Take a teaspoon of cement and harden up!

Wednesday and it was a scheduled concrete pour day. The pump was here early, at 6.30am with Wayne close in tow. At 7, a big cement truck arrived and it was on. Joel who was off school for the day, was given the task of recording the big day. It was to start up the back of the yard with the path, down the hill, a couple of steps onto the new outdoor area, around the side of the house and fix up the drive/path way down the side of the house.

The pipes were sent up to the back of the yard first.

And they worked their way down the hill.

It was important to fill the concrete blocks as they went for added strength.

It was then onto the new outdoor area.

And once it was poured, the hard work was to make it look good, and our builder Wayne was a keen observer of this process.

I think the last photo was Wayne politely pointing out that if the job was not up to his satisfaction, the concrete may have some further reinforcement, if you get my drift!

Of most excitement to Joel was the concreting inside the house. The new entrance covers the new landing and the inside lobby. Joel was particularly taken with this process.

And the final result.

Of course you cannot be considered a photographer unless you look for that abstract shot that tells a story but you still go wow, great shot. Joel is a thinker and the outside landing and the driveway was presenting a problem as he wasn't able to get access, Joel though, he thinks outside the square.

What is the point of having a bedroom upstairs if you don't use it!

The only draw back is that we don't have shots of the finished product. It has since been raining which is apparently a good thing as Wayne pointed out to us. Wayne was particularly excited about the final product so in the light of day, we'll get Joel onto the job again.

We can now get the tilers back to finish off the entrance landing and lobby. Counting the days, we hope to be finished soon.

It's the season to rejoice!! We have carpet upstairs and the kids are sleeping in their new bedroooms!

Today when we left for work Joel stayed home from school sick in bed because he played cricket in the rain at Newcastle yesterday and this morning was absolutely miserable.

When I arrived home Joel was still sick but had already pulled his bed apart, transported all of his worldly possessions upstairs and was getting ready to take residence in his newly carpeted room. Yes, the carpet had been laid upstairs during the day and it was moving time.

 Joel's room

 Marissa's room

 Brendan's room

The newly carpeted hallway

 Tonight all of the children will sleep in their new rooms, although they are busy whinging because there are no blinds and their rooms are very light, not to mention that they will be woken up early. Well isn't it lucky that they have to get up early to go to school in the morning!!

Downstairs will have its turn tomorrow as we get carpet put in all of the downstairs rooms. Because of this we are having to get everything out of the downstairs rooms so that the carpet layer only has to rip up the old and lay the new.

Other work around the house today included forming up outside so that they can pour the concrete on Wednesday. Wayne even suggested letting the kids write their names somewhere in the cement....hmm maybe not!

It's hard to believe that it's summer because as these photos show my kids have gone to bed in winter pajamas.

Unfortunately a few things have come to light as we moved the beds upstairs. The first thing is that the legs have broken on Marissa's bed, so now she has her mattress on the floor and I am very concerned that Brendan will cut his head off in the fan. Looks like we will have to be on the lookout for a few beds in the very near future.

Another thing we have to look into is getting some drawers to put in the cupboards as the kids have nowhere to store their folded clothes.

Oh well hopefully everyone will sleep well in their new rooms and that Joel and Marissa won't miss each other too much, but given the speed with which they moved to their new rooms I think that is very unlikely.

Have a shower .... Upstairs!

Yes folks, joy in the house for Chief and Deputy, the upstairs bathroom has been handed over to the kids. Giddy up folks, Chief and Deputy finally have their own ensuite!! Tonight Marissa had the first shower upstairs, after she had the first bath downstairs, bit of a pattern here. Joel quickly followed suit however Brendan wasn't 'told' that he could shower upstairs (he's a 17 year old male .....).

The vanity is ready as well, and you can nearly see Deputy, wonderfully dressed in his painting gear.

There is a little bit to finish off, the small gap at the side of the vanity and tiles at the back of the toilet and it will be finished. Carpet is coming on Monday so Monday night, the kids will be able to move into their own new rooms. I think they are pretty excited about this, particularly Joel and Marissa who have dutifully shared the same room for the past 6 months without complaint. I think we'll see world record moving times!

Today we also had Bob the Carpenter (remember!!!) back and as you can see on the above photo, door handles put on all the doors upstairs and downstairs and the hanging rails in the robes upstairs.

We are very close to seeing the range hood finished ......

Wayne and Phil continued on with constructing the great wall of Como. It is now finished, steel has been put in place and there is the form work for the stairs to go and then I think they are nearly ready to pour concrete. 

 Concrete pour will be a big day as it will cover the new entrance way, which can then be tiled, fixing the driveway and finishing the back area. At some stage the render will be done out the front, then the painters return to finish off the alfresco area, new entrance way, the render pained. Veranda railing, new garage, taps in the laundry, a big clean up of the house, and maybe the range hood. Take down the big fence, and I think it will be finished, fingers crossed, before Christmas!

Arise O Wall, Arise

Today has been a hive of activity around the site. Getting into the work now the rain has cleared. Deputy was working from home due to Brendan having to sit his license test (he passed, much to his and everyone else's relief!).

First up, Sam and Stephen, the painters. Sam giving Deputy a rundown of activity and issues, then telling him he had a job. White and two and a half and white and two! Over the course of the day, the boys have reached the stage of nearly having the upstairs finished (and polishing off at least 3 coffees, which is apparently a slow day!). A little bit of work tomorrow and upstairs will be done and dusted, from a painting perspective. Joel's room still has another coat on the feature wall and on the other walls plus the trim.

Joel likes the colour. Marissa's room is all finished, though now she is not so sure about the colour. It is nice, not sure why she has changed her mind though Deputy did say he liked her green colour from before.

Brendan has gone for a vivid colour, of white!

While all this was going on, Wayne and Peter (who was hoping for a half day) were busy building the retaining wall out the back. Two older gentleman working hard. Wayne stood up and he was as red as a beetroot! Deputy was concerned and quickly found water. They worked very hard, the bottom rows the hardest, they are hoping for an easier day tomorrow. They are working very hard to get back on track as they are behind in the concrete pour which is holding everything else up.

Phil was spending his time going through the house and patching and fixing all the little dings and holes through the house. A bit of tidy up sanding tomorrow.

Just when we thought it was all over, there is a knock on the back door and there is Simon, the kitchen man (notice they all have titles ....). He has the missing doors and a replacement door. After a quick call to Wayne, he also worked out a fill solution to the gaps around the vanity upstairs. Can you also spot the other thing that was changed in the kitchen? A prize to whoever gets it right!

Well it should all be on again tomorrow. Wayne is back, assume Peter as well and Sam and Stephen as well. Expect it to be fun all round!

Rain, rain go away!!

What a waste of a week, didn't see anything at all thanks to the rain, and rain and the rain. Saturday morning it was still coming down and our pool was nice and full. After the rain cleared around lunchtime we spent the rest of the weekend bucketing water out of the back area. We'd empty it, turn around and it was full again. 

Peter and Phil were back today and were determined to get things moving. Despite there still being water seeking down the hill on the rock, we have the steel bars in place and the level ready for the laying of the concrete blocks.

The best news was Sam the Painter (and a Souths supporter, ahhh!) turning up on Friday and again today with a helper to paint upstairs. Sam got more done in one day on Friday than Deputy can get done in about a week and a half. Made Deputy feel very much like the amateur he is. The results are looking good. Top coats to come and the feature walls in Joel and Marissa's room however it is making a big difference.

 The rain scared the air conditioning people away on Friday so goodness knows when they will be able to come back. Little by little we are getting there!

Oh what the heck, lets put in the pool!

The kids have been talking about a pool, wouldn't it be nice, so good in the summer, so why not hey, not as if the project has been big enough already ....

Well, not quite. The area off the back of the alfresco area, we have been discussing how to finish that off so we are not left with a big dirt heap. So we've contracted Wayne to build retaining wall and concrete the area to finish it off. The idea also is that when the concrete is poured for the entrance way and to fix the driveway around the entrance, do this at the same time. So, off to work we go on it.

Rain, it has rained ever since work started on it, and it has continued so now we have ..

The start of a swimming pool. Please rain, go away!

The rain has kept the boys away all week, they started today however that was really to secure the fence so it didn't fall over, and then it rained again, for most of the day.

One bright spot in the day, shower screen upstairs was installed, just a little closer!

Tomorrow should be a big day to end the week. Sam and his boys are in to start the painting upstairs, air conditioning people are to be here to finish off the installation and hopefully Peter and Phil working on the pool! Could be a fun day!

Show us your floors!

We are still here folks, just a little tardy in bringing the blog up to date however that is also a function of the slow down in activity. This was driven by the sanding and staining of all the timber floors last Thursday and Friday.

This activity necessitated Chief, Deputy and all the little bloggers to leave the house for 2 days. Elder blogger decided to stay around the corner with friends while Chief, Deputy and smaller bloggers went and spent 2 days with good friends the Hinds who graciously opened their house up to us to stay. Just quietly, between you and me, it was a genuine sacrifice for the Hinds to put up with us lobbing into their hectic house so thank you thank you thank you. Shadlows, the same thank you thank you thank you for taking on elder blogger for a couple of days.

While we were absent, Shane the Sander got to work and did the hallway that used to be under slate tiles, the old floor boards in the dining room that used to be under cork floor and the new floor in the kitchen and family room. 

Check out what you can do under slate!

And this is what it looked like just after the slate was ripped up ....

The dining room floor has come up nicely as well.

The kitchen and the new family room a completely different feel.

There has been scant other action in the meantime due to the off limits site. Peter and Phil have started the work on the extension to the alfresco area. We're building a retaining wall and concreting the area immediately off the alfresco area, new stairs and path to finish off the back. A big variation cost however it needs to be finished and by doing it now, we get to utilise the pump and concrete coming for the entrance way and rebuild of the drive up the side.

The stone man also returned and finished off the kitchen outside bench and the stone under the exhaust. All had been patched up so he was allowed back on site.

Rain for the first 2 days of this week has not helped the progress outside. At some stage this week we're expecting Sam to come and start painting upstairs and also on Friday the air conditioning installation is expected to be completed. All little jobs around the place now though rain is not going to help!