Friday 22 November 2013

Reno - Week 24

I must apologise if I have been somewhat absent over the last couple of weeks - I had a child in hospital due to asthma (again) and the next day, same child, a fractured wrist. Mater Hospital - thank goodness you are close by.

We also celebrated another birthday this month - Charlie's 4th which was a very low-key affair this year. I made a batch of mini blueberry friands which he took to Kindy to share with the class. And as usual I made the birthday cake - a 3-tiered sponge cake filled with vanilla cream custard, fresh strawberries and finished off with a light dusting of icing sugar and more strawberries.

To top off an action filled week, the Wi-Fi connection on my iPhone decided to stop working which I only became aware of after I was charged for excess data usage.  A quick trip to the Apple store, as the phone was still under warranty, resulted in a replacement handset  - which five minutes later I discovered was also faulty - back to the Apple store for another replacement handset. Mmmm...Apple you had better lift your game.

So during the time spent caring for a sick child, making full use of the oven, hours spent negotiating with Apple and Telstra, and the usual daily business of managing a household of six, the renovation was still progressing somewhere in the background.

Lots of little unfinished jobs (e.g. skirting boards, flashing, repairing floorboards and vj's etc) were taken care of this week, but importantly the joinery installation commenced this week - starting with the built-in robes in the bedrooms and also the kitchen/scullery cabinets:

Scullery
A free-standing oven will go into the gap. The undermount rangehood and cover (which goes all the way to the ceiling) will be fitted next along with timber shelves that sit on either side. The cabinets will be topped with stainless steel benchtops and white glazed horizontal butcher tiles, subway tiles or whatever you like to call them will fill the walls to the base of the high level windows.

Food storage people!
Our terrace is almost complete - just another course of bricks on the curved wall (the brick floor/stairs will be done towards the end of the build.)


You can see from the photo above we can look straight across into our neighbours yard from our terrace, so to provide some privacy and shade a specimen tree will be planted in front of the semi-circle wall. After a bit of thinking I decided to go ahead with my initial choice and plant a Frangipani. As it will be planted relatively close to the house, it was important to plant a tree with a non-invasive root system that would not damage the footings or drainage. So the other day we took a drive to the Sunshine Coast Frangipani Farm and after a quick walk around the site we selected this advanced tree that stands at 3.5m high:


When it's planted into position, we will look straight into it's canopy - that is when the leaves grow back. Before being transported, most of the foliage is removed to limit the danger of transplant shock. Apparently the leaves grow back in one to two months, as Summer is the peak growing season.

This particular variety is called "Lei Rainbow" a tri-colour and it has the most gorgeous scented flowers:


And also during the week I managed to find some time to knock out a preliminary landscape plan:


The site at the moment is just a patch of dirt so we have hired a contractor to do the majority of the work (e.g. lay turf, install garden edging, plant the trees, shrubs and mulch.) We will fill in the gaps after we move in. We particularly wanted the grass to be somewhat established before moving as the thought of the kids trampling soil and mud through the house makes me feel nauseous.

I've also selected this shade tree for the backyard - it's a Peltophorum or "Yellow Poinciana" to replace the tree that was removed prior to the renovation. As you can see it's another advanced tree that will give us some instant and much needed shade during Summer.

The yellow ribbon tied around the branch indicates it's sold
My plan above happens to include a spot for a fort, and I have something special in mind for that too. But before I proceed are they worth the expense? Do you have a fort and do the kids actually use it?

13 comments:

  1. Someone told me about a great fort option. I will try to remember the details but it is a retired men's club on the south side I think that makes cubbies and then sells them for a really decent price. They will custom make one for you too. And I think they might even deliver! Seems like a really great local, community sort of option!
    I love the trees you picked out...when we walk to the cafe we pass a tri colour frangipani and Toddler C and I always stop to gather some of the fallen flowers...I love the scent.
    And the ribbon around the tree reminds me of picking out Christmas trees back home!

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    1. Thanks C - I've actually got plans for a fort and I'm hoping we will have enough left-over material to construct one quite cheaply. Focus at the moment is getting the house finished! xx

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  2. What a week and you still managed to create a landscaping plan! Such a super mum! It will be so nice to have the yard complete when you move in. We're living in a dust bowl at the moment. I like the look of your tree selections and the fort sounds interesting. Fingers crossed for a calmer week.

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    1. Yep, I'm always thinking 2 steps ahead! I'm hoping for a much more relaxed time in 2014. It has been crazy stressful this year. xx

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  3. Oh it's coming along beautifully!!

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    1. Thanks Katrina. I'm glad we are almost there now - only another 8 weeks to go.xx

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  4. Peltophorum (I've never seen it spelt the way it should be, and have guessed at its spelling!) anyhow. Great shade tree. But very very messy. Best if pruned fairly regulary ie every second year, as it also seems to get dead wood and sticks and limbs easily. And the seed pods, flowers and leaf fall - significant. I grew up with them and mum has ended up cutting all bar one tree down. I have one GIANT tree here in my yard. Which I want to remove as I have others that will take up the slack shade wise with far less mess. If it were right down the back of a 2 acre block I would say it would be a brilliant shade tree.

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    1. Hi Sharon, there are a number of species of Peltphorum - I hope this is one of the better ones. I will certainly be doing some homework before purchasing it. The people at the tree farm assured me it would be fine. The frangipani however has already had a deposit paid on it and is definitely coming. xx

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  5. Sounds like a full on couple of weeks. Hope your child is ok, and that the birthday celebrations went well. LOVE the cabinetry. The robes in our boys' rooms have the same cut out handle detail, but they will have to be done next year once we are in - for reasons of budget and time!! Are your cabinets a 2 pac, with the handle cut out? Looks very simple and classy. Yes, my eldest loved his fort in Adelaide. He still talks about it since being here in Melbourne, and I cannot wait to have a small one put up in our very small back yard with a sandpit attached. Hours of entertainment. I am afraid it may need to wait until after xmas though, as time is running out. I will put some photos up of what inspired me for our new fort/cubby shortly. Good one on the grass, this has been troubling me as well, and I think I will not be able to get organised in time to lay turf out the back. It is going to be messy, oh dear. Look forward to seeing more of your cabinetry this week!

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    1. Hi - Would you believe the kitchen cabinets are Laminex? We ummed and ahhed about the finish, but in the end it came down to budget. I'm really happy with how they have turned out and I love the cut-out handles. The kitchen is such an unconventional design, but I'm sure it will work well - I can't wait to cook my first meal in there. The rest of our joinery is painted MDF. I wouldn't be surprised if your cubby inspiration is the same as mine - our tastes are so similar! xx

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  6. Absolutely gorgeous, I wish our renovation was as extensive as yours! I can't wait to see your finished kitchen.

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    1. Thank you! I've always preferred 'honest' materials in favour of slick/glossy and OTT in a home, including the kitchen. So far it has turned out really well - patiently waiting for benchtops to be fitted. xx

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  7. That's a beautiful Frangipani Caroline, one of fave trees. We actually planted one from a cutting 8 months ago and about two months ago nothing had happened. I was nearly going to pull it out and then bam! it started sprouting leaves and growing like crazy when spring hit. So don't be worried if the leaves take a little longer than 2 months to come back. In between our house and the neighbours there is a massive 'elderly' frangipani' that we are thinking of taking an established cutting from and transplanting at the next house. Which reminds me, I'd love to get your feedback on how the architect process went for your reno, as we are thinking of utilizing one on the next house once we move into it next year. Good luck with the rest of the renovation.

    Cheers, Col

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