We are now at finished shell stage of our new house extension and it’s a huge thrill to see the space and be able to sit in it! The roof is being finished this week and we now have roof windows in that let the morning light peek down onto the bricks and building surplus below.
Since we we started the build…. I say we, but that feels very wrong as its our fab brother in law who is doing the work! So… Since our brother in law A started the work we have had many people give us ‘the face’. Oh, you’ve got building work happening!? Poor you! It must be very stressful! But we must be quite lucky as it hasn’t felt stressful at all. Neither of us like to respond very much with stress, it generally feels a bit pointless (That’s not to say it doesn’t happen!) We may get impatient for things but currently we look out and see a fantastic space coming to life, that will give us a great family space and a lovely extra study/studio space. I’ve been very lucky that A is being very careful about not bringing any building work internally until he really has to. So new kitchen will go in the new space before the old one comes out of the existing building etc etc. all in all its just bloody exciting!
A few things I’ve learnt from this so far…
Be prepared, order things that you want or choose them in advance so that you can get them as they are needed without people having to wait around… Although this is not the case for doors, windows and kitchens as these spaces have to be built before they can be measured.
Vacuum the dust don’t sweep the dust. Unless you want to set the plumes rolling through the house!
Ensure lots of food and drink is available for everyone doing the work. I’m trying to be good at this but occasionally failing (like cremating the pizza yesterday and forgetting to leave drinks out today!)
Be flexible if you can. We have made several changes along the way to help the process along, save on budget and to just adapt with how the build is going. If you have tons of money and want to use it all then this probably doesn’t apply, but it was useful for us to work with our builder in the choices we have made and some that we have changed.
This week art wise I have:
had a couple of pieces go to the wonderful Stephen at Love Framing ready for their owners to collect;
been updating my portfolio ready for a meeting next week and just because it’s a good thing to keep doing;
finished an illustrated mount for a Hen Party gift;
I wish you all a lovely week and I will share my Wonderings again next week.
love Susan