Zambezi Kiwi

So, while the there is an economic hiccough going on, we are renovating.

We made the decision well before we knew what would happen, and perhaps would have gone with it all the same as we had budgeted for it in New Zealand.

Anyway, we have an independent cottage on our property. It was converted into a garage by the previous owner, so we are converting it back.

We are a week in, with most of the demolition complete. Here’s a little peep at how things looked on day one versus day five:

This is the view from the side entrance:

It’s been…a learning curve, trying to source builders, electricians, plumbers and materials.

Will has been out most mornings wrangling with suppliers as the heat of the day grows, trying to get them to fulfill their promises.

Fortunately, we’ve had the world’s most handy handyman visiting, Corky Sheppard. His wife, Jo, is Will’s godmother, and they have basically adopted us as their newest set of children.

Corky has been busy drawing up AMAZING plans for the builders to follow, helping Will through the supplier wrangling, and making sure everybody knows exactly what they need to do.

He has also fixed our front door, to boot. We had to throw our bodies against it just to get it open, thanks to the concrete underneath having risen at some point. Jo, meanwhile, has engaged in some serious babysitting and doubled as our pool expert, advising our gardener Emmanuel on how to get it SPARKLING.

We’ve also had some fun along the way.

All the piles of sand, dirt and building supplies around have been heaven for Kepler. He spends hours driving his trucks and cars around the “sandpits” and is quite well acquainted with all the builders.

It took quite a bit of convincing for him to learn that the wheelbarrows were not there for rides, and the tools were not for him to “fix” our cars with. Mine now has scratch marks from the rake being used on it, and we just managed to save Will’s from piercing by screwdriver the other day.

But apart from that things are progressing well, and I’m quite looking forward to using my decor budget on the project!