With our 6-month Gordon’s Bay Education Centre Building Project closing in on the finish line, we would like to take this opportunity to thank so many of the wonderful teams that have been working tirelessly on site. From plasters to tilers, carpenters to pavers; the list goes on.
It is difficult to say which part of the finishing is the most important, but the doors and windows are certainly high up on that list. Previously the house had small, poorly fitted and often rotten wooden windows and doors which we replaced with bigger windows for more light and air circulation! This transformation alone has made the house look generations younger. A huge thank you to Byron and his team from Alutrade who have worked tirelessly and with great humour! Thanks to their efforts, every new view has been framed by stylish and secure sliding doors and windows.
Next are the incredibly skilled master craftsmen plasters from Armien’s Plasters. Watching the plasterers in action must be the most enjoyable experience on site. Around 85% of the walls and ceilings have been replastered, transforming the aesthetics of the entire property! Thank you so much for your tireless energy and may your backs and necks all stay strong.
Once plastered, many of the kitchen and bathroom walls were then expertly fitted with colorful combinations of tiles by Salie’s Tilers. Throughout the process, Claudia did her best to make the most boring and cheapest range of tiles look exciting by creating intricate patterns. These guys went above and beyond to bring these to fruition and what a fantastic job they did!
When the building process first began, after removing carpet covering 1/3 of the floor space, we were delighted to discover beautiful beech timber flooring. With the reconfiguration of the rooms, we managed to take up patches and reuse them in other newly revealed parts of the house. Only one company had the phenomenal skills and expertise for this challenge… Floor Masters Stellenbosch. Thank you so much to you all for the patching up, the sanding, the laying, and the varnishing of the floors. This has truly been the cherry on top of this renovation.
Much praise should also go to the landscapers Helderberg Precast Walls Ltd who, over the course of November, transformed the outside areas surrounding the property! As you will see from these photos, the spaces around the house had been neglected and became a dumping ground for building debris.
In just a few weeks, the transformation to the visitors parking bay, retaining walls, flood damaged boundary walls, courtyard, pathways and entrance steps was remarkable. With nearly all the pre-existing bricks and materials re-used, their efforts truly transformed the exterior of the property.
With most of the finishing complete, a colossal painting operation has begun! Matt is very excited as any opportunity to have a paint brush in hand and an opportunity to whistle makes him very happy. No doubt Teddy will be ‘helpful’ too and Claudia will be coming up with a huge array of colour schemes and mural projects to carry out with the children. With LOTS of changes still to come, *watch this space* for the final updates…
