Old photos of the shed in its heyday.

My neighbour grew up in the house next door and remembers playing in this shed and it being reshingled. I asked her for photos of the shed and she has provided me with a treasure trove of images. 

Christmas holidays 2013.....

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas period. It has been by far the most productive Christmas ever. Since my last post I have:

#1) Built the back kitchen wall and bulkheads.

Angus and Erin fooling around

Angus made himself a cubby and pulley system to drag all sorts of things up. He lived perched up there for weeks.  

#2) Cleaned and waxed all exposed beams. 

This was an awful job. 100yrs of dust brushed away at 12,000rpm. It took a lot of effort just to hold on to the angle grinder as it vibrated my hands to jelly. Gave myself carpel tunnel for the rest of the holidays. I am hoping it clears up as soon as school starts and I have given them a good rest. End result was awesome. 

Made my own bees wax polish! I found the recipe on the NSW department of primary industry website: Making beeswax furniture polish. 

This is the end result. I used about 2 litres of polish to cover all my posts and the pine turpentine gave it a lovely smell.  Saved myself a bundle.

It went on best when it was still warm. 

#3) Finally weatherboarded the front of the shed! This was a tricky job as I had multiple angles to deal with. The finishing touches make such a difference. 

#5) I covered the front verandah. I used a clear laserlite to allow the maximum winter sun in, it has a very insubstantial feeling walking underneath it. 

#6) Plumber, electrical, and building inspector came... after they had all finished their holidays : ) 

#7) Put up the insulation. I HATE THIS JOB! From now on I am going to buy the more expensive non itchy stuff. I have had enough of the mask, googles, long sleeves, hat, and sweat! My face was nicely exfoliated by the end of this job. 

#8) Then I received some fantastic help from my father-in-law, Will Meure and Logan sheeting up the kitchen. Thanks guys couldn't have done it without you. Also a bit thanks to Stan Watson for the loan of his screw gun. Man I love that gun! We didn't get it all done but it is a great start. 

#9) And that is not to mention Christmas, New year, two birthdays, Blake visiting, and the research and in some cases purchase of all my lighting, ovens, cooktop, range hood, rock wall, deck, and cat. 

Well sadly I need to lay my hammer up for another school year, though my body really really appreciates it. Lots of finishing off to do this year and I hope that by the end of the year I have this room finished and some money left. The goal still will be to get a fireplace in before winter! 

The fiddle is over… for now

Finally i have finished redoing things and have hit building mode. Yay! It was a busy last term of the school year so I haven't got a lot done in that time or had time to blog much. The main accomplishments were sistering up new rafters and battening the roof. The back skillion roof took ages to batten as i had to string line and shim out each batten on each rafter. It took ages and had lots of fiddle, but the end result is a straight and flat roof to line with plaster.

In the gable end it was a lot easier. I sistered up the rafters in two nights after school and battened them in one day. I am finding that with this part of the house it is impossible to hide the wonky shed. So this room will have a few interesting angles to it. I have ordered insulation and booked in the electrician and lighting consultant. 6 weeks before schools starts, with christmas and preparing for school next year i am unsure how much i will get done but i might finally finish the verandah and start the hearth for the fireplace. I love this part of the building.

Abigail at 11 months watching daddy work… 

The time consuming skillion roof. 

I have cut out a trench in my slab to get power to the island bench that will be there. 

My pond is GONE!

Well after nearly a year of debating between my pond and Heathers pool we finally came to the conclusion to knock in the pit. I was very sad to see it go.

The pit was part of the original structure of the apple shed. It was used as a pit to wash the apples. It was 1.8m x 4m x 3.5m. It was a big pit. I have been trying to salvage the heritage of this place since i have started but having such a big pit just outside your front door was a bit too dangerous for my liking so in came Trent Lovell, our digger, to knocked the whole thing in and tidy it all up. Must say one thing I am happy about is not having all the cement rubble out my front door!

Tragedy and blessings

Well it has been one heck of a school holidays... it all began with Brigham having a serious incident on the farm. So no building was done by me in the holidays as it was spent in hospital or helping Brigham. He is doing well and is in high spirits but will have to adjust to some changes in his life. We have been blessed by all the support and help we have received during this

But from tragedy comes blessings. We are so appreciative of all the support and help we have received during this difficult time. A big thanks to everyone. So again my 2 weeks of building looked like it was going by the wayside again due to injury however in came in some friends to save the day. I had a builder from my local church rally the troops and he put in two days work to strip, strap and weatherboard my back verandah which is what I had planned for these holidays. I am so grateful for all those who helped and assisted in this. They did a fantastic job and I will be eternally grateful for their kindness and sacrifice.

The other thing that happened in the holidays was the glazier finally came over and finished the job. The triangle is finally in and now I can start to clad the outside and finish the verandah.

The incident also coincided with my parents visiting from America! So my dad helped me tie down the bottom plate. Being sandstone we have had to drill 200mm into the stone and then anchor it with threaded rod and epoxy.

More glazing

Good things come to those who wait... so this must be really really good because i have been waiting for ever! It is great to see the front space evolve as the doors and windows go in. It has transformed from a shed into a room-to-be.

Some sound advice I found in a magazine at a doctors.... 

The third and final door is in!

Look what the glaziers are working on next : )