Monday, January 30, 2012

The Renos

I've been waiting until I found some better 'before' photos to put up this post, but I realised it might never go up!

As you know, Anthony's been building me a kitchen. This year, it started out somewhat like this (there was a fridge and some other ugly cupboards on the left-hand side):
When I find an older photo of the complete kitchen, I'll pop it in...
After several months of disruption and mess (and a few freezing winter weeks which saw me huddled out on the front deck cooking on a camp stove), I'm happy to say it now looks like this:
There's still a little bit to do: on the back wall, Anthony's going to build a little shelf unit, and the windowsill still needs a coat of paint, but for now, it's done!


We were shopping after Christmas (one of my favourite hobbies - the Boxing Day sales!), when I thought it would be a good idea to finish the rest of this area. I had promised Anthony a big-screen TV when he finished the kitchen/lounge room, so I reminded him of this and suggested we finish the lounge room too.

Silly me. Being a public servant at the moment, I only had a couple of weeks off over Christmas, and because I'd preparing and cooking for Christmas, I hadn't had a moment to stop and relax (and blog!).
Nevertheless, we kicked off on the 27th, moving most of the stuff from the lounge/dining room to my study and my bedroom, meaning that I had nowhere to just sit and relax (even outside was dust-strewn and messy!).

Anthony spent a whole day in the ceiling, moving batts and vacuuming the roof space. The ceiling panels were sagging (quite dramatically in places) and he wanted to make sure the roof space was clear before screwing them up.

Next, I had wanted to get rid of this 'wood look' panelling for a long time:
I spent a day pulling it off, then the wall panels, as they were covered in glue and Anthony said they were too far gone to save. I then vaccumed out the old insulation and, with Anthony's help, replaced the gyprock panels.
After that, I was on plastering duty. Not the easiest task, given the scars left from the walls we pulled out years ago. But I did OK. On New Year's Eve, I spent the evening 'getting plastered', only stopping for a brief drive out to the city with the boys to see the midnight fireworks.

By the 4th of January, after a couple of days spent sanding the walls and ceiling, I was fed up. I was due to go back to work on the 9th, and not only did I have nowhere to go and relax, but we weren't even close to starting painting.
I was getting crankier and crankier and much harder to be around, when Anthony snapped: 'why don't you just go away for a couple of days?'

So I did! That afternoon, Oliver and I packed up and drove to Lake Tabourie on the south coast (the only place I could get a room). I might post about this when I get the photos up.

By the time we got back on the 7th, the painting was almost done. I helped Anthony with some finishing touches and we were able to use the room by the Sunday night. I've spent the last couple of weeks (after work and on weekends) putting it all back together. At the moment it looks like this:
We've got a couple of bits and pieces to do, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Don't you love a happy ending?

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