The Front

This is before... the first one is the picture the real estate had on their web site of the house when we were looking four a place to buy.



This was the front door




and this was the front of the house. One of the previous owners enclosed the front porch with sliding glass doors to make a weird little entry area. We were going to just pull it all out and just have the porch again, but that means that people are looking straight into the house when they come to the front door, which we didn't like.



So we decided to do this....

We pulled out the original front doors (french doors) which were between the lounge room and the little front room



Then Kane and Morgan came and stayed for a few days to help us strip, sand and stain the new windows and the old french doors.



Kane also helped Michael pull all the old doors out and rebuild the frame.




At the end of the window installation stage - time for a beer!



And finished...





We fitted the old french doors to the front (what a huge job!!). I am still in the process of painting the front wall and all the gutters and fascia (paint, paint, paint - soooo much painting to do!!)



And from the inside (excuse the mess... I have another coat of paint to do and everything is still everywhere)



Still have front landscaping and the front fence/wall to do.Which is the part I actually like doing (the landscaping, at least).

The Lounge Room

Our lounge/dining room is still a work in progress. The walls and ceiling have been painted, but there are lots of touch ups that need doing. The cornice and all the architraving need painting, and the two doorways to the front room need to be fixed up.

There has been lots of work done to it so far, though - the main part being the fireplace - which is a big feature. Michael and I began to mosaic the tiles one night, both of us full of enthusiasm about getting rid of the ugly red brick.





After a long (long, long) process - of which Michael played a very small part, and many lessons learnt about grouting porous tiles. This is the (almost) end result.



And a closer view of the mosiac work



I will update with a whole room photo when the whole room is ready.

The Main Bedroom

The Ensuite

The Back Yard

The Kitchen

We knew that we would need to replace the kitchen quite soon after we moved in, as it was falling apart and we had to remove cupboards to make a place for the fridge.

These photos were taken during the cupboard removal...









The fun part was ripping all the cupboards out and Michael had the arduous task of pulling up the cork floors.







Then we were ready for the new kitchen. This was probably the only major job in our house that we have outsourced. We got a cabinet maker to build and install our cupboards. We did all the painting, tiling, and other finishing jobs ourselves.

The back room

Our back room has always been a bit of a play space for the kids. But it wasn't too inviting as a playroom with the stamped concrete floors and chaotic mess that was always being made. So changes had to be made... first was the tiling.


Now, it wasn't always quite this messy - we were in the middle of moving everything out here.







So we spent three days on our hands and knees, breaking our backs laying tiles, but the result was definitely worth it.



The back room is huge, which is useful for lots of things, but not for organising and keeping things together. We decided quite early on that we would divide it into two rooms, and call one of those our fourth bedroom. Then we decided not to do it, and then we decided we really should. Then we got a real estate agent in to help us decide once and for all, and he said either way had it's positives and negatives. In the end we decided to build the dividing wall.

Michael sheeted over the exposed bricks and then we built the frame for the dividing wall.







The frame went up and we sheeted the walls. Lex got the ever-so-fun job of painting the walls... which isn't quite finished yet. She just can't bring herself to buy more paint, as that would mean she'd have to apply it.

First things first - the main bathroom

Our new home had no bathroom that could be accessed without going through bedrooms - not ideal for guests. Although it was hardly a problem, with the abundance of toilets. There was one toilet in each bathroom, which was fair enough, but there was also a toilet in the laundry, one in the garage (along with a shower), and another toilet and shower in the back shed... well in one of the back sheds.

We decided the bathroom situation was the one we needed to tackle first. We had to make major changes to the layout. Which meant removing walls and bricking up the old doorway.













The old shower and toilet

























The cupboard, and yes, that is a window behind those clothes. You can say hello to anyone in the laundry through there.























The old doorway, which was the only way in -through Ellie's room
























And so we began.....



















































And the final result...

The doer-upper

In March 2007 we moved into our 'renovator's dream'. We knew we had a long road ahead of us... this is the story.