Last ditch effort

The Council inspector put us on to a retired inspector to get a heads up on what we need to do to get Code (of Compliance). They both said the cost would be minimal. That's a Tui billboard for sure. $300 is not minimal! Oh well - another lesson learned. But, we have a long list of things we need to complete.

So we're ploughing through those, literally. Here's the progress on the front yard - most of which the Council want us to pave! It's a shame to lose the front yard to parking space.

We also have to extend the driveway down beside the house to make sure the buried electrics are buried - under concrete. This is also turning area.

That's the hired Bobcat, which is easy to use; though our great wooden fence is going to need some repair. A lot of hand work with a spade to shape up the edging ready for boxing.

Am in two minds about the front yard: pave it using a cold mix, or just lay base course and gravel, sprinkled with a bit of white shell and let the grass eventually take over? Cost is a factor - we're up to about $260,000 in total! Could we have bought a ready made house for this? Yes - with a garage even. But how much would we have had to spend fixing it up?

Here's another picture of the completed main bedroom.

Really fabulous!

We need some help deciding whether to install the antique kauri fire surround that we finished stripping and  sanding. We were going to put it in to the lounge room, as shown in this picture.

 It's a beautiful piece of furniture - but does it go? What do you think?

Floored by the transformation

The interior painting is finished and the floors have been sanded and polished. We're amazed at the transformation provided by Brent Morris of Floor Enhances whose quote and ready availability beat out others on http://www.builderscrack.co.nz/. Here is the entrance hall, kitchen, main bedroom and lounge:

Painted out

The exterior is painted and the interior is almost complete. New photos show the amazing transformation, even we can hardly believe our eyes. It's been great going away from it and coming back to a done job.

The months are ticking by though and still it feels like there's so much to be done before we will qualify for the Code of Compliance, which we believe we need to rent the house.

Where we're at now - we don't think we'd do this again. It's too hard to do on top of fulltime jobs.