Our latest renovation project has been a few years in the making. When we moved in, the back verandah was partly enclosed and there were café blinds further along (the first storm took care of those). Apart from being immensely unattractive, condensation would drip from the ridges of the corrugated ceiling, creating puddles on the floor.

We solved that problem with a new ceiling in 2011, adding skylights to allow light into the house.

We had often talked about how nice it would be to enclose the room but other things got in the way. Forward to spring 2016 when a pair of welcome swallows moved in. Each time they started to build a new nest, we would remove it. They were so persistent, we attached plastic to the cedar cladding and cardboard ‘lids’ to the coach lights. They finally got the message – and so did we. In March this year, we started by removing the existing window and sliding door in readiness for a concrete slab.

A few days later, the builders started on the formwork, under the guidance of Poppy.

The driver manoeuvred the truck past the pond

and the lads got to work.

A few turns with the whirly-gig

and next morning we had the beginnings of our new room.

The old sliding door was repositioned at the entrance and a smaller window installed next to it.

Three large stacker doors and a slider at the other end followed. The small stacker windows at the far end will sit above the bar and will open into the BBQ area. Poppy has a new doggy door which she thinks is great fun.

We left a channel open along the old exterior wall to allow access to pipes. The plan was to build timber frames so we could cover them with the flooring but remove if we have plumbing problems. Michael’s mammoth trench-digging effort unearthed the pipes but they weren’t where we thought, they were more central in the room.

The old coach lights were removed and down lights installed, with power points to follow. We sanded the existing window frames so they would match the new ones.

We carefully extricated the cladding from the old exterior wall

and after attaching the moisture proof membrane,

re-used it on the new exterior.

Insulation came next

and then the plumber removed the old exterior pipes, re-directed them outside and installed fixtures for a bar sink. Now that we didn’t need the channel to access the pipes, we had another concrete delivery to fill it in

and laid a slab for the BBQ and pizza oven at the same time.

Plastering and painting made it all seem a reality.

We decided on a small wood heater for those cold winter evenings,

and vinyl planks for the floor. The excitement of laying the first plank

had quelled somewhat after the second day.

With skirtings fitted and varnished, we are very happy with the result.

Poppy has a new bed (she refused to smile for the camera) made from reclaimed timber.

We couldn’t make up our minds on furnishings so decided to refurbish the items we already had.

We bought an old pew for our dining area, it revived beautifully with some TLC.

The dining table and coffee table – well, that’s another story. Now we just have to build the bar, a couple of cupboards, the decking, the BBQ………