Building in Trentham

We should return to almost three years ago to explain why we now live in rural Victoria. In 2014 we returned on our sixth visit to France. Our good friends Carol and Michael asked if we could house sit and look after the tribe of cats that Carol had adopted. We knew others along with C & M that were escapees to rural France in the Loire. After we house sat, C & M kindly offered their cottage for us to experience life in rural France. It was this experience that gave us the confidence to move from fast moving Melbourne to where we live now in tranquil Trentham. We are only 1 hour from one of our sons in Melbourne. The other is in Belgium so maybe we will visit next year. (another opportunity to pop back to the Loire to renew friendships maybe).

After we sold our house in Mentone, the building process in Trentham started taking place. We rented for 12 months in the larger town of Kyneton (20 kms away from Trentham) and finally moved into our new Trentham home just prior to Christmas. The process of making the house into a home has been amazingly quick as we both love being here - the house, the village, the people and the relaxed lifestyle add to the experience.

So, lets do a little recap on the early building period which in actual building took 6 months. With the administration we had a further 6 months added so in full, it took 12 months from signing contracts to moving in.

The following photos with captions give you an insight to the process.

First of all, we had the block cleared where the trees were in the way of the house footprint however we retained some marvellous trees. We also had this wonderful hedge at the front of the block which was trimmed.

Then the concrete slab was poured - would you believe on the day it snowed!!!

Once the concrete slab cured, the frame went up.

The roof then went on making it more pleasant for the bricklayers and plasterers to weave their magic.

With the plastering coming to completion, Sue's kitchen was starting to take form.

Appliances installed and she started to become excited. 

Stone benches and cabinets created more excitement.

Next after the painters completed their tasks, the flooring went in.
We had both carpet and bamboo floating floorboards fitted.

The open plan kitchen, dining and family area was now finished and we started thinking about decoration.

Rather than documenting the full process in on post, we'll save some for the next few blogs. We must say though after 3 months living in Trentham, it's all and more than we hoped for.