Some weeks ago we purchased Iron Bark wood straight from the Saw Mill. It is beautiful wood, albeit rather solid not to mention quite heavy. The challenge has been to manuever and cut this wood, which with a fair bit of team work, we have managed rather well so far. B is a fair bit stronger than I am and sometimes seems to forget that as he picks up his end strides off with it, while I struggle to trot and hold up my end of the wood behind him.
We had the wood cut into 4 metre lengths, 200mm wide, 50mm deep. It fits snugly into position now, after a day spent lifting, holding, measuring, cutting, planing, measuring, lifting. Many times I snaked around the kitchen, power tools, cords, B's Feet, with the vacuum trying to capture as much saw dust as possible without being completely in the way. Trying desperately to keep us much mess as possible out of the rest of the house, and from our make shift kitchen.
We have during the destruction of the kitchen been coping rather well with food preparation. A cupboard was dragged from the spare room into the lounge room, which I filled with essential kitchen items that we would definitely need. (Cups, plates, cutlery, etc,)
My dining table I covered with towels, in an attempt not to further ruin its surface. ( I had previously put several hot jars of relish directly onto the surface and burnt rings onto the wood. It is now a future project to fix) It has served me well, chopping veg for steaming in the microwave while we cook meat on the BBQ, or we have meals straight from the freezer that I prepared earlier in the month. I cannot say I am enjoying cooking this way, it is very fiddly and takes twice as long to do anything.
The dishes I wash in the laundry tub which is quite a process that is for sure. But not much longer, I can see the end of the tunnel now, besides it has been a little reminder of the convenience of a modern kitchen that is for sure.
B has set up little workshop area's both in front of and behind the house, so we don't need to carry the wood very far. Also means the majority of mess is outside the house and easy to sweep away, plus we have light to work on into the night after being at our jobs all day.
B mastered the art of gyp-rock, as we knew he could, we were a little worried after last weeks outcome with the wall. However we went to Bunnings one night after work, discovered that it wasn't that expensive, bought a couple of pieces that were perfect fit for the hole in the wall and were quite happy with ourselves. That is until we got out into the car park...... no matter how we pushed, wiggled, cajoled the gyp-rock would not fit into the wagon! So off B trotted inside to buy a saw so we could cut up the perfect piece to fit into the back of the wagon. We giggled all the way home, as there have been many a time we laughed at others in the car park, saying to ourselves why wouldn't they measure their car first!
As you can see though, B did a wonderful effortless job in the end. We have new kitchen walls, a new cupboard which he made from scratch out of pieces of laminated wood his father gave us before they moved. The wooden bench tops still need to be sanded back, filled, coated in a marine grade poly-urethane, and secured to the cabinets.
After that, all that is left is to sand the walls, paint, rehang the doors and make sure the new dishwasher is wired and plumbed in correctly. Not long to go now, I can almost see/feel/touch my new beautiful, budget kitchen.
Late this afternoon, we called it quits on the kitchen so we could enjoy a little sunshine, harvest some vegies for dinner. (We pulled up carrots, plucked some squash, pea's and tomatos) We also needed to water the trees as it has been VERY windy, dry and hot for a few days, our baby fruit trees still need a lot of tender loving care.
As per usual I took my camera (my right arm) out with me for our duties captured some wildlife and some wonderful flowers that we have springing up everywhere.......
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