Planning that gets stuck at the Planning Department

My last post was about the thrill of planning, this one is about the pain.

Bureaucracy is the bottle neck to all progress. I understand why we have to have it, but this understanding does not alleviate the annoyance. 

I wonder if this shed got planning?

There we were, Mr K and I, all excited and full of wild ideas and verbalising our imaginations when Big Brother, aka Government in all its forms, Local, State, Federal, stepped in to be the spoilsport parent. Apparently, you have to get permission to even think about building, let alone the doing part.

I do agree and get the whole planning permission thing. I know it's for my safety that the construction is safe and engineered, but to take 3 months just to approve a shed is beyond my comprehension. A prefabricated machinery shed, one that is put together by professional shed builders, on a concrete slab, on rural land, takes 3+ months to get permission to erect. I bet the old boys who built pole and corrugated iron sheds that still stand 150 years later would roll in their graves if they heard this.

But, we are no exception, so we must comply with the law. Plans have to be submitted to the Shire, the fee paid and the waiting done.

We want to build a good sized shed that will house all the toys machinery Mr K is accumulating, as well as a dry, lockable place to store building materials when the time comes to build the extension. 

Kind of the shed we want ... except it will have 3 roller doors, and will be off white

It will be constructed right next to my dressage arena, so it needs to look nice and match my lovely white (well once white, now ever so slightly bore stained yellow) fences. I have a red geranium that I saved a cutting from a horse property I admired a few years back that will be the icing on the cake for this area.

In an ideal world my dressage arena would have these as markers!

The dreaming hasn't stopped while we wait for the shed permission. Last weekend we were out there with my folks and Mr K's dad, overflow accommodation for the country people up in the city for my sons engagement. It was wonderful to share with the special people in our lives, our enthusiasm and dreams for this property. Even more wonderful that they share our belief that this is truly a magical place and they all love to stoke fires!

The stump burning fire ... the fire you have when you haven't got permission from the shire to have a fire.  We had this stump in the middle of the driveway that had to go, officer.

Again, with the planning.

Planning is always at the heart of every great endeavor. I love this stage. It's exciting and thrilling and all possibilities are open and without constraints. Your imagination is the only limitation.

So it sounds a bit contradictory to list and organise every tiny detail into a closed schedule, that would seemingly impose constraints.

But just because you plan, does not mean you can't be creative and think big.

Even an artist plans.

Planning is how I cope with the stress that will inevitably come with such a large project.  Planning is the thing that gives you a long list of delicious check-boxes to tick.

So, what am I planning you ask?

Two weeks ago, I would have replied that I was planning our move to live at WG. Planning to pack up the current house, get it ready to rent out, find a good agent and then tenants. I would say I was planning how we will fit all the furniture in the new house, how we will manage the dogs, chooks, cars, gardens at WG. How to resettle Mr K's mum and pack all her things and store them.

Today, I have all this to plan and one tiny detail more.

The 'one day' extensions to WG house, the ones we thought we would wait until we had lived there a few years and get a feel for the house and how we live in it, have just suddenly and surprisingly time traveled back in a giant leap into the present.

How did this all happen? It started innocently enough. Mr K had some reservations about the move to WG, not that he didn't want it to happen, but rather he needed a few 'essentials' done before it seemed to him that we were moving forward instead of backward. The house at WG is pretty basic. It's a three bedroom, 1960's farmhouse. It has been very nicely done up in places, like polished jarrah floorboards, and lovely wooden window and door frames. However, other things are just very basic, like the shower is just a painted cubicle, the bedrooms are pretty tiny, there are no WIR at all and one basic linen cupboard. All things I can merrily live with, but Mr K is giving up a very big and suburban house to go-a-farming with me.

The kitchen was renovated 10 years ago, and will be ok as it is, for a while anyway!

All of which was fine, he was happy to move, until it came to his Precious. A pot-holed, gravel driveway and no carport or garage is no way to treat a pedigree Jaguar. To have her constantly covered in red dirt and live outside in the elements is too much to bear for this highly bred beast. Mr K said the compromise was to bitumise the driveway and build a carport, both things I was in agreeance with as I secretly didn't like the idea of my lovely new white car getting the same treatment.

The gravel driveway and nowhere to house a pedigree.

The problem was, where to build the carport so that it fitted in with future plans for extensions. Also, where to stop the driveway so that it didn't have to be dug up at a later time when we had finalised the plans. Solution? Get an architect to draw up some concept plans for an extension now, so we know exactly where the carport and driveway will go.

So that's what we did. Which if course was where the whole train derailed and ran away with us. Mr K and I have always had in our hearts and minds a 'one day' ideal house. We agree almost 99% of what this looks like. And WG was blossoming as a building site to build this dream home. It had all the elements. So when Mr Architect arrived to view the location, and his face lit up and he started getting all animated and sketching things on his pad ... well we too let go of all constraints and got excited, silently both making the decision to plan and build now, not two years from now.

We justified it to each other on the way home. It will be much better to build now than to be living on a building site. It will be cheaper to do all the land clearing at once, so while we need to do groundwork for a carport, we may as well do it for the building site. We need to match the building materials for the carport and the extensions. If we are borrowing to do the driveway and carport, we may as well borrow it all in one lump sum for the building too (we really were making excuses now).

Main bedroom. Love the floors and light, but no cupboards at all.

By the time we got home, we had convinced each other that this was a no-brainer and we were now in fact going to build the new extensions now.

Jodie, get out your notebook and start making lists. We have planning to do!

Monday ... should rename it to get-yourself-organised-day

Why is it that Mondays always are the days we give ourselves the good talking to? The day we start a diet. The day we will set the alarm early and get up and go for a brisk walk. The day we will make a healthy lunch at home to take to work. The day we get ready for work peacefully instead of a hideous rush and leave the house with wet hair and un-ironed shirt (it looks OK, doesn't it?  I just wont take my jacket off). The day we plan with our partner to have a date night this week. The day we eat Bircher muesli and fresh blueberries for breakfast.

By Tuesday we have fallen back into old habits, we tell ourselves that this week isn't a great week to be starting new routines.  We have a meeting with the boss, a visit to the dentist, the car needs a service and besides it's so bloody hot. Next week I will start. I promise. I will even go buy a new diary today and write myself a proper schedule.

It's like a mini New Year resolution every week. The feeling of being in control on a Monday wanes away as Friday approaches and we collapse in a  guilt-fueled, I-give-up Saturday. Sunday night, what I always call Hair Washing Night - as that's when my mother would wash our hair and make sure all our school uniforms were washed and ready and we were made to pack our school bags (often having to unpack the fish paste sandwich left there Friday) - is when we take stock of the less than satisfactory week and give ourselves a talking to, that starting Monday, things are going to change around here. (Can you hear my mother's voice here? I can!)



So what happens? Why this roller-coaster? Is it just me, or (I hope) do we all do this? We must do. I just read an article in The Australian that talks about our 5:2 lives. How we live for five days of work that leave us depleted and emptied, and try and fit another life, our social and personal life, into the two days left in the week. I see the problem as having higher and higher expectations. We don't just have friends over for dinner, we have friends over for a dinner designed by Delicious Magazine, in a house that Grand Designs inspired, with a walk around the garden modeled after Monty Don's French Gardens. Impossible standards, unless you have a maid and a chef and a gardener. And that's just a part of the weekend - there is the washing, cleaning, shopping, lawn mowing, pool cleaning, kids sports, car washing, dog washing, blower vac-ing .... and on and on it goes.

(Binge, crash: Welcome to the 5:2 lifestyle
SHANE WATSON THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 17, 2014 12:00AM)

So, never one to admit failure, I keep trying to get it 'right.'

I set my alarm this morning. I had written a plan (this was after an inspirational writing course this last weekend) to rise at 6am. Do my chores and be sitting at my desk, coffee in hand, open page and spend the next hour writing.

At 6:01am I turned off the alarm, mumbled to the dog, "I'll do it tomorrow" and went back to sleep. In my wisdom (I know myself well) I had set another alarm at 6:30am. 
6:32am - I found my phone stuffed under 3 pillows, and turned that alarm off too.

At what point do we give up completely and just get on with life?

Disclaimer - I apologise that my blog posts might sound odd and jaggered. I have spent the last few months (in blog exile) writing academic essays. I feel the need to reference everything and write a bibliography. Hopefully I will loosen up a bit as I write more!

A New Office - Part Two - How?

So, in the words of a old school friend of mine who was shipwrecked and lived to write a book about it - How do you eat an elephant?

What it looks like now

Well the answer is obvious ... you don't ... elephants would taste horrible and besides they are such wonderful animals how could you kill one to eat? I guess the rhetorical question might apply if you were a lion, in which case the lion would answer (after he had finished a mouthful, lions are very polite you know) - "one bite at a time".

A Before Photo - to go - pink carpets!, beige walls, vertical blinds - yuck!

Is this how we tackle the move to our new office? One bite at a time? Sure feels like we are moving an elephant! Before we can actually move, we need to do the fit-out of the new place. If we were a mining company or had unlimited cash flow, we would get a fit-out company to come do it for us for about 10 times the cost. We don't have unlimited funds, we have a small loan (small in terms of business, not small in terms of retired people) from my wonderful parents, and that's it so - we can do it ourselves!

Therefore we get smart, work hard and chew like crazy. The plans are almost finished - that was a task and a half on its own. There was only a very rough plan of the office, with no measurements and not entirely accurate. So Mr K and I had to measure every wall, window, partition, pillar, doorway and enter it into a plan making program (Good old Google and Sketchup). Now we had an accurate plan, it was time to get creative and move stuff around on paper.

One thing it has is LOTS of good storage and shelving

Easily done on a piece of paper, but the reality is every wall we moved has to be pulled down and removed in real life. Every line we drew back in, is a wall that has to be built. Mindful of this, yet needing to change the spaces we currently have, Mr K and I worked on a plan that will do both.  I am pretty happy with it so far, but experience has taught me that what works on a plan, does not always work on the ground.

That's OK, we have talented and experienced builders on the job - my Dad and Mr K.

Still in the planning phase, we don't get official possession to start work until the 1st September, we are using this week to get all the trades - plumbers, electricians, data cable, glass partitions guys, sign-writers etc to meet us on site and get quotes and ideas and schedule the works.

View out the front door

Come the 1st, we are into demolishing and clearing out what we don't need. 

Then the next phase begins.  It is a lot of work ahead, but I am just a bit excited!  The next post will be the new plans, the finishes we have selected and the scope of works.

Feng Shui and Home Office Layout

Never one to really believe in unicorn ideas, I need science to explain to me the unexplained and proof that there is a tangible reason behind it. So Feng Shui at first glance for me falls into the positive thinking will get you everywhere, praying, The Secret, Lucky Bamboo category. Until we bought a house many years ago and when Mr K and I were viewing it, we both felt the same thing and commented how good it made us feel. A year or so living in this house, I received a book on Feng Shui and for giggles, I overlaid the principles on this house.

And you guessed it - this house followed all the basic rules of good Feng Shui. So whether it was just luck, or designed this way, or coincidence, the house certainly felt nice to live in and made for a happy house. It never made us wealthy however! We sold this house as we needed to look after my MIL, but when we designed the house we were to build (the one we still live in) we subconsciously applied some Feng Shui rules. Within reason anyway, the block is a battleaxe and the house is huge with a granny flat so we had space constraints.

So what about my home office? As you may remember, last July we renovated the house, including turning the old guest room into my office. It was the last room done and as I had to be up and working very quickly, it was all put together in a rush and that'll do for now. Over the months, it has been feeling all wrong, but I just ignored this as I am so busy and need to work, not re-arrange furniture. The worse thing was having my back to the door, don't know why but it felt all wrong. (Probably because I am a born sticky beak and I like to know who is walking past my door.)

On Thursday, I had a major assignment due, some work deadlines and yet I had this loud and determined voice shouting at me "You have to move your desk, its bad energy to have your back to the door". I tried to just get on with my work, but I kept drifting off and thinking of a better configuration. Friday I knew how it would be. I would move my desk to the commanding position, so I had a view of the opposite wall (and all my books) a view of the door and a view out the two windows outside to my front porch and garden beyond. I would have a solid wall behind me, for strength. 

With the aid of Son#1 and Mr K, I moved it all around and it does feel better. I feel more creative. Lets see if my grades at Uni reflect this!

Now, according to the experts, I have to get an indoor plant (please not bamboo), an inspirational poster to look at, and pack away all my books, except for ones with uplifting titles......

.... WHAT???  Hang on.  Lost me right there. Pack away my BOOKS? Apparently the edges are poison arrows and harmful. I can keep them only if there are a few, there is some softening of them like an ivy draped over, or some crystals scattered in the book shelves. This is not going to happen, so I guess I have just lost any hope of this being my wealth centre and becoming a millionaire.

Oh well.

No Resolutions - Just a Saying

Last year my mantra, or words to live by was "Do Less Better".  It was a very effective way to keep me focused on what mattered and to make me slow down enough to enjoy life.  Everytime I felt rushed or life was overwhelming I would say to myself 'do less better'.  It really worked.

I have been trying to think of one for this year that is as effective.

It's hard, as my mind has been clouded by Mr K and I working on the principals for our business - 3 or 4 key words that we can share with our staff as their words to live at work by.

The three we have so far are :

Simple
Efficient
Accurate

But when it comes to my own personal one, I am a little stumped.  I said I would make 2013 the Year of Writing, but that is not a mantra. 

But then I saw the post-it note on my monitor and it said 'Show, Don't Tell' and I knew that was it.  This is a writing term that makes you use your words to show what you want to say, not spoon feed the reader.  So more description, more visualisartion, more care with every word.

For my blog, this could also mean taking more pictures which will make my photography better.

It also can stand for my life outside writing.  Show the people I love how much I care instead of just telling them.  Show my staff how things should be done, don't tell.  In other words, lead by actions not just words.

So, in this Year Of Writing I will Show not tell.

Busy Day Today (or not ;-)

'The staff have all voted to have the Staff Christmas Party at our home again this year' ... so declares Mr K, all proud like.

He takes this as a sign that our staff love us and want to come to our house as they think that's neat.  He sees this as just one big Friday night after work drinks - on steroids.  With lots of food and a pool.

I see this as a big pile of hard work.  Which is fine, I am happy to show our staff how much we really do appreciate them, to say thank you for all their hard work, to spoil them for a bit.  But, guess who gets to do all the work that Mr K just can't see?  All the 'little things' that only women know about?

It's like that old joke that does the email rounds, the one about the husband who tells his wife she can have the night off and he will do the BBQ for their guests.  He stands turning snags whilst drinking a beer - she shops for all the ingredients, cleans the house, makes salads, sets the table, gets platters ready for the meat, makes sweets, clears the table, washes the dishes ... and he asks her afterwards how she enjoyed her night off cooking?

This will be our fourth year we have had the end of year party at our home.

The first year I had caterers in.  Lovely food, useless service.  It cost a small fortune, more than if we had taken everyone out to dinner. We had leftovers which would be great anytime except for right before Christmas when I need my fridge empty.

The second year we had the waitress of our local cafe, who was a cooking student, come and do it.  I worked harder than ever and my kitchen looked like my kids bedroom after they had searched for the missing Lego piece. 

Third year, I said ENOUGH and we went out to a restaurant.  I will admit that the party was flat, we sat at a table and had to behave ourselves. We were in public.  (I really didn't care this year, it was right before I had a hysterectomy, I was in no laughing mood!)

The fourth year, feeling SO much better I threw caution to the wind, having learnt from past experiences about caterers and cooking students; that I can do it better, quicker, cheaper and cleaner than anyone.  I made one little mistake - I got all elaborate and made lots and lots of canapes from scratch, far too many choices. 

Fifth year, this year, I am older (boy am I ever) wiser (I think!) and under the misapprehension that I have it all sussed.  I have simplified the menu, bought things that are fiddly to make, like four dozen mince pies, frozen spring rolls, and cheezels.  There will be huge slabs of roast meat, fluffy bread rolls and gravy - the majority of our staff are young lads - give them meat, bread and beer.  A few salads to keep the waif girlfriends happy. 

I have written a huge TO DO list for Mr K.  He has his jobs allocated.  Lets see if he is as keen to host the party here next year <wink>

Careful what you wish for!

Have felt like I have been pulled in seven different directions the last few weeks.  So much to do, half of which is my own making - I wished I could be a writer.

So, three weeks ago I enrolled in an online writing course through UWA Extension.  It was a six week course with 12 lessons.  Each lesson has about 5 chapters, each with a number of writing exercises.  Plus a quiz and an assignment, and lots of extra reading.  You post your assignment onto an online discussion board for critique by fellow class members and the lecturer.  You are also expected to read and comment on your fellow class mates work. 

Love every single minute of it, but it sure takes a lot of my time.  Add to this, a few all day writing workshops, that annoying habit, called a full time job, housework, gardening, Christmas looming, and it all makes me a very busy girl.

My dear blog, the thing that has saved my slipping sanity, gets the cold shoulder.  I don't mean to, and yes, it makes me feel very guilty.

On top of all this, I have some kind of sinus infection. Its been with me for weeks now.  I thought it was just hay fever set off by the easterlies.  Some days are better than others, the worst days make it so hard to think I need a Bex and a good lie down.  Actually, the drug I am taking that has stamped on the box in bold 'Non-Drowsey' makes me so sleepy its like I have taken a sleeping tablet. 

I wished I could be a writer and write all day. Now I know I need to change the wish to, I wish I could do nothing else but write.  Geez, why cant magic genies who grant you wishes use a bit of common sense?  When I wished I could be a writer, they could have made the assumption that I couldn't do it all and cut out the non-writing things in my life. 

Tax .... fear & loathing at the accountants

Tax.

Why does this word always strike fear into the hearts and minds?  For someone who likes to always be very organised - this one is a big FAIL for me.  I am trying to examine why this is so?

Every year, just after the last tax return is done, I get all enthusiastic and organised and start putting aside all the things I will need for the following year.  After about the second month of this, it all kind of runs away with me, and before I know it, its that time of year again and all my best laid plans are stopped at August.  I now need to wade through forests of paperwork, find statements, lease documents, payroll summaries, capital and asset purchases, balance sheets, P&L reports, general ledgers ... and on and on it goes.

Of course it doesn't help at all that as a business, and business owners, we have an extension to March the following year.  No matter what the deadline, I always feel ill prepared, totally out of my depth and approach the whole process with dread.  Why?

We are very behind in the returns - still haven't done the 2010/11 which we have an extension for, but was originally due March 2012. Now the 2011/12 is looming as well, due in March 2013 - but the accountant said we may as well do it now and get it out the way.  I think we are owed some tax back, which is lovely, but also why we got the extension.  The Tax department are very nice with extensions when they owe you money, but not so nice when its the other way around.

Today is operation get organised - so my goal is by 6pm tonight to have it all collated, and ready for our meeting tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

PS: Anyone spot the obvious procrastination ploy here?

A busy week - dang it!

I love it when I look at my wall calendar and see a week with nothing planned.  Five whole empty days ... bliss!  It means I can just get my paid work done, then have all this time to write.  After today's perusal of the calendar, I saw a clear week - did a little happy dance inside .... then realised with regret that its just that I have been a lazy cow and not put everything on the calendar.  So a 'free' week turns into...

Monday -

1. Drop off sewing machine for a service
2. Find keys to trailer camper that were meant to be in the console of the 4WD (that Mr K spent 4 hours looking and ranting for yet failed to find)
3. Clean up 3 empty bottles of red wine (good stuff too!), numerous beer and tonic water bottles, BBQ remnants - all after last nights visit from Uncle J. 
4. Try to take today slowly.

Tuesday - A good day -

1. IKEA and
2. Spotlight ... maybe, hopefully.
3. Plan meal and drinks for camping this weekend.
4. Furniture purchased on the weekend is delivered

Wednesday -

1. My father in law arrives to stay a few days. 
2. The online writing course starts today - joy
3. Fill water tanks on camper, make sure everything we need is packed in there - that is, if I have found the keys!

Thursday -

1. Long overdue meeting with Accountant (who is VERY cute so makes it bearable) which means hours and hours of prep work
2. Pay the wages
3. Billing day - pages and pages to print, fold, stuff in envelopes and post

Friday -

1. Pack trailer camper and 4WD
2. Buy last minute food and drinks and ice
3. Drive down to beach camping place and set up camp

Ah well.  Next week is worse so better make the most of this.

Three Days In

It's Wednesday evening, dinner is simmering away on the stove (authentic Italian Bolognaise sauce), I can smell it from my office.  Did I say MY office?  MY very own, no-one but me is allowed office?  It's such a thrill.  I have been silently falling in love with this room since first thing Monday morning.  But like all women who fall in love, as soon as we have them, we want to start changing them.  Just little cosmetic things, maybe a bad habit or two, they way they dress, how they do their hair - just enough change to put our own stamp on them without breaking the original character. 


Thus it is with my very own office.  It looks outside through 2 casement windows.  Sadly the view at the moment is the 4X4 Navara and some weeds.  But I have plans come Spring.  I have a desk that goes across the two windows, fresh air and light - something I missed terribly in the basement that was my old office.  The desk has my PC/monitor (all in one), a printer/scanner/fax machine (all in one), a lamp, a jar of jelly beans, a box of tissues and a pencil holder (none of them are all in one!).  That's it.  The rest gets put away every night.  I want streamlined minimalist.  I tried to even have the printer on another surface, but the tech head, aka Mr K said it had to be directly connected to my PC if I wanted to scan.  Sigh.

Now this looks messy and not calm or pretty at all.  Have to work at this

Plain old boring.  Needs colour and curtains

On my right side (yes I know all that know me are giggling at the thought of me working out which way was right!) are two bookcases, the closest one is full of work files and pretty boxes of stationery.  All neat and co-ordinated and appealing.  The other bookcase has books in the categories of : writing (I so want to pursue this again); genealogy (ditto) horse management (ditto, ditto) and a million cook books (I have some Nigella Lawson thing going where I imagine myself sitting at my desk writing family history cookbooks!)

Idea is good, execution is not.  Will make all files the same size and select better papers

Right next to my desk is a newly purchased heater - that was scored Monday as it was so cold in here, my fingers were frozen.  Also purchased this same day was a little bed for the muppet.  She is yet to be convinced it's her colour, and sometimes she gets on it, other times she prefers to sit right behind my chair, under the wheels - I have tufts of her tail fur to prove it.  The cat however thinks its devine.

Minty on one of the rare times she liked her bed

On the opposite side to the bookcases and to my left as I sit at my desk, is one of two credenza's.  This one proudly displays my horse on the top and paper and envelopes inside.  The other credenza is directly behind me, near the door, and this will be for odds and ends and ugly files I don't want to see the light of day.  Kinda like the interesting, but ugly fish in the depths of the dead sea.

Needs a lot of work - pictures behind I think

Ditto here, just plain dull.

Nothing adorns the walls yet, but don't worry, I have plans.  On the little wall between the casement windows will be a new clock like this:

Have purchased this and hung it up - looks lovely

and a pin-up board covered in a lovely fabric

Bought material today - will play in my craft room this weekend.

Some pictures on the walls, I am thinking some of the nice maps I have will suit.  Still havent really settled on a theme/colour accent so on the lookout for a fabric, or picture that I fall in love with that can be the jumping off point.

Renovation - Day 15

Home stretch.  Saturday sleep in was a pipe dream as the front gate bell went at 7.30am, but I guess we did get 30mins extra.  Took a few coffee's for us and Chris, who was on his own with no sidekick - Ryan we found out was only 17 and still on the weekend sport phase of his boyhood.

Got warmed up by moving piles of books and magazines to my office and craft room.  Must have walked up that hallway 1000 times! Found 2 more boxes of books out in the carport.  Think I 'might' have a bit of a book addiction?  I then just moved from room to room, unpacking things, setting things up, preening, cleaning, with lots of admiring and smiling at how it has all turned out.  To say that I am happy with the result is a huge understatement - I am thrilled.

In the coming week, I will post in detail what each room is like, what I have plans to do there, how to decorate it etc.  For now, here is a brief photo update:

The bookcase in my office.  Have room to acquire here :-)

Reading (and obviously TV) room.  No capacity to add any books here - will have to be disciplined with the one in one out rule here.



Hall table in the reading room.  Will get a large mirror to hang above this.

Corner of the reading room waiting for a wing back chair and 2 seater sofa.

One side of the craft room.  Love the view to the garden.

Other side of the craft room - just look at all that storage!



Renovation Day 14

The Friday, the last day of our holidays, the last day of decoration.  The carpet layers are due about lunchtime, so that gives us time to clear out the lounge, in an almost "we are on holiday" approach.  Of course we didn't, we both worked and pottered and placed and organised and cleaned right up until they arrived.  In their usual fashion, the lads (Chris and Ryan) got stuck right in and within the hour my new office was all carpeted and ready for me to move in. 

More cleaning - my desk that was out in the carport, the credenza's, also in the carport.  My PC, the printer, files, office stuff - all needed a dust and wipe over.  If I never see a chux again, it will be a fine thing.  But it was oh so lovely to have everything shiny and new and clean and fresh.  I am vowing to keep it this way - surely I am old enough now to be able to play grown ups and keep my house nice.

The carpet in the lounge was looking lovely ... until ... we had a minor, well major really, disaster.  the carpet layers use a very hot iron to melt the strips that hold the carpet to the edges and to make joins.  He usually kept the iron in a (plastic ... weird) box with layers of old carpet to insulate it.  That morning he has cleaned it out, but something very wrong happened, the iron overheated and burned a hole through 4 layers of old carpet, a plastic box, out new carpet and the underlay.  Eeeek.  Poor Chris, he was so stressed, it was 4pm on a Friday and there was no time to get another batch of carpet out to us before the end of day.  There was nothing for it but to calm Chris down, give him a beer, order new carpet for tomorrow and commiserate with him that he too is human. 

The only real annoyance for us was losing an evening to put the lounge back together, and we spent the night on the patio where our lounge chairs and outdoor heater and TV were.  We huddled under blankets, with the dogs and cat and watched the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

So much for a sleep in tomorrow, the new carpet will arrive at 7am.

Silver lining?  We have some bargain carpet for our bedroom which we were not planning to do right now, but may as well re-carpet the whole house. 

The yucky, stained, mottled, old (no not Mr K!) carpet in the lounge.

Minty's 'wee' patch.  And the elephant in the room aka the Server Cupboard

Chris the Carpet Layer - had to make him pull up his pants as he was looking more like a Plumber!

Chris - just before disaster struck.

My new office - before it gets filled with stuff

The lounge - fresh and clean and streamlined

Renovation - Day 13

Final little bit of painting to do today, my new office.  Its only a small room, so wont take long.  Mr K and I have it working like clockwork, he cuts in and I roller.  First however we (as in Mr K) had to sand the filled patches.  Then it was my turn with the vacuum and a soft brush, to clean the walls.  Then a quick vacuum of the floor to get rid of any remaining dust.  A wash of the walls with sugar soap, let it dry and we are ready to start our painting engines.

Mr K starts by cutting in the cornices.  I let him get ahead (don't worry, I go and potter about in the laundry or kitchen while I wait for him) on the cutting in so he doesn't have to lean on wet walls.  Then he calls me, and I trot in, roller in hand and set to work.  Its really very therapeutic painting.  I love getting a good rhythm on, and I have a technique that really works.  Had a brief moment when I thought this might be fun as a career, but as I say, it was only brief.

It took us 1 hour 15 mins to completely paint the room.  Letting it dry, we got on with more sorting through stuff and putting it away.  It has been a very non stressful task - I just grab a box of stuff, or a pile of books and have a good look at each item.  Asking myself :

1. Do I really love it?
2. Does it make me smile or feel good?
3. Is it useful?
4. Will I use it in the next 12 months?
5. Can I access it in other ways? (like books that I can get on Kindle)
6. If I keep it, can I store it?

I culled all my magazines, having a strict rule that only magazines that are less than a year old get kept and as a new one comes in, an old one gets thrown out.  This was a hard one, as I love going through my magazines, and I do refer to them often.  But I kept up the mantra 'I will be able to find these ideas and inspirations online and of course on Pinterest'. 

About 4pm, my office was ready for its second coat, so we repeated the morning process and were washing up brushes and trays by 5pm.  It was wonderful to be able to put away all the painting gear in its proper place, having sorted out the shed.  Felt like we were real grown ups!

A friend called by and offered to cook dinner for us, which was lovely and very welcome.  Uncle J came over as well to check out the progress of his and Mr K's 'boys' room.  I think he approves.  The boys were in there, drinking and chatting away well after I headed for bed.  Its perfect - they get their space, and the rest of my house stays nice.

Tomorrow is the final day of our 'holidays' and the final rooms get new carpet.

My soon to be office, before painting

First Coat of paint.  Looks lighter already, new carpet will lighten it even more

Final coat.  Now to dry overnight

Renovation Project - Day 1

Well, I am giddy with glee!  Feel very energetic and happy and positive right now.  It's the end of Day 1 of the renovation project and it feels so good to have started at long last.  A few false starts and plans that got thwarted, but here we are.

Today was a clear out day.  Just the three rooms that the boys used to inhabit.  But before we could drag all the stuff out of there, we had to play a game of 'there's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza'.  First we had to pick up doggy poo's so that we could mow the lawn so that we could put the trailer camper on there so we could clear the carport so we could set up trestle tables so we had somewhere to stack the stuff so that we could clear out the furniture so that we could start to prepare the walls.  Phew.  It was a hard day but a good day.

We have an empty trailer on loan, all ready to fill with the junk and take to the tip.  That will be a GOOD day - very cleansing.

Tomorrow is preparing walls day.  It's so nice to have the time to do this at a normal pace, not rushing and squeezing it into a single weekend.  I will also go to Big W to get plastic storage boxes.

My new craft/store room - just a few bits of heavy furniture to be moved

The soon to be guest lounge - the slat wall is coming down and going into Kim's shed.  Piano will go into the lounge.

Another view of the guest lounge. 

All the stuff stacked and kind of categorised.  The boys will come and have a sort through tomorrow.