Renovations Done!

When you consider that we started the physical prep work for this renovation in September last year, with the installation of the shed, not to mention the admin work of getting plans done, which actually began at the end of April, this has officially become our longest renovation to date. Whew. 

We've actually been able to celebrate the completion of the Nana Flat for a little while now, and even the very delayed carport has been finished for at least a month. The feeling that this is actually done is very surreal, which is probably why it's taken me ages to post this. I mean, are we really done? I feel like I'm asking myself that question even now. 

But here we are. Everything that was on the plans to be done, has been done. We have even finished off some extra things - like laying the turf and started growing grass seed out on the nature strip. Maybe the somewhat incomplete nature of the front fence and the lack of plants in the garden beds makes us feel like it's not real yet? 

Just in case you need a reminder about where we started, here is a flash back photo from last October, when we started relocating trees. 

And here we are now: all done!

It is certainly a change, even though the inside of our house remained the same. Front stairs, up to my beautiful handmade wreath. I absolutely love having the front deck for people to arrive on at the top of the stairs. There is a pretty sweet view over the roof tops to the trees at the park from that deck. We still need to oil the boards, but we'll get there. 

Water tank round the side. For some reason, we keep forgetting it's there and ready to go. Have to start using it soon so it can fill up again with all the summer rains. 

The double car port means that I don't have to start heating the car and run bottles of warm water over the windscreen before I can drive to work in winter. I know these seem to be first world problems, but they do make a big difference in my life. 

The other thing that's great, is that now we have a place for Steve's mum to live, for as long as she wants. That's not a small first world problem at all, and I'm very glad we were a part of solving it. 

Nana Flat: This bit is Complete

It seems unbelievable to type this, but the Steve's mum has been living under us in her newly built Nana Flat for three weeks now! We moved her in on a Friday night (one trip with the moving truck from John's place to here (good work boys!)), just before the builders wrapped up, thankfully avoiding moving on a very rainy weekend. 

As you stand on the patio, you can see the kitchen/dining straight ahead. There are curtains up now (for obvious reasons), but I love how open and bright that space has the potential to be. 

I took these photos just before the truck with all the stuff arrived, so it's not perfectly complete (cupboard doors aren't on, oven's not in), but you can get the idea about what it looks like. Here's the kitchen. 

And when you turn and look back out, you can see the patio. Beyond that, when I took these photos, it was all mud. We have since laid some turf, but I'll save that picture for our next update. 

It was a bit surreal after so long waiting for it to be done (and living through all the delays!) but such a relief and excitement when it was finished. The next photo is taken from the dining room corner of the kitchen. The bathroom is behind that kitchen wall, the doorway in front is the bedroom, and around the half wall to the right is the living room. 

You can see the living room on the left in the photo below, and then the dining/kitchen around to the right. 

Lastly, this is the very big bathroom, which also doubles as the laundry, though the washing machine isn't there yet. 

Maria has settled in, and so I won't be sharing any more inside photos of her place now. She has really made it her place, and we are happy that she is comfortable there and it's great to see her making it her own. 

The general renovations have continued a bit longer, finishing up things inside the Nana Flat and outside around the house, so we have a little ways to go yet, but it's great to know that this bit is now complete. 

So Close

It's been nearly another six weeks since the last update and we are so close, and yet, still so far from this renovation being done. I was feeling a bit down about it, but when I look back at the last update, I notice that heaps of stuff has happened since then, so it's not exactly like our builders have been idle. 

First thing to notice is that the carport got a roof! We also got concrete for the Nana Flat patio and the path around the side of the house, as well as the front path coming off our stairs. These stairs are just glorious. I love the merbau planks and the small veranda at the top of the stairs. Hooray! This bit still needs to be cleaned and stained, but it's pretty cool to stand out there in the arvo. 

Steve also had the vision to make our front path a little bit more fancy, rather than just plain concrete. He was inspired by the stone steps as you climb up Mt Ngungun, when we took the girls up in January.

The stone we got was a different colour, but we love it. 

Inside the Nana Flat so much happened! The painters came in, the kitchen and bathroom both got put in. Sparkies came back and suddenly lights and fans work. The floors happened, trim went on and the painters are about to come back and finish things up. I need to make sure I take some more photos, because I've been very slack lately!

We have had heaps of rain again, some places in Brisbane were at risk of flooding, which was all too soon after the last lot in March. So much mud, so we haven't been using our front stairs much still to avoid trekking it in through the house. That said, the path through our neighbours driveway, the hole in the fence and around the back is getting pretty worn and muddy anyway.  

In this last photo, maybe you can see the bright yellow tape measure out on the front, measuring from the centre of what will eventually be our driveway. Yes, we have had complications; this is the problem that makes me feel as if it could easily be another two months until it's all done. 

When we knew we were moving the driveway from the right to the left side of the house, one of the first things we asked as would we need to move the water metre. We were assured by our architect that we would not need to. Plans went through council and they didn't ask us to move it either. We checked with our builder, and he told us that our architect was right, we could just pop a grate over it and have it in the drive way. 

It seemed all ok. Then our builder applied to actually pour the concrete for the driveway. We were told that we would indeed have to move the water metre. Council have changed things and no longer do the grate in the driveway thing apparently. Rather devastatingly, applying for this is no easy process; lots of red tape and applications and waiting around for 3-4 weeks for answers. 

On top of that, when council realised we wanted to put a driveway close to where we had (rather unsuccessfully) replanted one of our trees, they told us that we weren't allowed to. Can't put a driveway too close to a tree apparently. When we told them it was pretty dead, they let us know that they would need to send an arborist out to check that first. 

On top of that, the old Telstra cables and junction box is right on one edge of the drive way too and will also have to be moved. There have been mixed messages about where that can go and how far from the driveway it needs to be, but we are hoping it can just shuffle slightly and sit between ours and our neighbours driveways for minimal hassle. Wish us luck. 

In the mean time, most of the Nana Flat is now complete and Maria is moving in this weekend! I guess she's ok with enduring the ongoing mud situation and finalisation of building works (slats around the side and front of the house, water tank relocation, gutters on the carport and veranda roof etc). It's not so bad I guess. So close now, right? 

Nana Flat Update Two

 Here we go again! 

It's been six weeks since the last update, and even though things feel like they have been rushing ahead and getting ticked off, I'm a little bit sad to realise we still have a ways to go yet. I guess that's what happens when things are rained on, flooded out and people get sick with the current pandemic disease causing them to quarantine for a week. Still can't believe this is the new normal in life. 

Anyway, since we last saw the house, big outside things have changed - windows went in, roof went on, insulation everywhere and all the outside cladding was done. All of this made a huge impact and it really felt like it was taking shape. You can see the patio section of the nana flat there with it's lovely merbau posts that have been cemented in. And the scaffold up to work on our little veranda area at the front of our house where the stairs used to be. The decking was mostly down in that picture, and the roof posts and beams in, but nothing else there yet. 

Inside the house was so muddy and dirty after all the rain, but once the roof was on, our builders cleaned it up and it was ready to go. What a difference it makes when the floor is clean and clear! 

So much went on inside the nana flat that you don't really see at all. The electricians put all the wiring in and then the plumbers put the pipes in the walls before the builders started sheeting everything. Man is it so cool when you can no longer see through the walls! 

Plumbers arrived in a small army of people after the roof was on to do some more work on down pipes and drainage. There was so much muddy clay around and it was super exciting to see the pipes get connected and the water flow away from the house next time it rained. 

Not long after all of that, some more roofing stuff arrived. This was for the veranda cover and the carport. Steve's been taking daily photos of the progress, but when the carport frame went up, we realised that we would need to go further back to get it all in.  

And this is where we are now. See what I mean about not really getting everything in frame any more?

The car port still needs a roof, we still need front stairs and path, not to mention a whole lot of concrete for the car port itself. All the ceilings are up inside the nana flat though, and the plaster has been in and done his job. Painters are booked for the week before Easter, and as I type this the veranda roof is being put into place. Hopefully my next update will feel much more complete, and hopefully not another six weeks away. 

Nana Flat Updates

This post feels very long overdue, but when I looked back at our last renovation (which was similarly timed from November to March in 2018/19), the first real update post I had was February! So maybe it's not that overdue after all. This round of renovations, in a nut shell, is digging under our house and building a Nana Flat under and out towards the front for Steve's mum. While we are at it, we are also landscaping the front yard to add a double carport and rejigging the front stairs to add a small covered veranda to help keep that front room cool from the western sun. So just a small job, right? 

As with last time, we started with Steve and I doing some prep work, involving shed building and tree relocation which I've already talked about. Then, the builders rolled in and the first thing they did was a lot of digging. Everything under the house had to be dug out. Even though the final build was only going down a half a metre or so, it actually meant digging a lot further at the start to clear the space for footings and foundations. 

All of the asbestos cladding around the bottom of the house was removed and the old cement stumps were dug out and carted away. Truck after truck after truck took loads of dirt and concrete to wherever that goes and under all the lovely green grass turned out to be piles and piles of clay. Sticky, orange clay. And then it rained, because we are in storm season after all. 

And under the house and the whole front yard was mud for days. Our champion builders put on jackets and gumboots and kept working. New steal posts were cemented in with loads of concrete. Then lots of foundation work happened, which made things feel slow, but I can understand why you'd want to take your time getting the foundations right. 

The Nana Flat slab was poured just before Christmas, and then everyone had a break. 

After New Years, the builders were back at it, putting frames together, retaining all of the sides of our property and under the house, and clearing even more truckloads of dirt away for the carport. Somewhere here we also lost our front stairs. They put up a ladder for us, but for the most part, we've just been going around the back. 

The retaining walls seemed to take a long time, and I was always surprised that none of the dirt from where they had just cut away ever fell down before they put the retaining walls in. Clay is sticky I guess. Under the house the retaining wall is concrete filled bessa blocks, and along the sides we have concrete sleepers keeping things in check. 

The retaining on the left side of the house (as you look at it from the street) actually happens on the boundary of our property. So to put it in, we had to take down the fence and move it back a half a metre before we could get the retaining wall done. And since everything in our front yard was all construction, the builders put a hole in the fence further up, and we've just been getting into our place via the neighbours driveway for the last six weeks. Lucky we live on the best street in the world. 

This is the photo I've been sending to anyone who visits to explain how to get in, along with the promise that I'll send the girls down to meet them. It's a pretty funny situation and since the start of school was pushed back to February, we had a lot of playdate visitors through that January/February period. 

Since the retaining is mostly done, the builders had a lull in materials, so they switched focus from the Nana Flat to the veranda for a few days until roofing stuff arrived. Our front door ladder is well and truly gone now, but that's ok. It's great to see progress. 

It's been very noisy this week as the builders started putting up the roof and attaching things to the underneath of our current house, which will eventually be the ceiling of the Nana Flat. Still lots of dirt everywhere and mud, when it rains, with mud wasps making the most of this free natural resource we unearthed for them. 

Now I think this post is long enough and you will have to wait a bit for the next update. Until then, bye!

Save the Trees

One part of owning a house that I have loved, is how many things we can grow in the garden. Gardening has been documented on the blog here before, though I feel somewhat erratically compared with sewing. As I began to get everything I needed together for this post, I noticed a significant lack of photos and records of gardens to be found. Time to try and rectify that I suppose!

As I mentioned in my post about building a shed, we were about to embark on another round of renovations for our house. (See and read about renovations here.) This time, to build a granny flat (or nana flat), under our house for Steve's mum. While we were at it, we figured we'd also relocate the drive way and get a covered carport, build a small veranda on the front of the house with a roof, relocate the stairs and landscape the entire front yard. Why not right? In for a penny, in for a pound. 

Since we were doing a whole lot of stuff to the front, it also included the relocation of most of our front yard gardens. Some of this was pretty straight forward (like the jasmine vine I had growing over the fence at the front corner), while others were tears and heart break. Not sure this will be the most interesting post for many people, but given that I want to remember these things for the future, and this blog is the means by which I do that, so tough luck. 

The first heart break was when we realised the entire water tank side of the house was about to change, and all the hard work we had put in only just over 12 months ago was about to be ripped out. The plants in the garden were fairly easily taken out and put into pots, but the glorious passion fruit vine was too tricky to save. 

I took photos and labelled things for Steve to dig out for me, but I also did some of the work too. Some plants (mostly succulents) were donated to the school gardens, most of the others were saved. 

This was the sight after we were done. Pretty sad compared to what it was, but I'm hopeful that what we transplanted will survive. And, we dug up the timber that was the garden bed edging there and used it in the back yard to re-edge the entire back garden bed. We also dug up the soil and used it to top up the back garden beds too. Anything we could salvage we did. Our neighbours even took a few wheelbarrow loads of the river stones from the pathway for their garden. 

The three camellia trees at the front of our house, which had probably been there for 60 years, were unable to be saved, like the jasmine vine by the front fence. I'll get another jasmine when we are all done, because that one was given to us as a house warming present by a good friend of mine, and I'd like to replace it. 

When we bought our house, there were two palm trees in the front yard. One of which, was growing right under the powerlines, so we cut it down, I think just last year. The other one we left, but needed to go for the renovation, so that one went too. Bit of a shame, since it shaded the front bedrooms now that it was so tall, but there was nothing for it. 

The last thing in the front garden was the four trees we had planted in the last three years. These were over by the fence on the left as you look at the house from the street. 

I love these trees. We actually bought two of them (a Blueberry Ash and a Luscious) in 2017 before we renovated. Since we started renovating though, we left them in pots and forgot to water them. When our renovation was nearly over, I took what looked like to be dead trees and planted them by the fence. Our builders then though I was crazy, but I was confident that I could bring the trees back. 

They did come back, and went from being about a metre tall, to four meters tall. We added the Australian Frangipani (third tree from the left), and a second Luscious just last year. All four trees were happy with their lives and grew tall and strong, aided by all the beautiful compost that Steve gave them too. The plan was that they would grow up and shade the front rooms of the house from the western sun. 

The second Luscious nearly didn't make it, but Steve and I worked to bring it back from the edge and it was doing fine when we realised that the new carport and landscaping of the front yard would mean the removal of all four trees. Devastating to say the least. 

In what may be a vain effort, Steve put in a number of hours digging up our beloved trees and replanting them. Three of the four when into our temporary pots made of garbage bins with drainage holes. We just aren't sure where they might go after the reno is done, and didn't want to have to move them twice since we weren't sure they would even survive the first round. 

The Blueberry Ash we planted out on the nature strip, and we hoped it would grow where other trees had failed. Even though I want to remain hopeful, I have to be honest and say it does not look good for the poor Blueberry Ash. The nature strip has about twenty centimetres of good soil and is then clay all the way down. Research has told me to work gypsum into the soil, which we will absoloutly do before we plant anything else there. I'm still hopeful though - I bought the Blueberry Ash back from the edge once before, maybe we can do it again! 

The three remaining trees in their temporary pots are living in the back yard supported by the tree house, and getting regular water to stay alive. 

The back garden is looking better than ever, with new edging, filled with good soil and mulch. And my saved collection of plants are doing well in their little corner behind the lime tree near the compost bins. Hopefully I'll get to plant them in a front garden bed again, when we find out what it all looks like after the mud is gone. 

The other thing I've done recently with plants is move my bonsai to a real pot! 

I've had a lesson in how to cut and style a bonsai, and I'm looking forward to this little guy growing into his new shape. 

It's Never Finished: Building a Shed

Buying a home might seem like a great idea, and don't get me wrong, I do love owning our own little bit of paradise, but the confronting reality is that house stuff is never finished. Sure there are breaks where things appear to be complete and you relax for a bit. Sometimes even you start to get proud of how things are going along, and the improvements you've made. Just as you are feeling good about that though, something new comes along to tell you there is more work to do. 

So the back story this little grumble begins with a granny flat. Steve's mum was alone in Bundy and we were concerned for her, and on and off for the last few years, we've talked about building in under our house to make a place for her to live that's just a bit closer to us all. Turns out this year was the year that Steve's mum decided this was the right idea for her, and we found ourselves talking to architects and having plans made. 

All well and good, except now that we were planning for under our house to become another house, all the stuff that we had stored under the house needed a new place to live. So time to cull, and get people who were storing their stuff under our house to take their stuff back, and also to build a shed to put what we were actually keeping in. 

Build a shed. Sounds easy right? Except that where we want to put it, in the back corner of the yard, is currently a garden bed, and the swing set would block the door. So we are not just building a shed, but also relocating a swing set, a garden bed, digging everything level, putting up a retaining wall, laying a slab and then building the shed. 

I went to bed a few  nights thinking the whole task was insurmountable, not to mention that we hadn't even started on the granny flat yet. Sigh. To be perfectly honest, moving the swing set, which was the first on the long list of things to do, seemed to be the hardest bit. It's laughable now, because Steve got into his head to do it one afternoon and that's all it took. He dug new holes, he dug the old ones up, we walked it forward and into the new spot it went. 

I relocated all the plants we wanted to save from the garden bed and then Steve and some street friends went to town digging out the area where the slab was going to go. We took that dirt out, put it back in, took it out and put it back in again. I can't even remember half the reasons we had to do so much repeat business with that dirt, but it took ages to get that ground where it needed to be for a slab. 

At last, we put the footing in for the retaining wall around two sides of the shed (including re-mounting one of the fence posts into a stirrup), and were ready to cement a slab. 

Again, with the assistance of some work friends, Steve did some solid work with this cement slab. Double, triple and quadruple checked for the correct size and after it dried, we were good to go. Steve did so much research and work on this whole project. Every now and then I got to clip something in, or hold the screws, but it was really Steve. 

We cleared nearly a whole weekend to do this shed, and it's pretty lucky we did. For the most part, everything went together ok. Walls lined up and things snapped in. Thanks to Sarah's Steve who came round to lend a hand with that first bit of the day. 

Just when you think it's all smooth sailing though, you put the roof on and notice that things are not lining up. And it seems that the walls of the shed are in fact, too big for the slab, and too big for the roof. 

Which presents a few problems to say the least. So after 12 hours of working on this shed (not to mention all the prep time on the swing set, garden bed, retaining wall and slab!), we had more work to do. When does it ever end!?!

Here we are, a few weeks later, trying our best to make the most of what we have, and not spending a moment more than we need to on this shed. Tonight, at about 5:30 while I was making dinner, Steve happened to look at the weather for the weekend and realised a storm was on it's way, so he did a quick last minute fix of adding a final bit of roofing to the end gap. So thankful my Dad had a bit lying around that we could use rather than having to buy a new one.

I've been filling the shed over the last couple of days. All the shelving units that we had previously stored stuff on under the house have been moved up and fit. The things we want to keep are also fitting, though I've come to the end of stuff I can move on my own and I'm waiting for Steve to give me a hand with the rest. 

Better get cracking though, because we met with our builder this afternoon too and the ball is rolling for a granny flat to be built pretty soon. I'm trying not to think about the more work that entails, or that it includes the relocation of yet another garden bed, some well established trees and a recently installed water tank.