The latest reno photos and furniture too!

Yes, I do have some recent photos of the house. So I'll put these up....and some photos of the new furniture which we're very happy with.





















We decided not to put the TV in the old living space and have made it more of an adults area for talking and reading. it's our quiet space when the TV is on in the family room. So I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

The New Me after 29 Weeks on Weight Watchers

I thought I'd throw something different into my blog (besides renovations), especially as there's not much to show as far as painting and stuff goes!

So I've been doing weight watchers on-line for 29 weeks - no meetings which I love. And I weigh in with my lovely friend Joy every Monday morning at home. It's been working really well for me so I guess I'll keep doing it, lol.

Here's a picture of something I wore to a beach wedding recently...

Finished front door

The front door is officially finished - final coat went on today. I had to mix some stain (very carefully) into the varnish to darken up the frame around the door. The frame is a different wood to the door and is very pale in comparison...so now it looks closer in colour. I was a bit petrified of going too dark, so I probably was quite conservative with adding the stain. You can always add more stain...whereas it's too late if it's too dark!

The building is finished!

Wow! It's been a while since I last updated our renovation photos...it's been very hectic with painting, painting and more painting. There's stuff everywhere so the house isn't quite sorted out (as far as decor goes), but these photos will give you an idea of how the place looks now.



The builder has officially finished his part of our renovation but we still have quite a bit of painting to do - especially on the outside, and landscaping the back area...and the front too. The kitchen is finished, but a couple of doors are yet to come back with scratches fixed, and today we'll be painting and shifting furniture back to where it should go.

Our front door needs just one more coat of varnish - but I'm loving the look of it, it's a real feature to the front of the house. We had to clear everything out of the rooms with wooden flooring as the floors were sanded back and relacquered. They're looking great, and are very shiny and new!

The carpet is down, but is now covered with furniture and floor drapes to protect it from the paint etc...Unfortunately, it already has had a mishap and hopefully the watermarks will diminish over time :(.

The inside is almost finished, outside to be done, and refurnishing is next. Now that should be fun (I hope). I must admit I'm getting tired of making decisions all the time: colours, materials, handles, styles etc...but it's looking pretty good on the inside now. We might need to hire a painter for the outside!

Kitchen and ensuite progress

The kitchen and ensuite are going really well. Almost finished!

So here are some pictures of what's been happening this week...

Still need to grout the tiles and put fittings in the ensuite, and need the benchtop and splashback for the kitchen.

The main bathroom has also had some work done - the window has been removed, a skylight has been put in, and the new wall has been tiled.

Windows, doors and walls go up

Here's the latest pictures taken of the renovation. The front slide door and Sarah's window has gone in. Only our louvre window and slide door, and the front entrance door is left to install. The gyp rockers have put up the walls and now it's really looking like what we thought it would look like...even better!

No window

New front stacker doors

View towards the the guest room...new storage cupboard

and now with walls

View towards the kitchen aacross the new family room

Recent Renovation Photos

The builder and his team are making good progress on the house and it's starting to look like what we imagined it to look like. The kitchen is about to be ripped out in a few days...so that will be interesting! Here are the latest photos from the past week or two.

Nick and Megan's trip to Sydney

Nick and Megan were here for a whirlwind week. We went to Shoal Bay for a few days and Nick took heaps of great photos of rocks and waves and birds, and of course us!

Sarah and Ben collected a lot of shells. It took ages to walk along the beach because every inch of sand was thoroughly searched for any 'pretty' shells.

Two days went by very quickly but it was fun and really felt like a holiday.

Then it was the rest of the week in Sydney and we coordinated our Rivercat trip to coincide with the masses of people flooding into the city for world youth day. Nick took heaps of photos of flags, people from all over the world, us walking around the city, buildings, food, ...everything! The atmosphere was all a-buzz with the pilgrims singing, chanting, waving flags all over the city.

We walked from Circular Quay to Chinatown, had yum-cha (Nick's first time), and then walked to Darling Harbour, had a Lindt Cafe stop, had a quick look at where they were holding the WYD mass (but we couldn't see anything because the gates were closed to us), and then onto the Rivercat back home. We were quite pooped.

Stage 4c: New cladding at the back...and new windows and doors

The new cladding is being put up at the back of the house. The windows and slide doors for the new extension are now in, and the new family room is now enclosed.

The view at the side of the house (at the back)

The view at the back of the house

Stage 4b: New cladding on

The new cladding on the house is going up and looks great, and hey, no painting! It's colourbond in the shade of 'Windspray'.

Stage 4a: Cladding off...insulation on

The outer wall cladding comes off and Robert and Shane put in the insulation...more to come. We found a termite track along one wall, but practically no damage to the wood. Truly amazing!

Stage 3: Roof goes on

On Tuesday a crane arrived with the roofing, and the team got to work putting the new roof on. It was very exciting having a crane in Wood Street. We were fascinated watching the crane extend the hook over the power cables and hoist up the sheets of roofing onto the roof, and getting around the gum tree too.