Second lap to a new kitchen

I think making the kitchen was the first lap, with the house to myself for 10 days it was time to demolish the ceiling then using steel battens bring it down to match the lounge ceiling, I also re positioned the lights, it amounted to about 20m2 but only 5 sheets of gib board the longest being 4m long and 4 sheets at 3m long, this part of the house is an addition to the original house so was built using gauged pine, there was non of that awful insulfluf I have uncounted in the old part of the house and I managed to leave most of the insulation in place.
I also installed a window then replaced the gib board to the outer wall to the right of this photo is the new wiring for kitchen stove, bench top power outlets and the difficult range hood power outlet including pre fixing the range hood the original had been taken through the wall but it was not an option with this type so I had to do some careful brickwork outside then remove the soffit and install the ducting to come down and out of the soffit, the walls inside are higher than the soffit so the roof is very near the wall top and a tight fit for the ducting making it a challenge.
The ceiling is done and the outer wall, come the new year we will eat outdoors while I rip out the kitchen there is still a lot to do.   

On the starting blocks

I have spent the winter in preparation and now feel that my feet are in the starting blocks of the kitchen rebuild.
The last post showed the wall alteration to take this new window and now we have a window we can see out of, the window next to it will be replaced too before the end of the year so it will look much the same as the new one you see here.
The next step is to replace the whole kitchen ceiling and I plan on starting that very soon I can see 2 weeks work as it is about 6m X 3.5m and involves lighting to the kitchen dining area, there are 2 more windows and one sliding door to install then I can get on with lining the walls before I install the cupboards I made over the winter months.
I am pleased this is not a race I am in the starting blocks for as I can see it being February and still not finished I would also like to take my time and enjoy the journey so lets throw in a few weeks more and aim for the end of march when we think about vinyl layers doing their bit.   

It Happens Eventually

There is a lot of story about how this top came to be and most of it is written about in previous posts, here it is still in the garage but sat on a finished cupboard unit ready to go in the house for storage till the kitchen is ready for it, in my bones I can feel the day approaching that I will drag it to its permanent home, before that there is a lot to do.
I have ordered 3 new windows and one sliding door that have to be installed there is a ceiling to be replaced and walls to be relined.

This long window with an obscure glass did not fit the style of the house, this area inside the house was dark and while the view out is nothing I did want the light, upon investigation I discovered there was a window here when the house was built in the 1960s and was changed to this narrow window when the house was extended in 1984, I worked out how big I could make the new one to rescue enough bricks to brick up the bottom part so the end result looks like no change has been made, it has been a dusty experience but rewarding in that I was unsure I could be successful.

The Manz Shed I am a member of has talked about a coffin club for 2 years and it has been all talk, I elected to make it action, In August I bought the first material in September we sold 2 and here we are into making our 4th and 5th coffins, the plan is to have people buy them and decorate them before they need them, this is a way to bring the whole subject back into peoples control and have some fun and social activity too, I hope I am right in being able to see a group of people having fun painting and decorating their own coffins with the help of friends, as I see it happening in Rotorua, do a google search for rotorua coffin club to see what I mean.     

Doors but not in Boats

I finished making kitchen cupboard doors a while ago now they only need sanding and taking to someone who will lacquer them, I intend to sand with some fine paper that will create fine dust and I hate the stuff it makes my nose run and gets in the clothes, it is a tedious job so would not want to do them all at one time but its the best way to get the job over and done with, I know the more effort I put in the better the outcome so its a state of mind thing and not rushing will prove best in the end.
Building a boat is more fun than sanding doors and we had a show to be ready for, we had lots of oooo's and haaaaar's at the show but no one wanted to buy it so it is to be finished for my use now, I bought a 5m length of light glass cloth and with epoxy I have covered the outside of the boat so it is well water proofed and a bit stronger too, now I have the gunwale to do the same with but I come back to that sanding thing and need to sand off the excess glue that ran down when glassing the top sides, the epoxy dries very hard and the wood at the side by comparison is soft so its easy to make a mess when attempting this job and have hollows in the wood and leave lumps of hard epoxy but again with dedication and patience I will do this one day soon 'cos I want to get on and finish the boat.
I didn't want to run away from the sanding, its spring the weather is fine and warm and a cycle ride calls, I have wanted to do the dunes trail the first part of the Motu Trail ever since we arrived in Whakatane and now is the time, its 10km each way so we had lunch at the end in a shelter by a river, we were about 4 hours and that included an hour for lunch and lots of photo stops, this bridge is at Opotiki where the trail starts and where our house guest hired her bike from it was a most satisfying day and now I'm ready to sand.

Diverting my attention

I have wanted to find interest outside my home renovations for some time now, I have visited the local Menz Shed over the past year for some social interaction, I had mentioned using the plans I have and build a canoe with the hope of getting a team build going and maybe get others interested as a way of improving skills.

The canoe is called a 6 hour canoe to emphasis its simplicity, originally it would have been built from a single 16 ft sheet of 1/4 inch ply in Canada I have used 4mm ply to reduce weight and have to join 2 sheets together using a scarf joint and here we have the first side cut out then preparing to cut and fix the log chine, we are using epoxy as an adhesive with many screws to temporally hold till the glue dries, all screws will be removed and holes filled later.
The length of the bottom is 14 ft and 2 ft wide or 610mm wide and about 5 M overall length it is a one man boat but very capable of carrying a child in the bow, with its flat wide mid section it is very stable in the water just not the fastest in the stable.
In the first day of 4 hours we had the shape, the log chine and gunnel fitted the next step will be to fix the bottom and will probably fiberglass the inside of the bottom before fixing it on and eventually glass the whole of the outside too.
There is half a plan to put a deck both fore and aft to cover the flotation foam, the seat will be just aft of the frame, now what would happen if a mast and sail were erected in the bow? 

Stamping my mark

I feel I have truly stamped my mark in the back garden, not only stamped my mark but also washed all the pebbles.
We decided these ornamental plants needed moving to make more room for the veges in the raised gardens, I wanted to be able to see them when I sit on the deck, A path to the washing line and outdoor water tap seemed a good idea and this is the end result.
The new concrete sheds a lot of water onto the grass when it rains and right where we walk to the washing line so it made sense for the path to become a soak hole, I dug it deep and buried all the concrete I found around the tree stump I removed in the front garden. 
The pebbles have been in the garden a long time, a lot of trees and plants had grown between them over the years so there was a lot of earth for the weeds to grow in, I made a big sieve to separate the pebbles from the earth then I washed the pebbles in a big plant pot, it has been a few day of steady work and a few nights of back/leg ache I am now pleased I got on with it as it is so much better to look at as I was annoyed with myself for leaving it unfinished after rebuilding the deck.
Now I have to find some edging stones to put around the pebbles then grass the area in front of the lemon tree, timing has worked out well, as well as slowing down my progress on the kitchen rebuild as spring approaches it must be the right time to sow grass seed.
A new planting of tomatoes for the summer season where the ornamental were will complete the job and allow the strawberries more room to grow. 
         

Trying to slow down

There are only 4 cabinets in the kitchen one is already fixed on the wall, this is the last one to be made, the draws are all made 4 in each side this one has a painted back on it and 2 doors on this side there will be a half round shelf under the compass point and a power outlet.
We are mid winter it is cold at night and 3 days of rain common so its no time to have holes in the house walls and no ceiling, we have a house guest who we need to cook for each day so we need an operational kitchen.
I am thinking I will wait till summer before I demolish the kitchen then we can cook, eat and do the dishes outside, I will isolate the kitchen from the house as it is a very dusty time pulling ceilings down and gib board from the walls, I can see a minimum of 2 weeks but more like 4 weeks before the kitchen is usable again, I have 8 doors for the cupboards to make, draw fronts to prepare, and some end panels to make and paint, but this is not 5 months work so what to do, our winter has some lovely days be they cold and short so working in the garden can be better than in the man cave.
I began by washing pebbles that had been in the garden for years and were more than pebbles, I removed a small tree stump and turned over the grass, by now its very sticky earth from all the water used in washing pebbles so I moved to the front garden to remove a tree stump for two days and what a rewarding 2 days now that it is all gone as we have some plant cuttings about ready for planting out, we get a lot of water run off from that concrete slab so I hope I have created a area for the water to go along with a dry path to the washing line when this is all covered with pebbles.
More photos soon to explain and show an end result.