I have painted my kitchen! Finally, I have something that is really starting to look good. I’m not going to include photos yet because there are still a few things that I’m going to do to it this weekend.
It’s been a busy week and yet I’m already falling behind on the schedule I’d set myself. Last weekend, The Terminator (aka Neil) came and changed some light fittings and took down the chandeliers.
I’ve had a busy week. You remember the much wished for laundry? Despite all my brother’s promises of getting it done, he still hadn’t connected the pipes up and there was still a lot to be done.
I must admit that, to date, I haven’t done much planning with this whole renovation thing. I’ve finally woken up, set myself a target and have written a list (you’d think I would’ve done this a year ago).
I’d been waiting a long, long time for my brother to come and finish off my laundry – a year in total. Finally he’d agreed to come and do it over the Christmas break.
I hadn't been well and the doctors had been unable to find a cause. So a friend booked me in to see a naturopath and low and behold - I’m full of chemicals. I like to describe myself as a living, breathing toxic waste ground.
After the police had done their fingerprinting and found nothing, I was left to do the cleanup. Firstly, I had to get the window replaced. I organised for the glass to be of the same quality as the original pane.
Having survived the night after the attempted break-in unscathed, I had police over the next morning to do fingerprinting. I have to hand it to the would-be thief - at least he had the sense to wear gloves.
I’m scared. Petrified. This isn’t past the tense - something I’m looking back on. No. This is happening right now. This is pure raw fear. It’s dark. I’m completely alone.
You might remember a few months ago that I had the cement rendering in the front (older) part of the house done. That left the back (newer) part in its original condition.
There’s one important thing I have learned about renovating – it’s too easy to become slack. And that’s what I’ve done: I’ve slacked off.
Rule number 1 of renovations: Never, ever rely on a family member. Plenty had said it to me before I figured that couldn’t be the case for my family.
Blue metal smells. Really bad. It’s not a normal smell and certainly not one you should have to live with at home.
I need a laundry. But there’s a dilemma: how do I get a new laundry and bathroom without losing such luxuries as a shower, or toilet, or running water.
I dropped the tint for the colour I’d originally chosen. It’s a sign. It must be a sign that I’ve chosen the wrong colour.
It had been exactly four months and two days since settlement. Lots of work has been done, but none of it had made any real visible improvement on the house.
I know nothing about cement rendering. Even now, after the completion of the job, I’m still not clued in on any part of the job.
I’d asked my mother to come over while the brickwork was being done so I could go to work. I figured there wouldn’t be too many problems since all they had to do was remove a row of bricks, put in a metal bar and just lay a row of bricks on the metal bar. Too easy… or so I thought.
After the bad tradie experience, my sister, Joanne, and I decided that we could strip the rendering ourselves. How hard could it be? Bash the walls with whatever you’ve got and watch the 90 year old lime mortar fall away.
I’d booked in to get the cement rendering done but I needed to pull down the old rendering first. I was loathe to do the job myself, even though I was capable of it. But the thought of all that dust and dirt in the air prompted me to call a random tradie to come in and do the job. The man came to give a quote and what followed was the worst experience I’ve had.
I got a call from the company doing my foundations. They’d had an opening the following week and was I interested in getting the work done. Absolutely yes. This was the first big job and probably the job that would decide I continued with the renovations process.
This is such a painful and ongoing process. How hard can it be to get a quote? You ring someone and they come out, look around, take some notes, measure some things and tell you how much it’s going to cost. Right? Wrong.
I’ve just bought a house. It’s a big old house with a lot of history. It’s also a big old house that needs a lot of work.