I can’t remember exactly how many weeks we were into this project (the total will be 41 weeks), but at some point after the point of no return, the builder asked if we were keeping the carpet on the stairs.Seriously?
And then there’s the bright spot. Out of the ruins of the garden, one of my many iris bulbs has made it through and burst into bloom.

The floorboards are delivered……. The plasterers have almost finished stopping up….
The bathroom walls and floor are “tanked” in waterproof stuff… And then the cabinet makers delivered and installed the cabinets for the bathrooms before the tiles go in. And the tiles arrived! Each pallet weighs about 1500kg.
Things are coming along. They have rendered one of the brick walls in the photo below. I think a shot from the same position in a few months will look a little different.
My favourite lemon scented gum didn’t get much protection from the plastic bollard when the concrete trucks came to pour the pool wall. I’ll be pinning up a sad face 🙁 on the tree next time I visit. Finally they installed the obscure glass to the louvre windows in the downstairs bathroom, albeit they forgot to do the identical window in the toilet. Say good-bye to the framework and insulation….…..and say hello to the plasterers creative scaffolding to stop up the ceiling of the Garden Room..I’m liking the exterior of the new store room. Can’t wait till they start to add the stain. And one last thing for this (long) post – also can’t wait to see the planter boxes installed in the steel frame. All suggestions of suitable plants will be gratefully accepted. One side cops all the morning sun, and the other will get the afternoon sun.

The last month has seen gradual changes to the big hole in the ground. They dug a huge trench…. And after the crushed rock filled the bottom, and concrete filled the trench, they added a web of pipes.

I don’t think the Worksafe inspector would be happy about this, but it just goes to show how handy a roll of duct tape can be. This is the scaffolding rail – about 3 metres above ground. Of course, in event management we find it hard to go past a good cable tie.

It was exciting to get the bricks off the pallets and into a wall. It’s really smooth because they are going to render it in cement. In the pic below you can see how they cleaned out the old brick edges to nestle in the new ones. It’s a photo upstairs where the old French doors used to be. The ones we never opened.