You better not doubt...... Santa came to town

We have been married for just over a week and been living in our house just over 2 months and stil Santa managed to find us.

For the first time in about 12 years all the Atkinson's are together for Christmas. We have been fortunate enough to spend our first Christmas in our new home with the Smeeton's (Chris' sister and family) and his folks.

Sadly Santa was not able to bring all the boys gifts over but he left them a note saying he had made a stop at their home in Bloomington as well.

Looks like he made a feast of the treats Oliver set our for him..........

Rumble Tumble

Last night after we had opened all our spoils, I got stuck in to pack it all away and turned around to see Rum Tum nestled into my wedding dress on the kitchen counter.

Now, I have never seen him on the counter before - even if there are dirty dishes around so I was very surprised and although it was a very sweet sight, it was most certainly not to be encouraged....

I quickly snapped the shot and then chivied him off the counter and covered the dress properly. (I had left it out with the full intention of taking it off to be cleaned)

Ag Shame!!!! Not allowed to attend the wedding and then chased off the dress and its just oh so comfy - what can I do MOM!!!

Spoilt Rotten

Well I think the pictures say it all!!!!!
We have been so spoilt and will thank you all appropriately when we return from our honeymoon in January

The Dust has Settled

Wow, what a year we have had! This past weekend we finally got married. What a fantastic weekend with all our nearest and dearest. The weather was really kind to us and we had a few drops of rain at the rehearsal on the Friday as well as on arrival to Moolmanshoek after photos. It is said that rain on you wedding day is a blessing, and we have truly been blessed by the rain at all the appropriate moments so to not disrupt the proceedings of the day.

No wedding is complete without a few minor hiccups.....
* Chris and Dion almost missing the service due to a flat tyre
* Brian O not having a tie from Euro Suit
* Max sticking her finger in the fan during the ceremony
* Mark & Jo shredding a tyre on the way home
these are just a few that we will all giggle about in years to come.

Plato said that we are born half a circle & spend most our lives seeking out our other half. Together we have found our other half and completed the circle.

Tree Frog ..... NOT

With Christmas just around the corner and us finally living in a free standing house with a garden with gigantic jacaranda tree, we decided to get into the Christmas spirit and put some lights in our tree. While at Makro today we deliberated on the length of the lights and felt that maybe the 45m would be too long. Eventually we decided to just go with the longer length and this afternoon Chris reverted back to his childhood and climbed into the tree to string the lights. We soon realised that in actual fact 45m is not that long but will do the trick for now. So a jolly HO HO....

Pamper time

Last Saturday, I was truly spoilt!!! In fact, not only once, twice but THRICE.

While in London, Lara, cooked a special breakfast and she and Emma then presented me with a lovely gift.

Then after Kelly & Rory's wedding we went through to Durban for the day. Shortly after we arrived at Mark's, the doorbell rand and low and behold there were the Hewisons and Merv. Melanie had managed to secretly get hold of some of the Durbanites and have a little get together for me. I was hugely surprised!! With hindsight, I must admit everyone had been a little out of character leading up to the weekend while making arrangements to get together for lunch, but never would I have thought that's what was cooking!

Finally JHB....With my bridesmaids so far away, Jeanie & Tracy K offered to organise a pamper party for me. Poor Jeanie had been given so many "DO NOTS" that I think she regretted her offer. I was adamant that I was not be dressed-up or made a fool of. When it came to reveling my spoils, I was to take a piece of paper from a bowl. Jeanie then read what had been written and I was to guess who it was from. The idea behind it was "remember when". Once I had successfully guessed who's remember when had been read, I was allowed to open the pressie. This is truly the nicest way to break the ice and for some of the girls to get to meet each other before the wedding. I am so blessed with fantastic friends and we had a very civilised afternoon-even though we had a little stripper. Thanks Luke for being the cutest bare body we could have wished for!

Homely bliss

I know it has been a while since our last update. Things in the "gonnabe" Atkinson household have been somewhat hectic to say the least. We finally moved into our mansion just over a month ago and have settled in rather well. As with all new builds and renovations we have had a few teething problems but fortunately nothing to drastic. I think the most amusing teething problem was the discovery of our heated toilets Thanks Shaun for finding it) The plumbers had somehow managed to plumb hot water to our 2 downstairs toilets. While the idea of how hygienic it could be we also realised how costly it could be. That has been rectified..... Other than that we had the odd leak etc.

During our first month here we have had little time to enjoy the fruits of our labour. With yet another trip to London for the Odendaal wedding, a trip to Natal for the Lindsay wedding, a trip to Ficksburg to organise our wedding, bachelor and pamper parties etc etc. Whilst we have been here, there have been odd jobs to perform around the house. Chris has got quite good at delegating others to use his tool box.

I will endeavour to try post some internal photos soon.....

Friend or Foe

Two weeks after we moved into our house we dashed of to London for Brian and Lisa's wedding. We had a fantastic trip albeit all to rushed with merely 2 nights there. We also had a lovely time with Brett, Lara and the kids. I have been especially lucky to have seen them 4 times this year. Shortly after we got home, I noticed some glass on the floor in my studio. After a little investigation, I discovered a bullet hole through the window. This is rather disturbing as it seems to have been deliberate rather than an accident. Why I say deliberate, is that there were in actual fact TWO shots fired. The first only damaged some plaster/paint work but the second has gone through the window, hit the ceiling and then wall finally landing on the floor. Our basic CSI has determined that it came from across the road at a slight angle. As far as suspicions go, we feel it may have been a disgruntled subcontractor who admitted to misleading me in his quote and then proceeded to overcharge us. As you can expect, Chris has refused to pay and hence this debacle.

STILL NOT

Well as you have by now guessed, we have once again moved the "move-in"date. Originally we were due in by 30 September (2006) and were assured that this was possibly right until the eleventh hour. We then set a new date as 13 October which has come and gone. The next date was to be the 19 October which will also come and go. We have set another date which we will now keep private in the hopes it doesn't get jinxed. So once we are in and life returns to some for of normality I will update you again.

As you can see, we have a garden and swimming pool. I must admit we were very excited on Friday when the grass was done as it transformed the place from a building site to a home. We have the sprinkler system up and running and hope to see the grass taking soon. As far as the interior goes, the kitchen still has 1 or 2 outstanding issues, the carpenter is just about done with the skirting and architrave. We need to seal the screed floors and the painters have a rather large snag list to work through.

In the meantime we have 7.5 weeks till our wedding. In these 7 weeks we need to

1. pack-up, move-in and unpack.

2. airdash to London for Brian & Lisa's wedding

3. airdash to Natal for Rory & Kelly's wedding

4. roaddash to Ficksburg for our wedding stuff

5. work/live/stay away from TARA/sort the wedding

so, if you can, please spare us a thought and send some positive energy to 42 Sixth Ave, Parktown North

Move IN ???

Here is the latest view from the north-west side of the house. We are so excited that in a matter of days now we will be able to move. As you can see, the majority of the paint work is complete and we expect final coat to be done by Friday. Most of the earth moving has been done already and we intend having all the levels sorted by the end of the week. Over the weekend we will get the irrigation system installed in anticipation of the grass being laid next week. The pool people have assured me they will also be done by the end of the week. Other activities lined up for the week are : garage automation, security and carpeting on Wednesday. Paving and balustrade on Friday,Saturday and Sunday. Final floor sanding and skirting by Friday. Snagging/patching/fixing next week and then move-in on Friday the 13th!!!!

For all the skeptics out there, our last move was also on Friday 13th and look at the luck it has brought us! (a beautiful house/engagement/new business venture/wedding & the promise of plenty happy days ahead)

3 Phase

There are many ways to "skin a cat" and yet another one of our debatable areas was what to do regarding electricity. Some advise we got was merely to stick to the current single phase and others was to upgrade to 3 phase. This didn't help us much as you can imagine and one may question consumption vs size of house etc. In light of the recent shenanigans in the Cape & the electricity "shortage" we have opted to use natural gas on most of our appliances (geysers/heaters/cooker). AND just in-case we in the process of installing a small generator. Despite all this we also decided to upgrade to 3 phase electricity. This become quite a task. They have had to dig up the pavement on both sides of 3rd Ave and push the cabling under the road. Thankfully, Vickus our "sparkie" did the majority of the leg work dealing with and chasing City Power and instructing us when to make the necessary payments.

Last week, Chris and I were at the house late in the evening, well after 5pm, most certainly not a time any contractors are usually on site when we saw movement near the electricity mainsbox. We went around the corner to find the chaps for City Power still working. They had committed to Vickus that we would be ready to go live by Friday and they kept their word. On Friday when I got there at lunch time the electricians were as pleased as punch as we now have POWER!

So, who do we thank? Not Boland bank....... Vickus and City Power!

The Countdown Begins

and you "all" said what's the panic you have a whole year ahead of you....

Well look at us now - 3 months to go till we are married! and the year has been a HECTIC one, with renovating, new business ventures,wedding planning etc etc etc.

The excitement has truly started. I managed to get the invitations finished during this week and amazingly enough got some help from the groom. I was so pleased with myself that I had to photograph the scene. We have also started delivering / mailing them. Before any of you get any ideas about lecturing me, we have been reminded time and again how busy December is and THIS is the reason for early invites.

My dress was pretty much on the back burner until I got the call to say the fabric for my bodice had arrived a few weeks early. I phoned Talya, who is making the dress and she said we can start as soon as she has the rest of the fabric. The littlies are on track, bar our shoe catastrophe for the girls. I had found beautiful shoes and ran around to get the various sizes only to find that not 1 pair is std sizing and therefore doesn't fit any of the girls. Never mind plan B has been set forth and alls well that ends well. The boys gear is basically sorted as well - thanks to woolies boys dept. Still on the hunt for little Leo's outfit but on top of it. Chris need a rev to himself and his guys organized.

Other than that, church is confirmed, the venue is booked and Chris & I are still mad about each other and our excitement grows daily as the countdown begins & we anticipate the fun we going to have with our nearest and dearest.

Swimming Pool

As you can see we have had a really busy week at 42 Sixth Ave! On Thursday, we started digging the pool. In the 2 days they have pretty much finished the digging and will place the steel on Tuesday and on next Thursday they will gunite. The gunite then has to cure for 10 days and with the rains on the way we will have to see when we can marbalite. We have tried to place the pool as close to the patio as possible. This will hopefully allow pool action and shade seekers to still socialise easily. I have watched the sun over the last few weeks and we seem to get sun on the pool for most of the day. The soil that has been removed from the pool will be spread around the garden to level out the fall of the land as best as possible. We have opted for smallish pool - 5x3m and 1050-1700 depth.
To summarise the rest of the action - rinolite, plaster and ceiling work continues at a slowish but steady pace. The stone work has made no progress and this has caused plenty aggravation. Electrical work continues and security ires etc all in place. The screeds are looking good and we all set for the painting to start next week. The doors are due to be installed on Thursday and Friday and we should then have a property that more resembles a house. The end is in sight....

The Wine Cellar

One of the things Chris has been "obsessed" about is his wine cellar. As you know, some months back, we dug out +2m underneath bedroom 3. The only problem was that we never settled on an entrance/access point. Many ideas have been thrashed out over the months but with completion time creeping closer, action had to be taken. An important factor to consider is that at this particular part of the house we have 3 levels.

1. The wine cellar under ground

2. Bedroom 3 at ground level

3. Main bedroom upstairs

Foundations and retaining walls are not to be tampered with or we may have an "all fall down"

There is light at the end of this tunnel though - we have decided to access the cellar from the patio outside bedroom 2&3. There will be a trap-door in the corner of the patio with some stairs leading into the 3x3m room. We have built shelving and a bench in-situ and before the stairs went in we had to put Chris' old desk inside. (Our home PC is now on the dining room table). Thembe - who works for Errol - and his team finished the stairs and cast the patio slab on Thursday. We now need to source the trap-door and alls well that ends well.

Simply Screed

One of the things we have always had our hearts set on is "tinted screeds". This has however proven to be a rather complicated process. A few Sundays ago we spent a few hours testing out different oxides as well as different application techniques. I was not convinced with the out come nor the colours, so during the week phoned around to try find out what the correct technique is. Greg and Mel also tried to help by explaining the technique they had used. I tried to explain to the "men" and my words fell on deaf ears. Naturally, this sent me back to the drawing board. I was starting to get desperate so I phoned around to get prices (labour & material) per m2 and was shocked to hear quotes ranging from R180 - R260 per m2.... I can get good Italian tiles for that. I also know that the labour only subies charge around R25 m2 and materials come to no more than R30 m2. I like to think I am not a fool and I am not prepared to be taken for a ride with such astronomical profit margins. Martin the plasterer has the technique but we had to get the colour right. All the oxides just didn't seem to suit the house. We wanted to try get a grey/white marbled effect and tried to find a white oxide - NO LUCK! I then had a brainwave - what about a mix of white & grey cement. In theory this would give that marbled effect. So off to the hardware to buy a bag of white cement - yes, you do get white cement, however it costs more than 3 times the price of standard grey cement. Anyways, I bit the bullet and loaded the 50kg bag into my car. The urgency was that on Thursday the cabling for the under screed heating was being laid and the screeding had to be done super fast to prevent damage to the cables. Martin got stuck-in and we are both very happy with the result. His rate is a far cry from the person who wanted to charge me R260 m2. Now we need to let it cure and seal it with a polyeurathane finish.

Before and Now

With the carport gone I am now able to get back into the north west corner of our property and show you what we have managed to "grow" in the 6 months since we started. There is still a huge pile of rubble in front of the garage which will all be carted away by end of Wednesday. The last column on the patio has to still be cladded but this will only be done once the gutter box, down pipe and solar heating pipes are in position. Thank goodness the cladding will cover all of that as they are not the most attractive features on the front facade of the house. We are still on track for starting painting internally and on the roof next Wednesday. Garden wise, our short term intention is to clear the mess, level the land and lay the grass just before we move-in. In time we will build up a garden that will hopefully be low maintenance.

My Sanity !!!

As we all know, renovating/building is generally a stressful task to undertake. Having heard many stories from many friends, Chris & I realise how fortunate we have been during our renovations. To date we have only fired the first project manager and this was only one week into the job. This doesn't mean that we haven't come close to firing others. Using labour only sub contractors is trying at the best of times and they tend to want to do the easy work first and pretend to not understand what you mean when you want the more challenging tasks completed. I must admit that on Monday last week was the first day that it all got too much for me and I had my first good drizz. This was when Errol stepped in again and lived up to his other nickname "Wilde Builder". There was a fair amount of shouting and many unhappy faces, but it seems to have had the desired effect. Of course there has always been the question of my sanity but one thing is certain and that is without Errol it is almost guaranteed that I would be in Tara and the keys chucked away!

All the commotion got the guys got going and by Saturday the majority of the plaster work was done and the only other brick work is the wine cellar entrance as well as the wall between the garden & garage. This wall can only be built once the pool has been dug.

So as it stands for now this is the short term programme:
plastering to be completed by Wednesday
rinolite to start on Wednesday
prep for roof painting started today
pool digging starts Thursday/Friday
underscreed heating to be laid on Thursday
floors to be screeded on Friday onwards
internal painting starts next Wednesday
all doors/windows to be completely installed by next Friday
kitchen cabinets start 28th

This leaves us with a month till expected completion date!

Operation Clean-up

This past week, Errol truly did live up to his nicknames. For the past few weeks we have 2 of Errol's guys helping us keep the site relatively tidy but as I explained some posts back, rubble never stops multilpying. Last tuesday and wednesday we had Jorum cart 15 loads of rubble (approx 45m3) away and this was still not the end of it. Knowing we had not got to the bottom of the rubble/mess,Errol oganised a team of 7 men for saturday & sunday = Operation clean-up. The guys spent the entire day on saturday and sunday piling the rubble in the driveway for the "final" rubble removal due to take place this wednesday. While the guys were cleaning on saturday they told me Errol's one nickname is "Mr Clean"

As you can see, cleaning rubble is truly exhausting.... On thursday Errol & I popped across the road for lunch and when we came back we found Richard & Victor catching a nap in the sun during their lunch break.

The reason for all this tidy up is that by thursday the intention is to have all the rubble producing work complete. We really want to feel like we in the final stage (with about 6 weeks to expected completion date) and the pool guys are also due to start digging our pool They will put the soil removed for the pool around the garden for easy spreading. If we still have a mountain of rubble lying around we can't start the pool..... At one stage even Chris got stuck in helping.

To show our appreciation for the hard-work to date, we bought the guys - cleaners/plaster/electrician/ceiling - some rolls and meat and they had a little braai on site before leaving on saturday afternoon. As you can see in the background of the braai, with carport gone, we finally have a real sense of our space. I mention this because while setting out the pool last thursday I was worried we were losing too much garden with the pool, but I now see we actually still have a nice sized garden for any future baby Atkinson's to run around.

Action Action Action

Being on site today was like being in a bussling metropolis. For a change the was a lot of action with garages in (already a week ago), stone cladding progressing, demolitions, brick work, ceiling grid installtion, window installations and roofing still continuing. Shew what a day! All at the start of August with the winds and rain as well. We now have 8 weeks till completion and Errol is sure we will make it! Things are going to get hectic but I will try keep you posted! Spare some good vibes and send them over yonder please.

More Demolitions

Just when I thought we had just about finished all the demolition work something else has cropped up. While removing the old plaster from the wall separating the games room courtyard from the servants quarters courtyard we found the wall to be very unstable. Just by leaning on it slightly it was moving..... not a good idea to ignore esp as it was to be made higher. So last week I took the hammer in hand and started the bashing. As you can imagine this had the guys in fits of laughter and Errol got it all on a video clip. The good thing is this has allowed us to move the wall over a little and shield the door accessing the back courtyard from obvious view. At the same time they have started working on the games room by breaking out the opening for the stacking door and bricking in old windows and the divide between the games room and the servants quarters. All this brick work is due to be completed by Friday. At the same time the roof over that area is being extended. There was originally a slab over the SQ, but, it leaked terribly and left all different levels. This way we have the same level/pitch/angle and finish throughout. The roof (which is a full month behind schedule) is also due to be complete by the weekend.

Contentious..... No More

One of the most debated over sections to the house has been the patio area. Clive first suggested an aluminum louvre system. At first I was all for this idea and Chris was dead against it. But as time went on, with more debate, I decided that I was anti and Chris became keen. So ... more time, more debate and it became an area we were both avoiding. Researching the louvre system I learnt that no sofa would be able to stay out there permanantly as they are only 95% waterproof. I wanted a "proper" undercover patio with nice sof furniture. The guys were more concerned we would loose too much light and esp warmth in winter. Naturally you would then suggest a skylight option. Not a chance there either - I was keen and Chris NOT! I tried to explain the windows/skylight that Brett & Lara have in their kitchen but merely using "skylight" in the explanation killed my suggestion. So, what to do........? Thank goodness for Brian's birthday and our trip to London, Chris got to see first hand what I meant and was eventually persuaded. With this option, we can close the blinds in the window to shade the entire patio/open the window to let trapped heat out/let in warmth & light during the winter months. However, our next hurdle was to find the product locally. This is where I need to thank "google", within a few searches we had located the Velux supplier in Cape Town who put us in contact with a Joburg agent. After a bit of to & fro & haggling all is well that ends well and the Velux skylight windows are in the process of being installed. As you can see this has turned into a mamoth task. The windows need a min 15 degree pitch. This has meant building special boxing with flashing etc. In the end, though, we have the working patio we both wanted.

First Finishes - Cladding

Today marks the day the "first finishes" started going in. I must admit that it gives me a somewhat warm and fuzzy feeling that finally something is "finally finishing". The stone cladding is looking great and we are somewhat excited about the aesthetic appeal it gives the house. We also realise the amount of work it takes and the skill required. The truck delivered the sandstone yesterday (which is an entirly different story involving a heated altercation with a very rude and obnoxious neighbour who doesn't realise that public roads are public and not merely for the residents around it).The cladding guys arrived on site at 8am this morning to start on a sample. First the stone needs to be sorted, it is then chopped,shaped and only then mounted with hoop iron and a cement mix to the desired surface. Each piece of the puzzle is 100 mm thick and then shaped to fit together and create the finished look.By 4pm this afternoon they had done most of the first pillar and we have given them the go ahead to bring more guys and push ahead.

5 Months Down!!!

Can you believe it! Yes, truly, it has been 5 months already....we started on the 17th February.
A lot has been achieved - 99 % of the brick work is complete. We have ordered all our windows and doors and expect installation to begin in the next 10 days. The kitchen design is done and we are waiting for the plastering to be done for final measurements. The swimming pool is being sorted on wednesday-hopefully. General plastering,plumbing and electrical continues. The garage doors are to be installed on Friday - no motors. All the plaster has been stripped of the servant quarters and as soon as the garage doors are on we can start work on the "games room" and servants quarter. The reason for the delay is so that Steve and Simeon (who have been staying on site from the beginning) can move to the garage. This adds a little security to the property. We also have a beautiful gas braai on the patio and a wood fire in the living room. What more can the Joburg Johnnies ask for...............................maybe to move in?

Plaster Pleasure

This time we really seem to have found a gem! While looking at the plastering for our house I feel I found a rare gem in the building industry. His name is Martin and our luck happened upon us when Martin popped his business card into our postbox at the house. I check the box everyday and we often have loads of flyers and torn of scraps of paper with contact numbers shoved in the box. However, Martin's card caught my attention - simple & professional! We called him and got his rates which were very reasonable and so went to look at his work. First i went, then Chris went, then Errol went and then Chris & I went again. He came and gave us a quote and we were all very happy and got him on board! His guys are great, and work very hard!! On saturday, they worked on the garage "soffet". There were about 10 of them and it took vertually all day! The best part of it is that he no only plasters but does screed,rinolite,ceilings,cornices and painting!!!! Thank you Martin!!!

No Anger - No Action

As you all know I had been promised that our roof would be completed by July 5th 2006. The day came and went and they had barely started the trusses let alone finished! On top of the delay they neglected to read the plans properly and so the studio roof did not match the plans. This meant that due to technical reasoons as well as time contstraints Clive had to be called in again to approve a solution that was technically sound for the truss company and aesthetically pleasing.

In the meantime, the sheeting was started on the main bedroom and NO start was made on the patio or kitchen. Day after day of asking for the kitchen to be done but hold the patio. On thursday, my requested was totally disregarded and they started marking positions for the rafters on the patio.

My request ACTUALLY had reason behind it : kitchen = plastering = final measurement for cupboards = make-up = finishes on time and patio = hold as we waiting for velux skylights)

Needless to say that by friday - I had cronic sense of humour failure. I am not proud but action had to be taken. I had plenty of words with the guy and eventually he guaranteed me that by close of day on friday the kitchn and patio rafters would be up as well as sheeting completed on the mainbedroom. To add insult to injury - his staff are too lazy to go downstairs to use the working toilet onsite and find it necessary to relieve themselves all over the walls inside our bedroom and my studio - DISGUSTING PIGS!!!

I was on site at 3pm when these guys walked off telling me that they were not meeting their bosses promises..... Errol then called Attie and told him off. He then committed to being on site on saturday by 8am.(he was unable to get his staff to take his calls never mind return to site to finish their work)

Amazingly enough I was hardly surprised when they only arrived at 9.30am! They did however almost finish sheeting the studio and will sheet the patio and kitchen on monday. He has even offered to cut out the perlons where the skylights need to be installed....... but the moral of the story : ANGER = ACTION!