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Clever. Not just skilled, clever. We provide the plans, Pete makes them work. And he's one of those people who doesn't know how to do a bad job. He's on 0418 131 944 |
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OK. Pete's done more around here than that, but you get the idea. |
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| For a look at Pete's own house, click here | That's Pete |
Plan for the kitchen. There were also elevations; but with no more detail than here. | In the pantry. Peter built a false ceiling from which the upper shelves are suspended. The white blob hanging from the ceiling is a motion sensor which turns the light on when you come and off when you go. Every pantry should have one. | Pete also made the shelves. They're suspended by threaded rods, so their heights can be adjusted by spinning the nuts a million times. No, we've never done it. |
Credit where it's due: a lot of the figuring out and coordination of tradespeople was done by John Rook. In his other lives, John is a house painter and raconteur. You can sometimes get him on 0434 875 766 | The cabinet timber is recycled blackbutt from Urban Salvage. The bench is concrete, but that's another story. | Plan for a pond. Then came the drought, so we have installed rainwater tanks. More on those to the right. | The fence was newly-built by the neighbour's builder. We had some advice from Carribbean Gardens, then Pete worked out how to build it and put all the plumbing together. Our original idea would have resulted in a wet mess. | The structure is resting on concrete foundations. Houses have rested on less. | The 'after' shot. It's very restful. The fence was excavated by John Rook during one of his archeological digs in Rome. He then brought it to Australia on the back of his motorbike. Oh, all right. He faked it. Nice job, but. |
Since this photo was taken, the water has been tuned with river stones. It's now more a tinkling than a muttering. | A new fireplace for the bedroom. It's going from a hole in a wall to something quite elegant. | Work-in-progress. Not yet painted and shelves still to come. Pete has devised a very neat damper. Early newspaper conflagrations suggest it's drawing well and there are no draughts when closed. Another triumph for the improvisers. | The deck at the back of the house needed replacement; which provided an opportunity for a bit of excavation and to install rainwater bladder tanks. This one is rolled out, but not yet opened out. It all came on a truck from Wet Earth (we can recommend them) in Albury and cost considerably less than some 'all-in' quotes we saw. If you're stuck for special parts, Reece Irrigation can probably help (beats the glaze-eyed thing at Bunnings). | Above the tanks, jarrah decking. Lovely red re-finished recycled timber. Tim from Bowerbird tells us that in a previous life it was a bridge. | Much of what could be salvaged from the old decking has moved up a storey to become a pergola. | It's been bolted by Pete to an existing frame. He put washers in to stop the timber rotting. Clever Pete. |