Oh, and another mini-skip at the end of that to get rid of the rest of the mess we've created and collected! Don't even think about moving yet!

the beginning of the paint...

Darryl starts in on the undercoating

go towards the light!!

yet more sanding!

And may I say, we are all pretty damn chuffed with how good the three-step cornice is looking - sensational! Just perfect :D

THIS is how you fill a spa!

it's sooo much quicker to just pop a hose through the window huh?
nah, don't worry about the temperature ;p
checking for leaks before it all gets set in place and closed up.
One step closer.
And by Saturday onto our third plumber.

the bathroom finally gets some attention!

our new plumber put the pipes in, which meant we could start the sheeting, which meant we could position the spa and get the hob in! Yay!! finally!!

next we need to test the spa bath for leaks, before putting the expander foam in to set it in place. Then finish the sheeting, more plumbing, then tiling?

Drew worked very hard on the hob... blood, sweat and lots of swear words! O_O Let's hope the little old lady next door is hard of hearing :)