I had arranged with the wonderful people at Custom Timber Windows and Doors in Kyneton to pick up on the Friday of the Australia Day long weekend, the doors we were having made for the study, back door and lounge room french doors.

Unfortunately Mother Nature had her angry pants on so the trip up the Calder was in VERY hot and blustery conditions, and slower than usual due to the increased wind resistance on the loaded trailer.

On arrival at The Charlton House we were greeted with a 47 degree temperature, so the first task was to start up the air conditioner, before quickly unloading essentials from the car and retiring to relative air conditioned comfort for the rest of the day, but not before our obligatory walk around the grounds to inspect gardens etc, and on this visit to check out the new heat pump hot water service which was installed earlier in the week.

Cooler temperatures were the order of the day for Saturday so we were able to resume renovations in earnest, but not before Shirleen’s trip to the chemist at Inglewood for some medication she forgot to bring with her. Unfortunately the Charlton pharmacy was closed for the long weekend.

Whilst Shirleen was gone I set about removing the door and frame from the external study door onto the verandah. By the time she returned I had the new door in place and was well progressed on fitting the internal architraves. Having the good people at Custom Timber Windows pre-hang both the glass and flywire doors and install the door hardware certainly made the job easier. By Saturday evening the job was completed and the study another step closer to being finished. All that now remains is to finish stripping back the window and a bit more painting and we’re done and ready for carpet.

Sunday I decided to finish clearing the remaining tools and miscellaneous workshop items (which came up from Somerville) from the sleepout, so we could use it for boxes and miscellaneous furniture being stored in other parts of the house, providing much needed “space to renovate”. Shirleen, in the meantime, continued stripping paint from the study window, a task which had taken a back seat during the hotter weather, as the paint stripper was drying before having a chance to work its magic on the old paint and varnish.

The weather was still milder on Monday so I set about the next door installation, this time replacing “holey” back door and splintered frame with one identical to the study door I had replaced 2 days earlier. The new door really transforms the feel of the house with much more light now entering the hallway.

Tuesday morning at 8:30 was the moment we were most looking forward to all weekend… the air conditioning installer arrived to fit 2 new split systems to the bedroom and study. The install was completed shortly after lunch and now with all units running the whole house can be cooled – WINNER!

Having completed all our tasks for the weekend we packed up and headed home, happy that the renovating is back on track after a hiatus during our packing up and moving house.

Next milestone to look forward to will be the re-roofing, which will hopefully start soon.

New heat pump hot water unit

new back door

new study door and a/c compressor

After a lull in activity at the Charlton House pending completion of the garage, things are now starting to get back to “normal”.

Completion of the garage meant we were now able to empty the storage unit in Somerville where a lot of our excess furniture and boxes were being stored, as well as clear out stuff stored in some of the rooms at the Charlton House so we can get back to renovating in earnest.

First in the order of business was to set up some shelving in the garage to create a workshop, complete with mezzanine style storage above enabling me to move all the tools which had been in the workshop at Somerville out of the sleep-out, freeing it up for boxes being stored around the house.

With the study now free of everything bar the furniture which will eventually housed there, I was able now to continue work on the study. This involved moving the furniture onto the deck (a relatively easy task as I had it stored on dollies) so that there was space to move around, so I was able to finish the third coat of paint on the walls as well as a couple of coats on the skirting boards. All that now remains is to finish stripping and repainting the window (something I have been unable to do due to the heat over the Christmas break), fit the new door out onto the deck (which I am hoping to do on the Australia Day long weekend) and install the new fireplace and surround, which I can now do thanks to my last trip when I partially demolished the brick fireplace so that he new electric fire would fit.

Our New Years trip to Charlton was a little shorter than we had hoped, courtesy of the mid to high 40’s temperatures which were predicted for the the first week of the year. We did though manage to cut the grass (weeds?) which had grown over the last few weeks, courtesy of the 75mm of rain we received earlier in December. Much of the weed appeared to be the dreaded “Tribulus terrestris” otherwise known as Bindii. A trip up the road to North West Ag for some Bindii and ant killer ensured we were busy for the rest of the visit, Shirleen attacking the mountains (literally) of ant hills whilst I sprayed the yard with Bindii killer – unfortunately the pump on the spray tank we tow behind the ride on mower was broken so the spraying was by hand.

On the trip home we detoured via Bendigo to take advantage of Harvey Norman’s sale and interest free terms and purchase three new reverse cycle split system air conditioners for the bedroom, study and craft room. Installation is scheduled for 29th Jan so they will be operational for the hottest part of summer.

Thanks to a work trip to Mildura I spent the following weekend at the house finishing the fireplace in the study and completing a few more odd jobs around the place, including further bindii spraying and continuing to organise the workshop and clear out the sleepout in preparation for storing boxes and furniture during the next phase of renovation.

Looking forward to the next couple of trips when we can finish the study and make a start on the kitchen – YAY!!

Workshop Storage

Preparing for the new electric fire