Hello 2011!
After a little blogging break I am back ready and raging to go!
This year is set to be a big one at the Pickle Farm. Our long awaited renovations have finally begun!
The digging of the first hole for the foundations was cause for celebration! And, as each subsequent hole has been dug, I’ve let myself celebrate a little more. I’ve waited so long for this to begin I hardly believe it has. I know the end is a long long LONG way off but the beginning fills me with hope…
We are doing most of the work ourselves.
I know the phrase ‘owner builder’ strikes fear into the heart of even the toughest of people…. but we are braver than most, I hope.
We have done it before, though not on this scale, and not with four children, but The Father Figure enjoys this kind of stuff and he’s good at it. And me? Well I’m going to work on being positive no matter what and at not being too picky and perfectionist about it all. I’m hopeful that we have realistic expectations of what is involved, how long it will take and what we can achieve.
One of the biggest downfalls of being an owner builder is that it’s all up to us. There is no one to blame but each other when something goes wrong. There is no one to call to fix problems or deal with set backs. It’s just him and me.
That is why I spent a good hour this morning crawling around in the mud and the rain bucketing water off the plastic covering our precious stump holes and wishing it would stop raining. I came inside cold, wet and covered in mud…. and feeling lucky that a few flooded stump holes were all I had to deal with today and not the devastation the huge floods have caused in Queensland.
So this year is already proving to be challenging and exciting and I am sure there is more to come!
What big things are set to happen for you this year?
Good luck with all your reno’s !
Owner building renos are a lot of fun (sometimes NOT).
Goodluck and it is exciting when it all goes to plan.
Remember to treat for pesky termites we (hub) didn’t in our little shed and in 2-3 weeks we were away they have eaten all behind the timber architraves and bits we used to cover the gyprock joins- sneaky buggers never eat right through.
At least they want eat gyrock or the insulation panels we used for frame- no danger of anything falling down.
ohhhhhhhh exciting!!!!!
woot! all the best for your renovations ! :)
my boy starts school this year and i have plans to go back to work, so there will be a lot of changes.
Best of luck. Hopefully we get some dry weather through the rest of summer so you can get a good start.
We’ve built before, but never done a live-in renovation – yes, you are braver than most. Good luck!!
I’m going to back to part-time work as a pe teacher this year. So Meerkat is off to daycare. Should be a very big year for us – but hopefully a really good one :-)
xxxCate
I am so excited for you Kate and look forward to following this big adventure
How exciting!
I’m sending you loads of good luck – you’ll need it. Only joking. We’ve been owner building (an extension) SLOWLY for around 6 years now. I love that the home IS us, but I don’t like that the home often took over our life. We had our kitchen & our laundry in a bedroom for almost two years. We’ve made a few mistakes, but we just laugh at them now. Enjoy :-)
That is so cool .. I have done much surfing and commenting lately, but I will today. Very exciting and I can’t wait to see the photos of the work in progress.