For the first half of the year I had a break from other people's work to renovate our house. Mostly the inside is complete and still to paint the outside. Firstly it involved a lot of time sitting and thinking about room layout and efficient use of space. Then it involved shrinking a non-load bearing wall and lengthening others, a full replacement of all timber trims and floor coverings, a full repaint, change of light fittings and fans, complete change of window coverings. I did everything except the electrical and setting the plaster. First thing was to build a covered pergola to give me an undercover for painting trims and storing materials. The bonus is it reduces the temperature in my workshop considerably.


IMG_5377.jpgIMG_5381.jpg

These are before photos looking from what was our TV/lounge area into the dining room

IMG_5106.jpgIMG_5114.jpg

And the after photo. This room isn't furnished as we'd finally like it, but it is a lovely spot for the winter sun. We have two sets of doors like this and all the windows are similar, I thought it would be a nightmare, but I found the one trick that made painting them to a high standard a breeze - masking paint. We went with the one paint scheme throughout, quarter lexicon on the ceiling and double alabaster for the walls.

IMG_6457.jpgIMG_5509.jpg


These are before photos looking right across our large room, across no-mans-land into the TV area, and facing the other way with the front door being on the other side of my secretaire
69711414175__A65E6B2F-7D3A-4EEE-B6EB-7E6FE2815D7D.jpg69711410986__5BFB9711-F041-491B-AB70-E312930FAFA3.jpg

These are the after photos. We moved the dining room to where the TV area was and no-mans-land becomes the TV area. Eventually I will add a hybrid display storage area on the wall behind the table. We went with DC fans for their efficiency and quietness. Towards the front door I extended the wall to create a more private entry. This area will eventually have a bench seat built in. The wall behind the TV was the one shortened at both ends.

IMG_6463.jpgIMG_6461.jpgIMG_6460.jpg

The house is divided into living areas above and bedrooms off the hall shown below. I knocked out the wall on the right and offset it to create a pocket and added a header to carry zoning doors. I made my Soji doors (still have to install the paper).

IMG_6468.jpgIMG_7752.jpegIMG_7751.jpg


One of the first things I did was a laundry reno, where the tin cabinet under the sinks were replaced with a plywood cabinet for the kitty litter, but was designed to have doors retro fitted. I kept the nice tubs and added the timber bench and overhead storage
IMG_0786.jpgIMG_0787.jpg

I had to use a bit of levelling compound here and there, but one room required four bags of compound to bring it back to flat. This was screeded rather than trowelled for reasons. The floor is a hybrid tile by Karndean.

IMG_6444.jpgIMG_6452.jpg

We went with Veneta honeycomb blinds throughout

IMG_6161.jpg

Thanks for looking