Busy start to the month

If January was a little quiet, February has been anything but so far. Much has happened to progress our new home:

Monday: Brodie and Devon continued with detailing the outside of the house. Sparkies installed heated floor controller (shower room), an extractor fan ducting to the outside, commissioned instant hot water tap (basically plugged it in via a longer cable), and installed outside lights (mixed reviews).

Tuesday: Brodie and Devon continued with the detailing outside, then came inside to install the hall storage cupboard shelving, then back outside to do cladding, then back inside to fit door handles, and door stops, then install shower room and toilet wall cabinets. Sam arrived and fitted all the roller blinds to both rooms at the front of the house.

Wednesday: Brodie and Devon finished the cladding, put up hand towel rails in the laundry, shower room and toilet (which is brilliant because they weren’t in the contract). They tidied up outside ready for Crown. The drive has never looked so tidy, but it didn’t last long as Jacob and Tom arrived just before 12 in their big red Crown Removals truck and spent three hours filling our house, and the car port, with our stuff.

The living area, empty!

Thursday: organised building insurance, and we had a fibre scoping visit (could still be weeks before we get broadband). Steve arrived early evening and stayed overnight.

Friday: painters arrived and completed the first coat outside, and prepared all surfaces for the second and third coats. Bert arrived and checked the plumbing, so that I was able to connect the washing machine, which got used straight away. Glyn called in to discuss fencing.

It has been busy, and we are tired, but very pleased. The outside of the house is finished apart from painting, the builders pole (for electricity) has gone, another step away from being a building site, and we have our stuff. Even though the house isn’t finished yet, is only in a preliminary state of organisation, and the sewing room is stuffed to the gunnels, it feels much more like a home. We can’t always remember where we are putting things, but our belongings make it feel much more like ours. Unpacking is going slowly as we try and figure out how best the use the space we have. The IKEA shelving that was in my office in BHB, is now in the living area, providing storage for TV and associated equipment and providing me with a work station. We can’t watch live TV yet as we have no aerial, but we can watch things recorded on the PVR and DVD’s. 

Along with all this, Nicky has been doing sterling work with the laundry, and is very pleased to have the washing machine up and running again. She has also been tackling the wilderness (which is still winning) and I have been building the shed. I discovered yesterday that I had put the door hinges on incorrectly so had to fix that, and this afternoon when we tried to marry up the back and side panels they don’t fit, so some alterations will have to be made. I am finding shed building physically quite challenging, and unpacking can be too. I have also done some remote support and earned a little money.

The week has brought many joys. Having door handles fitted means we can close the doors (and they stay closed), which sounds like a small thing but is really quite a major thing. The entrance hall, which has already proved it’s worth, has now really come into its own, aesthetically, functionally, and almost as a room in its own right. We have never had anything like it before and it works very well. Being able to sit in our comfy chairs and enjoy the space of the room and the stained glass window is tremendous. Using the kitchen is very rewarding and makes us smile with the pleasure of it. Now that we have pans and more crockery, we are using more of its features and revelling in the worktop space and the mighty cook top. Having gas again is brilliant. The instant hot water tap adds another dimension, and the views through the kitchen window when sat at the table or in our chairs is lovely. The roller blinds look well in the room, and the sun screen ones are proving particularly useful at keeping out the midday heat and softening the light, while still enabling us to see out. Our bedroom is perhaps the most “sorted” room, and the new bedside lights which we bought go very well, as does the bed against the blue wall.

It was great to see Steve even though it was only a short visit. It also made us have a quiet evening. Yesterday Nicky went off for a women’s life group breakfast which she enjoyed, and in the afternoon Jenny (whom we met at Frances’s Papaiti Pumice Party and who lives up the road) called in for a tour and a long chat.

The weather has been hot and sunny, though the days start off quite cooly. Our sense of “home” is growing, and even though we know we are going to have to make some difficult downsizing decisions. We are feeling extremely fortunate to have such a lovely roof over our heads, and to once more have comfortable sitting, dining and sleeping arrangements. 

Take care, Rick