Before and Afters - Renovation closed for business. 9 August 2013

Somehow I've lost my last post and wrote this one over the top of it.  Whoops.

Anyway, I know when I was researching house renovation companies all I wanted to see was before and after pics. 

Now we've finished (yup, we are!), and have been in the new bit for a wee while, I feel it's important to close the loop on what I've started here.  So here are the piccies, starting from the outside in:

THE FRONT

Before the WHITE OUT (NB this is actually a beige colour...)

After white paint applied

 

THE BACK

 

Before

After

 

THE FRONT PORCH

Before

After - a purple door!

 

 

LOOKING TOWARDS THE BACK SECTION

Before - the old dining room

 

After - taken from just about the same spot as the before picture.

 

 

BATHROOM

Before - lino floor, white tub, a window and bottoms.

During (sorry, not a real before pic!)

After.  Art deco, and still with the vintage toilet! (it flushes Moira)

.  Bottoms are still here at bath time.

 

THE KITCHEN (old), NOW A STUDY & THE GIRLS' BEDROOM

Totally functional but space is limited.

 

Now that same space is a study PLUS....

... the girls' very pink bedroom.

 

THE NEW KITCHEN

Interestingly (probably not for you, actually, but for me), I have not looked at the pics below since I posted them back in March and I've stuck pretty closely to (read: copied) them!

Inspiration pic 1

Inspiration pic 2

 

 

THE OLD LOUNGE/NEW GUEST BEDROOM

I don't have a before pic here, but before there were no cupboards (this room looked out into the old kitchen and dining room) and no door to the hallway.

 At the moment it's quite bare!  We are looking for bedding options at the moment.

The girls are enjoying having the room to watch Sesame St in.

 

 

THE LOUNGE, DINING, KITCHEN (AKA "the new bit")

 With daffodils

 Auckland is so warm at this time (9pm) that we do not have the fire going.  But it's great!!!

 Thanks Mike and A-L for the artwork which happens to fit perfectly beside the TV and fireplace

 Little Max.  Now a few weeks off 2, he was 18 months when this started.

 Maxed out.

 Our beautiful deck, thanks Lloydy.

 Our gorgeous view, taking in Mount Dirtius & Shed Station at the back

 Taken from the top of the stairs.

 And the very, very, very awesome pantry, which hides all our junk away.

 

 

THE END.

 

 

No not quite!

 

I talk too much for it to be the end.  Actually I want to share a few key learnings:

 

• Stick to your original plans if you can. Might be easier to do so if an architect draws them up in the first place?  I'm not sure.  We changed things that we could only see were wrong once the bones were up, whereas a good architect may have picked these things up PRIOR to building.  Eg we put in the skylight because we didn't realise it would be darker in the new bit, and made the entrance way into the new bit super high.  It blows your costs out if you change your mind once building is underway. 
• Everyone says about doubling your budget.  It seems in our case this is true (see first point about changing our minds).
• Hire tradespeople on recommendation. They may not be perfect but usually care about their work and want you to be happy.
• Prepare for it to take longer than you thought.  Those little bits and pieces can take a oodles of time to be tidied up.
• Expect delays and if you don't get any you'll be pleasantly surprised.  We had the issue with the timber floor supplier whose wood never arrived when he said it would, despite the fact I'd given him three months notice.  I thought being organised would mean we didn't have any problems.  My take is this: you not only have to be organised, you have to be bloody minded, chase people up and be like a dog with a bone.  Don't let up because then they will relax! :)
• You'll get tired and bored choosing colours.
• You'll wonder if you've done the right thing umpteen times.
• Generally though, all the hard work put in does come out at the other end to create a new space which fits you perfectly.
• The soft furnishings may take us a long time.  We're having a break!



I hope you've enjoyed this journey as much as we have endured (oh it's been really interesting but we're glad it is over) it.  It's been grand - thanks for the kind words and company along the way.

 

My next project is to pay for it all.  Actually, I have started up Epicure Marketing & PR (www.epicurepr.co.nz) with a friend.  Now I get to write about nice food! 

 

For the last time on Four walls and 3 babies, over and out.

 

Anna x

And a kiss from Guest Blogger Steve x



A wee taste

Kitchen day has arrived. 

Hallelujah!  This is one event in the build that I have thought of as a real milestone, and it's here.  We still have to get the kitchen plumbed in, the appliances in and then the electricity hooked up, but I can get a strong sense of what the space will be like when it's finished now.  Before it was all lines on the floor and measuring tapes and pure guess work.

It's massive!  The kitchen is probably a little bit bigger than what Steve or I imagined and yet there seems to be more space for the dining room than we had thought.  One area which does feels smaller (and we were sure it would) is the lounge.  But we can work with it, oh yes, we can. 

First things first though.  The truck arrived, much to the children's delight.  It was a big one, and the driver backed it into our little driveway with amazing skill.  The kids rode their bikes around because it was a sunny morning after lots of rain, and I sat on our doorstep drinking a coffee and we were all happy. The delivery guys were so cheerful and friendly, and the kids loved it all. Sofia was so transfixed she wouldn't go inside to get clothes on (I made her though, I am quite relaxed, but not that much so).

Our kitchen arriving. Note the lovely blue sky - joy!

Little Sofs.  You wouldn't know from this face she is capable of 3 tantrums in one day, but evidently she is!

 

The kitchen installation guy arrived and he was also a friendly man; at the moment I can't rate our experience with this particular company highly enough. They really have been exceptional (Kitchen Systems). 

So da da da da - here it is!  Well so far.  Suspend your logical brain function now and imagine the finished product if you can.

The kitchen bench is quite large.  It looks quite normal-sized here.  We have cupboards at the back for storing platters and dinner plates (and junk!).  To the left at the back is the pantry - it's a really good size so we are very happy about that as well.

 

 

Max and Sofia can hide behind the bench!

A view from the lounge.

View from the dining room.

View of the scullery/pantry.  To be closed in tomorrow.

Our rubbish and recycling drawer! How convenient.  I am very excited about this.  Oh, the little things.

 

 

Also, as a nod to the house's bungalow origins, we've done a few special things in the new bit.  We have kept the bungalow architraves and have re-used a bungalow window in the dining area.  The other thing we've done (well, the builder has done) is re-create our hallway mantlepiece (it's a high one, meant for putting things on) in our fireplace mantlepiece.  It's little hard to see below, but if you click on the picture, you can make it out:

Finally, we are re-painting the house.  The current paint job is just starting to look a bit tired and figure it's better to do the whole lot at once.  The painter is starting on Monday (they'll also be finishing off the interior, which is great).

I have been skulking around neighbourhoods, trying to find the perfect colour scheme.  This is my current thinking (except with a lighter grey).  I really like the contrast of the white trim and darker colour.  Our current colour is like this:

And we were thinking more like this:

What do you think? 

It's all so exciting.

Anna x

Flooreo: Found!

Just a quick one lovely readers.

This one is to showcase our floor.  It is really taking shape and it's so very exciting, because having flooreo looking so good today means two things:

1)  The floor will be sanded and prepped on Friday
2)  The kitchen can indeed go in next Wednesday!

Look what I'm standing on!  The apparition to the left is Max's Alfie

Sofia's arabesque

The sink pipes can also be a seat

 

Tonight, in celebration, I ordered pizza for dinner for the kids and I.  Max is sick, meaning he didn't want anything to eat (which means that he is gravely ill and I should probably take him to hospital) and the girls ate all the potato wedges.  Consequently I had a whole pizza to myself if I wanted.  I don't think I've had a pizza delivery since I was flatting, so it felt a bit weird and completely decadent.  Plus, I didn't give the kids a shower and sent them all to bed early.  Woohoo! 

Tomorrow it's Steve's birthday (38, so young), and Olivia told Sofia that she wasn't allowed to go to Daddy's party (way harsh, Olivia).  Sofia got a bit cross at that, until I said that actually Daddy's not having a party. S & O were a bit puzzled as to why Daddy wouldn't be having pass the parcel, a bouncy castle and a princess cake (they have just been to their best friend's 4th birthday party). 

We will celebrate, just without all the pink.

Here's to a kitchen next week!

Anna x

Where for art thou o Flooreo?

Well.  The floor.  You may have read hope in my writing of nine days ago and you’d have been right.  I really did think our floor would arrive last week.  Instead it arrived today, and I thought I’d be rejoicing however the guy from the timber yard could only supply half of it today and - not only that - he told me we should have gone for matai instead of kauri wood.  This is because matai is much harder wearing.  Er, you cannot surely suggest this after we have waited a month for our timber.  I said, ‘OK, can you please take that lot back and arrange for matai instead?’.  I wasn’t amused. Plus that would have taken another month in all probability. Then I said that I was just kidding and that I would tell Steve to stop walking around in his stilettos so as not to dent the kauri. 

I also have grave doubts that our kitchen will not be going in as scheduled next Wednesday.  It is a bit of an art and here’s progress as of close of business today:

Looking good so far....

The contrast between door and floor

It's a long way to the other side of the room!

 Meanwhile, I received my 3 bags of joy from My Food Bag this week (I was actually supposed to cancel the delivery because I couldn’t see how to make it work without an oven, however I missed cut off!).  So far we’ve had  harissa rubbed fish with couscous and a feta & harissa sauce, and then tonight was a Japanese-style dish with chicken, rice, Brussels sprouts (haters – they rocked; try them sliced and stir fried with sesame seeds and some oil then add a little water to steam them and voila – beautiful).  I fear that the following two nights will be more challenging with a beef hot pot with a pastry top and then a quiche Lorraine!  I can do most things except brown off pastry.  I may well be swooping in to somebody’s house, commandeering their oven for fifteen minutes and then flying out again – I might leave them some pie as a bonus.

Last weekend was a good one; Steve managed to paint the main bathroom white, glorious white.  It looks so much crisper than the cream which was in there (although I quite liked the cream as well, I think the white looks better with the tiles). I’ll see if I can display for you a bit of a before and after special below.  Apprentice guy put in skirting boards today (we’ve watched him blossom, grow up, get more confident; he’s a different boy to the one who started our job).  So now all we need is a bit of hole filling and painting there and then we’ll chuck in the laundry and bathroom-type essentials (a toilet).

Left: After.  Right: Focus on the wall colour not the bottoms, if you can.  Also note that the lino to the right has gone! Underneath the cardboard Sofia is standing on are the beautiful new tiles.

 

Olivia gets in on the action, with Geoffrey the Giraffe of course.

 

The bathroom ceiling, no longer mint green!  That hole will be our skylight.

 

Steve's painting set-up

 

 And the man himself, in action!

 

 On the mouse/rat/monster we have lurking.  We haven’t caught it, although apprentice guy told me he hadn’t seen one in a few days.  I bought some rat pellets last week and then a friend told me a story about how they left rat pellets out and the whole rat family decomposed in their roof.  Hmm.  Not sure on a course of action here.

We may not have caught a rat but we have been lucky on the washing front, in that our wonderful next-door neighbour washes it in her machine.  This means we actually have some clean clothes on rotation!  Not long to go, not long to go, not long to go until the washing flows freely once more.

I leave with a few sentences describing my frustration at the lack of pace now experienced on the build. I was looking longingly at our beautiful new space the other day and I thought that what I was feeling was similar to the frustration of unrequited love (not that I would know, oh no, not me, I have never had that sort of angst – oh alright, maybe once).  The prize is so close; I can see it and imagine it, yet it’s out of reach right now.  Of course, unlike unrequited love I do know with some certainty that I will get the guy (floor/kitchen) in the end.

Good night!

Anna x