A very hectic fortnight, part 2

Just now I'm using my hands in a different way than usual, and they're letting me know they don't like it one little bit. I've irritated my left carpal tunnel, so my fingers are tingling as well as lumpy and red from the heatwave we've been having here in Sydney. My best friends at the moment are an ice pack and Celebrex.

We've had the builders in for the past fortnight, working on our laundry and bathroom after a fire destroyed the floors under them both. See below the progress shots of the work on the laundry. The rooms have all been gutted back to the bare frames, and the burnt bits replaced. This involved propping up the whole corner of the house at one stage, on big Accrow supports. Quite scary really.







I've also had to do lots of tidying to prepare our living areas for cleaning after the smoke damage. I've been emptying a large entertainment unit and sorting out the kitchen so everything can be put away while the walls and ceilings are washed and re-painted. There's a wooden kitchen dresser to unpack so it can be moved to paint behind, and a small moveable pantry to be unpacked and shifted.

In our wisdom (!!!) we also decided to have 3 windows in the front of the house replaced at the same time. That involves emptying a bow fronted china cabinet of about 30 years of clutter, my bedroom needs sorting so that window can be pulled out, and the major job, the Sewing Room needs to be cleared right along one wall!!! I've already had 2 1/2 weeks to do it all, and time is running out fast to finish all my jobs. We expect the painters in about a week, but I estimate it will take about a week just to do the Sewing Room, without even touching the rest that still needs to be done. When I was despairing of being ready on time, the owner of the building firm was very helpful, putting a kindly hand on my arm and said, don't worry dear, we'll work around it !!! But I dread the thought of the builders standing on my built-in cutting table while all my storage and machinery is in-situ. So I've been filling up boxes with fabric, UFO's and haberdashery and moving them to the other end of the house at all hours of the day and night.

What's that old saying, Life is like a circus? Well we've been juggling visits to the new baby, trying to pick out vanities, choosing taps, tiles and paint colours and designing laundry tubs and storage all at the same time!!! Then a minor hurdle today when DH discovered a floor waste had been accidentally left out of one of the wet areas and the waterproofing was about to be laid! One unhappy plumber had to go back to the hardware and buy the correct fitting, which held him up even more. He finally finished the job about 5 pm, so now we've got to hold our noses for a couple of days while the floor "cures" before the tiler comes on Saturday. I'll be sooooooo glad when this is all over, all I can say is I HOPE I like the colours and things I've chosen. There's even a whisper about new blinds for the new front windows, as the old ones won't fit the new modern windows. Another dilemma, wood or metal venetians??

I've decided that the new laundry should have some purpose built storage and a broom cupboard!! Who would have thought that could be so exciting?? But for the first time in 30 years I'll be able to store the vacuum cleaner somewhere out of sight, out of mind, LOL !