Pimp My Shed

Having two retirees in residence has done wonders for our collective productivity and our shed/workshop is now better organised than at any point since we moved in. There's a wood rack near the woodworking tools, a tool rack by the door and I have some fantastic storage for all my gardening gear in the shape of old kitchen units. And, of course, the piano is all ready for hammering out a tune or two. Now we just have to keep it looking like that...

Remember this?

Does this play kitchen look familiar to you at all? 

Yep - that's right! It's the old vanity unit from the original bathroom suite that's found a new lease of life after being ripped out during our renovations. It makes a pretty fine kitchen, doesn't it? 

The Return of the Digger

After the last digger broke our septic system, another digger had to come along and fix it. 

And a truck was thrown into the deal too! So much excitement! 

Dust bath

A pea hen bathing in the pea gravel which is waiting for our drainage works to start up again.

Rearranging the deck-chairs

The final piece of our renovations puzzle was the decking. We were finally let loose on the deck about six weeks ago and then got all our furniture in place a few weeks later.

It looks a lot more inviting with some chairs and a table - before that it was like the deck of a ship, albeit a ship that was sailing through a forest.

I wish that I could say that we're all finished now and ready to sit back and enjoy the view. But sadly the digger that helped build the deck broke the septic tank so there's just one more thing to do...

The missing link

Here are the stairs that were delivered for the deck project. There'll be steps between the top deck and the lower deck then down to the garden to create the much-loved kiwi concept of "indoor-outdoor flow". Also known as making it easier to feed the chickens and put the compost out.

Sadly the one set of stairs was too short and the other too long and both need to be re-made. Hopefully the replacements will arrive this week and then we can try them out and the builders can start cladding the top deck.

Upstairs, downstairs

Now that all the framing is in place, we're beginning to get an impression of the scale of the decking project! I think we're going to make some more friends so that we can have big parties...

 

Pole Position

Once the digger had dug all the post holes, the next visit was from a concrete mixer. The poles were erected and concreted in place, ready for the framework of the deck to take shape.

Digging Deep

Since my last post a month ago, I've been working hard back at work and the builders have been working hard here at home. The construction of the deck has moved on significantly but there still seem to be a good few weeks of work left to do.

One of the most exciting stages so far has been the visit from a big orange digger. It was quite something to walk out of the front door and find a digger just outside the porch. It was also rather alarming to see a digger from the kitchen!

A series of deep holes were dug for the main supporting posts, carefully avoiding the septic tank, all the service pipes and cables that the builders had carefully laid a few months before and the grapefruit tree which sits within the construction zone. The only thing to suffer was the ground - there's so much mud here now that we're about ready to host Glastonbury or farm hippos.

All hands on deck

I returned from work after the first full day of the builders being back on site to find that not only had they piled up most of the wood and scaffolding that they're going to need but they'd also completely removed the old deck from in front of the granny flat. Most productive!

 

 

Profiling

Our renovation project has entered its final phase - construction of the decks. At the end of last week, the builders laid out lines of strings to show where the pilings will go. The chickens thought this was all very curious.

Bathtime Beauties

We claimed one of the seven bathrooms to create a new family bathroom - a vast improvement on the old shower cubicle at the top of the stairs, not least because it has a view of the garden. 

 We've tried to keep some of the old features though - like the classic kiwi Feltonmix shower, though the new one is not quite as bold as the original.

Nesting

There are two children's room along the landing from the master bedroom. One occupied, and one not quite yet.

My favourite feature of these rooms has to be the curtains though the lampshades are pretty cool too - not that I thought that when I was growing up with them.

Holiday at Home

I've had complaints that our bedroom looks too much like a hotel room. It must be the first time since leaving home that I've occupied such an immaculate space! We've put some pictures up since these photos were taken though so it's looking a little more homely now.

This room has probably changed least - it's just the furnishings that look different. However, we now boast a walk-in wardrobe and an en suite bathroom which are a little different to the bathroom that we endured before the building work started.

 

Can you work out which is before and which is after? And have you spotted our old floral carpet in the wardrobe? Oddly, we've grown quite partial to it and couldn't bear to part with all of it.

Treetop living

Again, I gave up on trying to make the living room immaculate for photographs so here it is looking slightly lived in.

We like the kitchen, we love the fire and the open space is great. But best of all has to be the view.

 

 

 

Welcome

And welcome to the main house...

I was delighted to be able to give our junk store dresser pride of place in the front hall - it sets the tone straight away!

 

The stairs have been straightened up and some of the space under the stairs reclaimed from the laundry to make larger storage cupboards. We now have a stationery cupboard and a boot room - some of my favourite parts of the project, of course.

I gave up waiting for the laundry room to be tidy and free of washing so here it is looking functional. The best bit has to be the rack which hangs from the ceiling. I can hardly believe that washing actually dries quicker just those few feet higher.

And finally, here's the stairs with the bannisters in place. It's a shame we couldn't get stair gates to match but you can't have everything.

Downstairs

Some of you will have seen photos of the granny flat before. Back then, there was no door on the bathroom, no light fittings and definitely no library corner.

But now I've spent many happy hours arranging our travel books and my fiction on the shelves and it's looking rather tempting.

 

There are bedside tables in the bedroom and light fittings all round. 

And not only is there a bathroom door - there's also a great 1960s lock. 

So what are you waiting for? Book your tickets today!

And the view from behind...

And here's our house from the back. This view is going to change when the deck is added upstairs. Work should start in the middle of next month and it'll be ready for us to sit out in the spring.

You may think that we have overdone the back doors - what house really needs three back doors? But I think we can carry it off... 

And here it is from the end - complete with new fenced-in, waterproofed deck off our bedroom.

We haven't exactly spent much time out there yet but then it hasn't exactly stopped raining since it was finished. I'm looking forward to being able to wander out there on a summer morning and then down into the garden. Lovely.

Home Sweet Home

It's now three years since we moved in and a whole year since we started renovating so it's about time that you saw some results. Over the next few days and weeks, I'll be posting some before, during and after posts so that you can see how the house has changed - and, hopefully, improved. The best place to start is probably outside.

This was our first impression of the house. Orange garage doors, green front door, pale cream asbestos fibrolite cladding with a patch of fake brick. Amazingly we decided to buy it when it looked like this but the vendor painted it before we actually signed on the dotted line.

This is how the house looked when we took possession - a definite improvement but still rather toxic - the asbestos had to go. 

One of the first things to happen once the building works started was the shrink-wrapping. Our house disappeared and it would be another six months before we saw it again.

Finally it was unveiled just before Christmas in all its weatherboarded glory. Double glazing, new roof, solar panels and a chimney!

We'd hoped to match the old colour - the one thing we actually liked about the outside of the house - but it was too dark for the weatherboards to take. We settled on this paler colour which still looks pretty neutral.

 

So what do you think?  I think it's the colour that makes the biggest difference visually - the one thing we didn't want to change! But from the inside the effect has been dramatic - the house is warmer, drier and quieter. We know that it's going to last for years, with just the odd lick of paint to perk it up. Success!