Renovation reflection

Just has a quick browse through the "Lost in Router Space" blog..... It was a very good reminder on how far I have actually come with this house.  Maybe because I haven't done much since 2008 until now, I have felt a bit embarassed having people come over to my house for the first time. But looking back through the blog has shown me how bad the house was to begin with and how far I have really come. I am also proud of myself for having some vision and designing my improvements as I have never done anything like this before.

I can't wait now until the house is painted, floors polished and a modern entertaining area out the back - should be quite a presentable little house then!

Pink bits...

Here are photos of my new timber front staircase and slats between my concrete posts.

Before - ugly metal box and concrete drain

After - no more box or drain

 

Before - some crappy concrete drain for all the gutter pipes to run into

After - all filled in as the drainage has been properly plumbed under the house

Old broken down stairs

New front stairs

Had a talk with Ryan, my builder, about my crappy under cover area. Have pretty much decided to keep the majority of the concrete slab, destroy the current undercover area, then get shade sails installed and paint the good concrete slab to make the whole area look cleaner and more modern. I will have to get quotes for the sails, but will be way cheaper the getting a new patio built,

Don't fence me in!

It's been ages since anything exciting has happened to my little house. Now the rush is on to get it to a rentable state by August as I am going to work in Antarctica for 6 months. No pressure - just have to get the house fully painted, floors sanded, a bit of electrical work and what to do with the back undercover disaster area!

Newly mulched garden bed down the side of the house

However progress on been made in the front yard - as of today I have a new front picket fence. I also have new exposed aggregate concrete paths. I am going to talk to my gardening about turning the dirt area into a mulched garden bed. It should look so much neater and give my house much better street appeal. New front stairs have also been made up and I am getting horizontal timber slats under the house between the concrete stumps so block the sight of more dirt. The plumber also came today so now my down pipes all drain properly into a new PVC pipe running to the street drain. No more open concrete drain down the side of my house - check of the photo of how rusted my drain pipe was!

The old stairs and concrete slab

New kitchen cabinets

Firstly the outside weatherboards needed replacing, then old windows replaced by louvres. All walls and ceilings were lined with new plasterboard. My floors were polished the week previously - the lounge, kitchen and third bedroom.

Two days ago my new kitchen cabinets went in after 6 weeks without a kitchen at all..... Unfortunately the electrician had not been so still no lights, fan, stove etc - only one lonely power point.

The pantry, fridge space, broom cupboard and washing machine space.


Laundry basin, dishwasher etc.



The free standing stove and oven, and rangehood yet to be installed.



Exit to the lounge room.



The front loading washing machine and dryer space.



Hopefully (cross my fingers) that all the electrical work and stove will be installed tomorrow. Then I have to decide on what splashback to go for - tile / stainless steel / glass....

Yay!! Linen cupboard installed!!

Finally - I have a linen cupboard - you can see my mirror cabinet too. So nearly there.... I have also put down my deposit for my kitchen today - about an 11 week wait - so about late July I should be cooking with gas!


........

Getting closer....

Since my last entry, I can home yesterday to find my mirror cabinet installed and today the shower screen door!! Never have I be happier to see a pane of glass. Hopefully linen cupboard tomorrow

Bathroom nearly finished.... I can shower again!!!

I now have a 80% completed bathroom that is starting to look great!! Still no linen cupboard, shower screen door, mirror cabinet or paint - BUT I have running water and a power point!!! Exciting stuff. No more showers at work or the gym!!! Yay!!!

Bathroom update after week 1

So far the bathroom has been stripped - so showers at the gym for me....

Lucy's cat door blocked off!!!

Before


My bathroom has been started today.... Lucy, my cat used to be able to get in and out of the house through a space between the wall and floor... Not anymore!!! Today, the toilet and basin have been removed and the new corner shower cavity has had the first layer of waterproofing. They were kind enough not to remove the old shower, so I would have something over the weekend. They have also installed a new cavity sliding door, as the old door really intruded on the space (The bathroom is about 2.2m x 2.3m)




In the coming week or so, my bathroom will have...

• new floor, ceiling and wall lining
• new back to wall toilet - position is being moved to where old shower is
• new louvre windows to replace existing casement windos
• tiles to floors and walls to window height
• new taps and rail shower
• wall hung vanity basin with mirror wall cabinet
• linen cupboard
• downlighting
• extractor fan
  

New roof!!!

The new roof and gutters were finished two days ago....YAY!!! No more worrying about when it rains or the wind blows too much!!! The roof colour is Colourbond Dune and the gutters in Colourbond Woodland Grey.

Gutters are off and then it rains!!!

I had the roofing guys take off my gutters yesterday, so I could get the fascia boards painted before the new roof and guttering goes on. Then it decides to rain (heavily!!) and now water is leaking in through one of my lounge room windows :( ...... Not my wisest decision ever.

However if things dry up the painter will be coming in four days and hopefully the roofer a day or two later. I have chosen Colourbond Dune for the roof and Colourbond Woodland Grey for the gutters / fascia boards. Hopefully no more leaks next weekend!!!

Rotting corner of house

I spoke to my neighbours on the shared boundary side regarding getting the okay to have scaffolding in their yard. While I was there I had a good look at my broken window which I plan to have weatherboarded in.... Worse than I though - looks like there is a stack of rotting timber - a bit scary when you can break a corner of window sill off the house!!!!

So I am going to try to get hold of some secondhand weatherboards and a piece of timber to replace the corner of the house and the window..... Maybe easier said than done!!! I could possibly steal weatherboards from the front of the house (ek!!) and cut them up. Then I could install a handrail for the front veranda.

I must also decide quickly my colour scheme for my roof and external paint. I think I might survey my work collegues about this one.....

New roof booked

I finally have plucked up the courage to book the roofer today - should be done mid February some time. Just need to decide on the colour of the roof and exterior paint now.....

Bored boards

After completing most of the painting in the second bedroom, I have the floorboards sanded this morning. Unfortunately, borer damage has been found in approximately 15 lineal metres, which will need replacing. At least the black underlay is finally gone!!! So now I will wait until I paint the main bedroom, lift its carpet and get them sanded, so Gary from Federation Sanding can then order some second hand boards and replace them all at once.

Middle bedroom nearly painted

Well, in a blur of work over the Xmas / New Years period (spurred on by my new flatmate, Venessa moving in shortly), I felt I have to clean up the very dirty middle bedroom. There was a lot more help this time with Dad doing a lot of painting, and Venessa and Kelvin cleaning and painting some walls too. I bought a new $300 double sided ladder yesterday after some persusion by Dad - but it is a god send!!!

At this stage, I have to finish the second coat, do any tidy up bits and also the gloss paint the trims. Unfortunately I couldn't find any before photos :(












There may be some life in my old stumps - I gave Gary two of my rescued stumps. He is going to make them into salt and pepper grinders for me. At this stage two stumps are now 6 pieces of timber.

Lounge room nearly painted!!

Well after many days of work on my lounge room, I am pleased to report that it is nearly painted!!. Yay!!! I will be able to move my lounge suite from the hall back into the right room. I ended up deciding on Dulux Natural White for the walls (as per my house in the magazine) and the trim in Wattyl Whiteweave (half strength) in a glossy enamel paint. I can't believe how much cleaner and brighter it looks. Pity about the blue and yellow of the kitchen in the background. Tomorrow there is the windows and doors to tackle, and a bit more gloss for the trim....

I have also bought all my bathroom supplies at Reece during their May sale - will delivered at the end of June.

The joys of undercoating

Over the labour day weekend and this weekend, I have been gap filling my tongue and groove boards, sanding, deflaking, and undercoating my lounge room. Just too much mental stimulation!! I don't think I will have quite enough undercoat for that flawless finish - so another trip to the paint store next weekend.

The pressure is on now to decide on paint colours so I can finish the room properly. I have put together a mood board to help my out.

I found a colour scheme I like in an House and Garden magazine. The architect's website is http://www.sharonfraserarchitects.com.au/sharon.html . Follouw "Projects" then "Byron Bay", then "Federal House".