Demolition delights

Firstly, can I start by saying how nice it was to hear from you all about your husbands (or other halves) and to know that many of you are being driven equally crazy by men who either have no interest or excessive interest in the small domestic details.

After reading that post (yes, it appears Legoman does read the blog), we have managed to agree on a laundry door. I'm not holding my breath yet on the rest of the list. The plans come back in two days.

In the meantime we have been dragging our children around various demolition yards and miraculously agreeing on a few other purchases. Including some wonderful huge sliding windows,

some more reclaimed floorboards, and a gorgeous set of french doors. After vacillating between a large contemporary sliding door and these old french doors, Legoman came around to my vision and has even agreed to let me paint them. A colour even. (Legoman does not like surprises so I have learnt to do all negotiating up front). These doors, (a set of french doors stacked) will fit perfectly in the corridor between our new family/tv room and the kitchen. So I will be able to stand at my new island bench, supervising the appropriateness of tv shows without having to listen to any more of that Giggle and Hoot.

So, how does a girl get her husband on the same page? Bribery of course. Except in this house we call it   "Incentives". Now because this is a G rated blog,  I had to consider other options. Some of you may remember Legoman starting to cut a huge branch off our poinciana tree, oh , about a year ago.

 Well, he has been chipping away at this goliath of a branch with a little handsaw. Whenever the kids and I were driving him bonkers he would disappear up a ladder for about 6 hours and proceed to cut off about a foot of branch. After about 36 cumulative days of this parental absenteeism, I could stand it no longer and I caved in. Over the chainsaw that is. This is a picture of a very happy man. Hopefully very happy and very agreeable when it comes to renovation decisions.

 And of course in my weaselly little mind, I was figuring this would have to give me some leverage over at least the stove choice. Given that  Legoman has not been endowed with spectacular coordination, there were safety requirements. He came home with the helmet, the ear muffs and even the chainsaw proof chaps. Who knew there was such a thing as chainsaw proof chaps? He then demolished the rest of that branch in record time as well as another small tree and every branch overhanging into the neighbours. Chain happy if you will. There were casualties. Thankfully only our back stairs. See how the bottom two collapsed under large logs and are now propped up on bricks.

Now we have a contractual agreement that he will not cut anything down while I am at work or if he is in charge of the children. Given that this is what I found when he last supervised the children.

Yep, that is the two small children up on the roof, while I am inside obliviously stuffing the roast chook. Can you see why I had reservations about allowing this man to have a chainsaw?

At least the kids are enjoying the offcuts. I did request some large chunks to turn into stools.

Incentives my friends, it's all about the incentives.