A much needed break....

After several months of house related stress, hard decisions and some cold, uncomfortable nights at the house - Chris' wonderful mum organised a family holiday to St. John - in the US Virgin Islands, for Hans 60th birthday. It was exactly what Chris and I needed and a fantastic escape from the cold, snowy mountains.  We didn't think about the house in 6 days - and it was great. Not to make you too jealous, but here are a few piccies of our trip. 

Sunset at Ramshead 

View from our villa

Family shot - Steph, Sue, Hans, Hels and Chris

Stunning sunset

Last day on the beach - all smiles

Progress.

February 5th - this is how the house is coming along thus far.

• The whole of the upstairs has been drywall, primed and painted. There are a few touch ups we need to do in the kitchen but yesterday we finished the living area and corridor - colour True North - another off white!!
• The kitchen is here - most of the cabinets installed correctly (we need to move two cabinets down an inch - doesn't sound much but its a process!). All the appliances are here and in place - but not installed. 
• The template for the granite counter-top has been taken and is in production! 
• Washer and dryer here - again, in place - but not installed. 
• The lack of installation is due to the lack of gas and water. All pipes are in and heating system/hot water tank are in, but gas and water meters are not - therefore we continue to wait! 
• Carpets are installed in both bedrooms. 
• Home-made bathroom vanity is almost finished - just a little tiling left to do and the trim!
• Garage has been drywalled. Just need the fire door - and then its all enclosed!
• Banister around stairs is in. Whether it would withstand 200lb of force - as the 'code' requires, is another question!! Handrails cut to length -just need to screw in place!

The wonderful apron sink caused a few problems during installation into the sink base cabinet - but after a little stress and some resourceful DIY skills from Chris - we saved the sink base - and also got the sink level, sturdy and in place!!

Kohler sink - a wonderful retrieveful of Christian from a posh house in Vail!!

Banisters and guard rail up- the gaps have now been filled and it looks great.

The stairs were enclosed with dry wall

Mechanical room to the right - everywhere else storage right now!

Home-made vanity getting closer to being finished  - I glued all the small tiles to tile sheets - it only took about 15 hours!

Painting the corridor

Corridor painted

Living room painted - the blue tape is now off the window frames!!

 
The biggest thing that is holding us back is the gas meter - after three weeks of waiting - a lady from Excel came to the house yesterday. Apparently the meter is in an unsafe place -snow could fall off the roof and injure the gas-man who reads the meter - or ice could build up around the meter and cause a gas blockage - therefore even though for 40 plus years this wasn't a problem - we can't put the meter back. Our options were to build a 5ft by 3 ft roof over the meter - or remove all the snow that has built up against the house (probably 5 ft high and 3 ft wide) from the meter to the back of the house (approx. 30 ft). Then pay the gas company to dig a trench (into frozen ground, which would therefore need to be heated); and extend the gas pipes to the back of the house. We would also need to then pipe the pipes inside the house which are currently to the original meter, to the back of the house - an estimated cost of $4,000!!!!!! Therefore my wonderful husband busily got to work building an ovesized birdhouse roof to cover said meter!! With over 8 inches of snow last night, and its still coming down - erection of the roof is on hold. Hoping it will be completed by the end of the weekend - and we can then get the gas-man to come out and install the meter - without risk of getting hit in the head with a slab of icy snow off the roof!!

Once we get gas - we get water and heat!!!!!  That day cannot get here quick enough.