It's been quite the whirlwind of a month! After drifting along quite peacefully for months at a time, our bucolic existence punctuated by the odd exclamation point, but nothing taxing or worrying, all of a sudden we're in the middle of a destruction/construction maelstrom!
We've been transported into some kind of parallel universe where decisions we make will have long lasting ramifications: and we're making multiple decisions on multiple topics each and every day. Now, don't get us wrong: we're acutely aware that this is the ultimate first world problem. God forbid the privileged have to make a couple of calls on choosing materials and types of hardware on their new kitchen and bathrooms!
As threatened on these pages previously, we have indeed gone ahead with kitchen, main bathroom and laundry renovations, along with lighting upgrades, blind replacement, new internal doors and ultimately, painting. The kitchen and laundry and bathroom have been occurring concurrently with different builders, so the logistics have been more than tricky. Tradesmen and builders have been performing a less than dainty dance around each other in our tiny unit, bulging tool belts swaying and pirouetting around each other and narrow passageways, duelling hammers tapping out a rhythm to wake the dead and electrical tools screaming in sync at deafening volume. The whole building has been shaking at times and we're actively avoiding our long suffering neighbours.
When John, the bathroom builder, suggested we might be ready for a bathroom demolition with half a day's notice, we immediately accepted and started planning accordingly. We'd already been operating out of our little emergency camp kitchen for a couple of weeks as the new kitchen took shape, so our minor privations could easily be added to. We've fashioned breakfasts and lunches from there quite successfully for a month now, so we're becoming quite expert. Luckily, we have an ensuite, so the little basin in there is supplying all the water we are using for all purposes!
The bathroom destruction was quite shocking as the jackhammer pounded away at the subfloor and whole sheets of wall were cut down still clad in tiles. It was all done in a day.....wow, these guys can work! The rebuilding of the bathroom has been occurring ever since with niches being cut and nib walls fashioned to hide toilet cisterns and display fancy stone coverings. It's currently tacky with waterproofing compound awaiting next steps.
The kitchen was destructed in similar fashion but was mercifully without the thick clouds of building dust that drifted through the apartment constantly during the bathroom demolition. The skeletal framework of the kitchen morphed into being quite quickly, with days of discordant, buzzing drills and whining bench saws interspersed by the ubiquitous beat of the jungle hammer!
We've been making decisions about cupboards and shelf holes, tiles and tapware, appliances and accessories, lighting options and power points, light switches and dimmers, toilets and cisterns, stone and paint colours....you name it, we've been deciding it. It's all a bit of a shock to our delicate little systems.
If you can bear it, stay tuned. When things take shape a little more, I'll provide an update. In the meantime, here's an album or two that will be added to! Kitchen/Laundry Reno and Bathroom Reno.