Dale is sleeping on the couch....

And yes, I am sleeping on the other one! The floor sander called on Monday and was able to come from Tuesday to get our hallway done. So we have decamped to the lounge and kitchen/dining for the week. The third coat went on this morning and should be ok for light walking tonight, but we will probably stay on the couches one more night so that little and big paws can stay off the boards for a little longer.

We have used Feast Watson Floorseal (Tung Oil) with a black tint. So the result will be nice and dark and a matte, rather than gloss, finish. It looks great so far against the white walls. Shall get some pictures up on the walls over the weekend too. The painter will come back to touch up the skirting boards sometime and then all done.

So some photos of before and during each stage.

Before (from a while ago)

Floor sanded - already a million times better!

First coat down

Second coat with tint added

 

Third coat today - with a little more tint

Molly enjoying my new bed!

We will have our house back tomorrow and it shall be good to finish a few things off. Hopefully some more photos next week of the rooms not yet shown.

 

All Moved In - and mostly unpacked...

Hi,

Well we have been in the house for two and a half weeks already and we are really enjoying the location and the house. 

Molly the cat joined us on day three and settled in super quickly and is now racing in and out through the cat door a million times a day. Charlie likes his new backyard and keeps finding weird really old bones (one with teeth!) and grotty old tennis balls. He also loves lazing in the afternoon sun out the front and talking to whoever wanders past.

We still have a few boxes to unpack, but are slowly getting through the remainder. The guest room is unlikely to be ready for photos for a little while yet... Also we haven't yet put many pictures up. I finally found some decent picture rail hooks (Bunnings ones were useless), but now the Bunnings wire is way too weak so will have to use something else, perhaps fishing line will do the trick. Shall get onto that next week.

So the only reno type work still to be completed is the sanding of the hallway. We have booked a new guy after the first one didn't turn up on the day, and he is booked out but will try and fit us in between larger jobs. So a paint spattered hallway lets the place down a little at the moment - but you won't be seeing photos of that!

Now some photos of the finished rooms and the front of the house.

Outside - before and after. See if you can spot the yellow door!!

Our bedroom, all done except for needing some more pictures on the walls. Plus we need to buy a tallboy for more clothes storage and this will go in the far corner with the tv on top. We haven't had a tv in the bedroom before but decided to do as Austar had some special deal for two rooms.

The kitchen and dining room - with Charlie supervising the photo shoot. Our table fits just fine and could probably come more away from the wall to make the window seats accessible all the time. Will test that out sometime. We have enough storage and the kitchen is actually really good to work in, although the oven is a little dodgy. I haven't been brave enough to do a roast yet but will need to try before hosting Christmas.

Our bathroom, before and after. Before, all yellow with a bath. After, all white and with a laundry instead. This space has worked out really well and we are so glad we made a last minute decision to paint the bathroom and loo white.

That is it for today. The office still has some unpacked boxes, so not quite photo ready. We are waiting on an extra filing cabinet we have ordered for that to get sorted. As mentioned the guest room has a bit of work to do. And the lounge, looking good but will photograph once the pictures are on the walls.


So making some progress each day and really looking forward to being completely organised soon!

Almost done...

Hi,

Well we are very close to being finished now. The floor coverings went down yesterday. Carpet in the main four rooms and lino out the back in the kitchen/dining, toilet and bathroom. We chose lino as we hope to renovate this section of the house down the track, so wanted an economy solution for now.

The hallway is to be sanded and stained. This was originally scheduled for yesterday, but they wouldn't start then as the carpet guys were in the way (who were meant to be here earlier in the week and were delayed...). So sander due here first thing today and he hasn't turned up. His boss expected him and was chasing him but is now not answering calls. No idea what is going on at the moment. Worst case we will move in without it done and then have to grovel back to sleep at Mum's for a couple of days when it is done.

Our builder was also back yesterday to put up our blinds and a few other odd jobs. The electricians are back again today. Worried about this bill given how much they have been here. Oh well!

So now some photos of finished rooms. Yaaaay!

Firstly the master bedroom, before and after.

The guest bedroom.

The office, before and after.

And out the back - kitchen and dining, before and after. Changes here - flooring (there was none), new blinds, shelves in kitchen and we added a dishwasher.

So that's it for now. Next shots will be with all our stuff in and unpacked next week. We are moving on Monday. Very excited and looking forward to being unpacked.

We have Lights!

Great excitement yesterday when the electrician found his way back to our house. So aside from boring stuff like finishing off some power points and a phone point, he had time to put up almost all our lights. Only ones to go are the second one in the hallway (which is a new point from scratch) and the porch light.

I had managed to find a light for the lounge on Thursday in case he came back, so very happy to have them all bought and now up and pretty happy with them all.

So photos!!

Firstly my favourite, our bedroom. A black chandelier that we found in Launceston last weekend. Love it!

Next is the guest bedroom. The electricians have left the plastic on for now, so will get that off next week when there is a ladder in the house again. Also the globes sold to me with this and the office light were the wrong fitting, so we haven't seen this one on yet.

Next is the office. An impulse buy and a little quirky, but some fun and it should go well with some of the colours we will have in this room. It is made of wood and painted.

The lounge room. Very happy with this one and should go nicely with our couches and rug. Again, plastic covering still on and no globe yet. 

The hallway. There will be two of this light, but one is still to go up. I was unsure when I got these as bought online and it appeared that were round, but are actually like a squashed ball. But now up and with the white I am happy as the blue is so nice against the white. I bought online as I had decided blue glass is what I wanted and it was impossible to find anywhere.

In other news, the inside painting is complete. The outside will get going in the next few days. The hydronic heating is almost complete, finishing Monday.

This week is floor coverings - carpet and lino Monday and Tuesday and hallway sanding and stain from Wednesday onwards. The builder will also be back briefly to put up our blinds and knobs on cupboards and a few little bits and pieces.

Almost there now and only 9 days until move in day!

Outside Progress - last post for today...

We have had a couple of labourers here since late last week to demolish the old laundry/shed which was basically being held up with ivy and other foliage. So three extra large and one small skip later, it has all gone. Paul our plasterer has diversified today and added lattice to the fence to start to restore the privacy from next door and is also moving the clothesline up from further down the yard. It has added a lot of extra space to the backyard.

So before and after...

And our new roof is 95% complete. Before, during and after shots below. 

That's it for now!



And then a bit of colour...

Our all white blank canvas will be perfect for some pops of colour!

Current plans are

• light bought for guest bedroom has a fairly bright green shade
• light bought for the office is a deep orange
• light bought for our bedroom is black and very dramatic (ok not colour, but not white)
• lights bought for the hallway are blue - just arrived (internet buy) and need to decide if we keep or not as not exactly the shape I thought they would be
• cupboard door knobs have been bought online at an Etsy store and are currently on a plane from Portugal (as you do) - see image below

• and best of all the front door outside will be yellow!

Now reading all that in one spot makes it almost sound ridiculous, but I think it will be ok and hopefully a lot better than ok. We also haven't wanted to spend a fortune on lights and blinds (which are bought and all charcoal romans - thank you to the Spotlight sale) as we didn't exactly put them into our rather conservative budget...

So this is the front door colour (to be painted next week) - Dulux Dancing Daisy.

And our cupboard door knobs. I ordered three of one design for the guest bedroom and four of the other for the office. I can't remember which of which.

I shall post photos of the lights once they are up. Hopefully our electrician will be back early next week to finish things off. Just a light for the lounge to find now and all shopping done... well maybe. I am sure I can find some new things to shop for!

OMG it is WHITE!

Hi,

Well lots has happened in the last week and a half, so shall probably break it up into a few shorter posts. This one - clearly all about paint. That is, white paint. Or more accurately Dulux White on White paint.

While it was a little of a shock when the painters got started and I worried that maybe it is possible to have too much white or too white a white... well now I am very happy and can see how it will all come together once dark flooring, lighting and furniture are in place.

I am especially loving the high gloss on the skirtings and architraves etc which started today. Pre-painting I was feeling a little guilty having decided to paint the woodwork, but I really just prefer the painted look so decided to go for it. Plus a lot of it wasn't in great condition to be just stained and some was already painted. Definitely a mix of things going on.

So some photos are in order I think.

Firstly our guest bedroom with a built in wardrobe, now with doors. Painting has now started on that.

This is the ceiling rose that we have put in each of the four main rooms - 2 bedrooms, office and lounge. 

Next is our new office with two built in cupboards for office and other storage.

And the hallway, starting with the ceiling rose that we have put in two spots. The photo only has it with a first coat of paint I think, so looks a little patchy.

One more white addition is the radiators for the hydronic heating. The heating guys have been here since Monday and are still going strong. See all their gear below and a lovely shot of Charlie in front of the not yet connected heater.

The old carpets and rugs have all gone now too. The four main rooms will have charcoal carpet (being installed from Monday - yaaay!) and the hallway will be sanded and stained late next week.

All on schedule to move in on Monday week.