Days 3 & 4...Oct. 2015...

A friend up at the Sponge-Bob welcome at the other end of our village!

Work for October all done and dusted...
The septic tank is organised and work starts tomorrow.
That job is a 2 day, 2 man operation... 2m square x 3 mts deep, bricked all up with a cement top and little "man-hole" to allow the pump access for emptying it whenever.
This hole was dug by the dozer some months ago, so it will be an easy dig to get it square.
All pics are below the descriptions, which is back to front I know!

The new back fence, below, needs a "baton" (cement) strip along the ground, about 30cms high all the 40 mtrs length of the fence, to stop the neighbour's dogs and chooks getting under the wire fence, so that also gets done tomorrow first up.

Then the end room gets completed next week. with wall rendering completed, ceiling repaired, 2nd window put in to seal up the room for winter and the floor sealed with something waterproof,

The bathroom floor gets cemented next...
The wizz-bang shower comes out, as does everything in the room, the composite board floor comes up, all the sand under the floor is to be taken out by wheel barrow and then the plumbing goes down for the shower, loo, vanity, with water and waste pipes laid for the kitchen

Then the guys cement the floor... "all in one day with 2 men"... is my quote for the cementing.
In there somewhere is the trench digging for the loo pipes as the ones we put in last year (that were never used), go a different way, to a different pit, and were probably squashed when the dozer took away and spread the mud bricks rubble from the old collapsed shed earlier this year.
Will keep this working dunny outside for field workers!

Will hopefully be able to put in a wall partition before winter, to separate the bathroom from my bedroom in readiness for the hole to be cut thru from the end room to the bed/bathroom section after winter.

3 new gate posts also need to go in at the front ASAP, as it's very hard to open the gates now as the posts keep shrinking into the ground, taking the newly fitted and hand made gates with them!
Blessed gophers/moles, chomping away on their underground tunnel networks...You can see a big pile of their diggings at the bottom of the left gate.

That will take me out for October and it seems outside work stops then.

The antique furniture in the house, 3 robes, 2 very ancient beds, 2 dressers, 7 chairs, 2 solid stools and a table I'll use as a wash stand-cum vanity with basin cut into the top, will all be rubbed back and restored over the winter months, so that will be a great job done.They will look awesome in their fresh surrounds ready for guests to use next season.

...

This is my favourite robe..it needs a lot of rubbing back as it has many coats of laquer..

Started work on restoring these but decided to let the experts finish them!
Will also have to get 5 new doors hand made to match what is here to keep the authentic look of 100 years ago throughout the entire building. Plus will have to get some of those side panels made, that line the wall thickness, as you can see.

Doors today are almost a foot higher (30cms) and 9 inches (22cms) narrower, so the appearance is indeed dramatic and very noticeable. Here I am at the front door, easily touching the top...

Then in March the really visually transforming work gets under way...

Firstly the doorway gets cut thru to the end room and fixed up, windows put in my room and the kitchen, dividing walls go in the end room to create a private guest bedroom and as described below to create a real 2 bedroom house with an inside bathroom and loo...or two. Ceilings will be repaired where necessary and any other stuff that needs finishing off completed.

See the yellow wall below, not painted over yet? That's where the new door gets cut in from this side and the bit above the door that is darker, will be framed to make it look like a picture, but is really a historical snippet of how the walls were painted long ago.
The left of the pic where the dressing table is, is some of the bathroom area, the middle bit where the 2 white lines on the floor are will be the passage into the end rooms and the bit to the right where the robe and bed are is my future bedroom. The (working) light fitting will be moved to the lounge room.

Painting all the repaired and new internal walls, windows, doors, ceilings, and any timbers inside comes next, plus any glass that must be repaired in the many panes in all the existing doors and windows.

Then it seems, the kitchen will be the last to go in as there is a bit of work to be done on lining the chimneys, sealing them off, inserting flues, cutting out parts of the chimneys to accommodate a microwave oven in one and a bench-top, built-in range-hood, upright stove and oven in the other one.

It seemed too complicated to do any of that now as I like my fire place as is and will keep that for this winter at least without needing to do anything now, but light the fire each evening and enjoy it...An antique washing dish is my temporary wood box...
Ahhh, the serenity!

Then lastly, the parquetry floors get done throughout this first stage of renos and then the interior only needs dressing with curtains, light fittings, lounge suites, sideboards and so on.

***

The exterior front fancy detailing gets repaired in March, gutters repaired in one little spot only, eaves tidied up and the whole exterior painted. What colour you ask? Have no idea yet, except I'd like pale, powder blue, but I don't think that shade is really a traditional colour.
I recently painted interior white wash over the bright orange to cover some plaster repairs on the front, so the place looked a bit better temporarily! It seems to be lasting OK and probably will do until March.

Apricot and cream trim are also nice combinations and are traditional...Bright, bold colours are more traditional too, but not my cup of tea. There is a lot to think about to create the exact mood in the place I need and one that also creates an authentic experience for guests.

Then work starts on the outbuildings from around April onwards.

End shed below: roof off, ceiling out, walls repaired, floors cemented in the 3 rooms, windows put in where and if necessary, doors made a bit taller (they are OK for me to duck under, but grown-ups might find it a challenge),ceilings raised about a foot, roof put back on with cute little verandah as is/was.
Hoping to keep the fancy bit of brickwork there.

This 3 roomed shed seemed to have been chook sheds or winter pig pens. The end room closest will become the room for the furnace to heat water for the water heaters which go in at the end of next summer. It will be connected to the new shed being built to replace the collapsed shed...part of which remains to hold this shed together! Check out the thickness of those old walls.

Summer Kitchen below: roof off, ceiling raised, walls repaired, a cement floor put in with footings etc, ensuite made where end chook rooms are now, ceiling and roof put back, windows in where the chook pen doors are, new door made and existing windows sizes kept, with little windows repaired, new attic stair case made, an attic window installed where the attic "air vent" now is, kitchenette in, with power and water of course.
There is a chimney at the back wall in this place, but I haven't checked it out yet to see what it does.
You can easily see one front wall had been repaired before I came. Look how smooth it is!

I still prefer the older bumpy walls but they don't build like that anymore, so repairs are very noticeable, flat, smooth and no character or charm...sigh.
So the old charm has to be re-created by roof pitch, gardens, creative painting and wall decoration.

...and little shed... 
Front...
Will leave the front as is...the door and window are as was 100 yrs ago, so leave well alone. It's only going to be a spare shed, probably will end up on the other block when I subdivide the 1/2 acre into 2 1/4 acre lots anyways.
Future Use...?
...was a store shed and still has thousands of corn cobs in it, which they used for their fires in winter. Nothing gets wasted over here.

Back of little shed...ooops, a bit of work here...roof off, walls repaired, roof back on. Not sure if I'll even put in a concrete floor yet?

I'd like them all finished by mid year..ish, if possible.

Then the collapsed shed that was connected to the house, gets rebuilt about July, but before winter 2016 anyways. It will be clear sailing to begin the next building project on the 2nd block of land with a full working season to get it all done in one intense work session over the coming March-October 2017 period.

Lastly, is to cart away tons and tons of rubble gathered from all over the block at end of next summer and it's a job well done!

Then the gardens can finally get underway. Hoping my sis can come across for a while and do that job for me!

Fit in shipping my gear over from Australia in the New Year, a garage and "new" car somewhere in there and it's all good to go!

***

You probably wonder why I dilly-dallied around with the renos for so long.
Actually I wondered that too recently in reflection of why I haven't done that much really to the place.

This last trip to Australia revealed to me I was a bit (VERY) hesitant about really moving overseas, away from my family. My kids were in dramatic periods of their lives, my only remaining sibling was in a delicate health circumstance and I felt like I was abandoning them all at the time.

However, they all seem to be "getting along fine without me" and want me to follow this dream and I now without doubt, know I need to do so for my own health and life purpose too. I put that phrase in inverted commas to indicate the deep and hidden feelings we sometimes have of people not being able to survive without us!

Yeah, I know, some of us have an oversized sense of responsibility wherein we think we are responsible to fix everyone! I'm happy now, knowing they all are adults and can take care of themselves without me. But that does not mean we don't miss each other, like to help each other and love each other.

Thank God for the internet, digital cameras, Skype and airplanes! Imagine how difficult it must have been for folk in the past, the real pilgrims that settled the far reaches of a very wild world in days long gone...I dips me lid to them!