No More Sleeps

We are moving house today!
By hook or by crook we will live in that house and I think there's nothing like a client around all the time to motivate a builder to finish.
So we have a kitchen but no countertop (or sink or dishwasher or oven) for another two weeks. At least the fridge and microwave should be hooked up today.
And apparently the hot water will be on by midday.
I spent the day there yesterday cleaning the pantry and carving out some liveable space amongst the rubble and filth. It's really very exciting, I don't much care if it's finished or not.
Here are the shots of how it looked earlier in the week...

Playroom (used to be a kitchen!)

Basement bathroom

Basement with appliances

Cabinet installer finishing up

The view from the kitchen

Prepping our bedroom to be rid of that baby blue paint!

And there you have it.
I'm at our apartment today packing the last things and cleaning the cupboards and then we're outta here!
Will take some shots at the end of the weekend to share with y'all.
If you have any great BBQ recipe links please hit me with them in the comments section. We'll be relying on that sucker for weeks to come!

Almost Ready...

We move house in a week! Gulp.
The contractor has been busy finishing up trim and floors and the like, and we spent last weekend painting Poppet's room.
The playroom and her room are ready so we are going to spend this weekend sorting her stuff and unpacking it there. Remember that this room had a kitchen in it once? It's quite the transformation!

She chose a minty green for her room, hard to get a decent picture of it yet with only the bulb hanging from the ceiling. The electrician is coming in today to hang ceiling fixtures which will help.

Here are some other shots of the almost readiness...

Stripped and all the cracks filled, more painting for us!

Nice to see the builders' stuff  being moved out!

Handrail!

Basement coming together, ready for the laundry appliances.

Basement bathroom

Builder found a kitchen door for us in his 'stash'. I love how wonky it is.

Ready for the kitchen!

Unfortunately there's been a plumber hiccup so we have no water for a few more days. This means we are lugging buckets of water to the house so we can fill the cistern and flush the toilet!
Who cares, it's so gorgeous I just want to spend all my time there.

Which reminds me, time to fill some buckets and pack the car for another trip over...

And The Winner Is...

A big thanks to everyone for persevering with trying to comment on blogger and facebook for this competition. Blogger has been behaving badly, I am considering disciplinary action!

Congratulations to Alicia (who succeeded on facebook but not here on the blog) who is the winner of the Mermaid Poppet.

I'm working hard on project ideas for summer camp before I have to pack everything away for the big move in ten days. This is the hoop self-portrait I've come up with. Today it's all about cloud pillows...

For those of you who didn't win (sniff) I've decided you can nap a preferential spot in line for a custom order if you fancy. Just email me at jen@pikeletworkshop.com if you'd like to discuss an order. Thank you!

So much going on, my head is truly spinning...

Happy Poppet-Day!

Amongst the renovation madness I've somehow remembered that Pikelet Workshop is having a birthday.
Four years of Poppets is certainly something to celebrate and you know what that means...

Oh yes indeedy, it's a giveaway!

Here's some Happy Dance inspiration for you...

I'm so excited to still be making Poppets for so many of you wonderful loyal customers and equally excited every time a new name pops up in my inbox asking to place an order! And this year I'll be embarking on so many new projects, not least of which is the teaching. I am really looking forward to it, so thought I'd ask you guys to chime in about the craft you've been aching to try. Tell me more, give me some ideas!

I am going to give this beautiful Mermaid Poppet to one of you lucky kids (big or small) who comments on this blog post. Simply answer one (or both) of the following questions...

• What craft you've always wanted to learn, if only you had the time/money/motivation/patience?

• Would you like to purchase Poppet patterns to make yourself or do you prefer ordering them directly from me?

I'll pull a name out of the Random.Org hat in a week's time and announce it right here on the blog.
Postage will be covered by me. Yay!

 Best of luck! And don't forget to include your email address so I can contact you if you win!!!

Reno Not Demo

At last!
Things are going INTO our house and not being ripped out.

To date we have replaced the wiring, heating, plumbing (including the drains) and hot water system. It will be a brand new old house! I don't want to discuss the cost blowout, there has certainly been plenty of that, but it will be worth it down the track. We won't need to rip up any new work to replace 100-year old drains any time soon.

Walking through our house today was better, I fell in love with it all over again. It's been difficult watching it being ripped apart, though I've had so many decisions to make that I haven't had time to experience the emotions fully.

So here are some photos. If you've been following them to date (many of you have told me it's like watching a reno show) then you may notice that we no longer have holes in the floors and ceilings, the kitchen bulkhead has been roughed out with drywall and the walls and bathroom framing have been done in the basement.

Next we (I say 'we', of course I mean 'they') need to move the water supply, sprayfoam and drywall. Flooring will be replaced in the upstairs bedroom and tiling can start. Then the kitchen can start to take shape. I'm pretty sure we'll move in without that completed but we have a barbeque so it'll be ok.

It's getting tight. We move in four weeks!

Probably I should go do some packing but I think I'll have a glass of wine and read some magazines instead.
Having moved house and country more times than I care to remember I'm not remotely bothered about that part. It might still be a dusty building site when we move in, but I'll put up with anything to just get in there!
This rental property is telling us to move. The fridge keeps going on the blink, the toilet isn't flushing properly and today the washing machine died. Whilst our landlords are good about fixing things I just want to be in control of my own stuff again.

Oh, and we can get that cat!

I'm off to find the corkscrew. Hope you are enjoying your weekend...