Cooking with gas (and electricity!)

Monday 21 July, plumbers arrive early to commence connecting everything from dishwasher to downpipes, sink to stove. I have various appointments, so Peter is supervising. As a result, my message about not bothering with the shelf that the kitchen people have supplied with the sink cupboard gets lost, and the plumbers go to all kinds of trouble to fit the pipes through the shelf. However it is so good to have running water that I don't care. Peter organises a nest of powerboards and cords so that we can plug in stove and dishwasher, and for the first time in 9 months I cook a meal on the stove!
We have another communication disconnect, finding on Wednesday that the electrician has told the builder he is not coming until Friday (once again, after two days of being on early alert). The good news on Wednesday was that Bluestone delivered our recovered sofa and dining chairs, and they look great.
On Friday at 7am we greet electricians Chris and Jason who have all the wiring finished by mid-morning. At last, we can move the fridge and microwave, the last bits of the kitchen still residing in the middle room. The fridge (like us) is elderly, and when we try to move it into its new, snug-fitting cupboard, we discover that (like us) it has a lean to the left that seems beyond adjustment. We eventually succeed in getting it in place by propping up the back corner with a bit of wood, but it has taken the rest of the morning. In the afternoon, we make a sortie to Ikea to buy all kinds of drawer fittings and such-like to help organise our new spaces. We also buy a new thingy to put the TV on (our old cabinet, also Ikea, dates from pre-flat screen days and is excessively large), and two new lightweight chairs, as we've decided that the chairs from our old three piece suite are too heavy for the room.
Between Monday (plumbers) and Friday (electricians) I have been slowly escorting items from the old kitchen cabinets in the garage to the new kitchen cabinets. Over the weekend this continues, and Peter joins me to shift larger items on Sunday. So we now have just about everything back in the kitchen (plus a couple of boxes to go to the op shop), and in the rest of the living area a dining table and chairs, 3 coffee tables, a sofa and two chairs in flat packs waiting for us to get the strength to assemble them. Tomorrow perhaps.
From the kick-off, I predicted that it would take until my birthday to have a liveable house again. I'm about right (birthday is tomorrow), although there are still Things to be Done. But it's a short list now, and nothing to prevent us having a dinner party tomorrow night. Whoopeee!

Kitchen complete, but not yet functioning

After our return from Tasmania, we have a week of early rising in anticipation of further action on the kitchen. When nothing happens and we've got to Wednesday, we contact Dave (kitchen) on who tells us that he has told Dave (builder) that the drawer and door fronts and side panels won't be coming until Friday. Dave (builder) has no recollection of this message, and so hasn't passed it on. Anyway we have one peaceful day on Thursday when we knew nothing was happening. On Friday the rest of the kitchen arrives and is fitted, and looks pretty good. We await the bins to go in the bin drawer, and some side rails for the deep pot drawers.
We now expect builders, plumbers and sparkies to come to fit appliances, hopefully starting Monday. Until we have sink connected, stove and dishwasher functioning and fridge in place, we are still camping in the middle room. I am decidedly 'over' this, especially as each week I tell myself that this is the last time I will crawl under the bench to get out into the lightwell to cook on the Weber. In the freezing cold. I'm hanging out for the stove, Peter for the dishwasher as he is sick of grovelling around in a bucket in the laundry sink in the bathroom.
Over the weekend we treat ourselves to a Karcher and use it to clean up the tiles. It's going to take several iterations to get them really clean, but they already look heaps better. Pictures to follow, preferably WITH appliances installed.

Floored, and half a kitchen

Tilers come on schedule and take 3 days to do the tricky and time-consuming job of extending the old floor out to the new wall. The new tiles we found that were the right size and material have small lugs on the base, which gives the tiler a problem because they are going to sit slightly proud of the old ones. We tell him we are prepared to live with that, but he can't cope with an imperfect result, and spends hours with an angle grinder removing the lugs from the tiles before they are laid. The meeting of old and new looks much better than we anticipated, given that the old tiles have darkened and are not exactly the same colour as the new. Final grouting of the tiles happens on Wednesday, we hold the Memorial Service for my brother in the afternoon.
Next morning we head to Tassie for much needed R&R. On the tram on the way to the bus on the way to the plane we receive a call from the kitchen people, asking if they can deliver the kitchen early! Of course we say yes, provided the builder an organise access. When we return the following Tuesday we find the kitchen cabinets are not only delivered, but are in place, albeit minus doors and drawer fronts. We leap out of bed early for the next two days in anticipation of kitchen completion activity, but nothing happens until Friday, when a couple of blokes come to fit the sink (which was in the house all the time, but they didn't ask and we didn't think to tell them as we thought they were just going to drop off the cabinets, with installation happening later).
So once again, we are looking forward to next week, when we really should see some action: doors and drawer fronts from the kitchen guys, and builders, plumbers and sparkies back to fit stove, sink, dishwasher, range hood etc. And hopefully connect up the stormwater - we have lakes in the back garden each time it rains.

Half a kitchen

A strange week...

So strange that it seems a bit of a blur already, even though it's only Friday.
Painters come on Monday and Tuesday - the painting is complete.
Electricians come Wednesday  (or was it Tuesday?) move the exterior light down so it's no longer visible from inside, and hang our genuine 70s retro Danish-style pendant light (see pic).
Tilers come and chip up all the half tiles, without damaging the underfloor heating, and fill
the gap with cement (and I think that was Wednesday as well).
Roofer comes Monday and does some of the last bits of flashing.
The building activity and advances toward completion this week are the Good News. The Bad News is what makes all that seem a blur: Previous week ended with Peter's ex-wife being diagnosed with cancer. By Monday I am coping with the sudden news that my brother, who is in intensive care after an accident on his mobility scooter, is developing severe complications from the injury sustained (badly broken ribs, leading first to kidney failure, then a severe lung infection) and isn't going to make it. Family assembles at the Alfred on Tuesday morning, to give the OK to turn off the life support (the alternative is waiting until his heart gives up). Rest of the week taken up planning funerals, etc.   Oh, and somewhere in there, the Burke and Wills book draft finally gets sufficiently near to complete to give to the publisher, who now wants the rest finished asap, and all the images. It is a step forward, but like the house, we're not quite there yet.
Next week the tilers return to lay the new tiles, hopefully Monday or Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday is the funeral and then we're running away to Tasmania, as nothing more is scheduled to happen on the house until the kitchen is delivered the following week, ready for installation on 14 July.

Are we there yet?

The short answer is "No", but it's been an interesting week.
Monday: 
Good news: the plasterers arrive, as scheduled, to do the final polish of the plaster framing of the skylights. They look good (the skylights, not the plasterers, who came while we were both out).
Bad news: first, the painter rings to say he doesn't think he'll be starting until next week. Later in the day I receive messages from the kitchen people, one of which tells me that they can't get the right length drawer runners. I fret over this overnight.
Tuesday:
Good news: Talk to David at Zeev Kitchens and find that with a minor alteration I can have drawers that are 50mm longer than originally planned - more storage space, must be good. Especially as I feared I might have to settle for shorter. Another call later in the day indicates that our kitchen is in production, which gives us hope of seeing it sooner rather than later.
Bad news: Tiler comes, and seems rather daunted by the problems of a) matching the tile colour b) fitting new tiles into the old floor pattern. He phones a friend while I am on a Skype conference call, but by the time I finish he has gone, so I still don't know what if any conclusion he came to.
Wednesday:
All quiet.
Thursday:
To our surprise, painters arrive at about 7:00am, for which we are ill-prepared (having gone to sleep at about 2:00am). After months of blokes called Dave, Dave, Chris, Chris, Tony, Damo, Jason, Simon, Mick, Mick etc we finally have some real Aussies: Armando, Giuliano, Saba. In a day they manage to get a coat of undercoat or primer on most of the things to be painted.
Friday:
Two of the painters return and take advantage of a fine day to do most of the outside painting, plus another coat on the ceiling inside. Makes a big difference to the look of the room - see below.

From the outside looking in.
In the foreground on the left you can see the kitchen shelves that Dad made for me over 30 years ago, which the painters are re-varnishing prior to them going back on the kitchen walls.

 From the inside looking out.

Exterior view - eaves and fascia now painted to match the colour of the doors. Eventually the brickwork on the left and the wall under the windows on the right will be rendered to match.

We've even had them do the exterior of the garage/office, a project that's been on our To Do list for years, but never done. We had planned to just repaint the garage door to match the old colour scheme, which was the traditional Victorian "blood and bandages" combination of oxide red and deep cream. The painter informed us that this was very old-fashioned now, so we've gone with matching the colours that are being used elsewhere on our house and our neighbours' houses, and we're pleased with the effect.

Getting closer

This week's achievements:
Monday:
Queen's birthday holiday, nothing happens
Tuesday:
Plasterers come and do a nice job of boxing in the skylights.
Wednesday:
Painter delivers paint, and puts the first coat of polyurethane on the window ledges.
We hike out to Tullamarine and collect our tiles - they are the right size and type, but look a very different colour. We think this is mostly because the ones on the floor have darkened with age, and that over time they new ones will blend in. We may have to look for a way of hastening the ageing process with some oil or chemical - will consult the tiler.
Peter modifies the shelves my Dad built 30 years ago so that they fit into the new recess in the kitchen.
Thursday:
All quiet on site. We receive kitchen specs to sign off, but they have a few minor errors.
Friday:
Builders on site: Another architrave is put in place. We have consultation with the builders about outstanding items - discover that some can't be done until after the kitchen is fitted (eg fitting the range hood). Also the rendering of the outside wall won't be done until the wall between us and our neighbour is re-instated, as that is to be rendered as well, so it will be the very last thing to happen.
We get a call from the furniture people to say our furniture repairs won't be finished until second week in July. But with a bit of luck we'll get our restored and recovered sofa back before they brick up the wall, which will make it much easier to bring it back into the living room.
We sort out the minor issues with the kitchen specs and sign them off.
Next week we hope that painting will commence in earnest, the plumber will connect the stormwater, and the roofer will finish a bit of outstanding flashing, and the tiler will come to tile the gap in the floor. Once the painting and tiling are finished, we will be able to do a final clean up and start moving back in. We are hopeful that this can happen in a fortnight's time.

Inching forward

Monday - hard plasterers come to finish off the back wall of the kitchen, builders come and finish the architraves and skirtings, and the room really starts to look finished.
Tuesday - plumbers come and fit the pump into the rainwater tank in the lightwell, which will pump water back up and over the roof if the tank fills. Downpipes still not connected, so water will still just fall to earth on the other side of the roof.
Painter also comes Tuesday to give us a quote, it looks reasonable and he seems to think he can get the work done next week - we accept with alacrity. Like all the other subbies that our builders use, he also seems highly professional in his approach.
On Monday we also go once more to IKEA, buy our sink and have another try at buying the range hood we want from their display. Once more we find the manager isn't there, once more we are promised a call the next day, once more Tuesday comes and goes without a communication. We are just heading out there again on Wednesday when we get the call to say we can have it, and on Thursday it is ready to collect. When we get it home we have an "Oh shit" moment when we realise that the chimney is in line with the tracklights. We think it is a resolvable problem.
On Wednesday we also collect some interesting retro Danish lights, which we found on eBay, and which we think will look good hanging over the dining table. We have two to choose from, one gold, one red.
No further building action from Wednesday to Friday - hoping for more next week. Meanwhile we have started on the major exercise of cleaning up the house, now that most of the messy work is complete. It may be premature, as the plasterers have to come back to box in the skylights, and that probably means another layer of dust. But it makes the place look much better now that we've cleaned the floor.