Tuesday Juggle - A day in the life of our renovation

Have you ever looked at the beautiful homes in magazines and wanted to know more about the family or looked at the renovation section of Home Beautiful (which I love) seen the steps and the cost it took to get the final look but would love to know how they juggled it with day to day life a bit more? The story behind the process. Well I know I certainly have but maybe I am more nosey then most?

And this is probably why I love shows like Grand Designs where host Kevin McCloud talks to the family a lot more and often they are quite honest about how they are feeling and the impact. Even so I want to know what happens after the show and their are some Grand Designs revisited but that is more about just living in the house.

So along this vain I thought I would start a regular post - A Day in the life of our renovation - so let me know what you think (please note as first one will be a little longer the future posts).......

Site before all the rain, now very muddy

The Tuesday Juggle

Tuesday is the day I try to get into work by 8am so I can leave by 4.30 to pick up my daughter from after school care and then my little boy from childcare, it is a full on, long day. But trying to get out the door by 7.15 to make this 8am deadline was a little difficult this morning with both kids wanting Mummy and pulling on me to try and get my attention while I am trying to put on my makeup.

Then of course at 7.30 this morning there is a knock at the door as the guy to insulate under the floor (who we weren't expecting) had arrived at the same time as the plumber (who we did expect but were given half a days notice about). We were a little concerned about them installing insulation as the termite company was due to rock up as well to treat the stumps (mind you this was a last minute thing too being told the day before we needed to organise). Can all this happen at once? A call went out to the Supervisor, who by the way has been on our job for less then a week as the last one resigned.

Both Hubby and I are too busy rushing around trying to get the kids ready, marking a spot in the front for the portable toilet (also which we were only told we needed to organise the day before) to hear what the Supervisors response is to the guy putting in the insulation. My little boy is also continually opening the front door to say hi to different tradies and getting upset when we won't let him go out into all the mud to see what is happening, resulting in screaming which has the flow on effect of upsetting my daughter too.

So finally rushing out the door (having to leave Hubby to deal with everything as his turn for dropping off the kids) and getting on a packed train just after 8, I get a call from the Supervisor on my iPhone ( a bit of a plug here as an invaluable tool in the whole balancing thing), which I try to answer while not falling over onto the business man next to me, to be told " I hear you said the installation of the insulation had to stop because of termite treatment.' My internal thoughts were screaming, no, no, no, we just asked if it was a problem as hadn't been warned at all that this was all happening today. Communication people!

All this to then find out later in the day that Hubby had spoken to the plumber who said the floor insulation can't be put in anyway until he does pipes. And on top of this the builder was talking about putting in the rest of the frame and roof first. Kind of makes sense for protecting it.

So glad that things are moving along quickly (especially after having the ensuite take twice as long as expected) but sometimes feel even with a Supervisor we end up doing a lot of Project Managing and wish we could be on site more. Especially when I had a day like yesterday where I got calls at work and had to rush around organising last minute things in my lunch hour.

Thankfully tomorrow I am at home for the day and have a meeting with the new Supervisor first thing so will have to reiterate the importance of keeping us in the loop and maybe giving us a timeline more then a half day in advance (especially as we are living in the house with two young children). They haven't knocked through yet and I would like a bit of warning before they do, is that too much to ask? When they do that, that is when the real mess and difficulties are going to start.

View from the kitchen tonight, in a few weeks these doors will be taken out once the back is at lock up

This renovation gig is a little like having a third job, first being looking after the kids, then my paid office work and then the reno.

Before, during and after - walk in robe

Our walk in robe is finished and I love it. Before we had built in robes on the other side of which was our family bathroom.

Before

Now these have been removed the wall knocked through and new frame built to make a walk through robe and ensuite.

During

After

I know this looks very bare but believe me it is filling fast since these photos were taken.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Ours was a busy one which included cleaning weatherboard now the brick is off the front of the house and I have to say it is looking fantastic. More photos later.

Before and after - brick to weatherboard

Stage two of our build, the rear extension has started, well the demolition part anyway.

Before

Our brick has been removed to expose weatherboard and already I think the house looks better, even with the weatherboard being dirty (well if you use a bit of imagination of how it will be with new deck, cleaned and painted).

After

Our house is weatherboard house built in the 1950s and then in the 70s someone put brick cladding on it which in my opinion is nowhere near as appealing. This now exposed weatherboard is also going to be removed for newer board and our extension will be done in weatherboard to match.
Anyway the thing we can't get over is already this few days of demolition has caused arguments with our building company who were trying to claim they didn't know the weatherboard was there and wanted to charge us extra to remove it.

To cut a long story short I am happy to say we managed to prove that they did know, we had e-mails about it and so they will not be removing the contract variation they were trying to make us pay. So lesson learnt - keep everything in writing and stick to your guns!

Thankful 4

This week I am joining in with a tankful 4 post hosted by the lovely Lisa at Ledamae.

I think it is a great idea to regularly reflect on what is good in your life. So today my focus is on my little family.

Today is my Hubby's birthday so in buying presents for him I have been thinking about him a lot and am so grateful for the loving, supportive person he is, my best friend too.

My little girl started school this week and I have been missing her and so have been reflecting on what a gorgeous, loving, generous child she has grown into. She is the best big sister, to her little brother, people often comment on how good she is with him, she really takes care of him and makes up games for them to play together.


And then last but not least there is my little boy who at two and half is so full of energy and love. He tells me 'I love you Mummy' a number of times of day and it always makes my heart melt. He loves cuddles and early morning I often get a long one from him.

There is so much more I could say about these wonderful three people in my live but I will just finish off by saying I love them so much and am so thankful 4 them.

A few finds

I was hoping to show you photos of our new WIR today but alas the guy installing everything rang this morning to say he would be here sometime after 12pm, so I sit here waiting. Don't you love the time windows most trades give!

Anyway instead I thought I would share with you some recent finds, all were on sale.

I have been looking for blue bottles for ages and got this pair for $8 from a little shop in Melbourne CBD called Spoilt.
From the same store I got this great set of three tea light holders. You can get hanging ones to match so might have to go back!

And this Eiffel Tower quilt cover set from Bed, Bath and Table. It goes very well with some other French things in my bedroom. I will show you more photos of the bedroom later when I have managed to clean it out and finish it off. The bedroom is currently full off stuff that needs to go in the WIR, so once that is done!

And great news, our carpenters are locked in for Thursday, so the build of the back extension begins! So glad I am home this week to see it, as normally work Thursdays. I am now taking lots of photos of the back of the house for the before shots.

Free day?

My little girl started school today, her very first day of primary school. She was very excited once we were there and she saw her name above a hook to hang her bag on. It helped that one of her closest friends is in her class and so they both walked off without a backward glance. Not as easy for me.

Monday is normally a day I work but I have this week off. Even so my little boy is in creche today as he normally would be so that I can get a few things done. A week ago I was excited about this prospect but when I got home this morning I felt quite sad and the house a little too quite for my liking.

So I pumped up the music and set to work cleaning out our walk in robe which is just filled with bags and piles of clothes. Tomorrow a guy is coming to fit it out properly, can't wait! So hopefully can share some photos tomorrow afternoon.

A postcard I use as a bookmark - it always makes me smile

I have had a coffee with a friend, done some housework and gone for a long walk and it is only 2pm! I am hanging out to go and pick by girl up and hear about her day. Only an hour and a half to go....

A soak in the bath

I have been dreaming of having a long soak in a gorgeous freestanding bath a lot over the past week.Now with our ensuite complete we have a wonderful shower but we won't have the new family bathroom and therefore a bath for at least another three months but more likely four (or actually when you talk builders time-lines five).


It has been a difficult week and I haven't been on the blog for over a week. Last week I came down with a awful virus early in the week and as I was getting better got the sad news that my Grandma had passed away. It was very unexpected even though she was 91 but she did pass away peacefully in her sleep which is good. We had the funeral a couple of days ago. It was a beautiful service with lovely speeches, very fitting for the strong, inspiring women she was, a woman well ahead of her time. To give you an idea we shared a love for the TV show Sex in the City and she worked as a high school teacher even after having children, in a time when this was almost unheard of. Later in life she became a librarian and has passed down her love for books as I read to my children every day.

Also on another note my heart goes out to the people of North Queensland. I was happy to hear a friend of mine who had only just moved up there was safe and not too affected in the end but I am certainly thinking of all of those that were.

So over the week I have been longingly looking at some of my style file images and many magazines, trying to work out just what kind of family bathroom we want, it has been a great distraction. All the images I love are of white very calming spaces.

Love Rachael's bathroom for Room for Everyone blog

And some good news, we had a meeting with our building manager yesterday and they are going to start again late this week, so excited.