Now the kitchen has been removed the old tiles had to be lifted. They were cracked and we will replace all the floor coverings thoughout the house anyway. Guess who was given the job of lifting the tiles? Yep, yours truly! What a horrible job!! Armed with spade, crow bar, ear muffs and some sort of jackhammer I was on to it! Dust, noise, tiles flying everywhere (out the window as I tossed them on to the trailer)…
Lifting tiles.
And when I had had enough of the noise and dust there was still gib to be removed from small spaces, more to be fitted on the ceiling, a couple of windows to be inserted and the space created from the removal of the old kitchen to be filled.
And yet another tool for me!
Eventually we were ready for the new kitchen…a bit of a mission getting it up one floor but the wide windows proved very beneficial!
Kitchen windows going in.
It was all installed in one day ready for the electrical and plumbing the following. Then it was a matter of unpacking and arranging my cupboards and pantry. It was like Christmas being able to remove things from boxes that have been stored for a year or more. So many cupboards… so much space!
New kitchen.New kitchen.New kitchen.
And the placing of weatherboards outside on the new wall was completed… we’re ready for a break!
Now isn’t that a view you would pay for?? We certainly thought so…
So back to my emails and diary of 2012… I was sitting in bed (again) as I wrote this:
Such a pity I can’t see the lights over the other side of the estuary… Our queen bed base wouldn’t fit up the spiral staircase so we are temporarily sleeping on just the mattress, consequently I am a little too low to see anything but a black sky! We found a split queen bed base yesterday so will probably buy that this weekend – a slat bed was the other option but we have decided against that as, though our bedroom is quite spacious, the room between the foot of the bed and the wall is minimal and a slat bed must have a bed-end whereas the regular base doesn’t. Such are the facts one learns when one buys such a quirky house!
We bought the split-base bed.
A little later I wrote this to introduce readers to our home and give them (& you) a picture of what we were about to tackle…
So let’s take a wander through this unusual house… We approach it up a hill just past a scene you (if you live in NZ) probably saw many times back in Feb/March & June 2011 – houses sitting on the brink of a freshly-collapsed cliff. We drive down a lane so the house isn’t visible from the road. The first thing that strikes one is the black, red and white – not my favourite colour scheme for a house! We climb around the temporary supports in place to ensure nothing else falls in the event of another earthquake.
Downstairs lounge & entrance.
The front door opens into a lounge with ranch sliders making up the two external walls. Immediately on the right is the downstairs bathroom/toilet/laundry ensemble – lots of shelving in here. Next opening on the right is the bottom of the spiral staircase which we will return to very soon. And the third opening on the right is an arched entrance to a bedroom – a large L-shaped room with a large wardrobe-cum-cupboard with a separate narrow space at the end that we will incorporate into the wardrobe.
Downstairs bedroom
The other part of the room looks like it was designed as an office – with a “special” opening that looks, to the left, to the front door – very odd! There is a cat-flap on one of the ground-level windows.
Now let’s head up that beautiful spiral rimu staircase – this really must be the most delightful & expensive feature in the house! Up one flight of stairs one sees what the house is designed for – a stunning vista looking to the mouth of the Heathcote-Avon estuary. Shag (now “shagged”) Rock stands brokenly and forlornly guarding the entrance as we watch the traffic driving around the protective containers to Sumner. There are many of these containers on the cliff side of the road from Ferrymead to Sumner to protect motorists in case of further rock falls.
Looking at the Kaikouras.
So from our lounge-living room we have a watery view from just past Shag Rock on the right all the way past the Kaikouras to the Alps on the left.
Pokey kitchen
The kitchen is small & not practical for more than one person so we’re re-designing – the designs change weekly! There is an addition to the original house over the entrance way – a sunroom which, when the ply is replaced with windows, will indeed be a sun trap but we will use it as a dining room as it fits our large dining table perfectly – bonus is it has a tiled floor so no worries about grandkid-spills on carpet. A door through this sunroom leads, in a few short steps, to the entrance to the room above the garage.
Sunroom – workroom at present!
Interesting that the sunroom was to become our dining room – it did temporarily but soon reverted back to a sunroom which is indeed just that! And the man-about-the-house had something to say about the tiles, too – but more of that later…
Now the kitchen has been removed the old tiles had to be lifted. They were cracked and we will replace all the floor coverings thoughout the house anyway. Guess who was given the job of lifting the tiles? Yep, yours truly! What a horrible job!! Armed with spade, crow bar, ear muffs and some sort of jackhammer I was on to it! Dust, noise, tiles flying everywhere (out the window as I tossed them on to the trailer)…
Judy's Summer Fruit 