Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Painting, painting and...... more painting!

This is the biggest paint job we have ever done. It shocked us that it took over 4 weeks just to prep the entire top floor. Being old there was so much to clean, scrape and putty. 

We decided to spray paint every room, then go back through and brush on the gloss onto the trim. It took a week alone to just thoroughly tape everything off. We got the spray painting done in 3 very long days and we are still at it with the gloss paint now.










Almost every window had to be tuned up, as many had been painted shut or too swollen to open easily

Resting the aching back and checking our work



We set up a little door painting warehouse

Lou xo

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Tile ideas...

I'm still scoping out tiles for the kitchen splash back and for the bathrooms. I liked looking at the new renovations at Garden City Shopping Center. I took a few shots of ideas I liked...




Have always loved breeze blocks and they will definitely be used somewhere around our house eventually.

Lou x

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Our butterfly roof house - internal shots - the good and the bad

The last month has been so busy for us. We have been working hard at the house whenever we get a spare moment. There are so many things to consider, research and plan. Then trying to coordinate it all to run smoothly is a challenge. Anything that we can do ourselves, we do. But the big things we have hired the professionals for.

So far the professionals have removed the old asbestos roof and reroofed with colorbond shale grey with a new and improved box gutter and insulation. We took 3 full days to then remove the 'textured' the main ceiling which was made form a very strong horse hair plaster/cement. All the work we have been doing has been making the house look worse rather than better. But things soon will start to look so much sweeter, now that a great plasterer has put in a fabulous new ceiling - keeping the original butterfly shape of course. About 5 days left of painting prep, then a painting marathon will follow. I can't wait to show you more as the pretty stuff starts to happen.

These photos are just quick shots of when we first inspected the home and within the first few weeks of us owning it. Some are not pretty, but it's a good record how it really looked.

Short wall dividing the kitchen and lounge

Kitchen and tiles have now been completely removed and a new kitchen ordered

Obviously not the original kitchen. We think it was installed about 12 years ago, ready for tenants.



Loved this door bell speaker the moment I viewed the house. it is no longer wired to anything but will be kept here You can just see the textured main butterfly ceiling.


Damage where the box gutter had leaked years ago before new down pipes were installed.






I am thinking this is an original, complete with grey/lilac paint splatters in the main bedroom.


Also loved the stairs when I first met this house.



Sadly an outside laundry, even though I promised myself my next house would not have that, like my first house. But we have plans in store to fix this, eventually.


Lou x

Monday, September 29, 2014

Introducing our new butterfly roof house - external shots

We had been house hunting for 7 months non-stop. Looking in an area close enough to the school but the house had to have the special 'something'. We had already made 5 unsuccessful offers on other homes over the 7 months but as the market in this area is so full on we always missed out. 
When I saw this house on the internet on a Friday night and viewing it on the Saturday, we both immediately knew: this is the one! 

The lattice will be removed to reveal the cantilevered corner deck in all it's glory.

It was better than any other house we had seen, such as large rooms, a huge extra room downstairs, flat land but the compromise was that it needed a lot of TLC after having tenants for many years and many owners. We made on offer at 9am Monday morning, stumbled a bit when the results of the building and pest came back, but it was ours 4 weeks after seeing it.  We are so happy to have it, but are doing some things before we move in. Re-roofing, internal painting, floor sanding, a new kitchen and replace the leaking toilet. 

Here are the before shots of our 1960's butterfly roofed house: 


We have removed a piece of unnecessary timber above the car port, this awaiting cleaning up and painting.

The patio has been painted in readiness for the new roof, this is the only external area we will paint for now. The outdoor painting will be done once we move in.

We love the brick breeze wall and the timber feature of the back stairs.

Sadly the back stairs will need to be replaced, but it's pretty far down the list.

Corner deck. We love this bluish grey colour and will keep it very similar.

Left of the front door. Garden to be redone, painting and wood rot to attend to.

Retro path to the hill hoist.

Front of the corner deck, here you can see the piece of timber that we removed. It used to hold a lattice carport/pergola years ago.

The awnings are good for a house with no eaves, but will eventually need to be replaced as they have rusted through.

The back view of our butterfly roof including a commercial size box gutter and rain head.

The opposite end of the house from the corner deck. The bedrooms are also cantilevered.



Some of these photos where taken by me while the tenants lived here, so much of the 'extras' have been since removed.


My next post will be of some of the internal features, then soon, I can start showing 'before and after's' ...  so exciting.

Lou

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

GOMA, Harvest...part 2

Here are a few more shots from our visit to GOMA....






A massive and amazing painting!

Here is Ebie being shy in front ogf the painting for an idea of size - I know!


Lou x

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Juicy Pineapples Galore...

I have featured pineapples a few times before on my blog, as I am a fan. So when we visited the Harvest exhibition at GOMA recently, one of my favorite parts was the pineapple feature. I remember many of these item, and I particularly loved the vintage tea towels.

Not the worlds best photos as it was behind glass and taken on my phone.
Loved this wallpaper.
















Lou x