Quick Update

The painting crew are here, taping, filling, and preparing the walls for paint or paper. The sparky is here, putting in more lights, connecting appliances, etc. The plumber was here all day yesterday putting in drains and trying to put the shower tray into the opening for the shower. I say "trying" because even though the drawings show the opening as being 900mm square, and the shower tray measurements were listed as 900mm square, in actual fact it is only the top of the tray that measures 900mm, the bottom flares outward slightly, so that poor Davy spent a large part of yesterday afternoon cutting away wall board. We think he had his share of difficulties yesterday because when we got here this morning, he wasn't here and the shower tray is still not in place. The rest of the "white suite" was delivered yesterday afternoon (the sink and toilet) but can't be installed until the bulkhead they fit into get built. The really bad news for us is that for a second day in a row, we have no joiners on the job as they are away working on something else. The builder says that rather than sending one joiner to do a bit of this and that, he'll send the whole crew back next week to get a lot done.

I won't go into all the details as there isn't time, but yesterday we spent hours in Perth selecting wall paper and paint for the kitchen and utility room, paint for the shower room, and possible paint for the sitting/dining room and the studio. Then we picked up the small heated towel rail/radiator for the shower room and ordered a door for the shower enclosure. Next stop was to pay for the flooring and carpeting we've selected so it can be ordered. We looked at hardware fittings to make some fancy shelving units in the new pantry but we have decided that we will just go for ordinary stationary shelves as there are problems with getting exactly what we want to fit the area we have without it costing us a fortune. Having whined about wanting a pantry ever since our last kitchen remodeling job was done without one back in 1992, I am thrilled just to be getting one. (Why didn't I get one then? The high-paid kitchen designer said I didn't want one!)

We had a bad news/good news dilemma early this week when we learned that the worktops for the utility room and kitchen were one piece short. You think that's the bad news because, after all, nothing was ordered without our having the plans with us so the measurements could be checked, and even after we had a set of measurements for the worktops, we had our contractor look it over before we actually placed the order and he okayed it. No, the bad news is that when Don phoned on Monday to order another length of worktop, he was told that particular one has been discontinued. The company we bought it from is trying to source it from elsewhere. When we stopped by yesterday, they assured us they had found it but they have to go through some mechanations to actually get their hands on it. Still, we hope to have purchased it within a few days. When it will actually get delivered is another question, but for now, that particular crisis is over.

We had a lengthy meeting last night at 7:30 with our contractor and builder about a variety of issues and made more decisions. It was 8:30 before we sat down to dinner. We are operating under quite a bit of stress from not having any space that is ours that isn't disrupted. Staying at Helen and Gordon's house is really lovely; it's beautiful space and quite comfortable but it's not ours and we miss our "things." Our routine is horribly disrupted too, and so we seem always to be wrong-footed. Sometimes we are downright cross at one another and yet we know full well it's all about stress. Even when we move back into our own house at the weekend, it isn't going to get much better with so much of the space still disrupted and so much work--by so many different people--remaining to be done.

Having gone through this long whinge, I must say that the weather has been really lovely. The light throughout the day is just spectacular this time of year. Flowers and trees and bushes are bursting into bloom and by 4:30 each morning, birds are bursting into song. We've been warmly welcomed back from our holiday, had several invitations for dinner, and received offers of help from our friends which feels really good. And we can see the house shaping up to be in some ways even lovelier than we had thought it would be--and we started out with high hopes.

I will update here when and as I can, but it won't be very regular for a while yet.

P.S. I have a lot of nerve calling this blog a "quick" anything, don't I? What a lot of cheek!