Plaster, more plaster and a bit of glass...

Hi,

Well our new builders have been busy for the last week or so and heaps has happened. The plastering is nearing completion, built in robes have been framed and plastered, the electrician has been to do most of his stuff and the painter will start in some rooms on Tuesday.

So some photos.
Firstly the guest bedroom. Photos show the new built in cupboard, new wider cornicing and plaster all patched. This room should be ready for painting early next week.

The office is fully plastered and built in cupboards framed. Cornicing still to be finished and skirting boards to go back on. Then onto painting late next week hopefully.

The front door. The first photo is a before shot. Unfortunately this doesn't show the glass to it's best effect! That is - the top three sections were yellow, the sidelights pink and two small sections pink and the large centre piece blue. Stunning!   

We had the glass replaced yesterday, as below. Toughened translucent in the door and patterened etched glass in the remaining panels. I think it has improved the door a million times. Now we just need to paint... I have started thinking colours and will have some samples to show soon. To the right of the door in the photo below you can see a couple of options, but need to get some different tones. Will probably end up with a deepish red. Although yellow does also appeal...

That's about it for now. This week should see lots of progress as things will transform once white paint is applied in large doses. Also the back shed will be demolished which is exciting.

Two more weeks of building/painting and then we have the carpets booked and move in date. Hopefully all will go to plan from here. In the meantime, we are on the look out for light fittings and window furnishings.

Almost there!

BREAKING NEWS: Our builder has been sacked!

The joys of renovating...

We finally managed to squeeze a fixed price quote out of our builder yesterday, and let's just say we are still in shock! It was double what we had expected.

Prior to booking him we did receive a per hour price from him which was ok and that was all we could get as we didn't have access to the house. This was also someone Dale has used on a number of occasions and had always done good work at a reasonable cost. Just yesterday morning we were told he would look after us re costs.

Anyhow, a new builder is coming to quote tomorrow and he is recommended by our plumber. It sounds like his prices will be heaps better based on conversations so far. Let's hope so! His plasterer is also available to start immediately, so if things work out we won't have lost much time.

The previous builder most definitely won't be asked to quote for our much more expensive stage 2 reno in a couple of years time. Oh well...

Update 12/10/11 - new builder estimate in and booked to start tomorrow. Came in at less than half the other quote for the remaining work.

The Joy of Colour

Sample pots, sample pots... I thought I only needed three and I already have six. There could be some more this week.

Firstly outside. I was inspired by the colours used on The Block on the house renovated by Josh and Jenna. The photo below comes from The Block website.

So for us, we have chosen a dark roof in Colorbond Monument and are now choosing a grey for the weatherboards and white for all the trims. So now imagine that colour scheme on our currently multi coloured facade below...

Our grey options so far are Dulux Tranquil Retreat (yes I like the name too!) in either full or half strength. Half strength is the top sample. Impossible to probably judge from a photo really. I am definitely liking the half strength more. Just need to decide if I want to check out some other colours.

And for the white trims, that is currently Dulux White on White. I have also tested this inside and thought it was the one, but have bought three other whites today and have completely confused myself. Yes they all look the same in this photo - and probably not too different in real life. Will decide on that one soon.

The front door will be another story altogether. That will deserve a post all to itself sometime soon!

Jo

Hello Sandy Bay...

So we have a new house! Well it is 111 years old, but it is still very new to us and we hope to make it a little 'newer' with a little renovation.

We are already a week into 'Stage 1' renovations. This is focused on the old part of the house (3 bedrooms, lounge and hallway) and involves fixing plaster, adding wardrobes, painting, adding new cornices and ceiling roses, carpets and then finally window furnishings and lighting. We are also adding some lino to the 80s extension at the back which houses the kitchen/dining, bathroom and toilet (currently no floor coverings). This section will most likely be demolished as part of Stage 2 a couple of years down the track. The bathroom is also changing now - the bath has been removed to make way for the laundry. We figured the loss of the bath was much more preferable to living with the outdoor laundry that is being held up by the ivy. That will soon be demolished!

So enough words and now some photos.

This is our new office - before and during... This is the only room that needs this much work as the plaster was pretty bad.

Re the fireplaces, we will add nice surrounds and inserts down the track when budget allows, so for now we are sealing up to keep things neat and draft-free. We also moved the ugly surround from the lounge to the office (see above) and that will be painted. The lounge fireplace will be sheeted over as that is easiest for now. The lounge will one day become the main bathroom. See lounge here... that is an old broken heater pulled out from the fireplace.

Not a lot to see in the other rooms yet. I will post more photos next week and also put up the outside colours. We have painted a couple of weatherboards out the front today to decide between two.

Looking forward to what this week will bring!

Jo

Goodbye Gisborne...

Well we have now moved on. I thought I would post just a few of the photos taken for the purpose of selling the house. A nice reminder of what a great spot we had. As soon as our stuff was packed it didn't feel so much like home anymore, so in the end it wasn't too hard to drive away. I always am looking forward to the next thing when moving, so surprise myself that I am not too emotional about it all - which is good!

Now for some photos.