So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye, Adieu....

Long post...I'm just pre-warning in case you only have 30 seconds...

I did read your posts this week,  in the spare 90 seconds I managed to find sometime about 5.20 am Saturday , but unfortunately that didn't leave me time to comment, because   aside from working this week, I was saying goodbye to our old kitchen , after packing every single knife, bowl, plate  and saucepan we own  so the installers could come in to wreck the kitchen Friday. I have come to the conclusion that we  have too much stuff. It took 18 tea chests to pack everything away. My pantry is now in my linen cupboard - ah the joy of reaching in for a towel and also being able to grab spaghetti at the same time. I might never change it back.  Unfortunately I don't know where I put the soap to make room for the food so we're all stinky. It's a bit like living in medieval times here at the moment.

It only took 45 minutes for the old kitchen to be ripped out , which doesn't seem fair since I've spent 8 years hating it, and so by Friday lunchtime, after electricians and plumbers and kitchen wreckers had  done their thing...Voila! There was nothing left. I had a  blank canvas. Sort of.

And here is my empty walk in pantry , which is usually full of stuff that is now  in my linen cupboard. Did I mention I haven't organised new shelving for the pantry yet? Or a new door? Or a new light fitting for the dining area?  So I took out my frustration and anxiety on the pantry and smashed those old shelves to bits... I felt a bit like Bob the Builder, except I have boobs. Damn straight, I hummed the theme song from the cartoon while I annihilated stuff.

 

The blue kitchen has found it's way to the great kitchen in the sky (aka our front lawn )  and now  we can start doing some of the "Wow" factor stuff  I've been waiting for like finishing the ceilings, and and painting the walls. Our back  patio and front yard totally look like a junkyard. I bet the neighbours are having an apoplexy. Tough.

Part of the joy of getting all these renovations done is getting the tilers in to do  the entry, hallway, computer room, kitchen and dining room, which will happen from Tuesday. (Yay! Less hard work for us !)  Double joy when it only took us about 30 minutes to rip the floorboards up this afternoon. I had visions of it taking us hours. We currently have one ton of tiles stacked on a pallet in our garage waiting to be laid. Goodbye crappy old floors.

Before

After

I will have to be offline while the tilers do their thing  which means I'm likely to disappear at some point , probably tomorrow.  I can guarantee you the computer will be reconnected within 5 minutes of the tile  grout drying, which if everything goes according to schedule will be about this time next week. However, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men don't you?

That will give me plenty of time to paint and sand and be Mr. P's general trades assistant  before the new cabinets arrive. Maybe I'll have time to get some sewing done? I am really looking forward to being normal again and not having a house  that looks like a pigsty and the kitchen consuming every single waking moment. Unfortunately that day is still probably weeks away.

So after Friday's wreck-fest I set myself some tasks to  achieve for the rest of the weekend...

I put myself  in charge of pantry remodelling. This included lots of boring jobs like cleaning walls, scraping old paint, bogging up walls, and painting the ceiling and walls. I want  to use power tools ! I used a drill on Thursday to dismantle a shelf in the computer room and frankly it rocked. And then I lashed out and pulled off skirting boards with a pinch bar and hammer on Saturday, while Mr. P watched nervously worrying I might break a finger nail or perhaps break one of the few things that is left in our kitchen, and go completely postal.  I didn't.

This was the internal brick wall between the kitchen and the computer room. Our oversized bench top will jut out over this and I'm planning for  it to be an under bench storage area. We have had a temporary shelf  set up under here for the last four years which doesn't sound all that temporary does it ,  and we figured we might as well sort that out while we're doing the kitchen.

One of my projects this weekend was to paint the brickwork as a back to the permanent open shelves that will go in there soon. Can you say "Hello Ikea"?  Two coats of primer and a top coat of paint later it was done. I know it doesn't look like much right now but wait until I start dragging furniture and objects de art  back in here. It's going to look awesome.

My meat safe renovation continues. This weekend I put  the final coat of oil based paint on the carcass and primed and undercoated the doors, an extra shelf  and drawer.  Then my friend Mr. Staple Gun made a special guest appearance to help me attach the chicken wire for the sides. It's coming together slowly due to competing priorities, but so far so good.

Mr. P did all the hard work with the kitchen this weekend.  Lots more screeding of ceilings with boggy stuff and sanding . Patching up of walls. More sanding.  Oh Joy ! Oh Fun! And guess what? Today is Mr. P's birthday. The other part of the Pyjamas Clan took time out to celebrate at the local Italian joint for tea tonight.  Happy Birthday Mr. P!

At some point our lives will be back to normal. Well, as normal as things ever are at Maison Pyjamas. It seriously feels like forever since I wrote anything amusing and non kitchen related and I'm starting to get bored with posting about nothing being actually finished.

And also I'm so peeved it's not Thursday every day because for tea last night  we had left over coffee cake my sister brought over earlier in the day and we ate it off  paper plates and Friday we ate fish and chips straight out of the paper for dinner. All of this slackness,  and my conscience wont let me use it for future Slack Tea Thursday posts.

Oh and today just to remind me I'm alive the universe decided my car should have a compete metldown and not start. Enough already universe- I have enough on my plate without you deciding to poke cosmic fun at me. Naturally once roadside assist arrived she started perfectly. Mr. Roadside Assist was not amused. Conversely I was thrilled. (Mental Note to self: "Don't do the happy dance in your driveway until after the roadside assist dude has left next time" )

I hope your week is full of wonderful things.  I'll be back when my tilers are finished, which will mean I'll be one step closer to finished too!