An ending…

I’ve thought long and hard about this post. I started this blog so a few friends and family around the world could keep up with progress on the house, but now, people from around the globe have been reading it, and I am conscious that I have left it in a state of suspense. Although I don’t really owe my readers anything, I don’t like to leave things unfinished, so here goes.

Moving day was cold and snowy. Snow is unusual here, and we had already had more than our share this winter. Luckily it didn’t close any roads and the move was straightforward, albeit cold and muddy. We settled in and I was relieved that finally we had achieved our goal after over two years of planning. Now was the time to celebrate, relax, and enjoy our new house. Sadly that was not to be. Three weeks after we moved in my marriage was suddenly over. This is the bit I have thought hard about. Should I name and shame, spill the details, publicly wash the dirty linen? I was tempted! The last two weeks have involved a lot of soul searching and a lot of thought about what is important to me. At the moment, what is important is friends and family. I have been amazed at how many wonderful friends I have. Even people I have thought of as just acquaintances have offered support in many ways. I have had texts, emails, facebook messages, phone calls, quiet words at work and offers of practical help, listening ears and company. Family have been there whenever I have needed them, and not a day goes by without contact. While one person has betrayed me, many many more have supported me. Perhaps this is what makes me feel that I should rise above thoughts of bitterness and revenge.

The house will almost certainly have to be sold – I am hoping for a little time to come to terms with this before I have to decide where and how I will live. The future is an unwritten book at the moment. I’m not sure whether I will continue to blog. At the very least I would need to change the name – from now on it’s going to be all my way!

D-Day!

The house is ours. Handover was this afternoon and we are really pleased with it (apart from the wall in the bedroom that somehow missed a topcoat, but they are coming back to fix that next week). The grounds are another story - record rainfall has prevented the digger getting on site to do some earthmoving, so there's a retaining wall, deck and fences still to be done.

We are in the throes of last minute packing and the truck arrives shortly after 8 am tomorrow. I have already moved 4 carloads of orchid plants in today - not trusting them to strangers!. We have got to the stage where there is just messy bits and pieces to do, and none of the boxes left are the right sizes. We just fixed a loose trim on a cupboard door and I managed to superglue my thumb to my jersey, so now I've got blue fluff on my thumb. I'll be glad when tomorrow is over!

The phone and internet are not connected yet at the new house, so it might be a while before you get the next update. Must go, boxes to pack, thumbs to be de-fluffed!

Nearly done!

We are almost there! Handover is confirmed for 8 August, so the move is booked for Saturday 9 August. Last weekend painting was complete and the flooring had just begun. Because we have two dogs, we have chosen an easy care vinyl planking for the kitchen, dining and family area. I would have preferred real timber, but it would have been much more expensive and you quickly find when you build a house that all the extras mount up. The ability to mop these floors will be especially important when we first move in because the house is surrounded by mud. We have had a particularly wet winter and it looks as though most of the outside work won't be done until after we move because it is just too wet to get machinery onto the property. Dogs are not good at wiping feet, so I am relieved that we have part of the house they can use without making a mess of the new carpet in the rest of the house. As the fences won't be finished in time, they won't be able to run free outside - so we will have to take them for lots of walks. Minty would love to chase the rabbits on the hills - but she would probably end up over the hill in Lyttleton!

The kitchen has been installed - it's enormous. That bench is 4 metres long. We could have a party at one end while cooking at the other end.

It's hard to believe it's finally almost done. Although I have started packing I keep thinking something will crop up and we won't end up shifting. We've been in limbo for what seems like forever. It is two years this month since we bought the land we are building on. It's also hard to believe how many books we seem to have acquired in the 16 months we have been living in town. We started with an empty bookshelf because most of our books went into storage. I have now emptied the bookshelf again and packed several boxes. Just as well we are putting in a big built in bookshelf in the new place.

Right, must get an early night for a change - while I listen to the rain on the roof and wonder how long we will have to put up with mud everywhere.

Stormy Weather

Last weekend we had some very stormy weather. By Sunday afternoon it had pretty much stopped raining so I went up to the house to check for any problems. There was only one...


The portaloo had blown over. The loo with a view was face down in the mud - a fun job for someone on Monday morning.

The gibstopping is now underway. The rooms look a bit smaller now that they are all closed in. I've had to choose different vinyl for the studio and orchid room - the one we chose last October (!) has been discontinued. I've also met the wardrobe people to sort out a shelving configuration, which took a bit longer than I thought it would.

Five weeks to handover! Maybe I should start packing?

Once again I'm behind on the house progress, so here's quick catch up. The brickwork got underway after another brickie was found. Apparently the first one decided to reduce his hours after his wife got a better paid job!

The interior doors went in - this is the pantry.

And then there's these lovely double doors with windows so everyone can get a good view of the vacuum cleaner. Oops! Someone stuffed up. They have now been replaced with solid doors.Next step was insulation. It turned out the New Zealand product would not be available for two weeks, but we could get an Australian product of the same R rating straight away - and $400 cheaper. How does that work? We went for the Aussies.

The ceilings went in next (the green is the bathroom - water resistant Gib board...
and the artist admires the raised ceiling in the studio.
The handover date has been delayed a week - now looking at 8 August. It is mid winter and we've had some really nasty weather, so it's disappointing that we won't have our warm spacious new house for a while yet, but at least we can see progress.

We've also done some work on landscape plans and fencing - which involved a lot of standing around in the mud in a freezing Southerly - no photo's of that!

No Bricks

On a recurring theme, bricklaying was supposed to start last week, but didn't. Apparently the bricklayer let them down and another one has been put on the job - supposedly starting today. Meanwhile, the outside of the house still looks like this.


The windows are now in place - we tried out the view (it will look better without the big orange rubbish skip!). This is the dining area:
This is the family area with the orchid room beyond:
This lloks directly through to the orchid room - the wall on the right will be a floor to ceiling bookshelf.
This has just gone up in the ceiling - its the main circulation unit for the ducted heat pump.
On Sunday we stood in the house and listened to the rain on the roof. It's starting to feel like a house instead of a building site now, but there's an awful lot to get done in the next two months.

Flowers

No, not Mother's Day flowers - these were from the electrician that I took a morning off work to meet. He didn't show up - because he was still in Alexandra, having lost his keys at the pub! Apparently I wasn't the only woman he had to answer to - his wife wasn't amused either (I wonder if she got flowers?). We finally met up on Saturday and planned all the power points and lighting. I'm a bit behind on blogging, so here's a quick update:

The roof went on just before the wet weather we have had recently.

And now the roof and spouting are finished, drains have been laid, building paper is on, the base for the drive has been laid, the bricks have been delivered and bricklaying should start this week.
They have finally come up with a handover date - 1 August! A bit later than we had hoped, but at least we have a date. It just means that someone's significant birthday will get celebrated a little late - and we have to spend another winter in the house that was meant to be for just a few months...