Sinead Jenkins Photoblog

October 8, 2012 // Personal

Well, I'm not going to pretend that these images represent a house that will be finished in a week's time. But hopefully, it won't look quite so much like a temporary shelter for animals, and more like an (almost) house. My parents arrive on Saturday to stay here. They're really excited about the accommodation ;)

The guest room. Plasterer comes in tomorrow to do the first coat on the straw bales. There are THREE coats of plaster. Which doesn't surprise me because most things in this house take the long, complicated route :)

Detail of the netting used to create the curve next to a door opening:

Elmer's room:

My bathroom cabinet, and the entrance to the stairs:

Elmer wanted a photograph taken of him:

Living area:

Kitchen:

Bathroom:

Back wall of house not yet full of bales:

Our bedroom upstairs. Elmer is re-creating the scene from Thomas the Tank where Harold the helicopter crashes into some straw:

Downstairs:

Room upstairs currently only accessible by non-pregnant people on a ladder:

And the front deck. That will exist in the future when we are rich:

As with any build, we've had unforseen delays. For example this weekend the tiler who was coming to tile the bathroom before the plumber fits it out next week, didn't turn up. I was mildly unhappy about that. We'll have someone in this week though, who should finish on Saturday in time for the plumber. I will ring the toilet man today and shmooze him (I'd quite like a toilet). The digger is still sat on the property, broken. Otherwise things are ploughing ahead!

5 Comments Add a Comment Send To Friend

Ciaran:

I like the way you're calling Steven 'the digger' now....!

(10.08.12 @ 10:49 PM)

Sinead Photo:

Haha! Good one!! Actually there is a man out there now fixing the digger in the dark and the pouring rain at 10pm. I like this man..

(10.08.12 @ 11:01 PM)

Liana:

If I was a 3 year old boy I would be quite gutted when I realised the hay bales weren't staying! especially when they are no longer available to drive cars into! Remember weeks not years! you are nearly there whoo hoo!..toilet yer I'd be happy with a toilet above anything else!

(10.08.12 @ 11:18 PM)

shelley povey:

what on earth is poor elmar going to do when the house is finished! oh well he will have to find another job then! (sigh)

(10.09.12 @ 12:03 PM)

Monica:

Excited doesn't cover it....could you ask Steven to remove his boots from "our" bedroom please? I hate an untidy room...
M x

(10.09.12 @ 12:18 PM)

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Elmer is 3

October 4, 2012 // Personal

Yesterday was Elmer's 3rd birthday. We didn't do anything too spectacular because I am almost 9 months pregnant and we have the small matter of an unfinished house looming over us. However, we did manage to have a really special day for Elmer, who was visited by some of his favourite people, opened a lot of really cool presents, and drank chocolate milk with 4 different coloured straws.

Photographs that I appear in were taken by Liana of course!

I find myself hoping that baby number two is just like Elmer. He is such a happy, sensitive, sociable, funny little boy. He makes me laugh every day. He's very selective about friends his own age, but loves spending time with older children and adults, and bonds quickly with those he likes. He's a little behind with his speech, but comes out with new, often hilarious things every day.

He loves kissing, cuddling, and holding hands. Often if I am sat next to Elmer at the table or infront of the television he will reach over without looking and rest his hand on mine - something he's done since he was tiny, and something I'm sure to miss when he is 17.

Elmer has great empathy, so when he is playing outside and the dogs come over to lick his face, he will shout "go away dogs!", but then as they walk off, he'll watch them go and say quietly, "POOR dogs." When his cars crash on the coffee table he'll tell them "it's okay... it's okay", and fetch the tow truck to haul them off to the garage. He loves to make us laugh, and check if we are happy ("mummy happy?"). He loves dancing, chasing the chickens, chatting to family on Skype, being outside, cars, trains, diggers, fish, tunnels, insects, "apple and cheese in a bowl", mummy's tummy, being hurled onto the sofa and tickled.

Here is my favourite recent photograph of Elmer, taken by Isabella Harrex. My beautiful 3 year old.

Sinead-&-Elmer-67.jpg

6 Comments Add a Comment Send To Friend

Anonymous:

What a beautiful entry Sinead! Maybe Elmer won't rest his hand on your's when he's 17,but he sure would look back at this when he's 30 and have a lil 'aww' moment!such special memories you've captured not just in photos which we all know you're good at! But also in your words! :) in other news... Glad the bubble gun is still working! Or did u buy a new one?;)

(10.04.12 @ 03:20 AM)

Anonymous:

What a beautiful entry Sinead! Maybe Elmer won't rest his hand on your's when he's 17,but he sure would look back at this when he's 30 and have a lil 'aww' moment!such special memories you've captured not just in photos which we all know you're good at! But also in your words! :) in other news... Glad the bubble gun is still working! Or did u buy a new one?;)

(10.04.12 @ 03:20 AM)

Anonymous:

yikes, i'm sorry it posted twice! and i forgot to sign off - xx marilyn

(10.04.12 @ 04:04 AM)

Anonymous:

happy birthday Elmer i hope you had a wonderful time your mummy and daddy are truly blessed to have such a beautiful happy boy much love your friend from mainly music ishtar

(10.04.12 @ 10:21 AM)

Belinda:

Awwwww, warmed my heart this post... what a gorgeous wee boy. Looks like it was an awesome birthday! And that cake!?! Very impressive! X

(10.04.12 @ 10:24 AM)

Charlotte:

Happy Birthday Elmer. Beautiful post Sinead. We miss him very much! There is no other boy quite like Elmer and I think he is absolutely fantastic. Such a sensitive, funny wee chap. We're a bit late getting to the post. I actually have his present sitting in front of me! (alongside, Elsie's, my nieces, my mum's and another dunedin baby we know). Big post trip coming up.
xxxxxx
much love and hugs and chocolate milk kisses
Charlotte, Gallien, Amandine and Eddie

(10.04.12 @ 11:31 PM)

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The House - 2 weeks to go.

September 30, 2012 // Personal

I have some action shots today, as we had some helpers moving straw bales from the barn into the house this weekend. And then Steven and brother in law Nigel started fitting them into the walls!!

The gib board is all done, ready for the gib stoppers tomorrow who will make it look all neat and tidy. The floor is finished (apart from the inside of cupboards). My walk in wardrobe space is ready (crucial), and other behind the scenes things like switch board wiring has been done.

The digger came to dig a trench for the main electricity cable yesterday, but it broke on arrival so is waiting to be fixed.

This week should also see the tiling in the bathroom done, ready for installation of bathroom goods. The toilet system man showed up. I asked him how long until he could instal the toilet and he said "oooh, a couple of weeks?" I gave him a stern look and explained the gravity of the situation (I'm enormous so he didn't need any extra visual clues), and it turns out he can come next week.

The living area (above) floor finished.... and the kitchen below:

Upstairs walls all complete, and straw ready for the walls downstairs:

(that's Greg the builder's head poking up above the stairs there!)

Guest bedroom bales starting to go in:

Bales in Elmer's room:

Steven compressing bales from above!!

Elmer with his earphones after a cake-break:

Our bedroom upstairs (less bales needed up here so it looks a bit more compete. The floor will be carpeted at some point in the future:

(his Dad is an electrician so we can trust the wires :)

My wardrobe:

I do normally wash his face...

So, we are still waiting on.... the kitchen, the bathroom, the interior straw bale walls, the plastering, the painting, the floor sanding, the floor tinting etc., the window sills, water, electricity, a few bits and pieces outside, and probably about 50 things that aren't essential at the moment but still need doing. 2 weeks to go.

6 Comments Add a Comment Send To Friend

Two:

But you have a WARDROBE!!! Woo hoo xxx

(10.01.12 @ 03:48 AM)

Rachael:

Sinead - this is sooooooo amazing! I am coming to Dunedin in Feb - if I have time I would love to stop in and say hi! What a super gorgeous adventure you are having building this amazing house!

(10.01.12 @ 07:47 AM)

Monica:

Elmer seems comfortable on the straw bales. Dad and I are quite prepared to sleep on them....quite romantic?? I'm speaking on his behalf by the way! M x

(10.01.12 @ 09:48 AM)

Sinead Jenkins:

Haha, yes the wardrobe looks quite liveable doesn't it? Getting the important bits done. Rachael, would be lovely to see you! Definitely. And Mum, glad to hear the comment about how happy you are on straw... :)

(10.01.12 @ 10:13 AM)

Belinda:

Amazing Sinead What a house!! There's lots going on for your wee family, exciting times! X

(10.01.12 @ 11:32 AM)

Becs:

I feel like I'm watching one of those reality house build shows where it's all down to the wire!!! What a rush! Amazing what a wee deadline can do to get things moving huh?! Love it. Looking amazing!

(10.01.12 @ 10:18 PM)

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House Progress

September 23, 2012 // Personal

Three weeks to go. I took some quick shots yesterday to update the blog. Here we go:

One tiny bit of plaster left to go on the outside. It's done in stages as you can see here. Eventually it will be painted an oatey shade.

Steven cutting wood for the floor. The ceiling boards took two months to instal, and by the time it is finished the floor will have taken about a week and a half (working day and night), which is a big relief to someone who is over 8 months pregnant!

Floor in the guest room:

I took some shots of part of the floor-laying process below. The car jacks are being used in place of more expensive floor compressing equipment:

Oh and we have STAIRS! Although no banisters yet... the stairs will be carpeted at some point.

My walk in wardrobe on the left (work by Greg the builder, who comes in once a week now that we have time pressures). Also a view of the finished ceiling. Steven stood on scaffolding at night to paint it and then rub it down. It took a lot of work:

The ceiling in the bedroom is a different shade to the rest of the house. The wood needs to be oiled, and when Steven applied it to start with in the bedroom, I didn't want the whole ceiling to be that warm shade of orange. So after some trial and error, the rest of the ceiling is painted with wood oil and white tint mixed in, to retain the shade of the original blonde wood. You can see the difference in the image below:

Downstairs floor getting laid by Reece who is an invaluable help for us (he did the ceiling with Steven):

Bathroom floor in it's current state (underfloor heating visible):

And Elmer's room:

If this was Grand Designs, I would be able to hear the title music playing before the third ad-break, and Kevin's slightly condescending voice saying "...and they expect to be living in this house in just 3 weeks time!"

......

2 Comments Add a Comment Send To Friend

Two:

Ignore Kevin - we know you can do this!!

(09.23.12 @ 02:30 AM)

Monica:

Looking great...almost there...as are we!! xx

(09.24.12 @ 07:22 AM)

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The House

August 22, 2012 // Personal

I've been meaning to blog the state of the house build for a while, but never get a chance to get in there, alone, with my camera! Steven was collecting building materials in town and picking up Elmer from kindy so I finally got in there and took some photographs the other day. Excuse the bad lighting (the weather has been rainy, dark and horrible) and the un-glamourous nature of these shots. I think the main thing to think is: I am having a baby in 2 months, and we will be LIVING in this house before then. When I look at these images, it's kind of hard to believe..

There's actually a lot going on at the moment. That wooden ceiling you can see in the shot above has taken weeks to put in. It's perfect though, and needs to be if you are going to be Steven, lying on the sofa when it is all finished, looking at the work he has put in. We have a (proper!) builder coming in one day every week to do the bathroom, the downstairs ceilings, and some other jobs that we want finished properly. You can see the gib-board on the walls - that should be almost finished soon. It goes in so quickly!

The ceiling - a labour of love:

Living area, open plan kitchen, bathroom and upstairs 'cinema' room:

The bathroom... complete with plumbing for bath and shower... and STRAW BALES in the walls! Steven is extra careful and wrapped the first layer of straw bales in waterproof paper incase the house is ever flooded. In the rest of the house these bales (plastered) will form the interior walls, but in the bathroom they are purely insulation, and the (disgusting coloured) green bathroom gib board will be tiled:

The fire, almost finished:

Guest room:

Elmer's room (when I talk to Elmer about him having his own room, he ignores me, or changes the subject. But he knows which room in the house is his. I think the idea of living in this building site seems a bit worrying!):

I didn't venture upstairs on the ladder on my own (mum!). Oh and here is a cabinet I bought second hand, have sanded and am re-painting for the bathroom. The sink will sit on top. Quite exciting to be doing an actual job for the house. The next job will be making lampshades:

Anyway, as you can see, it's almost finished... ahem....cough.. The race is on. I will blog more images soon, and hopefully there will be some big changes.

11 Comments Add a Comment Send To Friend

Charlotte:

Walls, fittings, ceiling, fireplace!!!!! It's all looking very possible. Fingers (and legs ;) ) crossed till October.
xxx

(08.23.12 @ 01:13 AM)

Sinead Photo:

:) Yes, looking much more possible now! x

(08.23.12 @ 10:41 AM)

Mel:

Sinead, that looks AMAZING!!!! You're nearly there :-)
Mxx

(08.23.12 @ 11:27 AM)

Belinda:

Yippeee!!!! How excited Sinead! It looks amazing X

(08.23.12 @ 10:32 PM)

Belinda:

Yipppeeee!!! How exciting Sinead! It looks amazing X

(08.23.12 @ 10:33 PM)

Monica:

Steven, that ceiling looks wonderful. I'm looking forward to lying on the couch, admiring it!
Don't you dare go up that ladder Sinead...M x

(08.24.12 @ 06:10 AM)

Breda:

Absoliutely wonderful.Congrats to both. Where do you get the time to do everything Sinead, like sanding, making lamp shades etc!

(08.25.12 @ 12:48 AM)

Breda:

Absolutely wonderful.

(08.25.12 @ 12:52 AM)

Ferg:

Wowee! Exciting! Love the old cabinet/sink idea. Can't wait to see the kitchen. X

(08.25.12 @ 10:11 AM)

Ferg:

Wowee! Exciting! Love the old cabinet/sink idea. Can't wait to see the kitchen. X

(08.25.12 @ 10:12 AM)

Monica:

The ceiling looks great Steven. I'm looking forward to lying on the couch admiring it! Don't you dare go up that ladder Sinead...M x

(08.26.12 @ 11:43 AM)

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