More Progress

The ceiling and wall work in the front bedroom has been completed and the room has been handed over to me for painting and estapol.

I did a pretty good job in sanding back the large (130 mm wide) skirting boards to the point where varnishing or oiling rather than painting is feasible.  The room had only 2 power points at opposite corners and I cut openings in the skirting for 2 more.  Paul rebated the inside lower edge of the boards to enable us to run the cabling from the live points along the rebates behind the boards to the new power points.

Living Room Ceiling

New Ceiling on Battens

Yesterday I laid the first coat of paint on that ceiling.  Paul had prudently asked me to spend an hour filling in gaps between the cornices and ceiling & walls, and it looks like the ceiling is ready for the second (and perhaps final) coat without the need for remedial work.

There is still much work to be done it that room.  I've got to paint the walls, sand around the windows and paint them, re-sand then either oil or varnish the skirting boards, install the GPO's and light switch, and fit the new overhead light.  After that I'll re-sand the floor, fill in the nail holes, then lay down 2 coats of 2-part estapol.

There will be a similar pattern of work for the living room, hallway, and second bedroom (office), which will represent many hours of work by me, who is very good at this sort of work, but very very slow and methodical.  In the meantime Paul has started work in the living room.  He started off by cutting out the center of the molding that had surrounded the neon light.  At this point half of the ceiling and half of the walls have been covered with gyprock sheeting.

Progress was made on the kitchen counter.  On Tuesday a representative of ACT (Australian Counter Tops) visited for inspection and detailed measurements.  On Wednesday the new sink arrived and on Thursday I delivered it to the ACT premises at Bayswater, who wanted it on had before started the expensive computer-controlled cutting process.  On the way back from Bayswater I visited Bunnings and by the end of the day I had received the quotation for the ACT work ($3686), accepted it, and paid the entire amount over the telephone with my Visa card.  As of then work on the counter top and back splash could begin.  (The $3686 was a welcome reduction of $427 from the original quotation, due to our decision to have a wide opening into the kitchen.)

At this point I have spend $9187.24 on the kitchen cabinets, counter top &  back splash, oven, cooker top, sink, and fume extractor.  This does not include Paul's labour, lighting, painting, and a visit by and electrician to split the 2 phase wiring and connect the single phase oven and cooker.

New Cornice (Coping) in Front Bed Room

To date I have spent $28, 227 on the renovation with the roofing and bulk of the expensive kitchen project behind me.  This and the $9,000 that I spent on the SUV have put a big dent in my war chest of cash which, fortunately, was fairly hefty.  That's a lot cheaper than the $300,000 cost of changing to that town house near Fremantle that I had my eye on, which would have forced me to sell the investment rental property in Rockingham.  There are still some very big items ahead, namely the re cladding (ie re siding) of the house and new concrete driveway which I expect to be horrendously expensive.  But these expenses will be spread over time and I just may be able to complete the renovation without having to sell any assets.

Unfortunately, progress on the renovation will slow down for a while.  Paul will work on Monday to finish the paneling of the living room and some necessary work on the kitchen side of the hallway.  But I will not see him for the rest of the week because he has urgent work associated with the recent bush fires. Fortunately I will be able to work alone on the much painting to be done.

Worse, I expect to be unavailable for a period of 3.5 weeks from 11 Feb to 8 March.  I need to make a few days available from 11 March in order to spend time with Nigel and Patrick, who will be visiting from Vancouver.  On about 16 April Brenda and I will set off on a late start to catch up with the group of boats of the annual Bunbury Cruise, which will be then be at Geographe Bay.  We expect to leave the group a couple of days early and could be back in Perth on perhaps 6 March.

Yes, there is much to do in the house and being absent for over 3 weeks will be painful.  However, I have been driving myself very hard since I began work on the property in September and I could use the break.  Also, I have not had the boat out to sea since my rrival in Fremantle last April.  It will be got to take the boat out again and re establish contact with my fellow cruisers at my favourite event of the club.