Silver linings, sunshine and a lucky find- Reno Day 38

Can you believe it has only been six weeks and already Betsy is showing off her long blonde tresses, I mean trusses? Finally late last week the sun shone down and some serious roof action could happen. All the rafters are up for the new deck roof and if the sunshine holds this week the old roof will be peeled away and the new gable will be joined into the old roof.

Of course to take these photos meant getting over my significant issue with heights  to climb some very wobbly scaffolding and then balance precariously at the top. Not so much enjoying the  looking down part. Or the idea of climbing back up there to paint the fascia board later this week.

The other exciting change was seeing the oversized hole for the kitchen window splashback. The window will be about 3/4 the size of this hole in both height and length, and the light it lets it is fantastic.

Meanwhile there was a silver  lining to the laundry window issue from a few weeks back. After realizing there was no way to fit the louvres above the back door, it also became apparent that placing  windows above the door would have given us a first rate view of the angled ceiling of the landing and also limited air flow.

So, some minor changes were made and the laundry window adjacent to the back door was changed from a fixed panel to louvres. And then I realized that there was no good reason not to add a new high window on the external wall of the laundry that would let in a lot more light. ( I am slightly obsessed with sunlight, the more the better). So, with my first ( and hopefully, only) variation, we added a new window.

Now, what about those uninspired front doors? Not quite so ugly from the inside but with only louvres and  security screens on the upper panels they were also fantastic for either  blocking the light or letting in cold drafts. 

Well, I have been scouring the demolition yards for the last two years looking for leadlight double entrance doors from around Betsy's vintage in the thirties art deco style. As bungalow style queenslanders are a relative rarity in Brisbane I wasn't really holding much hope of finding as set of doors in the size we needed here  in our own backyard. 

And then we were down at our local demolition yard discussing selling some of our old doors when I noticed that they had opened up a new annexe off the side of the usual shed. With a neon "OPEN" sign beckoning me over. And sure enough, tucked away in the back corner were these beauties, in the exact size of our front doors.

Apparently they came from another Queenslander house that was undergoing a renovation but originally may have come from an old furniture store owned by the Marrs family in Fortitude Valley. Now if we can just salvage the original wind up door bell and transfer it over I will be a very happy girl. Sunshine predicted all week, so fingers and toes crossed for a new roof.

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a portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013 via Che and Fidel

He : this looks like gardening. Do not be fooled, it is actually yet another version of making mud whilst still in pyjamas.

She : this is what happens when you give a four year old free choice on how to spend her five dollars at the local markets. Green and orange butterfly sunnies are obviously a must have item. I'm quietly just pleased she has finally fallen in love with this op shopped pink velvet jacket  that has been sitting in her wardrobe for two years. 

Scaffolds,Skips and Sunshowers - Reno Day 36

With a public holiday long weekend and buckets of rain, I wasn't expecting much progress this week. What a surprise to wander over to Betsy and discover masses of scaffolding. Roboboy of course thought that one of his umpteen treehouse designs had actually been constructed for him and has been eyeing off that assortment of ladders and platforms.

The rain literally cleared away for about an hour so I could snap these photos but is predicted to continue this week, so not sure how much of that deck roof will actually get built. I was very pleased to see that the builders have been raiding the skip and doing a little recycling.

Pull out crazy blue skillion roof. Throw crazy blue skillion roof into skip. Rain, rain, rain. Pull crazy blue roof panels out of skip and hastily re install them to protect precious floorboards. Love these blokes, especially as it all just happened before I even had a chance  to utter the word tarp. And look at that hole in the floor. Yep, the POLE HAS GONE. Woohoo.

With the rain slowing the outside progress there has been some action inside instead. Here is the shell of the pantry with framing for the cavity slider door.

And they have started pulling out the old wall between the poky kitchen and the old back bedroom. Once this is out it will make a huge difference to the feel of the room and the new kitchen space will be ready for a check measure from the kitchen company.

I'm already getting a taste of the view from the new kitchen window splashback though and there is nothing that makes me happier than a view of green, green, green. Extend that window another metre to the left and it should let in buckets of light.

The view is not quite so flash from the outside.

Sights like this make me very very thankful that we are not attempting to live here through the reno. Gratitude of the highest order, that I do not have to try and keep my kids off this pile.

Not to mention the multi story treehouse.

Now, I know I said that  I would be back with the find of the year ( or two actually) but due to our car breaking down I will not have the find in my hot little hands until the weekend. I can give you a clue though. Let me show you Betsy's current front door situation.

Inspired? Me neither. Back soon.

We have roof trusses, and lots of rain - Reno Day 31

So, we had a fair bit of sunshine last week which meant that the boys were able to get the roof trusses up for the new gable that is being added to the back of the house. The old skillion roof at the back of the house is no longer.

Here is a  pic of the old lounge room with the sloped skillion roof to the right of the pole, and the infamous laundry in the lounge room on the end wall. Everything to the right of the pole is now pretty much gonski. Except for the floorboards, but they won't be there for much longer either. 

Interestingly, when they removed that ceiling lining, look what was revealed. 

Yep, one of the previous owners of Betsy REALLY loved blue paint. There is every possible shocking tone of this colour on the walls, ceilings and floors now. This is what it looked like in the harsh light of day. I suspect Betsy is breathing a sigh of relief that these lurid undergarments have been flung into the skip.

Not really sure if she is as enthusiastic about going around topless while the rain drips down onto her lovely floorboards. Fingers crossed for the rain to ease up quickly so that the roofers can get to work and restore the dignity of this old girl.

In the meantime, we used the dry parts of the weekend to wander through all the new rooms that have appeared in this last week as the framing has gone up. This is the latest wall and will separate the family/tv room from the deck. There is a big sliding window on the right and an external sliding door on the left.

We tend to check the house most days, it is important to make sure that all is going to plan but also to be sure that the plan is actually what you want to live with for the long haul. We spent a year thinking about these room layouts as we really wanted to avoid any major variations or changes mid build.

Seeing the rooms take shape and being able to walk through them is actually really helpful and if we want to make any changes, now is the time, while the frames are still going up. I had always planned some sort of desk space for the kids in this room and now that we have paced it out we are considering adding a long, low, narrow desk under the window that you can see outlined in the above picture. 

In order for it to work, the sliding door into my sewing room will have to open right to left instead of left to right. Luckily, only the opening is framed up ( left side of above pic) so it should be no big deal to request this simple change now. That will also give me a section of wall behind which I can run a long desk under the window of my sewing room. And so as we pace it out, how we plan to use the space also consolidates into a more definite plan. And gives me an excuse to go furniture shopping, even if it's just in a virtual capacity. 

Back soon, with a new purchase, of the MOST exciting kind. Something I have been searching for, for at least the last two years.

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a photo of my children, once a week every week in 2013 via Che and Fidel

He : found a deciduous tree (there are not abundant in our city) and went to town. The biggest leaps into the biggest pile. Boy heaven.

She : Styles all her own poses. No, I did not make her put that leaf in her mouth. 

Little blue men, stairs, frames, new rooms - Reno day 28

So late last week Besty was invaded by the little blue men who came to safely remove the asbestos sheeting from the front bedroom. It turns out that when the front verandah was enclosed they didn't bother to remove the old balustrade, they just whacked those asbestos sheets right over the top. The entire front right side of Betsy would originally been an open verandah but was enclosed many years ago and is now a bedroom and an entry foyer. As this room will now face onto the side carport the windows are being replaced with a set of high louvres hence the need to remove the asbestos. Removal involves the funky blue suits, and intensive vacuuming to ensure no tiny fibres remain.

The  asbestos experts also pulled out the sheeting in the laundry ( just to be on the safe side),

and the ceiling in the lounge room. This ceiling was horsehair and did not contain asbestos but apparently there were some asbestos off cuts up in the ceiling that were also removed. The horsehair plaster in this part of the house was not in very good condition and will be replaced. Luckily in the bedrooms and hallway the ceilings are in much better condition and have beautiful ornate plaster so they are staying. I am counting down the days until this godforsaken post in the middle of my lounge room is removed.

 It's almost like an archeological dig over here with the finds we are making. Take this old nut stash that was found tucked up in the ceiling rafters at the back of the house. Some enterprising possum or rodent has been gnawing away at those macadamia nuts all winter long.

So with some sunshine hanging around the boys have made a start on the framing in the granny flat. One day there were walls and a roof,

 by the afternoon they were gone and the new frames started to appear.

Back stairs were completed and installed,

Side stairs are also in.

By the following day quite a bit of the framing had commenced on all the new rooms in the old granny flat space. We have the laundry. Back door on the right, window and laundry bench and cabinetry running down the left hand side. Will have to share my laundry plan, it is nearly final.

The room to the left of the laundry is going to be our new tv/family room. Finally a separate space to air   the Peppa pig episodes that I feel I know by heart, especially that one where Daddy pig sticks the pancakes to the ceiling. Yep, I have been dragged off the loo to snort at that one.

Here it is, with the laundry on the right. It will have a high set of louvres, as you can see it is quite close to the neighbours. The roof rafters have already gone up in this pic as well, like I said these boys are swift. You can see the junction in the old and new floors here too. To left of this room is the original second (tiny) bathroom that will be untouched and a new corridor has been put in to link to the end bedroom.  In this pic below the new door way is yet to be made into the bedroom at the end of the granny flat. Then entire left side of the wall will be a massive storage cupboard.

Adjacent to this corridor is my new sewing room/craft space i.e. somewhere for me to put all my vintage wallpaper and sheets and other op shop bits and bobs that Legoman either eye rolls or gags over the sight of, as well as room to sew and crochet. The old doorway is to be closed over and while this is a small room (2.5 x 3 m) it will be perfect for me to puddle around in.

The end room will be a spare bedroom/ space for all the lego to be tipped out and my vacuum  and I will probably not cross the threshold into that room at all.  This all purpose, boys hideout/playroom room will probably have the best view in the house- see the pic below. It is also large enough that we could down the track turn it into the master bedroom and use the adjacent small bathroom as an ensuite.

I'm not feeling deprived though as this is the view from my sewing room. Trees, garden, north facing sun....... doesn't get much better than that I reckon. It is really exciting seeing these rooms take shape and to be able to walk through and get a feel for the space is amazing. After more than a year of just lines on paper, seeing your vision come to life is fantastic.

So, this week we are finalising our laundry plans which I will share soon. This week too the roof comes off in readiness for the new rafters to connect the gabled deck roof. Fingers crossed for a dry week ahead.

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a portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013

He : was poorly over the weekend, with a sore throat and fevers. Luckily his puppy scarf, knitted with love by his Grammy, was on hand to warm his neck and helped him recover in record time.

She : is enjoying all these kindy birthday parties. There are only eight girls in her class, so everyone gets invited and they are a lovely little gang.