So I promised you some before and after photos from our reno and I have been Picniking madly to get them in some kind of order. The first three photos are the previous owners things from the advertising pics, and the rest of them show our crazy, messy, unorganised living over the period. I have
recapped here a list of the things we did to this house. As is the case with lots of renos if you knocked on our door today you would probably have no idea of the sheer amount of work we have done to turn this house from "dive" to "diva"!
I probably should have drawn a floor plan as it is hard to get the idea of how things are layed out but the existing kitchen in the before photos was a small room with the island bench cutting it in half. We ripped out the wall between there and the dining area (3rd photo) which leads on to the loungeroom (4th picture) so now it is one big space.
There was also no access to the backyard from the back of the house you had to go out the side door which leads to the laundry so in the bottom two pictures below we removed the window and replaced it with our white aluminium French doors.
We also replaced the badly placed kitchen window with gorgeous white aluminium bifolds (cafe windows!) to really be able to enjoy entertaining and bring the outside in. They were a heck of a lot dearer than a regular window of the same size would have been but everytime I open them I know they were worth it!
The floors are all Tas Oak but after we (and the glued down lino) had finished with them we opted for the wow factor and ease of black painted boards. Hardly any prep and no sanding meant that they were finished over a few hours. We used paving paint for this after much debate and I LOVE them. Any scratches are easily touched up and blend in seamlessly and yes! They do show the dirt but that only makes the house cleaner as I have to sweep more often!
We carpeted the small lounge room with a hardy nylon and supersoft underlay as the backyard is beautiful rich red soil and the house needs to be practical. I was able to find an offcut roll super cheap which brought down the cost considerably.
We mainly used cheap Spotlight rollerblinds in this space and the roman blind above the french doors worth $500 was a sample or miss-size for $20, and actually matches the rest of the house! I love a bargain!
*sigh* I must say I love this space now. It flows better and is much more practical for a family. The colours and design ideas I envisioned have translated to real life beautifully and it all blends seamlessly with the rest of the house. Although we picked bold statements with the floors and red tiles ultimately the space is quite neutral and most things work really well in here.
It is not a huge space but perfectly big enough to not feel cramped, and with a huge hallway and decent size bedrooms, not to mention the enclosed backyard area it suits our family nicely. Ha ha, sorry if I sound like I'm trying to sell it to you, It's just nice to be looking back at it from the other side of the reno finally! We have really enjoyed the house so much more now the pressure is no longer on to get it finished and on the market.
It is by no means perfect and we have no illusions that it is a mansion but we did it with (mostly) our own hands and we are really proud. Sure it has caused budget blow outs, fights and almost a divorce and dragged out due to lack of motivation, money and Mr HMH having to go to Darwin to work for 5 months when the GEC hit but it really was only a short 3 years from our life (!!) in the grand scheme of things.
If you have read all the way through - thanks! If you have any questions please ask as I would love to answer them. I could talk about this house forever ;p
Yours in reno reminiscing,
Allana xxx
