The back of our house is no longer in danger of falling off. You can see the extra supporting crossbeams – one across the building and three connecting each sides the vernadah – and the bit of morning shade the side panels cast on the house here:

The shade covers more in the early morning and late afternoon, after which the verandah does it’s thing.

As a bonus, we have a new balustrade to replace the rotting, badly-made old one:

It all looks sleek and modern. And it’s actually square. And best of all, it won’t need oiling each year.

But as usual, one fix leads to another. The extension was painted to match the original part of the house, but all the windows, the garage door, the new garage and now the balustrade framework are powder-coated, and the closest colour available is a paler cream. The verandah posts need repainting – to match and to treat the rust coming through the old paint. Which means getting in a painter, which means we may as well give in to the relentless restrictions of ‘available Colourbond colours’ and get all the pale areas of the house, like the weatherboards, repainted as well.

Well, next year anyway. Along with new carpets, as they needed replacing ten years ago and are really showing their age now.