Kitchen – Cooinda's Nest

And so it continues… on another Spring Equinox

Posted on September 23, 2017August 12, 2020 by oneflewovercooindasnest in The Nest

One year. One year since we started this journey, well the idea was conceived before then but practical work started exactly one year ago. Cooinda’s Nest was fertilised. Rightly so, the earth where the house would sit was dug up and the entire place smelt like cow poo. It was fertilised alright! :D :D

Fast forward one year, and we are on the brink of completion. The last few weeks have been filled with a variety of tasks; different elements are integrating and turning the building into a livable space.

Kitchen makeover

The second-hand kitchen we purchased a while back had an orange veneer on it, too reminiscent of the kitsch 70’s era. Naturally, Matty and I didn’t want to go for the ‘spray tan gone wrong’ look, nor did we want to be reminded of Oompa Loompas every time we laid eyes on the kitchen. So what to do?

We thought of applying another layer of veneer, though this would have been tricky. After much research and thought, we thought repainting it would fix it. Matty came across Alan Grimes, a specialist in unique timber finishes and stains, we heeded his advice and are so happy for it. Look at the pictures and see for yourself! A natural grey stain seems to have modernised it.

The rangehood was erected with the help of our dear friend Shorty. It reminds me of a top-hat, apparently floating mid-air. There is no flue connecting it to the ceiling as creating another gap in the roof and ceiling would have meant additional work. We opted for a recirculating rangehood that contains a charcoal filter as the alternative. The copper rangehood is second-hand too; we love its rustic look, and it complements other elements in the house. Kitchen and laundry tapware were plumbed in, and the electric oven was connected also.

Kitchen – before and after

Rangehood calculations

Benchtops varnished

Brass tapware

Landscaping

Matty spent 15 hours on a hired dingo after Rob (the Earthworks guy) did his magic. Holes have been dug for future fence posts and gates, as well as trenches for ag-pipes to be placed in. These ag-pipes will help direct water away from the house and into the numerous swales that have been dug up. The swales will also function as mini water features which will house native and indigenous plants to attract wildlife. The following ingredients were thrown in the mix and have been used in a variety of ways:

oversized Lancefield rock
Bullalo river rock
oversized river pebbles
Donnybrook toppings

There are now paths leading from the carport area to the front and back doors of the house; the gate and fencing will be done later. These are not required for the Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) inspection, so we are in no hurry.

Déjà vu – earthworks again

Dingo took my baby

Swales

Lancefield rocks it

Wonky path to the back door, trench ready for ag-pipe

Shelving

Shelves around the house have been sanded, oiled or just screwed into place in the bedrooms, walk-in-robes (WIRs), kitchen and main living area. We’re starting to have some storage space.

Little shelving

Main bedroom WIR shelves

Tiling

Neither Matty nor I have done tiling before, and we didn’t want to make any mistakes with the wet areas. So we hired a local tiler, Laurie for 2 days to:

give us some advice with non-wet areas so that Matty and I can complete them
do the wet areas so that they are ready for the CofO inspection.

We’ve only just started, and think it will take about 2-3 weeks to finish the whole house. Only the bathroom floor has been tiled thus far.

Do not enter

Bathroom floor

In-ground fish tank

The glass for the fish tank was finally ready, so Matty picked it up last week and did the preliminary work of placing them into position, putting on a rubber seal and securing them with tile edges.

Fish-way channel glassed

Windows

Once the bane of my existence, the interior windows are now finally complete with oil (including the window sills). I hope I don’t have to do anything beyond look through them for the next several years.

COUNTDOWN Continues

Our desired date of moving in remains to be 2 Nov 2017; however we have booked in the CofO inspection for the 9th of Oct. Not every task needs to be completed for this, so here’s a breakdown of work to be completed before and after.

Before CofO inspection	Before moving in	After moving in
Tiling the kitchen and bathroom	Tiling the main living area and bedrooms, including around the fish tank	Painting the external fascia boards and eaves
Tiling the fireplace hearth	Making our bed frame	Varnishing and cleaning the window frames (exterior)
Electrical work for rangehood and aircon	Finishing the cabinetry for the walk-in-robes in both bedrooms	Making the bookshelves
Final fix plumbing	Grouting the crazy-paving wall tiles and hearth	Building the pergola
Full kitchen fit-out with island bench and hobs		Completing the landscaping including fences and gates
Full bathroom fit-out with toilet, vanity and bath
Completing the open fire chimney and flue
Finishing off guttering, grey water treatment system & rainwater tank setup

There’s a lot to be done within 2 weeks, but thankfully our energy and drive have skyrocketed; being so close to the finish line has its benefits ;)

Winter warming sunlight streaming through the front door

Winter is here

Posted on July 8, 2017August 12, 2020 by oneflewovercooindasnest in The Nest

Without trying to sound all negative and stuff, but it is winter.. and I can’t shake the cold off. The time has come for when the world slows down and allows you to recuperate and reenergise, just through simple rest; something that I feel we may have forgotten how to do. Thankfully the build stage agrees with this seasonal change, and gives us a chance to slow it down and go with the flow.

The last few months have been a whirlwind of major structural work, and the tasks were all BIG! Now, as winter settles in, the attention goes inwards.

The open fireplace

One new addition of Cooinda’s Nest is the open fireplace. Matty and I had a cast iron wood heater in mind to do the job, but we were seduced by an outing to the local pub, where we sat in front of the open fireplace with Dad and Di (aka Mum). The ambience of an open fireplace is something hard to come by, or to match; so we opted for the better option instead.

To avoid the painstaking task of bricklaying (Matty shuddered at the thought of the besser block wall), we decided to hire a professional bricklayer with some experience in making open fireplaces. Thankfully we found someone local who was fit and available for the job. All that remains now is to attach the flue, chimney, cowling and damper to finish the fireplace.

Besser block ‘crazy’ paving tiles

The next big addition is the ‘crazy’ paving tiles that have been laid on the besser block wall in a half-moon shape. They serve a purely aesthetic purpose, and were placed on both sides of the wall, meaning they are visible from the main living area and the bedrooms.

The fireplace takes birth

The internal structure

Nearly finished

Brick masonry work complete for the open fireplace

Fireplace structure complete

First row of crazy paving

Crazy paving wall finished

Other bits and bobs

Besides these two changes, it may seem that no major changes are happening. However, we now have completed some essential tasks such as getting the plumbing prepped up, and doing another round of electrical work. Our bedroom fan units were mounted along with the bedroom reading nook cabinet now being complete with doors and latches. All other doors in the house now have door handles and latches as well.

A lot of sanding and varnishing is now complete, with the kitchen benchtops and brekky bar slab, as well as the timber worker’s bench vanity table all ready to go in. All 10 window sills are also complete after much sawing, wire-brushing, sanding and oiling. Niches now have shelves, the bookshelf spine is now erect and the laundry divider can be installed after the third coat.

Friends from overseas (Ron, aka Girly Man) and interstate (David, aka Shorty) lent us a hand with third coat prep and stuff and that! Thanks for being awesome mates :)

Bedroom fans installed

Bathroom fan plumbed in

Downlights cut out

Doors complete with handles and latches

The day bed copying the doors

Paint stripping the kitchen benchtops

Sweet sanding

Oiling the window sills

Niches are nicer with shelves

The bookshelf spine erected (the timber against the bathroom wall)

The laundry divider mounting area

Girly Man prep filling for the third coat of render

Shorty thoroughly enjoying cutting the foam back :D

Still having too much fun…

Where to next?

The third coat of render is booked in from a fortnight from now, giving us enough time to prep for it. Everything that needs to be protected must be masked up thoroughly, Matty estimates this taking up to 3 days. Once the render is complete, we reach the final ‘finishing touches’ phase, including painting and tiling. We’re on the ~~home~~ Hume run baby!

It runs in the family

Posted on May 14, 2017August 12, 2020 by oneflewovercooindasnest in The Nest

It has been an inspirational and exciting four weeks since the last post, getting so much done and being fortunate enough to receive much-needed (and appreciated) help from family.

Matty’s father and his partner, Di flew from New Zealand to give us a hand with cabinetry and other timber related features of the house, like the breakfast bar and the bathroom vanity. Both Matty and Dad got to play their talents whilst spending quality father-son time, which was really what it was all about :) Dad used to be a builder/carpenter back in the day, and Matty had wanted his help even before we bought Cooinda.

To top off all the achievements with Dad and Di, in no particular order:

Kitchen fit out and cabinetry – Dad and Di retrofitted the second-hand kitchen to suit our new home…but first we needed to move it from the main shed to the house. We all were happy to find that the kitchen fit our space like a glove, with some cutting and nailing of course ;) The timber surfaces still need the finishing touches like sanding and varnishing, but other than that, they’re good to go. The kitchen island, breakfast bar and bathroom vanity had to be taken to the main shed as we need to finish tiling first. Our neighbour Ken was kind enough to lend us his tractor for some of this heavy lifting.

Precarious moving tactics by Dad and Di, moving the kitchen from the shed to the house

Piecing it all together

Chookens in the kitchen

Second hand kitchen retrofitted

Breakfast bar in progress

The Breakfast bar is an old wool press about 100 years old, that needed some remodelling to suit our needs

Kitchen Island and Breakfast Bar

Brekky Bar with red gum top, the red gum top belonged to a bar prior to serving in its new home

The vanity table complete, this is an old wood working bench retrofitted to fit the bathroom space

Moving the wool press back in the shed for storage

The moving fun continues with Dad taking the stride

Internal and external doors – Matty constructed all three internal doors from recycled timber floor boards, he also made the door jams and frames and fitted in the one external timber door.

Matty and I cannot thank Dad and Di enough for taking 12 days out of their busy lives to come give us a hand. Not only did I get to meet the old man for the first time, but we all got to spend some quality family/ building time together. We can’t wait to see them both at our wedding next year! Yipee :D

Lock up

Less than a week since Dad and Di left, we also managed to get all the windows and main door (which is a double sliding door) mounted. This means that we are now sealed from the wintry frost and winds. We placed insulation blankets at the bottom of the back door and closed all windows and doors, to get a glimpse of the sound insulation properties, and we were not disappointed. Most if not all of the Hume Highway traffic was drowned out, a massive bonus! We are super happy with how the windows turned out, the Vic Ash timber varnished with natural oil really is stunning (I still need to do another coat of varnish) and the double glazing has definitely paid off :) Honourable mentions go to neighbours Cam and Benny Boy, whose help meant we got to reach lock down mode on Mother’s Day.

The only outside tasks that now remain are mounting the cement board sheets for the eaves and painting the fascia boards, and of course the third coat of render, but let’s put that one aside.

We are now at the precipice of the ‘finishing touches’ phase, and perhaps this part will take the longest…I know I know, there are things like plumbing, electrical work, tiling, painting, making window sills etc.; but some of these are the ornaments of the house, and we can’t wait to adorn her…