So, the electricians finished their work late this afternoon. The kitchen sink was late arriving but all the plumbing finished, even though the tradies had to sacrifice their prime drinking time.

This is a picture of the new unit we installed in the back veranda to keep some undesirable activities out of the kitchen- that would be things like water changes in the fish tank, Tim cooking sausages and his Soda Stream.

I have produced a bit of a video that I will edit into a “Before and After” feature next week. As usual with these things, we find ourselves hosting a seminar weekend the same time we are wanting to move in.

Lights! Camera! Action!

We have lights everywhere, including LEDs under the kitchen cupboard.

The electrician asked us if we wanted dimmers on the downlights, in case they are too bright. Too bright is a problem we have never had before. I think they will be right without them.

We are lacking a sink, however. Apart from that, the kitchen is sort of usable.

Tomorrow, it’s more shenanigans with the sparkies, including a trench to be dug out to the power pole.

We have the gas and power on, so we can heat up the living room!

Margaret is threatening to come home to sleep tonight. It will be the first time in a month.

We have a new floor!

It’s been a long day for the boys. They thought they would be done by about 2 pm, but it’s after 5 and they are still going.

It looks great. In fact, it looks so good that the first thing Margaret wants to do is cover it up with a large rug.

Tomorrow it’s electrics and plumbing. Nearly there!

We have carpet in the bedroom!

Slight technical problem is that the doors don’t work. The builders will be in tomorrow to shave the doors. It’s a bit ironic because Dan, one of the chief workers, has told us he hates cutting doors. I hope he doesn’t want to shave the carpet or lower the floor.

The flooring guys also laid the MDF boards and will get the vinyl down by tomorrow afternoon.

It’s looking good to be all done by the end of the week.

The painters were hard at it for the last few days. They had intended to paint the stair treads this afternoon, but there was no paint available at the paint shop. They will be back on Monday.

The blind man came in and measured the windows. We will be getting plantation shutters, but they will be a few weeks away, so we will have to have temporary blinds in place.

On Monday the carpet layer will come in. We will be having carpet in the new bedroom and vinyl plans elsewhere.It will be so good to have that down and be rid of the omnipresent dust.

The tiles went up today.The white tiles provide a strong contrast to the white walls, the white ceilings and the white cupboards.The red clips will disappear when they do the grouting tomorrow.

I talked to the builder today, after I received his latest bill. He tells me that they have had a dream run, with tradies turning up when they should and material being delivered correctly and on time. We told him it is God’s blessings. He also told us that he might come in under budget! Woo hoo!

The painting is well under way. The ceilings are done, and the walls have to have another coat. The doors are painted also. Tomorrow they will be pretty much finished with just the final touches and cleaning up on Friday.

We went to Anderson’s this afternoon to order some blinds. Having hears that we are under budget with the builder, Margaret felt inspired to splurge on the window coverings. We are going with plantation blinds, the cheap imports rather than the wooden variety. He will come in the next day or so to measure and quote.

The painters moved in yesterday, and there wasn’t much to show for it – a lot of prep and some undercoat. Today they finished the undercoat and we are all set for top coats over the next couple of days. The builders installed some bench tops.

The appliances arrived today. There is no power yet so they don’t do anything. Apparently the oven was a very tight fit and some adjustments were needed.

The kitchen door is now described as “mostly painted.” The bench is new.

The painters hope to finish up on Thursday, a day earlier than expected. Tomorrow, I think the electricians are rocking up to put in new wires to the pole. It would be nice if they can do the power points etc. We will see!

Today was about some cleaning up work that needed to happen.

There were lots of handles, with some still to be installed. We have a total of 65 handles, inclding a dozen or so in the bedroom.

Of course the plaster had to be sanded. After running heaters all last night, the plaster was mostly dry enough, but there were patches that he needs to come back to on Monday. Thankfully, he doesn’t expect us to run the heaters all weekend.

The steps at the doorway to nowhere went in today. This is a new door from the (new) kitchen to the garage. We test drove them and found them very satisfactory.

Skirting boards and cornices went in. 130 holes were drilled for the 65 handles that some lucky apprentice will get to screw in.

The plasterer was distressed to find that the plaster board was not drying, so we have heaters running to warm the house up for the comfort of the plaster. As he said, he can’t sand it until its dry, and in this cold weather it is hard to get things dry.

I paid the first payment to the builder today. It only hurt a little bit 😀

Today it was all about the trimmings- cornices and architraves.

Tomorrow they finish the architraves and do the skirting boards.

Painters possibly move in on Friday, or on Monday if the builders are still working on Friday.

Kitchen appliances are due to arrive next Tuesday.

Happy days!