I have fallen short of keeping a good record of the garage conversion. From the very first time we looked at this house, he had the idea of converting the the space under the house. When there are stairs of some sort (this is one of the details not fully formed yet) put into the house I will start to think of this space as a basement. Basements are not common in Australian houses. I still can't remember why I didn't take this conversion idea seriously...I think perhaps there were other changes we wanted to make. We spent a lot of time altering the garden, and I found out that He was fond of taking down a tree. This tree cutting seemed alarming to me until I found that there are many quick growing gum trees that are native. People commonly replace trees of a certain type.
My point really, is that neither of us knew how much time, effort, and work would go into this conversion. He has been having a good time with most of the work. Our lives have changed in the last few years, in ways that gave him both the time and inclination to devote to the project. He finally started, and I had forgotten all about the idea. So our viewing points were from different places, also I have only been included in small bits of the process. I am not creating something, I am more left to deal with noise, dust, and workmen. Areas that I have used are not fully accessible, neither is my bike- anything down in the garage is coated and re-coated with sawdust, or concrete dust.
But recently, putting windows into the area that will be an office has made the project seem more worthy of completion...or perhaps the windows show the possibilities that a low room can offer. However, finding the windows was time consuming. We drove three hours North to the show room. Waited months for them to be completed, and then had enough problems with the installation that the workmen had to come three times, followed by a specialist from Queensland coming down to fix the last of the problems.
He had the rest of the house windows replaced (Tasmania gets pretty cold, but more than that, the island has always been years behind in materials such as windows that are double-pane, insulation, or heating that isn't just a wood fired heater) which has "opened up the view", and we have interior blinds which in such a dusty climate is great- but really I can see why one might want to go on vacation and come back when everything is done.
This time last year, we were still dealing with the repairs from the burglary - and we had to leave instead of settle in and enjoy the pretty, refinished floors, or quiet, upgraded security doors. Upon returning, the conversion work was started quickly. I have a tendency to view 'today' as permanent...I am not great and thinking that what is happening right now, will not be happening -forever.
