Month 3 Update

We've been living in the new house for three months now.  It's been three months since the last photo update.  Coincidentally, it took over four months for Telecom, Chorus, VisionStream, and the Auckland Supercity Council to finish tripping over eachother and actually get our phone lines connected to the net work (despite the fact that the telephone exchange building is literally directly across the street from our driveway).

Anyway, recap: 
First, we got some helpers and moved all of the stuff in, like so:

We also moved some plants up, which promptly took over the concrete porch.  (They will get another home eventually, honest).

Brie found a chicken coop for sale cheap and snatched it up.  (There were actually more people, trucks, and heavy lifting involved than that makes it sound, but we got it in place eventually).

Then she painted it.  Unfortunately I have no close-up photos on hand, but you can see bits of planting we've started, as well.  The sugarcane to the left towers over most of the little trees we've planted in that shelter belt.

 The dirt piles and dug-out areas around the foundation were smoothed and filled in (eventually).

 Also, the drought ended so everything isn't brown anymore:

There have been misty days (looking south out of the bedroom).

 And nice sunrises (east from the bedroom window):

Also some pretty rainy days (looking northwest from the front door)...

 Most recently, we put in a 2.4 x 6 m twin-wall polycarbonate greenhouse to over-winter the more sensitive trees (not a moment too soon given recent dips to 5 degrees).

 And the cardboard the ends were packed in doubles as a bit of makeshift weedmat for the interior, to boot!

Which brings us up to date.  I really need to get some photos of the plantings we've started.  We've put in close to 200 trees since we moved in, mostly shelter around the edges but a decent start on the fruit trees as well.  Next time.

Day 159 - Practical Completion

So the house hit practical completion on Friday.  Technically we've still got the carpet being installed on Monday and the electricity being switched from the builder's temporary pole to the house on Tuesday, but as far as the actual builders are concerned, all is finished. 

Kitchen cooktop and rangehood are in (it's not actually blue, that's just the protective plastic they ship it in, thank goodness.

The engineered wood flooring has all been installed.

Dining room.

Fireplace is in, just waiting on the back panel to arrive (they inadvertently sent us the wrong one...)

Even the linen cupboard is all good to go!

Concrete has been poured for the areas outside the doors.

 View from northeast.

 View from south.

So that's it, building is done and we look to be moving in around Wednesday!

Day 144 - Sparkies

Day 144 and the electrician is in over these three days to put in all the outlets and wire in appliances etc.  Bulkhead lights on the outside.  (We're almost in the house, judging from the photo)

Outlets!  Power sockets!  Ethernet!  TV cable!  (Not that we will use the TV cable, but it seemed a good idea to wire it into the house during the build, in case we ever need it or sell the place.)

Ethernet, TV cable, and eight electrical outlets per room, at least two on each wall.

Recessed lighting in living room/kitchen/halls etc.

Bathroom.  Still need to pick up the heated towel rails for these, though.

Ensuite.

 Bathroom lighting, vents, and heat lamps.

 Ceiling fans in the bedrooms!  Oh how I've missed ceiling fans over the hot summers here.

The sparky is finishing up today, and the concrete is being ground and sealed in preparation for the wood flooring to go down next week.  With a bit of luck we'll have handover in two weeks!

Day 137 - Tiling

Day 137 - Very brief update: the bathroom tiling has been completed.

That's pretty much all there is to see in photos.  Still, kitchen and bathrooms installed in the course of a single week, can't complain!

Day 131 - Kitchen

Day 131.  Not much in the way of visible change from the outside anymore, but inside things are proceeding rapidly.

Though, that being said, they have finished painting the south side of the house, so there have been some changes...

This morning, I got some photos of what had been delivered yesterday afternoon:  our kitchen!

Stacked in piles around the living room, all ready to be installed.

Then at midday, I stopped by to get some more photos, and lo and behold they'd gotten it all installed already!

Including the pantry:

View from the living room:

View from kitchen door:

Admittedly it will look better once the appliances are in place, but at least it actually looks like a kitchen now!


In addition, the shower/laundry tub/toilets/vanities/etc were also delivered in Friday afternoon.  Given that the tiling is meant to happen late next week, I expect these to be installed around Monday/Tuesday.

Day 128 - Painted into a corner

Day 128, and the north side of the house has been fully painted.

Also the downpipes have been connected.

View from the northeast.  Eastern side of the house is not yet painted, alas.

Nor, for that matter, is the south side!

However, all the scaffolding is finally down, allowing an unhindered view of the house for the first time.

View of the front entrance:

Inside, there are several boxes of door handles.

And doors in which they will eventually reside, arrayed like some sort of surrealist art installation:

The interior has been pretty much fully painted at this stage.  Wall color is Half Tea.  Here is the garage:

 The moldings are looking quite spiffy:

Living room area:

 View from the kitchen, towards front door:

 View from front door in towards kitchen, with it's Jalapeno paint job:

View from living room, down hall towards garage:

 View of dining room from kitchen:

 View of living area and kitchen from the hallway. 

The kitchen itself should be arriving around Friday, with installation early next week.  I suspect that means that the electrics will be fitted in either late this week or early next.  Bathroom tiles likely to go down late next week.  The rest of the flooring will follow, once all the tradespeople have finished everything that requires them to tromp back and forth around the place.

Not long now!