Progress report.

Well, I have completed my first month of home ownership!

Making the trip down to the house each weekend has been a mostly enjoyable process, despite a couple of traffic snarl-ups around rush hour. (Turns out that even leaving before 6am, I will still hit bad traffic heading into the city). The mornings are beautiful in the countryside though, with mists curling through the valleys, and the sunrise lighting up the tops of the toitoi. And the variety of birds is a delight! Pukekos, kingfishers, tui, fantails, magpies, blackbirds, hawks, finches, waxeyes, moreporks at night, and families of turkeys roaming the hillside opposite the house. I've seen 3 cats so far, but haven't been able to make friends with them. One little black one likes to sit on the road under the street light at night. What a tease!

I've had some weekends of intense work with family, and a couple of lovely times with friends too.

Easter was particularly fun. Of course there had to be an easter egg hunt!

and dinner with the girls.

As luck would have it, the weekend of the first big working bee, was also the first cold night. We picked the right time to install the new flue on the woodburner.

BEFORE:

AND AFTER:

It wasn't until after I'd painted the wall, that I realized those tiles are not white, but pale grey! They do look less-than-lovely. Fortunately, the wall is not staying that colour, it's just an undercoat. I'm not sure what colour it will end up. Or what colour to put on the trim around the tiles? I want the room to feel both warm, and light and airey. So.... yellow? Or cream? Warm white? Terracotta? Mushroom? I don't know.
It's hard not to get ahead of myself. To prioritize the needs over the wants. The needs are:
1. A proper shower that works. Not just a handhose connected to the bath taps with a dodgy arrangement of shower curtains and no sealant.
2. An oven. The one that came with the house, well, I was too scared to use it. Half the grill was sitting on top of the cupboard. It was older than I am. And none too clean. We pulled it out. The hob too. Which was actually not a hob at all, but the top cut off a standing stove and bodged onto the bench, with burn marks underneath. At least I actually have a stove to replace it with. Mum and Dad's old one. But first I have to line the wall behind it. Still thinking about that one.
3. The roof. It scares me too! Although there were no apparent leaks when it rained, there have definitely been leaks in the past, and the purlins in the gable are rotten and spaced too far apart. The house has had 3 lean-to additions on top of each other, and you can tell. Replacing the gable part is the first priority, as it's where the leaks have occurred. It's also the most expensive thing I will have to do initially.

There are a million little things that need to be purchased. So of course, no saving is going on right now. Except in the "that's a bargain! I better buy it." sense of the word. Like the showerhead/hand shower and connector set that I got at the op-shop for $15 when I'd just been looking at $90 ones at the plumbing warehouse. I only hope it's the right sort! I'd love to put in one of these:

But I think what I'm going to be able to afford, is one of these:

Not a new one either! Oh well, my birthday is coming up. You never know. ;-)

Also on the progress front, a tree was cut down, some old felled trees cut into logs to store for firewood, and garage doors!

Dad and Uncle with their handywork.

After a hard days work....

...cooking dinner in the rediculouslly large kitchen.