Let there be light (reprise)

Sometime back in April the tracks were fitted for new track lighting. Once everything else was done, we went hunting for track lights to match ones we already had from pre-renovation days. It turned out that this was no simple task. We had an eBay disaster when some that looked the same in the photo turned out to be HUGE, industrial size. We found tracklights in lighting shops which not only didn't match but were also wildly expensive. Finally we found what we wanted at Lawrence and Hanson for a modest price. But they had to order them in, and we bought the globes on the internet at a fraction of the asking price at L&H. It all came together today - lights picked up at L&H, globes collected from our post office box, and we spent time today assembling them and climbing ladders to put them up.
I now have a brightly lit kitchen, and all the recently re-hung art is appropriately illuminated. After weeks of being in gloom it is a big improvement. Three more pictures to hang, and we really will be all done.

Our turn to work now

With the builders and tradies gone, it's time for us to put the finishing touches in place. Pictures are finally almost all up, although the Chief Picture Hanger thinks that some are too high. The Assistant Picture Hanger thinks they are fine as they are, and as the Chief has 'done his back' (picking up The Age from the front verandah!), her view is prevailing at the moment. The Sound Engineer has done a great job of ehancing the little cabinet we bought on e-Bay so that it holds TV, tuner/amp and most of our DVDs and some CDs. He has connected up our ancient but very good Sonab speakers wirelessly, so we now have wonderful surround sound for TV, radio, or recorded music.
We have finally found and ordered tracklights which a) fit the new track and b) match our old ones - they will arrive Monday and finally our living area will be lighter by night, as well as by day. Still to go - blinds (jury still out on whether we need them) and the garden. We are trying to get three quotes for a new fence, so that we can then negotiate with our neighbour to get it fixed. Hopefully that will happen next week, although getting the quotes has been an extremely slow process - has been going for several weeks already.

Finished! It's official

Michael from Zeev Kitchens came on Saturday and Sunday, working for hours to put the sealer round the splashbacks and the kickboards of the cupboards in the kitchen. He did a lovely job, so by Sunday evening we were really all done. On Tuesday we handed over the last payment to Profast and had a ceremonial removal of the signs from the front fence.
We began re-hanging the art on Monday, starting with the pictures in the hall, then the two big pictures came out of the garage. On Wednesday we hung them in their former places in the living and dining areas. On Thursday, the one in the dining area fell down again, punching a small hole in our nice new plaster, but no damage to the painting. So much for stick on hangers. It's now back on the wall, resting more securely on screwed in hooks. Still got our smaller pieces to re-hang, but with the big ones in place, it looks terrific.

Finished product, with pictures

Kitchen 1

Here are the long-promised pictures!

Dave (builder) delivered final invoice and certificate of completion for us to sign today.

Kitchen 2

Still waiting to hear from Dave (kitchen) about when our splashbacks will be sealed, but otherwise we are all done.

Dining

Bought a splendid orchid to sit high above the fridge.

Long view

Lounge area

Only thing left to do is hang the art.










Unpacked last box of stuff to go back into the cocktail cabinet today, and the ottoman and scatter cushions arrived.

The space, and the view

Close inspection of the last picture will show you what our next task is - to fix up the garden, starting with the side fence, which is on point of collapse. So we haven't seen the last of the tradies yet.

Finishing touches

Yes folks, we are really really nearly there.
This week we've had the builders finishing the odd bits of flashing on the windows outside and the renderers doing the final coat of render, so that's pretty much it as far as Profast is concerned.
Today Armando sent Giuliano to finish off the painting - all done including the range hood chimney which now matches the ceiling and is even less noticeable than it was.
Took our ottoman to Bluestone yesterday to have it upholstered to match the couch - it and some scatter cushions will be back by Friday.
Next door the builders have finished messing about with the party wall, so as soon as the paint has dried, we will be able to put the furniture back where it belongs and, finally, rehang our art collection.
All we need now is the caulking of the splashbacks, and some more tracklights. Minor hiccup in that area - Peter found some LED tracklights on the web and ordered several. The trouble with buying things on the web is that the size of the object isn't always obvious. When the tracklights arrived today we discovered they were shop fitting size - about four times bigger than we need or want. They might be back on eBay this weekend. Meanwhile we continue spending our evenings in gloom until we find some smaller ones. Can't win 'em all.

We got flue!

No it's not a typo - we're pleased, not diseased. This week the flue was fitted for the range hood and it looks as innocuous as we had hoped, even though it's not exactly the colour we thought it would be. The issue of it going straight through the tracklighting was solved by sparky Damo shortening the track. Then Dave, Chris and Mick cut the hole in the ceiling, fitted the flue and its chimney And it works.
Painter has been notified that he can now come back and do final touch up. At least Dave said he'd tell Armando - must check...

Baulked, not caulked

Unscheduled visit from Michael (kitchen) on Thursday. We chose a brown-gold for the splashbacks, which works well with the wooden shelves and the formica on the benchtops. But the current fashion in kitchen colours is neutral, white, off-white, greys. So although there is a caulk that comes in a colour called mustard which is almost a perfect match, 'they' don't stock it and it will have to be ordered in. Which one might think could have been worked out a couple of weeks ago when we specified the colour for the glass, but one would be wrong. So it will be at least a week before the mustard caulk will arrive from 'them' and we remain unsealed until then.
Renderers came Friday. We queried the colour of the render which was supposed to match the window frames and they cheerfully told us that the job isn't finished - that's just the base coat. Correct colour will come with the final coat. Hopefully next week.
Waiting for last things continues.