Renovating – Week 3…

Last week I gave you the first real peak of our new home and a few before and “after” shots…
Well, I should have called them before and “during” shots really, because this week a delay with builder having the lounge ceiling finished and ready for us to paint meant that we decided to completely change tack and start painting the bedroom walls instead…

It was always our plan to paint this house from the minute we saw the photos on the internet and fell in love with the home’s potential, but I didn’t think we would get it done before we moved in because there is so SO much other work to do and we wanted to work from the top (ceilings) down.
But now that we have got the entire house scraped of ceiling plaster, and all the other really messy dusty jobs done, we’ve decided to complete entire rooms at a time from now on.
– Then at least it won’t feel completely like a demolition site when we move in in a few weeks and we should hopefully have a few finished rooms to enjoy.

Here is a peak of Hannah’s room all painted…

Just a reminder of the journey in case you have forgotten haven’t seen the transition…

Bit different hey!
I am looooooving how much cleaner, lighter and brighter it is all looking once painted!
As is stands tonight we have completely finished painting Hannah and Abbie’s rooms, and our master bedroom just needs the top coat.

All 3 bedrooms need the wardrobe and entry doors finished and hung and the curtains hung before they will be completely finished.

Here is a close up of the painted panelling…

(Please excuse the unfilled hole – that’s in the wardrobe and I got lazy with filling the wardrobes.)

So it’s looking great, but
Oh.my.goodness what a horrible and time consuming job!!!
Seriously – painting wood panelling is not for the faint hearted, or the time poor.

Firstly I had to SCRUB it clean. – We are talking years and years worth of cobwebs, grime and mould.
That wood panelling sure knows how to hide dirt… I could tell it was dirty, but it wasn’t until I started prepping it for painting that it became apparent just how dirty it was.
Blerk!
Black bucket after black bucket later and the walls were ready to fill, then sand
then prime.

Each groove needs brushing before the flat face can then be rollered – every little time consuming little nook and cranny.
Once to prime then 2 top coats.

We are probably talking about 20 hours + per bedroom.
At least.
Oh and did I mention the high ceilings?! – Picture me standing on the top rung of the ladder and still stretching my arm to it’s full height.
It is no wonder that ever muscle in my body aches.

But, it is looking exactly how I imagined it would in my vision for the place and I couldn’t be happier…
Would I do it again? – Absolutely!!
No pain no gain right?!

Here is a peak at Abbie’s now finished room…

I cannot wait to see what it looks like with the new curtains hung and furnished with our things!

I have made a start on painting the many many doors to get these rooms finished…
(I think I counted 25 doors in the house that all need painting. 12 alone just for those 3 bedrooms.)

That’s the before shot, while I was still scrubbing off the grot.
I am painting them dulux “antique white USA”.
Oh and that’s my lounge room, just in case you were wondering 😉

In other news, this week the builder completely finished the deck ballustrades…
Unfortunately the only picture I have of it finished is this one of the girls watching the builder & Mr Flutter sweep up the mess.
Nice work girls… heheh

Then the biggest highlight of the week was when the plumber came…
Oh my I had a sleepless night the night before the plumber came because I was so excited.
Sad but true – he laughed at me and told me to get a life
– pish tosh I say…
Easy to see why I was excited, the difference that he made was huge!

First up we now have a dishwasher in the kitchen…

(And new cupboard door handles for that matter – amazing the difference such a little detail can make!)

The dishwasher was Mr Flutter’s present to me. I thought it was too much of a luxury to put in now despite my desire for one, but I’m so glad he vetoed me and said to go ahead with it! He’s right that I will need all the help I can get since this renovation will probably continue for months and it is hard work without my man being in the same country…

But most excitingly we now have a new vanity in the main bathroom –

(and lights – thank you Mr Flutter!)

I can’t believe what a difference a new vanity makes to making the room feel bigger and brighter!

I have to confess that the old vanity was one of my least favourite things in the entire house. It was so scuzzy and dirty and non-functional.
The new vanity was such a bargain – I got it for $295 down from $1890. All because it was the floor demo model and it had a few marks on the front, 2 missing door handles and a chip in one end.
All easy to fix!! Nobody would ever know now that it’s in.

The plumber also installed new taps on the bath and a new shower rose with mixer, because unfortunately the entire bathroom plumbing was totally knackered. (The shower kept turning itself off and only got to luke warm and the hot tap did not even work…) Now the shower and bath work like a dream.

And lastly the plumber plumbed in our new kitchen cabinet downstairs (which is also an amazing transformation and I can’t believe I haven’t taken a photo of it!) and fixed some leaks in the roof.

My aching bones feel like there should be more to report this week and that this one post makes all that work seem too brief and easy, but I think that’s pretty much all I have to show

I hope to have the 3 bedrooms completely finished by the end of this week so I can start on something new.
*Big deep breath…
Wish me luck…