Freya-proofing the house

As Freya starts to pull up on everything it is time to get our act together and start to baby-proof the house. Aaron, with the help of his dad Ralph, have built us a set of cupboards for the book shelves to sit on top. Today we finally carried it up to the house and assembled it.

Aaron and Ralph cutting up the wood

The finished cupboards with the bookshelves on top.

Freya checking out the cupboard

First step....now we have to put locks on the cupboards....

Mini-Makeover

Preparing for the baby provided a bit of an excuse to do some tidying up of a few things around the house.

The study became the baby's room. All the desks and Lego moved out to make way for the cot, change table and nursing chair. I also removed all the bookshelves and repainted the room. The bassinet will start out in the bedroom with us.

Baby's room

I made the change table with bits and pieces left over from the closet.

Change table

At the end of last year I ordered some more kit-set shutters. Last month I put them together and installed them in the other two bedrooms. No more curtains in the house.

More shutters

We also ordered a new front door. The original had warped a bit and didn't seal properly any more. The new door is made of cedar so will hopefully fade with time to look more like the weather boards. I also replaced the balustrade capping with cedar boards as well. The existing cap was pine, painted blue. The paint had begun to chip and peel and wasn't looking so good. This should also silver with time and look more like the other cedar bits.

New front door

Reclaiming the Slope

Summer is teasing us and on days like today Aaron has been out in the sunshine trying to re-tame the garden after the neglect of the winter... removing all the weeds and planting some new plants in the hope that eventually we will cover the slope so well that the weeds don't have a chance.... ;) we can live in hope! It is a great time of year with garden coming back to life and the veggies all coming through. I just hope that the inclement spring weather (usually very windy) doesn't destroy too many of the plants... that is why we keep a few in the greenhouse as back up to replace any that get decimated!

Bring on summer and nice days in the garden and outside!

New wardrobe

After many, many months we finally installed the wardrobe in our bedroom that Aaron has been building in his wood working class and the garage over Christmas. They say if you want perfection you have to be patient.... I have been very patient... and it has turned out great.

It was a bit of a brain tease to get the sections in to the house, down the corridor and around all the the corner in to the bedroom.

The cats also enjoyed helping out....checking out all the new draws and shelves.

Safi sitting in a drawer

Mifi sitting in the drawers

Mifi helping Aaron screw it all together

Another impressive piece of furniture built by Aaron.... now he needs to reclaim the garage from the sawdust and left over pieces of wood ;)

Shutters

We have the same problem in the bedroom as in the lounge - how to block out light and still let the breeze in. I found these kit-set shutters on line and thought we could give them a try.  I ordered them several months ago and they finally arrived on Friday.

Some of the pieces

First one assembled

All mounted up

And opened up

We are pretty happy with the shutters. We have to orde another set for the spare bedroom.

Projects progress

Today is the first day of my 'retirement'. I have a feeling I am going to be busier in my retirement than I was when employed. Sometimes I was happy to go back to work on Monday as it gave me chance to recover from the long weekends activities.

Here are a few pictures of where some of the projects I have been working on are up to.

Patchy grass growth

The last of the dirt has been removed and grass planted. Some of the starter soil was old and the cats liked it as well so the new growth is rather patchy. Hopefully it will fill in a bit more.

Cleared and ready for gravel

The north side of the house will get weed mat and gravel as well as few pavers so you can walk around the house in bare feet.

First look at the wardrobe doors

The wardrobe doors have made it to the painting stage. I don't like painting and tend to rush this part, but since I am going to have to look at these things every morning when I wake up, I figure I better take my time and do a good job. Here they have had a primer coat and I have filled in some of the holes from knots.

Drawers for the inside of the wardrobe

Here are all the drawers (minus one that will go in the middle). They are sitting on the plywood that will become the carcass. I still need to cut, paint and attach the drawer faces. So lots still to do...

Thanksgiving

The guest of honour

Dessert time!

Mifi checking out the stroller

Helen playing LEGO with Elsa, Thomas and Olive

Garden progression

A new top for the an old wall

Full height has now been achieved

Some new flax to help hold the slope in place

Still need to finish back-filling

Wall in the front garden

Looking up the north side of the house

Spring in the garden

While Helen has been traipsing around Europe, I have been holding down the fort back in Wellington. Apart from a couple nasty southerly storms it has even been pretty nice. I have been working in the garden all the weekends Helen has been away.

Late afternoon sun on the extension

Not sure what this plant is

Marlborough Daisies getting ready to bloom

A block wall growing on the bottom terrace

A retaining wall post sprouting near a shrinking block wall

An infestation of retaining wall posts

Even more - they're everywhere!

Skirting boards are finished

I finally finished the skirting boards. The nails have all been punched in, filled and painted. The spare room can now be put back together. Next up is the built in wardrobe in our room. I am going to build a bunch of drawers and then hang some sliding doors as well.

Given the warm winter weather, we actually spent some time in the garden getting it ready for spring. I built some new borders for the garden and turned the soil that is there.

The madarin and lemon trees are doing okay. They lost all their leaves in big storm in June, but the fruit are all still there. Helen has had several mandarin and I think we have had a few lemons as well.

Today I went for a wee bike ride. It was warm enough to ride in short sleeves. Pretty crazy considering it is the middle of winter. It does not bode well for our ski trip next weekend.