Tuesday, October 26, 2010

as if just renovating isn't enough

Hi all,



There hasn't been much visible progress on the actual renovation since the last post, it's just been sinking nails into the floor and plastering over holes in the kitchen walls. I even mowed the lawns! So with nothing much to report there, i thought I'd put up something about a few things i'm making to go into the house. Bek asked a few weeks ago if i'm doing some arty stuff with the house. Mostly it'll be the furnishings that will do this, rather than murals or similar, although I'm thinking of doing something with the kitchen cabinetry along those lines. The things I'm making so far are for the bedroom and the loungeroom. I've started on a rag rug for the bedroom made out of strips of a neutrally coloured doona cover bought from an op-shop (thanks Joey!). It's time consuming, but meditative! Now if only it would lie flat!




I've also knitted a throw rug for the loungeroom in a gorgeous fluffy cashmere yarn with big needles. It reminded me how much I suck at knitting, but it's so FLUFFY!!!



I'm working on a dream catcher for the bedroom. I'm making it out of silver beads with white pearls, torquise pearls and white feathers.




Finally for the loungeroom I have a bunch of embroideries that will be clustered together on the wall and some others that will be cushion covers. I'm very proud of my blackwork skull!





Besides these things, there's some furniture I'm planning to make (bespoke coffee table and entertainment unit) and maybe some soft things for the kitchen. Hopefully the next post will show a big move forward with the house,as I'm hoping to get the floors sanded by the end of my week off in the second week of November and by then all the painting needs to be done (!) I may still be in by Christmas!
Take care all!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Renovation, part 1!

Well Helloooo!
So I just read the last couple of posts on this blog, gosh it was ages ago! Jordana's since turned 2, and has a baby sister, Tory. Connor has also arrived. I've been working in a call centre full time for almost 2 years, bought my own car and now, my own house! You're probably here because you know me and followed the link I'm going to put on Facebook (which by the time you're reading this will already be on Facebook, thus disrupting the space-time continuum. Have a nice end of the world!). This is my way of explaining why i'm so incommunicative. Well, incommunicative right now as opposed to incommunicative for all the rest of the time. I have no excuse for that. I'm just slack!
Basically I'm renovating my house, almost single-handedly (except for Dad, because he has all the awesome power tools!) and it's as much DIY as it can get! Here's a bunch of photos to show what I've done so far, then I'll let you know how much there still is to go!

This is the kitchen as it was with the previous tenants' stuff in it:

Here's Kai being very helpful getting the nails out of some boards.

the naked stud wall between lounge and kitchen. You can see all the gaps where there were some see-through shelves and on the far right where the archway was.

Here's the new wall, Dad and I put it up and i've plastered it myself.

And now I've started demolishing the kitchen. The tiles are off the wall here. The upper cupboards have been taken down since this was taken. It was very satisfying!

And some painting before and afters! Office first: MMMMpurple! (before)

(After) Stuck with a bit of purple (Dulux Windflower) and the rest of the walls in an off white which will go right through the house (Wattyl Oriental Lily)

(before) the craft room in the plain colour it was as a boys' bedroom (I still have those curtains if anyone wants them!)

And after, in my lovely green! (Wattyl Paper Dragon). It's quite dark, but all my work surfaces, cupboards and shelves will be gloss white, so it won't be overbearing. Trust me!

(before) and the bedroom, in which the walls and ceiling were somehow filthy.

(after) I love my stripes! Wattyl Oriental Lily and Bleached Hemp.
So, what's left to do? (in no particular order!)
  1. sink all the nails in the floor in craft room, bedroom, office, hallway, loung and dining.
  2. finish demolishing kitchen
  3. put in a new doorway between hall and laundry
  4. plaster hole between kitchen and laundry
  5. sand and polish floorboards in all the rooms at point 1
  6. tile laundry and kitchen
  7. build kitchen (that's right, from scratch!)
  8. paint loungeroom, kitchen and dining
  9. build some furniture, purchase some other furniture
  10. hopefully move in before christmas
  11. renovate the bathroom eventually then get started on the outside!

So there's still a way to go, as you can see. I'll try to post stuff here when I've got time between actually doing the above, working fulltime and sleeping!

WottyWotty WOTWOT!