Renovation Weekend

Mkay so it wasn't one of the best weekends of my life. It may have been one of the most boring tho o_0

I cancelled all my fixed plans in lieu of renovations and the possibility I would have to head to Cape Town suddenly. And that left me mostly just sitting around with nothing to do. Hindsight is definitely 20/20.

On Friday after work we did the final coat in the last 2 bedrooms of the Plascon Polvin Winter Savana. And we painted the first coat of the Suede Buckskin in the Main Bedroom. And during the day, most of our Kitchen cupboards had been assembled by the carpenter.



Then we collapsed at home.

On Saturday morning The Trucker was up early and off to get everyone working. It was a bit of a disappointment as the tiler thought he still needed to rhinolite, and arrived with no tools. So by the end of Saturday, he had literally only stuck 6 tiles onto the Guest Loo wall o_0

But while we were out doing more shopping (of course!), the Bedroom Cupboard carpenters got started and the bottom Kitchen Cupboards started being fitted.



There wasn't much I could do, so I spent my afternoon at home. And my evening o_0 The Trucker was stuck in there helping until 8pm when the last people left ... they managed to end the evening off by installing our downlighters in the lounge :)

I watched 12 Years a Slave. Oh my word. I can't wrap my head around how cruel people are and were to each other. Even if (by some stretch of the imagination) you thought another person was no better than an animal, what on earth is wrong with you that you think anything about that sort of treatment is even okay for animals!?!

I was also fascinated to learn about Free Blacks (yay Wikipedia to the rescue). Anyway, it's quite a traumatic emotionally draining movie. But good to watch and be horrified by, I think. And I can't imagine trying to return to your regular life 12 years later ... having missed so much, having endured so much. Shew. very hectic viewing, for sure.

On Sunday, it was more of the same. The Trucker was up early, to get everyone started and then headed thru to cricket. While I went to sit at the new house while everyone worked, in case they needed anything. Aside from painting and picking things out, I'm not much help on a construction site, I must say.

After he got back, I went to do the grocery shopping and then had another boring lonely afternoon. Popping in to see the progress once and then heading back in the late afternoon, after everyone had left to do the final coat on our feature Suede wall while The Trucker finished up.

It's looking promising. But not without hiccups. The wall built in the kitchen is about 2cm higher than the cupboards, so that has to be chipped down today. Hopefully the final Granite measurements will be done today. What a hassle trying to get Granite quotes! I phoned about 4 or 5 people on Friday, actually spoke to them, explained our timeline expectations to them. And only one actually sent me the quote back o_0 So we went with the original quote we got from Granite Objects in the end. Based on the pricing I was getting for square and linear meters for the Rustenburg Granite, they were the best price anyway. Here's hoping they get measured today and the granite can go in on Wednesday or Thursday!

I paid the deposit for the carpeting this morning. Also much more than we were expecting. We tried to find a cheaper carpet we liked on Saturday morning, but it ended up being much of a muchness so we're sticking with our original choice, Belgotex Granada Grege. Apparently regardless of the supplier (ours matched Builder's Warehouse, which was the cheapest rate), they have to get the stuff all the way from PE or Martizburg (I forget which). Here's hoping that the carpets can go in on Wednesday or Thursday too!

And today The Trucker is buying our Laminate Wood Flooring. I am not sure when it'll go in. The tiler comes back tomorrow again. I'm off to buy our new Main Bathroom sink this afternoon. We haven't decided on those taps yet (Did I mention that in the Main Bathroom alone, the basin, bath and shower all have a different tap AND the kitchen has another different style too! No consistency, I really don't see a way to get around buying some new taps in my future, my OCD is dying over here)



Oh yes, and then I was pricing oven-hob-extractors online last night. So that's a no to the Thermofan The Trucker had his eye on. And a no to the Ceran Hob I was considering ... since this isn't our "always" house (more likely a house we'll be renting out in less than 5yrs), it doesn't make sense so splurge when we're already over budget. And sometime this week we also need to buy the new shower door and glass wall. Oh great, just called Makro to reserve stock so that I can go buy the oven-hob-extractor we had our eye on ... and there is no stock at ANY of their stores :(

We move in on Friday ... The Trucker's birthday is on Wednesday (luckily both gifts are wrapped and ready and waiting and the restaurant is already booked for dinner!). This is going to be one helluva week.