Painting

I think I saw a tumbleweed blow through this space awhile ago.  Updates have been few and far between yet slowly but surely, stuff has been getting done about the place. 

The above photo was taken the day we moved in.  It is an enclosed verandah and this is where the children sleep; Blue up this end, and Possum down the other end.  The ceiling is just over 6 foot 'high' on the low end.

We braved the heatwave over the Christmas break to paint.  We decided to paint all of the timber boards a lighter colour to open up the room.  This was NOT a fun job, it was slow work with a small brush to get in all the gaps between the boards.  It was horrid stuff.  

The end result was worth it.  The small rooms look lighter and brighter.  This is Dulux Whisper White with Royal Beige trim, we painted the ceiling in Whisper White too.  The new plasterboard sections came up well and the children are both really happy to have 'new' rooms.  Just the rest of the house to go...

Jobs done

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The former rabbit shed is now empty of anything rabbit related and being used as a feed room.  It is a big improvement as far as the shed is concerned and I love having somewhere stock proof and weather proof to put the feed.

The recent rains have made a few jobs move up on the 'to do' list.  The carport had ridge capping on the roof, but it was only held down by telecom rope and it had slipped to one side and let all the rain fall in.

The Mr soon found the reason why, the original beams had too big a spread on them for there to be anything to screw into, so he added another row as seen in the below photo.

Worked a treat, and now the ridge capping in screwed down as it should be.

More improvements made!

Fat Possums

Not everything we fix around here is exciting.  The bracket for this down pipe used to fall down the beam when the fat possums used to run up and down it.  Given the pipes had not been glued this made everything come adrift, not great for catching water.  New and improved made with another upright support in the middle of the pipe.  This is now welded in place and the pipes have been glued.

This is a very bad photo of one of the fat possums in question.  I was inside the kitchen and this fellow sat on the hot water system to peer in and say hello.

Lounge Room

Working in the lounge room this weekend past. 

We found another paper dated 1918 (above).

I did keep a couple of the wall paper samples for the photo album too.

I was not always the best offsider as I was easily distracted by the old newsprint and looking for ads and things of interest.

When we pulled the old cladding off we discovered (again) a lack of studs and noggins so we had to re-frame to give us something square and solid to screw the plasterboard too.

Finding this list reminded me of what else happened in 1918.  The end of the Great War.

I wanted to peel the wall paper off and try to save the list but the Mr said I would damage it more so we left it to be re-sealed in the wall behind the fresh plasterboard.

It is lovely to be working on a house with history built in.

Excuses

I had thought we would be further into the renovation plans by this stage, but I have a couple of great excuses for why we are not.

'I will fix this hole' said Possum as she tried to 'hamm' a screw in. 

We gave her a nail and then she did much better. 

 'Bubble' said Blue whenever he ran off with the spirit level to measure a wall.  He also ran around saying 'noisey' whenever a drill  was in use or hammering was in progress.

They say to let the housework go when you are renovating, but two small children need things to be kept tidy so it was a case of cleanup after each step to avoid major mess build up. 

Possum told me she wanted to be a builder when she was bigger, but then she got a splinter which I had to dig out with a needle and now she is not so sure.  Time will tell :)

Good Stuff from the Bedroom

When you chase a red belly black snake under your house you may start to dwell on the fact that the walls in the main bedroom are so warped that the skirting boards have fallen to the ground below the floor space.

So there are not too many sleepless nights dwelling on this I came up with the plan to re-sheet that room, the spare room, half the lounge and some of Blue's room too.  Better safe than sorry!

 

Behind the masonite sheeting we found two layers of wall paper and next to no studs or noggins, and those that were there are not much good.  No wonder the walls buckled! Thankfully behind all that is the slab construction of the house, still in good order.

The date on the newspaper above is 10/12/18.

I love an old house!

It's a pity things often look worse before they look better...

More hard work tomorrow!

Spare Room

Our house is rather old in places as evidenced by newspaper paper covered walls dated 1923 as above.

This is a spare room, not doing much now but I have plans for it. 

 An ad for Henry White Jamaica Rum and what appears to be an ad for an interesting sounding book...

The slab hut construction of the original part of the house.

Some of this will be plastered over in this room so I can put in a wall of cupboards.  There are a couple of places where it lends itself to leaving some of this exposed which I think I will do.

All hidden behind bad wall paper on poorly framed walls and very bad 80's carpet. 

There is still a lot to do as so far we just have a big mess here, but it is fun seeing what we find along the way.  We have to move a door, re sheet, plaster, paint and decide what I am doing with the floors too.

Before and After ~ The Wood Shed

It is fun showing before and after photos, it makes me feel like we are getting somewhere!

We moved the shed forward, tossed out the junk and attacked the leaf litter with the rake. 

It is a much better wood shed now.

The renovation list is getting bigger...

The almond trees are beautiful in full flower and there is a hint of Spring in the air.

In spite of this I am tired and feeling blue.

Our shower leaks through the wall so I need to rip the tiles off, water proof and tile it properly.

Same with the upstairs shower.

When the plumber looked into the issue I had with the main toilet he discovered it has been double trapped and there is an air lock issue that can't be fixed without jackhammering the cement floor and doing the plumbing again.

I have leaking taps, blocked gutters and still need to organise the new septic that Council have told us we need.

My kitchen sink water does not get away very well and to fix it we need to plumb it into the new line.

I am not feeling motivated and it is ganging up a bit.

I still love it here in spite of all these issues.