The Heart of the home

To this point I had been concentrating on the Bathroom because I needed to get that done because I need to move into the house as quickly as possible and a bathroom is fairly necessary to make it habitable.

The second big job on my to do list is the Kitchen; it is said that the kitchen is the heart of the home, the beating center. This is very true of my parents kitchen, when anyone is over the kitchen is generally the first area  where we stop and talk. Everything happens in our kitchen, if i look back over the years we cook and we eat there but we've also spent hours talking; about life, about problems , about people and about nonsense. Primary school, high school  and university assignments have been done on the dining table along with all kinds of other work; school reports get written, plans and sketches have been drawn even computers dismantled and rebuilt. The room has played host to big family lunches and dinners, bible studies, Christmas year after year, birthdays and pretty much any other event that's been held at our place. at 3:00am on a given Saturday night the evening events will be discussed in whispers in the kitchen and I have laughed so much in that room that several times I have ended up on the polished wood floor trying to catch my breath. I wonder how much the kitchen in my little house has seen?

The houses Kitchen isn't really positioned for that Kind of use its small and off to one side however I think that it could be quite a bit more inviting so with a bit of work I think we can get this room beating strongly and at the very least become a place where you'd be happy to fix yourself a snack or help yourself to drink while you listen in to the voices of friends coming from the lounge room.
 

To save myself money I am re-using as much of the old kitchen units as possible, and building a new benchtop out of timber myself. I will also (for lack of a better word) 'make over' the old doors with a new finish and handles to give the whole room a much fresher look.

Greater than the sum of its parts (2)

It has now been almost two months since I last posted, there are a number of reasons for that, one is that I have spent most of my free time doing other stuff (some of which you will read about in future posts) but also a small part of my procrastination was that I was unable to think of something to write about that related to the topic. usually there is something rolling around in my head but not this time... until now:  

I finished framing up for the bath 

Then I built a the vanity unit that would hopefully give my bathroom some character and distract people from the slightly odd characteristics of the room such as too full sized windows that don't quite line up and the fact that the layout is a little unusual due to the joining of the two rooms without changing the plumbing around at all. I then painted my new vanity unit.

 We finished leveling and topping the bathroom floor.

All the walls that were previously asbestos had to be re-clad in fiber cement

 Then we waterproofed.

 

 

 And we tiled and grouted the floor.

So Far all the parts have been coming together in my bathroom fairly well and I am pleased to say that once I'm done the bathroom should be better than the two small, dark & damaged rooms originally in my house. As I mentioned before however this is not always the case, sometimes a finished product does not add up to the sum of its parts. I watched a movie tonight about gangs, specifically English football gangs It reminded me of something I had noticed once or twice before when dealing with groups of boys out here coming to youth events etc; a gang or the like brings out so many great qualities in the boys or men and yet some how the final product is far from good.

It is hard see why a group often mostly good guys by themselves; usually loyal, strong, courageous and who will give sacrificially for each other; ends up being such a negative thing for themselves and everyone around them. It is almost sickening to think about how these groups responsible for honing so many good qualities then miss guide and wrongly focus them to bring out some of the very worst in people. It is sad that virtues such as loyalty and courage are so often clouded by fear, a longing for acceptance and pride so that the end result is violence, destruction and ultimately more pain.

What these guys really need... in my opinion... is family, a loving place to belong and to be safe and an identity that isn't just part of what ever group, in short they each need is a real home & real life. The need for real home brings me back to my original objective for this project and as for real life; that requires a purpose and for that I would suggest perhaps a prayer would be a good place to start.      

Greater then the sum of its parts (1)

4th April

Any time you add tow parts together to make something you hope that it will be greater than the sum of its parts, however there is always the risk that the final product will be less, It could be that what your left with wasn't worth the effort. the tiny bathroom and toilet room at my place are becoming one decent sized bathroom and I'm  hoping it turns out well!

As you may have read previously I have ripped out the dividing wall and the floor, now it was time to start framing up the doorway of the old toilet room. I got myself the timber I needed and headed out to the house, once I had measured up I notched out the beams and got the frame ready. 

once the pieces were all cut to size its a fairly easy job to slip them all together to form the section that will form the wall in place of the old doorway. 

With a bit of luck and I like to think a little bit of skill the new wall section fitted snug into place and I fixed it in position with a few screws. 

Come to think of it whenever you build anything you have to put things together in the hope that they will make something bigger and better. whether its putting to small rooms together to make a bigger one or seven pieces of timber together to make a section of a wall you always hope that it will work out. sofar the new section of Wall looks good. lets hope the new bathroom as a whole is as successful!

Happy Birthday! My very own front door.

April 2nd

the second of April is my birthday and this year I turned 24 and I gave myself the day to install a new door frame for the front door. unfortunately having realized the frame was the  wrong size I had to change the plan for the day to include installing a new front door as well.

The old door frame came out very easily, it was quite clear that it had been very badly treated and left in such a bad state that the main jamb on the lock side of the door was pretty much split in half. that is what made it so easy for the kids to keep breaking in and inflicting so much damage on the rest of the house. There is a saying; a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and when it comes to home security that is very true. after the fire a few months ago I had reinforced the frame with an aluminum angle and extra padlocks but it was never a permanent fix and this new frame was needed urgently.  

We got quite involved in a job that turned out to be way more involved and time consuming then I initially thought and I forgot to take photos until the frame and the door were in and I had chiseled out the hole for the lock. the whole process has to be fairly accurate so that the lock fit well and match up so that the door works properly and is completely secure. This was the first time myself or Dad had fitted a door and new hardware (locks hinges etc.) so the job continued later and later.  

This last photo was taken showing the new door in place and ready to go, or so we thought until we closed it fully and found that there was still an issue. by the time we had it right. we had lost daylight and were far to late to make it to my own Birthday dinner.

Despite the trouble, the time and the lack of a birthday dinner I was quite pleased with the days work; I now have a working front door that I can enter through with one key from the outside, the weak link is gone. That night was also the first time I had been at my house after dark and I felt like things were starting to move forward. It was odd but in the dark of night I caught a glimpse of this house turning back in to a home. with a proper front door and the lights on, inside seemed safe and inviting compared to the dark streets outside. I said in my first post; a home should be a refuge and this house is on its way back, before long it will be doing its job once again.

Just a little more time!

From the 29th of January until the present; time has been passing by too quickly in my little world, however contrary to what this blog might have lead you to believe work has been progressing at my place, even if quite slowly. Time is a strange thing, how much time do we have, how much do we need & how much do we waste? What does time take and what does it leave behind? I think time often shows things for what they really are but it can also be very harsh in its treatment of people. Whether it paints a grand picture of some great accomplishment or only leaves footprints on a dust covered floor the perspective time brings always leaves you thinking, but is it worth waiting for it?

I'm afraid lately when it comes to working on my house time has been scarce and when it comes to blogging about it I've been able to find even less. I've let it go for so long that catching up seems somewhat overwhelming so I've decided to go for this one massive post bringing us right up to date, so here we go:

29th Jan

We got most of the larger sheets of gyprock in place and Bill came over and gave us a hand with it!

31st Jan

Until now the house had been quite drafty, It was time to have new glass installed. There were 8 smashed windows. it was good to have the house sealed up. they are still boarded up unfortunately because while no one is living there I really don't want them smashed again.

I ordered new internal doors  and picked them up, I still haven't had a chance to install any of them but they're there.

I had my main power switch stolen and found out you could get a special energy Australia pad lock to keep the fuse box secure!

Once we had pulled up the Lino and Masonite we had to pull up all the small tacks; Thanks to Bill and Mum another good job!

The old bathroom was past its prime and so it was time for it all to come out to make way for a new one. once the wall between the bath and the toilet was out we had to rip up the old floor.

Once the old tiles were cleared out we had to put in a new sill in the bathroom doorway because the old one had gotten wet and had begun to rot.

Then we put down the first layer of floor leveler!

So work at the house is moving on slowly and hopefully time will prove this venture to be a success, but as time passes bye things are already beginning to turn out differently than I expected, but more about that in the future I guess!