our house

From the moment we saw our house on the website, and when we first walked in, we loved our house. It had everything we had dreamed of in a house, it had street appeal, a big block, and character inside.

It reminded both of us the older houses in the rural NSW town we grew up in, despite now looking much more like a Queenslander. It has beautiful hardwood floors throughout (not a scrap of carpet), big high skirting boards, wide, detailed cornices in every room, vjs in part of the house, and the biggest selling point for us-3 big verandahs.

The lounge room, looking from the kitchen 

A blurry photo looking back toward the kitchen, and through to dining room

The dining room, looking out to top back verandah

Our house began it's life as a workers cottage in Cooparoo, Brisbane, built in 1941. It was a 2 bedroom cottage, with an enclosed verandah, kitchen, living room and a dining room.

Master bedroom, with french doors to the sunroom

The sunroom, looking through the hall and front door

Second, upstairs bedroom

Second living area, downstairs

In 2002 it was moved to it's current position. We are on quite a steep block, and the owners built in a big underneath part of the house-big garage, laundry and storage area, another bedroom, bathroom and living area, with a second, lower level back verandah. The top, front of our house is basically level with the street, over a small walkway, while the back two levels  sit on top of a retaining wall, our block is so steep. We have at least 4 one meter,big, rock retaining walls.

Our front walkway-obviously a while ago... I miss rain! :)

Top back deck (entered through the french doors in the dining room)

Our back yard from the top back deck-look at the weeds!

It had been a rental property for most of the 10 years since it was moved, so while it was a fantastic house, it required, and still does (!!!) quite a lot of maintenence and love to bring it back to how it should be. We've slowly been chipping away at small and large jobs to improve the appearence. We both knew it needed things done, but I'm not sure either of us realised just how much work it would be-for 2 people with zero renovating or gardening experience-or even any real skills-we took on a massive job. We haven't done anything too major yet, but even the small jobs we have done have made a massive difference to our house!

(All photos taken just prior to moving in)