Week Thirteen - The Polishing

Lara, Alex and I were kicked out of the house this week as the wooden floors upstairs were being polished.  This meant all our furniture was stored in one room (oh, and some on the back deck - yes there were some good storms that week)... and the kitchen was closed.  So, off we went for some time out visiting the Grandparents in both Toowoomba and Arana Hills.  It turned out to be a lovely relaxing week for me.  Alan stayed at the house and lived downstairs with a fridge and a microwave. 

Other little bits and pieces were completed (security screens being one) but as I wasn't there, I can't for the life of me think what they were!

Good couch on the back deck... hmmmmmmmm

Our empty house being sanded

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Security screens downstairs - not pretty but I love leaving my doors open!

Our empty house polished!

Week Twelve - The Sacking of the Supervisor

Well, Wednesday was interesting, with a call from both our site supervisor and from the building company to let us know that our site supervisor was no longer working for them.  Oops.  Credit to the builders - the transition to our new supervisor (who we knew well from the quoting process) went perfectly smoothly. 

Lots of different bits and pieces being attended to this week.  The concrete stairs to our carport were made a bit steep - so they had to be ripped out and redone.  This was a shocker of a job.  The poor apprentices got stuck with this one of course - on a hot Saturday no less.  So I ran out and bought some donuts and icy cold drinks that they guzzled in no time at all. 

Our shower screens went in, although they were supposed to be semi frameless and they are not.  So we get new ones in the New Year.

The balustrading on our back stairs was rotting so they threw in a new one for us - very kind, and the curtain battening was put up in the carport.

To top it all off, the silly season has begun so we got to put up our Christmas trees (yes, one up, one down) in our new rooms :)

What happens when you build concrete stairs wrong

I was going to say our messy rumpus room - but it gets a lot worse!!

The wrong shower screens :)

Our balustrade being fixed

Carport curtain battening

Merry Christmas upstairs :)

Week Eleven - The Floors

Week Eleven and things feel like they are slowing, although that's only because more of the detail is being done, or some tradies are waiting for others.  Shows we are nearing the end!  This week the floors were laid downstairs, as were the tiles and the plumber came to fit out the bathrooms.

Upstairs bathroom tiled and fitted out

Kid proof rumpus floors

Master bedroom carpets - so nice after always having wood!

Ensuite tiled and fitted out - can't wait to try out the shower!

Lara approving the soft carpet underfoot in the downstairs bedroom

Week Ten - The Plaster

Another week with the house abuzz with tradesmen.  The internal painting continued, and completed downstairs - looking great.  And the plasterers have been here from dusk til dawn.  Gee some of these guys work very, very hard.  Our bathrooms gained their vanities and were made ready for tiling.  The internal downstairs doors were also hung.  We loved the original door from the upstairs bedroom we converted, so we had them hang it on our bedroom.  Now we have mismatching doors downstairs, but we love keeping these little bits and pieces of the old house.  All in all, the house was one big mess!

The original door, moved to our bedroom

 

One big mess downstairs

Lara practising her balancing skills on the retaining wall

Learning how to be a plasterer

Vanity in and ready for tiling

Plastering completed upstairs - mess continued!

Week Nine - The Walls Come Tumbling Down

 This was a very exciting week for me.  Not only did the outside of the house continue to be painted, but the walls upstairs were removed too.  The renovations downstairs have been great, but because it's not a space we used, it's not such a big change for us.  Upstairs though, is where we live and we are used to how it feels so with the walls being removed, it's totally changed the look and feel of the living spaces, and how we will use it.  It has also let in so much light which I am loving as I hate having to turn lights on in the day.

With the painters hard at work, we decided to join in the fun and paint Lara's toy high chair.  Just the base coat as the moment, we will add splashes of colour later.  Of course, Lara thought the paintbrush was similar to a hair brush and helpfully brushed my hair....

Joining in with painting fun

Pretties were added to our carport

Painting started on the front of the house

Asbestos walls

Our window wall over the stairs

Alex checking out the new dining room - a bit grumpy that the play room had to go

Our lounge - before

Our lounge - after.  So much space!

Week Eight - The Walls

Week Eight was another busy one with people crawling all over our house!  Monday was super exciting as the crane came in to put the beam in the ceiling so the house won't fall down when we knock the walls out upstairs.  Unfortunately, they kicked us out in case the house did fall down, so we didn't get to see it in action.

Our pretty door handle went on our french doors in our luxurious bedroom and the insulation was put in in preparation for the plasterers who made a very messy start on the walls and ceiling.  The house is starting to look like a house!

Outside things were also ramping up with the pretty parts added to the carport and the painting of the exterior of the house beginning!

The crane arrives!

Bedroom luxury

Insulation in the rumpus

Plasterboard!

Em and Lara admiring the pretties on the carport

House prepped for painting

One side painted already!

Week Seven - The Frames

Week 7 was exciting with the carport frame commencing and our gorgeous french doors going into our master bedroom.  Most of the house has white aluminium windows, with timber on the deck and current master only.  We wanted to splash out though and make our bedroom special, so this is how we did it.  We love that when the sun hits the louvres, it leaves rainbows scattered across the room.

The frame for the ceiling has also gone up - can't wait for all the sheeting!

ceiling frames up

our gorgeous french doors and louvres

the carport taking shape

Week Six - The Windows

Week six felt short to us as we went on holiday to the Gold Coast on the Thursday which was a lovely change!  Exciting things were happening at home however, with the windows in the downstairs bedroom and the window and door in the rumpus room installed.  It's amazing how much light they let in - it has totally changed the feel of the rumpus room and provides a fantastic outlook to watch the kids playing outside or at the park.  The stairwell window was also prepped but not quite in - very much looking forward to that one!  

Some steel posts were also put in to support the beam that will be in the roof as we are knocking down a few walls upstairs to provide us with an open plan living/dining/kitchen.  Lara loved investigating what was inside the wall.  It was actually pretty gross!  

Windows in the downstairs bedroom

Rumpus room window - looking onto the backyard

A mighty hole!

Let there be light in the rumpus room!

Janet and Lara checking the door works okay

View from the back

Stairwell window taken out and steel post in

Investigating the goodies left by 60 years of habitation