Back inside

During this week he fixes the laundry cupboard where the bench was separating from the side of the cupboard. This is a non trivial exercise as he has to pull out the washing machine to get to the spot where an extra bracket is needed.
She takes down the curtains, shortens them, re-hems. He attacks the curtain hooks with multigrips to stop the hooks popping out of the header tape. She then irons and re-hangs, and they do look good.
She indulges in a bit more retail therapy, buying a couple more towels and a magnetic knife rack with knives, which involves another exercise of working out how to mount it on the wall. But as usual, he finds a way and the kitchen is now dangerously well-equipped.
And as always, once the project is complete, one has to write the documentation. The webpage is done, and the Guest Guide is mostly done, but not yet printed.

Exterior cleanup

To our surprise, the boys from Bayside Landscaping come back for one final task, to acid-wash the new bricks. Now it all does look absolutely spiffing.
While they are washing at the back, she gets out the Karcher and cleans up the front porch. Still a long way from really clean - will have to resort to chemical attack and will also need to replace a few tiles.
And at the end of the day, she drove the car in under the new roller door, over the newly laid bricks, alongside the deck, to prove that yes! you can open the car door and get out. Are we happy, yes we are.

And in the picture below, you can not only see how neatly the car fits in, but also how much better the old wall looks with the top courses of bricks removed.

Deck, day 4

Tuesday comes at last, the rain holds off. They finish the deck and relay the brick paving. And they take away all the rubbish, including the bricks that we removed over the weekend, and generally clean up.
How good does it look!

Brick-bashing, 2

Another day, another course of bricks off the top of the wall, and some general tidying up. We are pleased to have it done as we are hoping that the bricks that we've removed will be taken away by the guys from Bayside Landscaping when they come to finish the deck.

Brick-bashing

We have planned for a while to take the top courses off the old wall between the two properties, and replace them with some kind of trellis or louvres to match the back wall. And as it is bright and sunny, today is the day. To her surprise, it isn't as hard as she thinks it will be, and we remove all but one course before we decide that it's enough bashing for one day.

Deck, day 3

Boys return on Friday, and it is nearly done, but still not quite. Now have to wait over the long weekend...

Deck, day 2

Not quite finished, but well on the way.

And now for the exterior

Men arrived early this morning (not too early) and began construction of a deck outside the back door. We're hoping for completion tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Peter finishes titivating the front door, making it more completely weatherproof. Note the new letter box, new door handle, and the door seal.

Always one more thing...

This project is beginning to be like our boat - there's always one more thing to fix or improve on. Today it is the front door, which now has a weather guard, a nice brass handle, and has its lock changed to match the back door so we only need one key for the whole house.
Andrew the electrician also came back today to put in an additional power point in the bathroom and to try to improve the TV reception for the ABC channels.

Go!

First guests arrive Friday and stay until Sunday - Peter's nephew, partner and daughter. We have to provide an extra doona for the second bedroom bed (June nights are very cold), but otherwise all goes very smoothly. We are pleased to get commendation from them for our renovation, as they are architects.

Ready, set...

First guests are due Friday, so we spend some time on last things. On Thursday evening we stick various sorts of translucent stuff on glass panels in doors (front and internal) and windows to improve privacy. On Friday we complete the "Guest Guide" booklet with instructions for all the appliances.