From the beginning
This is my story......
I am
a single Mum, run my own business, work part time, a
Seamstress, a De-clutter and Organiser , a gardener and a DIY
girl,. Now it was time to put my skills to work! I
knew I could turn this poor neglected house into a lovely
modest comfortable home. I could see potential.....My kids
could not...I assured my children that it will be all great in
time...
All the work had to be completed on a shoestring
budget.
I spent many days and weekends juggling work and kids
to get the it all done from cleaning the whole house inside top to bottom and
painting
the inside walls and ceilings.
I did all the prep work
outside
ready for the professional painters final coat.
This saved loads of money. Organising tradies for electrical
work, plumbing, pest control, re-stumping,
roof maintenance , woodwork repair, window installs,
door installs,garage install, rubbish removal , tree stump
removal, gardening , planting and heaps more !
All the work had to be completed on a shoestring budget. I spent many days and weekends juggling work and kids to get the it all done from cleaning the whole house inside top to bottom and painting the inside walls and ceilings.
I did all the prep work outside ready for the professional painters final coat.
This saved loads of money. Organising tradies for electrical work, plumbing, pest control, re-stumping, roof maintenance , woodwork repair, window installs, door installs,garage install, rubbish removal , tree stump removal, gardening , planting and heaps more !
It has been a MAMMOTH JOB and
as you will see from the before and afters that
hard work pays off.... I can't possibly put all the photos
in that I took and all the tiny jobs that had to be done,
there are just too many, but below are some photos of
this transformation on a shoestring budget.
** Please keep scrolling to see the progress to date.
** We have taken possession of our new home
February 2014 ..... All we can see are trees......
BEFORE
Second day in and the work started.... The trees were removed to reveal the hidden home.
DURING
A SNEAK PEEK of our finished home.
From possession to 30 months on there are still a few
things to do including a full bath reno but so far we are
enjoying our re-invented home.
(I had a bit of fun in this pic....to keep sane! )
My favourite tool... my Heat Gun for stripping off
layers of paint right down to the wood of door frames,
wood windows and the Weatherboards.
BEFORE
Rotted window sills.
Hard work below, but I love my Heat Gun.
I stripped every board down to the wood,
Filled , sanded and primed ready for a
top coat by a professional painter.
Prepping it yourself saves a lot of money.
AFTER ...Fully painted
Pebbles and steppers to be put in at a later date.
Thank you for your awesome top coat John Heran. :)
BEFORE lounge
Scrape , fill, sand ...repeat.
During....
AFTER
BEFORE BATHROOM
After....Modest but so clean and fresh!
It won me a prize in the Handyman Magazine,
Australia.
❤️
You will find a story about my Journey in the
Go Local Magazine, An amazing magazine
by Bernadette Torrenson
I love this lady. xx
Please go to the link below.
Laundry Before
AFTER
AFTER
Fascia . Preparing for the painter
Oh my gosh.....not good at all!
Back step before
Back step After
\
AFTER... we love our back yard.
Before 3rd bedroom
AFTER
The old rotted Redgum stumps were replaced (all
40 of them) with concrete stumps.
BEFORE
AFTER
Possums lived in the ceiling too ..they were relocated.
That's me preparing for the new ceiling install to bedroom 3.
The back yard before, trees removed.
Gorgeous Birds love this Bottle Brush tree.
BEFORE
AFTER
NEW WEST SIDE FENCE MAY 2018
AFTER
AFTER
These colours just had to go!
The Window sills were rotten from water damage.
BUILDERS BOG IS AWESOME!
BEFORE
Kitchen BEFORE
AFTER
removing old tiles
Installed a total of 4 NEW WINDOWS ...louvers bye bye!
STRIP , FILL, SAND , PRIME, REPEAT!
BEFORE ...East side of home.
AFTER
Before: Make old weatherboards look new, use your heat gun to remove paint. Fill, sand , then prime.
AFTER , prepared and ready for final coat.
THE YUKKA'S I PLANTED ARE GROWING
BEAUTIFULLY!
BED 2
BEFORE..... STRIP, FILL AND SAND.
Paint stripping 250 meters of weatherboards.
I enjoyed it!
BEFORE
AFTER
The work continues in SEPTEMBER 2016 ,
Bathroom Reno , wardrobe and linen cupboards to be done.
Hallway Floor polishing and tile to living areas, laundry and
toilet to be done also.
The biggest job was taking out the old to prepare for the new.
Tiles off....walls gone, floor gone... ...bath off to a new home.
Scrape, fill, sand , paint.
Thanks so much David for your awesome work
removing the bath.
We are certainly having some fun showering now!
Not to mention lying down to brush your teeth! (Just joking)
Old wall sheets off ready for the new.
Sadly our darling 💙 Silver passed suddenly......
it has been very hard.😢 😢 He was our friend and
always around me when I was working on the home.
We miss him terribly. :( 💙 💙 💙
Waterproofing is a must do in wet area.
Floor Tile
Wall - White Gloss
Tap wear .
Linen cupboard before
During
NEW SHELVES WERE INSTALLED AND NEW DOORS.
Wardrobe in bedroom 1 (prep work) Strip off all paint,
sand and prime.
Painted ready for new doors.
After
The work continues...... 2017...
My gosh what an amazing unpredictable 3 years it has been!
January 9th , ripping up the carpet for sanding and polishing! Taking out the old carpet and lino for new Tiles.
When you get a call saying the tiling is to be done Monday
and it's Friday, you don't panic.... you just go for it and you
don't stop!
Chipping off tiles
A helping hand from my Matt. xx
A helping hand from my Jane xx
Painting the skirting boards at the eleventh hour!
Sanding is underway by Wayne.
TIP: Save money and rip out the old carpet yourself!
WE LOVE IT! 💜💜💜
Helping out with the priming for my
awesome tiler Colin Spice!
BEFORE
AFTER
MOSTLY ALL DONE! 12/01/2017
Just minor little jobs like inside trims, garden and new outside pipework to finish. We are so happy with our result. We love our modest makeover !
We finally had our house warming party ,
it was so much fun! The cake our friend
made was fabulous!
On January 13 , 2018 I decided to tackle the old stump
of the large tree that had been removed 2 years earlier.
I am planting more garden.
Digging under the roots I came across a little plate so I
dug carefully and put it aside to wash later.
After I washed it I looked at the back to see what
make the plates make was knowing it would be old.
OMG!!! What I saw sent goosebumps all over me.
My first name was on the plate!!!!
How incredibly bizarre and eerie !
My name ...but I am not made in China lol
It's an Omen perhaps?
Front Pattern
Gosh who knows what else I will find when I dig more!
August 2018.
Now that I have saved some dollars, I replaced the old water pipes.
The water pressure is just amazing!
I have covered the pipes over and levelled the ground ,
have laid paver's as steppers and pebbles will
go down this summer.
Latest Project. January 2019 to April 2019
It was Hard work digging and having
extreme hot weather but reducing the lawn
makes life much easier and a lot less
mowing.
Now I can enjoy
the Birds and the bees in my garden.
The experts were called in to help.
I still had to dig by hand to remove
every trace of weed.
After .... 3 months on.
10 MONTHS ON. January 2020
August 2019
Pebbles for the east side
of the home. I picked up all these for $50,
what a bargain!
THEN
NOW.... No more weeds to remove and
so much neater!
Thank you so much for visiting my page :) x
