En-Suite Prep & Reveal

The en-suite was pretty dated and looking very sad, so this was the next job to get done.  We had a gorgeous blue toilet and sink and dark tinted glass broken sliding shower doors!!! 

The ceiling was covered in mould and grime so I sugar soaped and sanded it down, ready for Dave to paint it for me down the track.  My neck can't cope with painting ceilings!

Before with mould 

ceiling after I cleaned it up!

The next task was to remove the wallpaper.  This was a bit of a mission!

After removing the wallpaper I sanded the walls ready for painting, however they were in such bad condition we had to get them plastered ready for painting.

Next job was to remove the shower door frame ready for the new one to be installed.  I didn't think I was going to be able to do this, but I did!!! Grit and determination!!!

The plumber then turned up and removed the toilet and vanity unit for me.  Behind the toilet cistern and vanity unit we found a second layer of wallpaper, surprise... surprise!! So yes, you've got it, more wallpaper removal!

The new shower doors are much nicer than the old dark brown ones eh!

Next job was to remove the existing lino, this wasn't too difficult because the moisture in the room had helped lift the glue!!

The plaster has been and done his magic.  The new flooring has been laid.

Looking good now don't you think.... new flooring is a Kardean product... Knight Tile and colour is Rona. The toilet is an Adesso Mila Classic Back inlet Toilet suite and the vanity is Sapphire Mini Cabinet Basin by Englefield.

Just need to get a heated towel rail, hooks, maybe a hanging shelf and a splash back tile installed above the sink, then its all finished!

There were only certain types of toilets we could purchase too, due to the distance from the wall to the centre of the hole in the floor. Because of this we had to get pan connector for the toilet to work. So before you go purchasing a toilet when renovating be sure to double check with your plumber first what you can purchase, as you may be disappointed when you can't have what you want!!

House Painting.... Weatherboards & Pergola

Now all the windows are done downstairs I have made a start on the pergola and weatherboards.

I started on the back of the house first, as I wanted to make sure I liked the grey before I painted the front and revealed it to all the passers by!!!

First of all I worked on the pergola and the lower guttering.  The guttering was in bad shape, so that took a little while to scrape off and get it back it its original state ready for painting.  I then primed it with a galvanised primer and put two coats of Alabaster White paint on.

Once the pergola and guttering was all done Dave and I then washed down and scrubbed the weatherboards with warm water and sugar soap.

As the paint on the weatherboards is still in pretty good condition I just lightly sanded each board, chipping away the paint where it had become loose.

I then wiped the weatherboards down again to remove all the sanding dust and primed the areas where the wood was showing.

Once the primer had dried it was ready to receive its first coat of paint.

After a lot of deliberation we chose the colour Delta by Resene.  The white window frames look really crisp against the grey... really really happy with how its starting to look.

Summer has been and gone unfortunately so its now being a bit of a challenge to get the painting finished outside!!! Were now into Autumn and the weather is beginning to be unpredictable!!!  Hopefully we will get some fine weather again soon so we can finish off the weatherboards.

We also need to get scaffolding up so I can do the upstairs window frames!!! You wouldn't believe the expense of scaffolding in the Wellington Region, its certainly an area to print money!!! So we are exhausting all options, i.e., purchasing, hiring, borrowing!!! Watch this space!

Well we decided on buying our own scaffolding unit.  We sourced it off Trademe.  Earl, who we bought it off delivered it and very kindly installed it for me that day.  Great service!!!

Now to tackle the first of three dormer windows!!

Not a bad job if we say so ourselves!!  The roof looks quite brown in the photo below, but it isn't!!! Its more like a charcoal colour.

One dormer window down two more to go!!

Now on to stripping and painting the side windows and weatherboards now we have the scaffolding...

one coat of Delta so far

half of the side finished

Getting there...

Back in to it... Getting there slowly!!

Happy New Year!!!

I know its now May and its a bit late wishing you all a Happy New Year, but this is the first chance I have had to update my blog, believe it or not!!!

Since returning at the end of January from our overseas holiday at Christmas, to the UK and Bangkok, which was amazing by the way!!! (If you want you could check out my holiday blog...  http://ukchristmas2014.blogspot.co.nz)  I've been very busy finishing off prepping and painting all the windows and French Doors downstairs, inside and out.  All done now :-) Such a great feeling.

Stripping the guest room French Doors

half way through paint stripping Kimi's window

Painting the Lounge windows & French doors

Kimi's bedroom windows & French door stripped
ready for painting

I also ensured the kitchen was completely finished.  The joiner returned to finish off the laundry ladder and drop off some inserts for drawers.  Dave, my hubby, finished off the tiling in the butlers pantry and laundry too.  Refer to my early post of Kitchen Reveal for final pictures.

Our plasterer returned to finish off the en-suite to a paint finish.  I then painted it ready for the flooring to be installed.  The new toilet and vanity are in now too, so it's now fully functional... Refer to En-suite Prep & Reveal post.

We have also painted the lounge, and two of the down stairs bedrooms... we needed to get these done before the new carpet was installed.

I also painted over the existing tiles around the gas fireplace in the lounge, as I really didn't like the brown tiles!  I painted them the same colour as the walls, which is Resene, Half Perfect Taupe.  First though I had to seal the tiles so the paint would stick.

looks great eh!

The curtains and carpet were installed too during February.

I got Braddock Interiors to make and install the curtains and roman blinds for us. They are based in Paraparaumu Beach on the Kapiti Coast.  unfortunately they don't have a website.  Their shop is amazing though, full of really beautiful interior design fixture, fittings, furniture etc.  Could have spent a fortune!!!   I chose a fabric called Karbala. For the lounge the colour is Sisal and for the dining room the colour is Bluegrass.

Lounge

close up of lounge curtains

Dining Room

close up of dining room curtain

The carpet is from Carpet Court, we chose Smart Strand, Youthful Spirit.  The colour is Smooth Pebble with an 11mm blackball underlay.

Our house is now feeling like a home again!

We still have to wallpaper the dining room and main wall in the hallway, hopefully this will get done soon!!!

Hallway Reveal

Following on from my previous post about our hallway makeover.  I had removed the carpet and underlay.  Prepped and painted the six doorways, along with the skirting and scotia.  Dave painted the main hallway ceiling and the walls as he is so good at that!

We then had the big job of masking the woodwork in the cathedral roof... we wanted to paint the battens white so as to break it up a bit and to stop it looking too dark.  This was a little tricky to say the least as its 4.5 metres in height!  It put me out of action doing things, as I safely held the bottom of the ladder while Dave did all the hard work masking.  After doing this I decided it was best to hire a scaffolding unit  to paint the ceiling.  This would mean that we were both able to paint the ceiling and window frame together and get the job done quicker too, plus it was much safer, to say the least!!

So, come Monday, I was on the phone trying to rent a scaffolding unit.  It was posing to be difficult as everyone man and his dog had them hired out!!! Scaffolding is in high demand since the new safety laws have been introduced in NZ!!!   After several phone calls to different companies I was in luck!! One scaffolding unit secured for the following weekend.  We then borrowed our friend, Tony's ute to go and collect the scaffolding.  Cheers Tony your d'bomb!!

Once home it didn't take us long to put it up... it fitted perfectly for what we needed too.  Jono, our daughter's partner helped us put it together too.  Cheers Jono!

Dave and I were able to get it all painted in a day which was fantastic and then return the scaffolding the following morning.  Job done!

That week the flooring went down... its a Kardean product... Art Select... Auburn Oak... Parquet design http://www.karndean.com/en-nz/floors/products/ap02-auburn-oak-parquet... we totally love it and its so easy to keep clean.

We then purchased a solid Mahogany linen cabinet, which fits perfectly and blends in really well with the flooring.  We were initially going to have a unit built to measure but it was going to cost three times as much as the cabinet we bought!!  Its a perfect size to for all our linen and towels.  It also has a section to hang coats too which is a bonus!

We still have to wallpaper one long wall in the hallway and paint the inside of the front door... that's for a rainy day!!!