I have so much to write about its hard to know where to begin. I can’t think of a title for this post. Maybe by the time I’m finished it will become obvious.

My HSH has been in Sydney doing a renovation over the last 3 weeks so I have been here on my own doing what I can to keep moving forward. My home looks like a rubbish tip. I don’t mind living in a mess. I guess if I did I wouldn’t be able to stay focused and positive. Even so, I can only stand so much. The piles of rubbish out the front have to go. So I ordered a skip bin. I also crawled under the house, in a space of only about 500mm high and dragged out most of the rubbish. There is still a bit to go but it is so much cleaner. The bin arrived while I was at work and when I returned I realised I had underestimated the size I needed.

I started with the bricks and concrete. You would think that when they delivered the skip they could have placed it beside the pile of rubbish rather than on the other side of the front lawn! This meant I would have to fill the wheelbarrow with the bricks and concrete and wheel it over to the skip. Double handling. Oh well…the positive spin on this is that it is great exercise! I had the bin almost full in no time…what a work out. I picked up and dumped 3 cubic meters of bricks and concrete! For the couple of bits I didn’t have the strength to lift I asked my nephew to help me – thanks Benno! The massive pile of timber still remained and my brother suggested I burn it in a bonfire. What a great idea. Soph came up for the weekend and I asked Ben and his mate over for a bbq bonfire. The backyard was perfect for it. It was a cold night but the heat from the fire was divine. We sat around the fire until all the wood was burnt and all that remained were a few nails and metal bits. I still have some mess out the front but will sort that out later.

In the meantime there were a few more things I wanted to do before the HSH returns. The interior walls around the newly installed french doors need fixing with gyprock. I had already purchased all the necessary bits and pieces on my last shopping spree at Bunnings so I was ready to start plastering. (Oh and btw, I bought myself a new tool. I’m so excited about it. It’s a sliding compound saw!! – more about this another time) I cut the gyprock to size, nailed it in and applied the first layer of plaster to fill the gaps. I then used the plaster tape on the joints and applied another coat of plaster. What a difference fixing the gaping holes makes to the look of the doors, not to mention the chilly draft that has been blasting through the gaps for the last three weeks! A good sand, followed by another coat of plaster and I’m done. Ready for the architraves around the doors.

We are planning on building the deck once the remainder of the cladding is finished and all the trims are fixed around the window and door frames. The HSH is arriving at 8am tomorrow morning. I worked all day today on the house on my own in order to be ready. I have undercoated the eaves, and applied two coats of paint to the gutter and fascia. I have chosen a Dulux colour called Domino. It is charcoal and looks very smart. Covering the rust red has made such a difference to the appearance of the house. I need to complete the eaves before we build the roofing over the deck otherwise they won’t be accessible.

I also applied my chosen house colour in patches on the front of the house. The colour is called Solid Stone. I must say it doesn’t look how I imagined it. It looks completely different to the test I did on the garage, where it looks a neutral, sort of military grey colour but on the front it has a warmer appearance. However, I will persevere with it and do one coat over the entire front façade before I make any decisions to change it. It was late in the afternoon when I applied it. The sun was going down over the lake at the end of my street to my right and on my left was an amazing rainbow. Out of nowhere it had started to rain! Again!! (surprise surprise). I am after a neutral grey/stone. I need to see the colour in different light throughout the day. Sophie has been with me all day…in bed asleep most of the day, watching movies and reading her book. A teenager on Uni holidays! She dragged herself out of bed to take this photo!

I am on a mission to get at least one room completely finished and the front of the house looking great. Everything is in my head, My plans and ideas. Rather than try to describe what I want to the HSH I started to doodle and came up with this sketch – my vision.

Stage one is slowly taking shape…take a breath…be patient