Easter weekend. 7-10 April

For the Easter break, we came down again and did some fun Wanganui things with the family. All the while getting a bit more done and visiting a rental agent.

Rather blurry, but this is a pic of the wash-house floor. We lifted some floor boards which had been cut some time in the past and laid replacements down.

The kitchen floor free of the dreaded purple paint at last (Note the breakfast bar at the side which Mark made). After putting so much work into doing this, the rental agent told us we really need to lay lino as this floor will be a serious downer on renting the place. Oh well, its only money!
Sanding the boards for the wash-house.
This is the neighbourhood friendly "pain in the neck". We named him Humbug but he prefers Ginger.
The completed pantry. It even has adjustable shelves. Isn't Mark clever?
The finished floor.
I started to paint the house. I don't think we'll get much more done until next summer though. Its getting too late in the season.

The place is now nearly done. Apart from the lino, the last thing to be done is to enclose the doors to the sleepouts. This is so that they are internal bedrooms and the property is more appealing and liveable.

We have really enjoyed doing up this house, it has been an absolute ball! It has also been a welcome escape from certain stresses of our life in Auckland. We feel jealous of whoever gets to live here. It is now a great house to live in and of course it has always been right next to the sea...

Work continues every second weekend. -4th of March

The neighbour, Murray, begins to strip this very tired window for painting. We think the paint was decades old.

Hard work, this renovation business.

The larger sleepout. We did very little except carpet it and hang curtains. O.K. maybe new skirting boards...
Mark lining the new pantry location. We stripped out the old gib 'cos it was absolute rubbish.
Robert in the back yard.Caroline.

Starting to look better. Waitangi weekend visit

The carpet is down!!! The carpet people came while we were gone and laid it through-out including the sleepouts. We were very priveleged as they usually have a 3 month waiting list but squeezed us in. The same was true for other tradesmen that helped us. God's provision we think. The fireplace is now white and grey instead of purple, blue, red and orange! By a coincidental turn of events the best colour for the hearths was called "Castlecliff". We went with it and used it elsewhere too.

Putting in the kitchen benches. We purchased two lengths of bench from Mitre 10 and used it in three places in the kitchen as well as the wash-house. We got the stainless steel bench second-hand and put that in ourselves too.
Mark cooks sustaining meals for the 'troups'.
Painting the front door yellow instead of purple.
Lunch with Ellis and Steph who visited again and helped us take a load to the dump.

The kitchen cupboards are now yellow and the fridge space is stripped of shelves, re-floored, wired and painted. The purple floor still lasts however.

The kitchen nearly finished. All repainted a warm white and yellow. Gone is the orange, gold, green, and nearly gone is the red! New power points are installed for a microwave etc.
The "piece- de- resistance", a new gas cooker. It looks great, we think. Not bad for a Trade-me purchase.
The wash-house beginning to come together. The bench unit used to be brown veneer with an orange top.
The bathroom with the horrible blue on the bench top painted over and the rotten floor replaced (one of five places where Mark rebuilt or built sections of floor)