If this week proved anything, it proved that beautiful looking finishes are both time consuming and require a lot of skill.
We all look at houses from time to time and gorgeous finishes; whether it is on a fast paced TV show that is less about building and more about in fighting, to a weekend walk through a display village. We look and we admire and say wow. But we never stop and think about how the wow was created or how much effort goes into finishing.
This week we got a glimpse of that as our entry wow factor started to come together. Our tired old entry was simply painted with two sconces, but we wanted to change that up. So, we decided to run wood, Jarrah that matches our floor, up one wall in slim strips. The thin strips separated by the side width as the strip gives the wall a 3D feel and lots of warm texture. It is simply gorgeous and it is only half finished!
Which takes me to my other point, great finishes take time. The images of the wall on this page took 60 hours to complete. To finish the wall in total will take around another 70 hours. Great finishes just don’t happen. They require firstly skill and secondly patience. Each strip of wood is cut from a larger plank, then individually finished, sanded, has its edges rounded and stained. Then each piece is individually fixed. Beauty takes time.
Other tasks this week that take time included fashioning a step of perfect height and depth. Setting windows to a perfect height so as to allow a large piece of marble kitchen bench, yet to be made, to seamlessly fit.
Finishing the Gyprock, both a task requiring skill and tenacity. Over 500 nails, 200 square metres of new Gyprock need finishing. Filling holes and sealing seems, square setting corners and replacing cornice make this a big job. Two craftsmen get to work and break the bac of the job, filling the holes and sealing seems. They’ll be back another day to finish it off.
Renovating while living here, as I said on day one, performing open heart surgery on our house, is difficult. But weeks like this week, when little gems emerge from the chaos you realise that all the heartache of living in one room with seven cats and a dog, with that room playing the role of bedroom, living room, dining room and pet play area is going to be all worth it.
