Border shutdown
Under the COVID19 lockdown, there had to be clear and compelling reason for travel outside your residential border region. Other than for medical purposes, travel restrictions could be lifted where it relates to work and other essential services. It became apparent throughout the lockdown that doing renovations under restricted travel conditions during COVID19 were not mutually exclusive.
Employing seven tradespeople to undertake renovations on the new house required some project management. Although I never intended to do the wrong thing, I was still responsible for employing people because the construction industry hadn’t shut down. I was, therefore, and unwittingly doing renovations under restricted travel during COVID19.
Other people used all sorts of reasons to cross borders. Letters for medical appointments were highly acceptable to show at border crossings, despite the fact that people could cancel appointments once phone confirmation had been received.
Renovations
Work is progressing well. We are delighted with the builder and the other tradies. We have a deadline for quitting our rental and moving to the new place within a period of 4 weeks. The work completed involves pushing out walls, replacing sliding doors with bi-folds, enlarging windows, gutting kitchen and bathroom, removing old floor tiles, and updating the electricity and plumbing. We still have plans to replace balconies and build a shed. These photos show work in progress.
Fortunately, Empire Homewares was having a sale so I bought a coffee table and a huge mirror for the dining room. The real challenge is knowing exactly what to buy. How do you possibly choose wall and floor tiles from a huge array available? What taps are best, window frames … paint color, lighting? For someone who experiences mild anxiety, having so many choices is not necessarily a positive thing!
Inspiration required
There’s an unusual, rather dull front entry that needs some redesign work. We are limited though by the strata rules as it is a townhouse. Clearly it needs some a pressure-clean, to begin with, but I will post to Facebook’s WA Gardener’s site for some inspirational design ideas. Some people have suggested that I shouldn’t be too worried because the back lane is the preferred entry with so much garden.
