Renovations #1

Right, so, as threatened previously, it's time for our first update on the renovation of our little cottage. I don't have a huge number of "before" photos but just picture burnt orange curtains, flocked wallpaper, high gloss ceiling tiles, brown lino, and a BAD eighties pine kitchen.  Oh, and how could I forget the olive green bathroom.  Ya-huh.

We don't expect to stay in the cottage long - it just has to be liveable - but even if we're only there for a year or two we still want it to be a pleasant place to live.  The deck was rotten so that had to be replaced no matter what.  And the olive green bathroom, well obviously it HAD.TO.GO.  But beyond that, we had originally intended just new floor coverings and a coat of paint.

As so often happens, though, things took on a life of their own and it's turned into a pretty major overall.  I'm excited though because it's going to be a really nice place to live, however long we are there for.  The intention long-term is to build a family home of our own further back from the road and we'll rent the cottage out perhaps as a B&B (that I would run), or, more likely, as a long term rental.  So it does make sense to get everything done now so that it's ready for its next incarnation whenever and whatever that may be.

Kitchen/Living Room

I honestly did not mind this kitchen too much - plenty of cupboard space, and it has a dishwasher.  Tick and tick.  Sadly the stove is electric which is going to take some getting used to but it's not the end of the world.

The lino on the floor was U.G.L.Y IT AIN'T GOT NO ALIBI, and that *ahem* charming stained glass overhead cupboard?  NOICE.  I especially enjoy the fancy turned spindle things holding it up.

That's the hot water unit in the cupboard on the right above, kind of a waste of space in the kitchen but at least it's hidden.

So, the kitchen is now being almost entirely re-done.  The door to the hot water unit cupboard has been moved to the other side and we've now installed a wall to separate the kitchen from the entrance and laundry.  The bench top will be replaced and extended along the island to give me more bench space.

You can also see in the photos below that the ceiling tiles have been replaced too, thank god.  The lino has been torn up to reveal some surprisingly lovely floorboards.  Unfortunately, with the intention of renting it out, we don't want to worry about the maintenance of the floorboards so they will be covered again by a (nicer) lino in all the wet areas.  And we'll have carpet in the living and bedrooms.  I would love to have exposed floorboards, and what a jackpot to have beautiful tightly fitted ones hiding beneath the icky old floors, but it's just too cold a climate to have them throughout.

If the B&B thing eventuates we can always tear everything up and put rugs down.

Right, onwards.

Below is the living room in its original state, with cameo by woman I don't know.

 Here we have torn up carpet, replaced ceiling tiles, replaced down lights, and removed fireplace and relocated in the "nook" you can see to the left in the photo below.  Moving the fireplace is another one of those things we wouldn't have bothered with but it segmented the room making positioning furniture really difficult, plus in its new location it will be more central within the house so the heating will be way more efficient.

Can I tell you how excited I am to have a wood burning fire?!  VERY EXCITED INDEED.  Yes, ash, yes, wood chopping.  But: crackling log fire.

Bathroom

I have no words.  There are none.

Unsurprisingly, the lovely bathroom was also leaky so the whole thing has been torn out and replaced.

White!  Shiny!  Clean!

Bedrooms

All the bedrooms had built-in robes which have been torn out to make more space, and they're all getting new carpet, paint and curtains.  Unfortunately the ceiling tiles will remain but at least they're not as offensive as the high-shine ones that were in the living areas.

Outdoors

LOTS of work has been done around the garden and house paddock clearing away overgrown shrubs, dead and diseased trees, and other mess.  As mentioned the deck has been replaced and it looks so good!

It's all ticking along at a fantastic rate.  We have actually now booked our flights and will be living in NZ before the end of April.  I'm tremendously excited but also daunted at the amount of work to be done between now and then.  I've said it before and I'll probably say it again quite a few more times, but the logistics of moving internationally with two small children are significant.  

Significant.

Renovations #2

You guys, I'm drowning in paperwork.  I was an administration assistant when I was still a contributing member of society, so I love a form.  Love forms, love ticking boxes.  

But oh my wordy lordy are there a lot of boxes to tick and forms to fill out to move to New Zealand.  And each form has a supplementary form, and some forms have questions that I don't know the answers to, like, as a random example, the date purchased, price in NZD and origin of all the alcohol in our booze cupboard.  Actually I've solved that one as I will be drinking all that alcohol in the next couple of weeks.  There's no form needed for that.

It's only been a couple of weeks since I wrote about the renovations but oh boy are things coming together now!  I can really picture us living here.  Which is good, because we'll be there in LESS THAN THREE WEEKS OH MY GOD.

Bedrooms

The wardrobes are all in now I think.  B was insistent that we not put doors on the front which I'm pretty sure is going to be a stupid idea but whatever I have forms to fill out and no time to argue.  All I can think is MOTHS.  Moths eating all my clothes.

In the girls' rooms we'll probably use the robes for toys, books, etc, and use their dressers to keep clothes in.  Or we will be putting doors on everything in about a month's time.

Bathroom

Look!  Look!  Look at the shiny bathroom!  Just got the heated towel rail to be installed and we are d.o.n.e in here.  Before you think we're all up ourselves with a heated towel rail, please recall that this is New Zealand.  It rains, like, every day.  Unless we want to dry ourselves with mould spores, a heated towel rail is pretty much essential.

Laundry

I don't think I shared any photos of the laundry last time as there wasn't much to show, but it's going to be so good.  Look at all the bench space!  And on the opposite wall there's a narrow little cupboard to store all my laundry soap and stuff in.  I do love doing the washing and I'm going to extra double love it in this big awesome laundry.

Kitchen/Living

Just awaiting the carpet in the living room, not much to see here...

But the kitchen, now this is where I get quite excited!!!!  I love it.  I can picture my girls sitting up at that big bench.  I can picture myself standing at the sink looking out that window at the little house paddock.  Do you know how many times I have dreamt of something exactly like this for our family?

Pouring rain, sun shining, blowing a gale, fire crackling, muddy gum boots at the door, little girls running up and down the hall, bikes, ponies, flannelette sheets, hydrangeas, roses, snow on the mountain, it's going to be so good.

So good, you guys.

Ok I'll stop now.