I hope you've all had a nice Christmas and New Year.
I've been busy working away on the house.
Stripped all the tin sheets off one of the sheds.
And then knocked it down.
I dismantled the steel framed one next.
Picked up a chainsaw attachment on a long pole.
And gave the apple tree a good hair cut.
The garden was now looking a lot better.
Next I bought a new, second hand shed off my work mate for $200.
Its 4 meters x 3 meters.
It wont stay in this position permanently and will get moved to the bottom of the garden once I've finished terracing it all.
With that shed erected it meant I could put the things I'd been storing in the single garage in the new shed.
And could finally demolish this horrible thing.
First I had to remove the wood shed from the back of it.
And then I got to work on the garage.
To remove all the cement sheets and bag it all up on the trailer ready for disposal took 3 hours.
Next I removed the tin sheets off the roof.
Then the roof timbers.
Then finally the walls came down.
My intention had been to keep this hardwood structure and reassemble it down the bottom of the garden but sadly it couldnt be saved.
Some of the timbers were rotten and others split and cracked, so in the end it just had to be dismantled and the wood harvested for building projects where possible and the rest will heat the house in winter.
The concrete slab from the old garage will make a perfect loading ramp for the big trucks to tip the few hundred cubic meters of dirt I will need when I start terracing the garden.
Until then it is making a great outdoor area for eating and drinking while admiring the view over the valley.
It was during one of these evening drinking sessions that I realised one vital ingredient was missing from the garage, as having to keep going up the stairs to the house for more cold beer was becoming a pain.........
A fridge!
Bec was also after a freezer so she can do big cook ups and cook all her meals for the month.
So I jumped on Gumtree and found a fridge and freezer for the bargain price of $50!
The fridge is a little tatty but for $20 I really cant complain.
It fits nicely under the work bench.
And was soon stocked up with my favourite NZ beer from Aldi.
The freezer is a quality Australian made one from the days before planned obsoletion.
The current kitchen in the house is the original one from when the house was built 40 years ago, even the lino on the floor is original.
And its tiny and horrible.
The sink is tiny and there is no dishwasher.
And we have less than a meter of counter top to work on.
As we simply cant live with this tiny horrible kitchen we need to replace it, but once we put the big extension on the back the kitchen will be on the back of the house so whatever we do now only needs to last a year or 2.
So rather than investing in a new kitchen we found a decent second hand one for $800 including sink, taps, 3 month old oven, hob and extractor.
Which I'm getting this weekend.
In the mean time I made a start removing the horrible old lino on the floor.
After 40 years it had completely worn through in places revealing the masonite (hardboard) underneath.
It came up easy enough.
Revealing more beautiful Australian hardwood floor boards underneath.
I will sand them down and varnish them to match the rest of the house.
I spent half a day in the loft yesterday, reinforcing the roof with lots more timber so that I can remove the wall separating the kitchen and lounge.
My plan is to take that wall out and have the 900mm wide breakfast bar/peninsula section along where the wall was, with a row of cupboards and appliances on the opposite wall.
It should make both rooms even lighter and will mean the wood burner and aircon in the lounge will now also heat and cool the kitchen.
Also we will be able to watch the kids and TV while cooking!
Eventually though when we build the extension on the back, the wall will have to go back up so that the lounge and kitchen can become the new 4th and 5th bedrooms.
Going to get the kitchen fitted next weekend and then I need to get cracking with the 50+ meters of 1 meter high retaining walls so I can start getting dirt tipped and get the garden terracing done.
The top terrace will be a 170 square meter lawn for the kids and dog to play on.
The next terrace will be for all the fruit trees and veggie patch and then the bottom terrace will have sheds and green houses on it.
it taken me 2 months to read though
as a off roader for last 4 years till i got hold of a clean 70!
