1st August; FINISHED!!

Physical work began in the 8th of October last year, so roughly nine months later (eight and three quarters actually), I can declare that the build is finished and that this blog can end.

Last week, Greg and Richo spent a couple of days fixing the little things that needed adjusting; cupboard doors, taps, tiles as well as laying the timber decking. Then on Friday the painters came and gave the deck and the front of the building a second coat. They also patched little things inside which needed  attention.

So, the Grand Design is officially finished. Now it is time for us to confess to Kev (Mc Cloud that is) that we nearly went mad and broke and would never dream of  renovating or building again. Wrong! This has been an excellent and enjoyable project and the outcome is better than imagined. Sure, we fell into some traps but nothing that can't be explained away. We are just impulsive and extravagant by nature and happily ceating a new lifestyle in a new space.

Some observations:
The space is actually much larger than we thought it would be, even though we are managing to fill it will clutter already. I thought it would be a very narrow  space but it isn't at all. Playing in several places with wall mirrors has also created the illusion of spaciousness.

I am pleased we decided to go ahead and  develop the roof garden. It has turned out to be functional (although Sally is not too keen to be left out there - which wasn't the plan). It is a nice place to entertain too...when the weather isn't too rainy, hot, or windy!

I am not sure that our dealings with the AMP Building next door are over. In the torrential rain last week we realised that the paintwork on their wall is breaking down and leaving white powdery marks on our roof garden. We have adopted a wait-and-see policy. The thought of more work is exhausting. I suspect, too, that the front facade will cause problems in the future because the tiles are breaking down.  Wait-and-see about that too.

Living with the stairs (all 45 of them) is not a problem aerobically. We are used to them and my leg muscles are bulgeing. How many times am I at the front door and have to run up right upstairs for something I've forgotten?  What could be more problematic are the places where there are  one or two steps to a different level. I am well-trained in looking before stepping (having lived with vertigo for twenty years now) but I know I must be careful.

The noise and the dirt  from Hunter street are not as bad as I thought they would be. The neighbours are all very friendly and there is a lot of activity over in the Lock-Up Cultural Centre over the road which I have stumbled upon.

The neighbouring restaurants and walks are great - we tried out the Thai place in Scott St last week , (we are preparing our palates for Bangkok and Hanoi in eight weeks time.) Surprisingly, we find Darby St unnecessarily distant as food destinations now.

However, I do miss the ships. I can hear them over in the harbour but I miss not being able to look up or to feel the shudder as they  pass by. I also miss the bird life. The pigeons here drive me nuts with their infernal cooing and the currawongs sound gorgeous but they are so aggressive to other birds and each other, it's like living with a teenage family.

I just went back and read the first few blogs and looked and the pictures. What a transformation! Here are the last photos. They are a bit out of order...and there are some duplkications .  This is the first time I have had difficulty loading and editing photos on the blog but I have run out of time.



Our front door. Painted in grey metallic paint. We originally hoped to have a custom made art-deco style  metal door, however, we decided to keep the bars and make it look  least  like a front as possible. People just walk straight past and never look in. Occasionally, children  peer in because they see a doggy lying  just inside and feel sorry for her!





Scarry dog shadow

Doggy corner!!

Detail of the  artifically weathered paint

Sally guarding the front door

The view  from the top floor. The  white muslin curtains have arrived  and help to separate the  spaces  more.



At last I have a picture of the outside of the building without cars parked outside. Of course there are always cars parked in the 15 minute zone outside. The Heritage objection to our removal of the (1980's aluminium) windows in the first place was that we would create "unsympathetic voids". Well, here they are and they are and I'd like to say that whilst they might seem unsympathetic to the streetscape, they are most sympatico with  inner city living. We decided not to put the SURGERY letters back and just leave a white space. Everyone who needs to know, knows where the surgery is.

 The roof garden - still have to get my plants from Hilary's but at last the structure is finished.

 Washing day!



 

The far wall had now been repainted and deliberately rusted so that it is pale green

Thanks to Steve and Greg Baker and all the BRW Constructions crew, to Brendan Smith (architect) and David Moir (landscape architect), Ian Smith (wirer) and Bernie and Kieran (advisers).



22nd July

There were some developments this week on finishing off the house, however, gigantic rains have once again stalled the finishing.

Greg and Ritcho came down and sorted all the little things like putting a weather strip on the front door, straightening up a couple of kitchen doors. They pulled up the green, outdoor, soggy carpet and began to lay the timber decking replacement. It was funny to see them lifting the long timber up the front of the building.

I have spent a few hours tracing the history of this building and have found several more photographs of it. It seems the property was owned by the Kemp family, then Edward Parnell had an interest in it. He sold it to  Joseph Morris who was the hotelkeeper at The George Hotel - the old hotel that was pulled down after the earthquake on the corner of Scott and Watt sts. In the 1925's he built a structure on the site (a hotel?) and negotiated the party wall with the AMP Society. By 1935 it was owned by the Queensland Insurance Company (started by Burns and Philp - later QBE) and the architect William Jeater altered the building and used on its face four inch thick glazed terra cotta which had been the fashion on banks in Martin Place in Sydney but not previously used in Newcastle. Some time in the late 1950's or early 1960's the building was purchased by MacDonald Hamilton Shipping Agents who were the agents for P & O Lines in Australia until the late sixties. The building may then have been directly owned by the P&O Line as the sign still sits out the front. I don't think the re-modelling of the front into a shop-front occurred until the late 1980's or even later. It subsequently housed many shops, including The Wilderness Society headquarters for a long time. Then we bought it...and turned downstairs back into offices and began to re-modelled upstairs...the rest is history ...as they say...!

6th July

Well, dear readers, I hope you have not been concerned at my absence! Nothing has happened on the renovation front which made updatng progress, obviously, redundant.
Life continues to be very comfortable in our new space. We are still awaiting the removal of the green outdoor carpet and its replacement with timber decking. Steve has moved on to other jobs and has made a few tentative dates to do the work but so far, no luck! Winter makes the usage of internal spaces quite interesting and afternoon walks pretty exciting. The other day I walked Sally up to the park and saw 20 dolphins, one whale and a complete rainbow - all in twenty minutes. Pretty spacial.

We particularly like the  ethanol fire on these wintry nights. It is most effective, however, it uses more juice than we were led to believe.
Our wonderful  downdraft extraction fan in the kitchen bench were loopy a couple of weeks back. It developed a mind of its own and would  rise roboticaly out of the bench randomly, day or night. I wrote to the manufacturer in America, received a reply within 24 hours. An Australian contractor in Melbourne sent a replacement part and his brother, who happens to live in Warners Bay, to install it within a week. Not bad service. It seems that there is a common fault where the  mechanism picks up radio vibes from elsewhere which was setting it off. We wondered if it was the lift in the AMP Building next door!

Yesterday some cushions arrived. You may recognise that they are made from the same silk fabric as the bathroom blind was made from in Stockon. I like left-overs.