August 8-9th, 2006.

Our attention was now predominantly on putting in windows and finishing the cladding. (It was a cold winter, with only gyprock between us and the elements.) Finally we had discovered the right place for the diamond pane window.

Hooray! God is good - I managed to copy all the photos off my wretched USB stick onto my computer (good thing I have lots of hard drive space!) so I shall be able to keep blogging.

You should have seen me. I found just the right angle for the USB to connect, and then had to sit there holding it perfectly still while copying. And it was a really weird angle too. My wrist was sore by the end!

Can't actually post the next bit yet, as I'm supposed to be getting ready for work, but will soon.

Just letting any interested readers know that all the renovation photos are stored on a USB device that won't work. I am currently unable to access anything on it. It's quite new too.

Till I manage to figure a way round this setback ...

On moving onto the property there were already old sandstone steps up to the front gate, but they were old, sunken and wobbly - a liability. These sandstone blocks were taken up and set aside. They were used when Dad rebuilt the stone walls (which had also become tumbled and rickety) over the edges of the new steps, once they were finished. Unfortunately I only have photos from the middle of the project.




We began at the bottom and worked our way back up the hill. The proper calculations were done though; the steps didn't work out evenly by accident!




Above photo take from across the road. The railway is behind the photographer.



And our final photo ...



A sneak peak into the future (December 27th, 2006). All the steps can be seen, while the stone walls are being re-built over the edges to finish it off and tie it all together.

Note the fence. It didn't last much longer!

How many people do you know that have used their volleyball net as a washing line? There are nine of us - sometimes the hills hoist just doesn't hold enough! Now we have an extra clothesline, and the net is retired.

Actually Mum really didn't like using the net, and it didn't last terribly long. It was good for socks though: see those white and coloured blobs that appear almost to be hanging in mid air? That's what they are.

(Picture taken July 28th, 2006)

27th July, and Dad was working off his Morning Tea, recycling a wall for rock wall footings.



Nothing like having an audience.



It didn't take long. Everyone had a go, though I can only find photos of Dad, and half and hour later the wall had assumed a very different shape - at a much lower level.

From July 10th, 2006 to July 20th, many different things were in the pipeline. Dad began on the first steps, using concrete slabs that the bobcat had dug out of the ground. Waste not, want not.





It was a cold winter.



Here we are just fooling around in the late afternoon sun, but there are some interesting details in the background. The main one is the infamous diamond pane window, temporarily installed on the front of the house. (Between the younger girl's heads.) As can probably be imagined, the view through the window, as opposed to around the edges, was paltry and very interrupted by such small panes. Where it ended up, on the back of the house, there is a pretty view, but a short range view, of the garden. The small diamond panes seem to enhance that view, instead of hindering it.

Those readers with sharp eyes may be able to pick out a square-ish window tacked up under the peak of the roof. At this stage we were thinking to turn the veranda we'd enclosed (that we were trying to decide on windows for) into a dining room or sitting room with a cathedral ceiling. A cathedral ceiling because of the subtle difference that would make to the atmosphere of the room, and the light and view we could then access. The square window was basically to let a little extra light in. But we ended up changing our minds - for a change! We still altered the ceiling height in that room, but ended up dropping it eight or so inches, instead.



Figuring out the fence line. I believe that where the string line is being held, the corner post was to be.




'Scuse my scowl, again, I appear to have a gift for pulling horrible faces. Actually, the sun reflecting off the foil backed insulation, straight into our eyes. Mum and I were trying to sort out the window situation. As can be seen below, Dad is suggesting window heights.



In the end we decided to keep the top of the glass in the windows level, all the way across the house.

Day one, June 16th, and our bobcat man starts some major earth moving. No longer shall the hill slope straight down to and under our house. Drainage installed, and the ground under our house has been dry since.




End of the first day. What a mess!

Next day a flatter area was formed between shed and house:



Ever played with a wacker-packer? Interesting sensation.




A flat path along the back (uphill) side of the house, and a driveway formed. When we bought the property there was little evidence of a driveway, except for extremely hard ground and a scattering of gravel.



Drive down to shed, and levelled area between buildings.



Path. The dirt on the left was clay mud six inches deep, wet by lots of rain and well churned by the bobcat tracks.



Though it looks as though the drive has a kink in it, the flatter area where the bobcat is driving is now a part of our parking space outside our fence line. (We had to have our property surveyed to find out what our boundary lines were; the previous owner had just fenced in a roughly rectangular block, including council property but excluding his own triangle up the top.) Once we'd figured out where our fence line was going, we were able to decide on our driveway. It's now straight up the hill from the photographer, toward the front of the truck tray.

This landscaping was one of the most important aspects of the development of this property. It accomplished several things: it shaped the land into four separate levels, which gardens later made more distinct and unique; it protected the house foundations from excessive movement caused by moisture fluctuation; it made the house begin to look part of the landscape, rather than an interruption to the flow of the hill; and it outlined final use of space by providing areas for rest, for traffic, for transition and for car parking/access. This property would not be half so attractive or useful, if we hadn't done this earth moving.

Some two weeks later, 28th June...

The triple sash window we bought, but the two single windows Dad made using sashes that we had stored for years.


In a small house there isn't much room to move things, especially bunk beds. We just had to work around some things...



However, this wasn't always very fun; please excuse the scowl.

June 8th, and progress had been made. Both the window and french doors had been installed, plus the window with three sashes. The walls were insulated and cladding begun.



How do you like our scaffolding? I'm glad to report that it has been retired.



The 'kitchen' window that was then, and is now, a bedroom window. Now, it is the main Master Bedroom window. Then, it was the Dormitory window, shedding light on the beds of seven sisters.



It was necessary to demolish the tank stand in order to finish cladding. We unearthed some interesting objects from amongst it's rubble.



Note Mum planting away already, although the rock walls weren't yet finished. She couldn't help herself, it was her stress relief.


Nearly there.

Classic decision making moments...



These scenes were snapped on 25th May, 2006 as we made decisions about 1. the final use of the room, 2. what furniture would therefore be in the room, and 3. which windows, out of our stock pile, would be best for the purpose.

As these were the very first windows to be installed, we also had to keep in mind how cohesive we wanted to outside appearance to look - did we want a pattern of repeated squares, diamonds, rectangles or what? This question was not completely decided till some time later.

The dreaded diamond pane window was up as an option. This was toward the beginning of it's infamous journey around the house.

At this point, we more or less decided that we would knock out the wall behind Mum and I (see below) into the blue room, make the blue room the kitchen (nice and cool on the south eastern corner) and turn the pink room - or perhaps a small extension out the side (you can see the french doors in the bottom photo; they are to my right in the photo below) - into a semi-connected dining room.


Not everything becomes immediately obvious. One thing we knew for sure: we needed light coming in from at least two sides of the room in order to lose its cave-like atmosphere.



The final decision for the day.