our kitchen renovation - day 5

Now I've decided to count my renovation days as the days when work is actually being done as it will be easier to archive rather than telling you that on day 54 nothing happened! So day 5 is Saturday and the lovely electrician Drew was here doing all the power and lighting for the new space. I must admit that creating a new space for the kitchen does mean more work and more costs but it's going to be so worth it. It was getting really exciting marking out where the island would go and benches would end and roughly where the pendants would hang.

I also love that all the people involved offer me advice when I give them a blank look or hadn't thought too hard about something. Take lighting and downlights. I had wanted downlights all over but we had some serious problems with downlights in our old house so after hearing all the downlight options have decided on fluroscent downlights set in 3 banks of lighting so I can use some or all.

And of course my pendant lights will go in over my island. At last I've found a sydney stockist with reasonaly priced pendants to suit a hamptons style kitchen. I don't want to be a slave to the hamptons theme (ok, maybe I'm just saying that) but I also want everything to be in keeping with the style. I found some parisian pendants in brushed nickel on Schots but they don't deliver to Sydney.  But I just found a sydney stockist so 3 of these babies will be hopefully be hanging over my island.  I'm happy my late night researching came to fruitition

I decided to not go with the antler lights! Kind of not my style!

And that was day 5. The builders are back here today (monday) to do the ceilings and will finish up this week. I kind of missed the noise and action and people being around on Friday which sounds crazy. Maybe it's nice having some adult company around the house and getting to chat to them - not too much mind you!

honey, date and cashew cake

I'm really missing baking at the moment as I try to lose a little weight so I'm on the hunt for healthy baking recipes, found one but needed to jazz it up a bit and the finished product......delicious. A real winner with some butter or margerine on it. The kids and I are loving it for morning and afternoon tea. This recipe is my version of the Date loaf from Healthy Eating with Cyndi O'Meara. I baked mine like a cake but ate it like a loaf so wasn't sure what to call it! you can call it loaf or cake.....

Honey, date and cashew cake
250g dates

80g cashews

220g water

160g honey

320g self raising flour

1 egg

generous splash of vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a loaf or square tin. Place your dates and cashews in the TM bowl or a food processor and processs for 8 seconds on speed 8 or until finely chopped. I liked chunky nut bits in my loaf so don't overprocess. Now if you have a thermomix then add water and cook for 3 minutes at 80 degrees on reverse and speed soft. If you don't have a  thermomix then heat the date mixture and water for 5 minutes on a medium heat.

Leave your date mixture to cool then add in flour, egg and vanilla and stir for 10 seconds on speed 5. If you don't have a thermomix then just tip in remaining ingredients into your cooled date and water mixture and combine well. Pour into your lined tray and bake 35-45 minutes when a knife comes out clean. This won't brown too much on the top but when it's cooked right through and golden on top it's ready to come out of the oven. Cool on rack and serve. Delicious hot and cold and even better spread with something.

I knit another cardigan for elodie!

Woohoo! Another finished cardigan for little Elodie. I'm on a roll. This is actually the third baby kina I've knit but the first for Elodie. It's such a sweet and easy pattern. Knit all in one piece from the top down. You just need to know how to knit, purl, increase and do some yarn overs for buttonholes. Great for beginners. I also love how modern it looks too.

I knit this in Bendigo Cotton 8 ply, the gorgeous colour is Blush. A very pretty coral colour that suits her perfectly. I knit this on a short 3.75mm circular needle rather than 4mm as I find the cotton doesn't stretch as much eventhough the recommended needle size for the 8 ply cotton is 4mm. I also cast on with a smaller needle like a 3mm to get a nice cast on edge.

And now I'm ready to cast on another one for summer! You can never have too many sweet little cardigans when you are one. Ravelry details are here, yarn here and pattern available here.

I'd love to hear what you are knitting this summer...........

our kitchen renovation - day 4

Well day 4 was a bit crazy for me. It's Thursday and that is generally my day! I do step class, the shops and a few errands without the kids. Our lovely Fernanda minds the little ones. Today I did half an hour at the gym so I could then make a trip to the lock and handle store to get several locks, handles and latches. I was totally the blonde who had no idea what I needed and just said things like the other bit that goes on that bit and so on. But we made it and 'I did good'. Everything the builder needed

Gyprock went on walls, corners were finished, french doors went in and other small jobs went on. I also sat down and wrote a timeline of when everyone could come in to do their jobs before the kitchen is installed and I'm happy to say I have 2 1/2 weeks to get my other jobs in. Unfortunately it wasn't until I was lying in bed (where I obviously do all my thinking) that I realised the kitchen is delivered and installed on the dates when we're supposed to be in Melbourne for Mathilda's Market and my trade show. Delaying the kitchen until the following week pushes out my completion date a little too close to Christmas for me.

Now the builders won't be here today as the rest of the gyprock and guys to help with the ceilings won' t be here till monday so I'm going to enjoy using my toilet in peace and quiet not worried someone might come in accidentally and just make the most of it. So I'll make day 5 on saturday when the electrician is in.

our kitchen renovation - day 2 + 3

Well day 2 started with me thinking I had a bit of time up my sleeve since the builder said he'd be there 9.30, turns out he really meant but I might come at 7.30 so he was greeted by a very surprised me in my summer pj's (read it was a hot night and I wasn't wearing much). I raced upstairs, dressed and moved the car! 

lots more rubble was moved, another skip arrived and was filled, the supporting beams were installed, the last bits of the ensuite came out - bye bye daggy brown 70's ensuite that we never used except in emergency toilet situations. Unfortunately it also meant there is no floor there so my plan to do flooring after the kitchen was installed won't work now.

oh and another night in the loungeroom! the kids are terrified of going upstairs and who can blame them when mummy keeps thinking she can hear noises from under the house. I really don't help the situation.

day 3 and the work moved upstairs. What? What are doing upstairs? Well we decided while the builder was here to build us a wall to make upstairs 3 bedrooms and a bathroom rather than 2 rooms,  a rumpus and bathroom. Keira has been dying for her own room - sorry Keira but Tillie loves sharing with you. Putting the wall and door in was just nice timing. But another little thing on the budget - I have a whole blog post coming up on your renovation budget. Trust me. Everyday I need to go back to the spreadsheet and add things in. That 10% contingency is coming in handy.

And I'd just like to say that daddy changed the paper flower and decided to tie it straight to the roof so the kids couldn't play with it. I hate it. I have other plans. Now day 3 meant decisions on the french doors, paying the deposit on the floors and panicking because the floors will need to go in before the kitchen. Hearing from the builder that retro daddy shouldn't paint just to keep costs down but get a professional in. Telling retro daddy he'll need to pay for the painter. That sort of thing went on.

And that was day 2 + 3. Still early days and I'm getting used to it, there is a lot of noise but not too much disruption and I'm happy to be here to answer the questions. The kids peek their heads around the door and can't say anything they are still in shock everytime they peek their head around. Even elodie strains her head to get a look in. It still doesn't feel real that I'm finally getting the space I've always wanted but it's coming along and I'm learning a lot along the way.

my VW bus, Caltex Vortex and a retro commercial!

Sponsored by Nuffnang

How can I say no a sponsored post when it's about the petrol I use in my car. And how can I say no when it's a chance to tell you how much I love my new car. It's been over 6 months since I've been driving my VW Multivan and I'm still loving it and still commenting on how much I love it. I know a few of you with large families have asked for a review on it and really I wouldn't advice you to get anything else as we are loving it so much. Even when we go away for a long weekend, holiday or a market we have so much room left in after suitcases and children.

And one of the things I do love about the Multivan is that it's run on diesel. One full tank of diesel in the Multivan means I could drive from Sydney to the Gold Coast or Sydney to Melbourne on one tank. No stopping. But of course with my lot we'd have to stop 10 times just to keep them happy. But it means I don't have to fill up each week and that is efficient in itself as I can go up to 3 weeks without filling up. And I've just learnt that you get more mileage from a tank of Diesel full stop so there you go, I learnt something new today!

Now that we have the multivan on lease we use a fuel card to Caltex and use Vortex Premium. I always go to the same Caltex petrol station and have for many years because their prices are the best and they are a small friendly station. But I must admit that I've never paid attention to what makes the diesel better. I leave that to retro daddy.

I'll never forget leaving the car dealership with the car - the salesman also drives a multivan and put the fear of 'a higher power' into me - 'never, ever, ever put petrol instead of diesel into your car and turn on the engine'. If you make a mistake and put petrol into your car then you need to empty it, rinse it out and then put diesel in or call the NRMA. Or in my case just call retro daddy quick and be a damsel in distress. So moral of the story don't put the wrong fuel in your car.

Ok so what have I learned about Vortex Premium - it's better for your car because it cleans as you drive and because it removes deposits from your engine your car drives faster and longer per tank.  And then over time your car will drive better. That has to keep everyone happy. Oh and I love this - apparently it doesn't smell as strong as regular diesel so even when you're filling up at the station it's not as smelly. That must be for the girls. Don't you think!  You (or your husband if he does the car stuff) can find out more about Caltex Vortex Premium here. But I can't write a post on Caltex without sharing this gem with you.

 

This is an honest to goodness ad from the olden days.................enjoy. They don't make them like they used to!

our kitchen renovation - day 1

Well day 1 is over and welcome to my war zone. I really didn't know what to expect when I opened the door to see what they'd been up to after they'd left. I'd hear bricks fall, tiles smash, things drop, people coming and going, the water was turned off for most of the day which meant I really had to go to the gym whether I liked it or not, the twins kept asking to play out the back which they couldn't, the ipad got a good workout, strangers were using my bathroom and for elodie it was life as usual with a few startled looks from her when things got noisy

so 1 day down and 30 to go?  But the builders got through so much work in one day. It took my breath away when I opened the door and saw how much had been done. Swear words were running through my head when I looked up!

Of course it's so dusty and full of rubble that none of the kids wanted to go upstairs, then I realised the stair light wasn't on and I couldn't find the torch so had to carry a candle around to get upstairs. So we all slept in the loungeroom. Today I'm off to get a torch and airbed just in case they don't want to go up again.

And thank you for your encouraging comments yesterday. They will definitely keep me going and keep me positive during the whole process. I know this is the worst part. And  yes we are staying while they do the work. 

And that was day one!

the builders have arrived!

This morning was the start of the new me - the me that gets up at 6am, showers and moves the car out of the driveway at 7am. Let's see how long this lasts!

 

But I'm battling a serious case of butterflies as the reality sinks in. I felt sick to the stomach this morning rather than super excited. Retro daddy has left for the week and I wish he was here.

One month of renovations, people coming and going the entire time, walls coming down, potential problems and my biggest fear that rats or mice are going to come running out of walls and up to my bedroom!

Don't laugh, we had rats in our ceiling when we moved in and retro daddy announced on the weekend that he heard scratching!

Can you tell we've never done this before. Can you believe how much BROWN we've been living with!

We've always bought houses where the work was done for us but I know it's worth it. I keep thinking of the final product.

I quickly grabbed my camera and took the last before shots in morning light. I can't believe it's all happening but I'm so glad we got all the packing done and have empty rooms in time.

Fingers crossed................

our kitchen renovation - before

Well I thought it would be fun to keep track of our kitchen renovation right here on my little blog! I promise not to bore you with very exciting things like installing steel beams in my ceiling. But getting a new kitchen and turning 4 rooms into 1 is very exciting. We have spent the entire weekend packing, moving things out and wishing we had a garage. We don't. We needed to find homes for everything and it was quite the task. We finally finished at about 9pm and the builders arrive 7.30 tomorrow.

And you know my last post about how in love we are.....um yep well there wasn't much love by 9 o'clock moving all that furniture around and telling retro daddy he still had things to do. And writing that has just reminded me that I haven't emptied his sports trophies out of the bar yet! oops better go and do that now.

So, our current kitchen is at the front of the house but we are putting it out the back and turning half the downstairs into a large open plan area. It's no small job and the builder gets the biggest chunk of our budget

 

this wall is coming down....and not soon enough

I just asked them to stand together!

this bathroom is coming out

bye bye bar - no retro daddy you are not getting a bar again

wall coming out and sliding doors to be replaced with white french doors

all coming out

I still can't believe it's all happening. It just seems as if I was going to have a brown 70's wooden kitchen forever. Let the fun begin............