Monday, March 09, 2015

Goodbye Our Wee Farm, hello Spindrift

Officially we don't leave the farm until next Friday, but over the last few weeks we have moved everything out. It was absolutely exhausting. We have done about 15 tip trips, donated a van load of stuff to charity, sold furniture and given some away. Moving from a farm with the equivalent of three houses to one smallish house is no mean feat. And we did it all ourselves. No moving company, no moving truck, just us and our wee trailer!

We have just moved into the new house and are simply loving it. Waking up to the view every morning, being close to all our friends - its amazing.  We still have to go back to the farm every couple of days to weed, mow and make sure everything is safe, but because the move has been so drawn out I haven't felt the sadness I thought I would. Perhaps we're simply too exhausted to feel much right now!

We worked very hard on the new house for a few weeks. We painted, ripped carpets out, laid a new floor, redid the kitchen and lots of other bits and bobs. It was all very good fun.

So prepare yourselves for lots of photos!!


Here's our new view - gorgeous.


This was the first day of work. The carpets were all lifted, then the underlay, then about a million staples were removed from the floor.


The kitchen floor had cork tiles which had been glued down with the strongest substance known to man. It took hours of hard work to get them completely off.


Once that was done it was cleaned and swept in readiness for the new bamboo flooring being laid.


While that was going on inside, a fence was being put around part of the garden outside. We've moved to an area where there are a lot of kiwis and we need to keep them safe from the dogs. So, fence it is! 


Here it is all finished. Nice wee gate leading down through the native bush to the reserve at the water. 


Kitchen being hauled out. The design was good, so we kept it, but got it all resprayed. We also extended the island part, put in a new sink etc and new worktops.


By this stage it was all looking rather chaotic! But very surprisingly none of it was stressful at all.


We'd taken off all the skirting boards so that we could lay the new floor properly. I had to paint 120m worth of new skirting. It took a long time! We also repainted the whole inside of the house and new flooring in the bathroom.



The bamboo flooring had been held up, but finally arrived a couple of days late. This guy was a total star. This stuff weighed 1.5 tonnes!



We laid the whole floor over 2 days. We had a bit of hassle with the edging trim. When it arrived in NZ MAF found some weevils in the packaging, so the whole shipment had to be destroyed. Which was somewhat of a nightmare for us! But the company were able to send us up enough wee bits so that we could insert them where we needed so at least we had the right measurements to work from.  Lloyd and Ali look like they're praying to the floor gods for inspiration!

The bamboo flooring looking like it's almost finished.


The kitchen arrived back all beautifully painted. A new glass splash back was put in. New cooker and dishwasher. And this amazing new light!






 No idea why Lulah is tired - it's not like she helped or anything!



We look at this most evenings.


 So now we are in, and the inside is finished. We are waiting for the plans for the outside work to be approved by council. Once that's done that work will start. It's a biggie, but we're not doing this ourselves!!

We LOVE it more that we thought we could in such a short time. I think we've never been so bone tired in our lives. ( this might have something to do with the fact that we're sleeping on a mattress on the floor!)

More later!

























24 comments:

  1. I love what you've done to it! So light and bright!

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    1. thank you, we're pretty thrilled with it

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  2. WOW Laura, that all looks so beautiful! The views are OMG!! And your redecorating result is so peaceful looking. Cannot wait to see what you do next. What a great start to a new year.

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    1. it is peaceful isnt it. It feels very calm over here. Like a wee sanctuary

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  3. SO pleased for you both Laura! I feel exhausted just watching what you have been through. .... it must have been tough leaving your gorgeous farm - but this is way gorgeous too! what a view. Enjoy. cheers wendy

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    1. we are exhausted. Having to go over to the farm most days is taking it out of us a bit too. It's an almost 2 hour round trip. Not for much longer though, and we did chose to do it this way!

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  4. Beautiful work and what a view!!!

    Enjoy your new home.

    FlowerLady

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  5. Wow, wow and WOW!!

    Having been through this just over a year ago doing up our new house over the course of three months and then moving in and now STILL on the outdoor works we know exactly what you are going through. BUT .... that new repainted, re-floored and re-done kitchen shows what hard work can achieve.

    That light fitting is AMAZING!!

    Lulah looks as though she has collapsed on the floor for you all

    Can't wait for more picture :-)

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    1. yep, we've still got all the outdoor stuff to do too. Hopefully it'll go as smoothly as the indoor stuff. That light fitting is Ikea!!!!

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  6. It is all so wonderful. You guys work so hard!!!1

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    1. we do, but it's so worth it!!! Over winter we may get to have a bit of a rest :)

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  7. What a magic view. I'm sure you will have many years of peace, happiness and joy in your new home.

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    1. thank you Kay. We feel very settled already.

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  8. Love, Love, Love it! Can't wait for pics of your new adventures.
    Did you find homes for all your farm kids? Will you be having chickens here?
    I bet the people that bought your farm love it as much as you guys did.

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    1. we did find homes. No problem at all! The Alpacas went to an amazing family on Waiheke island. Rachel went to a petting farm up the road and the chickens all went to a friend just about a minute from where we stay now! No chickens here :( garden part is too small and I don't want them going feral in the bush!!

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  9. It looks like you. The bright, open, clean look with fun quirky style woven in, as evidenced by things like the light. It looks amazing, as does the view. I hope you're all very, very happy there for years and years to come.

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    1. Thank you so much. :) It's a total change! but very calming!

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  10. Oh, yippee! That's gorgeous! My lady especially loves all the native bush you have. That's wonderful.

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    1. I can just imagine you roaming through it!!!! :) :)

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  11. I knew you'd make the house beautiful! Looks amazing and love the views. The kitchen/dining room looks so good and the light is wonderful. Will never get sick of reading your blogs and looking at all the great photos. Keep them up.Are you near Kerikeri somewhere?

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    1. Aw thank you!! We are nearer kerikeri than we were on the farm, but about 15 minutes out the other side this time!! xx

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  12. So happy to see another blog post from you! Thanks so much for sharing the photos! My husband and I commented on the difference between people with no children renovating and those (like us) with children TRYING to renovate! Place looks wonderful!!

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  13. Wow! Been reading a few of your posts... am I feel like my partner and I are trailing behind you. He is kiwi and I am American. This is my first time in NZ and he hasn't lived here in 16 years, but here we are! He has family in the Auckland/ warkworth area and we did some wwoofing down south and LOVE nelson. But we want to be close to family.... and he is an avid diver/ surfer so we are hopeful to fall in love with northland - areas like tutukaka, kerikeri and more that I am unfamiliar with and can't remember.... anywho... we have both done a variety of things job wise (me -most recently was a hairstylist in NYC for the last 7 years and he- most recently did property management and planning along with selling homes in Costa Rica for the last 12 years) but want to simplify life and make our own schedules- who doesn't. We have both independently dreamt of having property and farming (I have been obsessed with alpacas since god knows when- and has chickens when I was in Brooklyn before meeting him and moving here... I was on my way to setting up my backyard with a serious veggie garden). But we are having a hard time deciding what's realistic also since real estate has sky rocketed in the last few years. So... I was wondering if I could pick your brain?! Let me know if you are up for it and available... thanks in advance and keep rocking it, chica!! Suzqs.Deneen@gmail.com
    much respect, Suzanne

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I love it when you leave me comments, it lets me know there are folk out there reading my ramblings! Thank you, I appreciate them loads and loads
Laura x