BIG! Progress and it was so cold!

After a freezing ( -6) morning start the big build started, the rest of the furniture was removed from the room and the demolishing tools were brought in. The guys did a great job, it is true many hands make work light but very dirty. When that ceiling came down so did the dust.

We pulled the all the beams down because the ceiling sagged and hubby new it would be quicker and easier just to replace it and he said cyprus pine that old would be no good to reuse because it would split and be brittle.

When the beams came down I looked at the exposed roof and it look like a beautiful cathedral ceiling well not quiet but it did look really good. Hubby said we couldn't have a cathedral ceiling because it would take too long, the room was too long and it would look too silly and besides he already planned to put the ceiling up in a day.

The guys were really great they worked well as a team, Gary pulled down the beams and David, Tony and hubby carried out the rubbish.

We cut the wiring in this room but we had another friend Peter come later to reconnect new lights and power points. We will be having down lights eventually in this room and I think I will have lamps.

The day was really cold and I was just moving around to keep warm plus I was in the kitchen cooking up a roast lamb dinner for these hard working guys.

My skylight was taken of carefully and put back. This part of the house used to be small and dark but now it has been opened up and has so much light.

Look at all that wiring what a night mare but the ceiling is all down and the room is cleaned out ready for the ceiling frames the guys made to be put back up. It was a different way of doing things but it worked and it was quicker and the ceiling will be much stronger.

They made about ten of these frames and nailed them to a main support beam (the red one)

The guys enjoyed there roast lamb (one of own bred on our property) and I had also made a few yummy cakes and biscuits for them to munch on through out the day.

The frames are just about all up and soon they were to start on gyprocking the ceiling. The day went fairly quick and most of the gyprock was put up and the guys left late in the afternoon and were planning to come tomorrow to complete the last little bit.

The next morning was down to minus (-) 8 and it was freezing. My bedroom door was iced up and was hard to open, all the pipes and taps were frozen, I think this must be the coldest day we have had here.

Everything was blanketed in frost and I did hear on the news that it was the coldest day in June for 60 years. We heard in town that peoples water meters were bursting and their pipes were frozen solid.

Hubby bought is gas heater he has in his shed inside to take the icy chill out of the air.

One last section of gyprock to go up and the job will be done. I made the guys homemade lasagna with fresh salad and garlic bread and they loved it, it was a feast. They finished early afternoon and they had to take off and get back into town because the freight courier was delivering the stoves and fridges and coffee machine hubby and I purchased for the new church.

The house is now so much warmer and is getting near completion and it won't belong and my daughter and grand-daughter can come up and stay.

Renovation Update!

This weeks temperatures have dropped down to the low minuses and everything is freezing up. You know it is going to be cold when you are lying in bed in the early hours and you have to put the blankets over your head because your face is going numb, well that was what this morning was like and then the pipes where frozen and the poor dogs couldn't have a drink because their water was frozen.
I had a bit of a problem opening my car door at 8.30am this morning because it was FROZEN
On a warmer note I was blessed with one of my new kitchen bench tops, I chose a shiny cream marble looking top with a square edge.

Hubby is cutting out the top for my new kitchen sink, this bench is 1500 (5ft) long and we have to cut half of it out for the sink, but waste not, want not hubby is going to make me some chopping boards with the off cuts :)

Hubby hates doing the plumbing he is more of a wood man but after a few trial and errors we have no leaks :)

Isn't she nice and shiny, that's our friend Tony screwing the clips in to hold the sink down.

OH! my, doesn't that tap finish the sink off nicely

It even comes with a chopping board and a removable vegetable/scrap drainer.....very nice :)

And look my first set of washed dishes. I know its only a bench top and new sink but I have been waiting patiently for a long time now and if you keep reading there is more!

This is the opened gap in my lounge room ceiling at the moment and the cold breeze comes shooting down there on windy nights. BUT tomorrow the lovely guys that have been working on our new church helping my hubby are all coming out to rip that old ceiling down, replacing the beams (one beam in my ceiling is a tree branch can you believe that) and put up a new gyprock ceiling YAY YAY YAY! Mind you I have to cook up a feast for all these hard working guys but I think it is going to be worth it :)

Its a fairly long room and the whole ceiling is coming down, just think of the mess and dust. Once the ceiling has been replaced then we can do the cornices, skirting, window frames and then start to paint and then I can start decorating.

These are cheval mirrors I sell at my shop that are really nice and are often hard to find in shops, I sell them for $120 and they come in two colours baltic and walnut. I'm not sure why I have put them on this post but I have other things listed below in my shop that I sell and I could easily post these out to people if they were interested. We mainly sell large items we make but I have been getting in these french provincial items to give the shop another look.

These trays are really cute and are a nice size

This little rooster clock is only about 13cm high

This clock has strawberries and butterflies and is 15cm x 15cm

I also have a few plaques hanging around, this one would suit me :)

This is a Buffet & Hutch we make, I love the little drawers. We have made so many different combinations of these cupboards and they all look fantastic.

This is a little picture frame that opens out, I think it was so cute, it is about 20cm x 20cm and I sell it for $25, so cute.

You can display five photos is this little cutey!

Well that's about it for now, I should have photos of the next few days of our big revamp of our lounge room ceiling.

I'm SO Excited!

After living so long with renovations going on and having no time and sometimes no money to progress with them we have come to the decision that we are sick of living in a house that is upside down. We are now on a mission because my eldest daughter who just had her first baby has asked to come up and stay with us for a week, so this made us go into overdrive. Don't you love it when you have something to strive for, it seems to give you a mission that has to be completed quickly.

Above picture is the back end of our house where our laundry and bathroom is, it looks a mess I know but now the wall is up the door is on and the gyprock has now been completed and hubby is starting to put in cupboards.

Check out that cupboard space, I am so excited that I am getting so much ..... a girl can never have enough cupboard space.

I can store a lot in these cupboards but wait there's more....

This side will have my washing machine, laundry tub, bench space and overhead cupboards.

Hubby made the cupboards himself and he will make the doors, skirting and architraves as well. These will be painted a cream and have that shabby chic look to match the bathroom ,the floor will be tiled and I'm not sure what colour to paint the walls yet

This is Scooby, he likes to hang around and see what is going on like the other three below.

As you walk out the back door you see part of my veggie patch which is looking like a wreck, anyway after we have finished the inside we plan to put decks around the house so when you walk out the back door there will be a deck and I will be able to look over my fruitful garden, perfect!

These little ones are over the renovations as well, there has been a lot of hammering and banging as well as electric nail guns and jack hammers in the house that these poor little doggies run to high ground or race to sit on my lap.

This is the back of the fire place which is in the laundry, I mention in an earlier post that we had a bit of trouble putting the flute in and had to jack hammer the back wall out. Well this is going to be modified to make an enclosed oven, I don't have a lot of details on this one so will have to just wait and see.

The Church is still going really well and we should be able to have our first worship services in a few weeks in the main building. The drive way will be in soon and then we can start planting plants on that top bank on the right in the picture.

The brick work has been started in the front building as well as the gyprock.

This is the entry to the front building where the offices, meeting room, toilets & showers, kitchen and cafe will be as well as a library/gift shop. So you see there is so much going on and that is why I'm SO excited :)

This and That!

I mentioned yesterday that we were eating fresh lamb, well we had four fat lambs killed for our freezer, I hope it did not offend anybody but we here on our farm have our own sheep and we breed them for our own consumption. With the off cuts and scraps I cook up with rice, noodles, vegetable, Vegemite and whatever else I might have around to feed the dogs. I just mince it up and freeze it for later as well as the bones.

I got about six kilos of mince for the dogs as well as two bags of bones.

This is the opening behind our fireplace I was talking about yesterday. This is the back wall for my laundry and we were thinking of making an enclosed compartment made of steel or whatever which would make it like an oven and where we can cook pizzas or bread. It could be possible!

These are my three roosters that will be have to be homed or eaten, I do have a friend coming out on the weekend to look at taking one of them and there maybe a neighbour who might take one as well so that might leave only one for the pot.

The Church is coming along, the brickies will be starting probably Friday or Monday and then the inside of the front building can be started.