fixing downstairs

After our burst pipe we had a few things fixed. We had to wait a few months to see what damage there was. Some of the initial damage went away-the walls and skirting went back to normal after they dried out, but some things took time to show up-like the floors. 

A few sections of the roof had bowed quite badly, so they were replaced. Unfortunately, they repainted it green again, which we then repainted a few months later. 

The downstairs floors also began cupping due to the water damage, as that is where the water lay. The moisture levels had to settle, and that took a few months. The floors were originally stained to match upstairs, but we took a risk and didn't get them re-stained after they were sanded. I'm so glad, as they are such a lovely colour, and a quite bit lighter. It actually shows a lot less dust too!! These photos are from after we repainted the walls and ceiling. I love our downstairs floors so much-so glossy and smooth. I REALLY want to do our upstairs ones now, but they are a little way off yet...

We also got two new vanities, as the chipboard did not hold up too well. We were quite limited with our choices due to the small bathrooms, I have a little DIY improvement coming up. 

Sorry about the bad lighting-it's hard to get photos before
or after work at this time of year!!!

Downstairs is basically finished now, with the floors refinished, and the walls, ceilings and skirtings all repainted. We do have to do something about the lights down there actually. We are going to buy a new bed for downstairs and turn it into our main spare room. It means that anyone staying with us has their own area, and bathroom, and we wont wake them when we get up early in the morning. Eventually we will move our current lounge room setting to the room under the stairs, and get another TV, but that is a few years into the future-probably when we have kids..... 

it's ok

I've been a bit stuck with my blogging lately, and I think I've realised part of the reason why. I keep thinking-that's not good enough, I haven't finished that, there is no furniture, the garden is a bomb... Well that and dealing with a patient who had his wisdom teeth removed, along with general life, work and wedding craziness!
We bought our house knowing there was lots to do, even if most of it is fairly superficial surface stuff. It was the only way we could afford it, and it is a work in progress. Some rooms have no furniture, some are missing furniture, and some have the wrong furniture, we have rusty lights, chipped paint, missing putty, a jungle garden and no fences-and that's ok. We have holes in the eaves, a purple checkerboard kitchen, and I don't always clean as often as I should. We have had leaks, and have made mistakes, and learnt along the way.
Without further ado...

Empty walls and STILL no bedsides

Rusty lightS and multicoloured

Steep jungle garden-it's worse from up close-6 foot high...

Chipped, flaking, broken windows

Painting needed

Roundup starting to wrk

Weeds will grow-lawn won't

Holes and different rusty lights

Can you count the four wall colours

More dying jungle

Sometime L or I will feel overwhelmed with everything we have to do, and wish we had bought a nice new house in a subdivision somewhere, but it never lasts long-our house has heart, it has history, and we literally fell in love with it the first time we saw it. It will be all the more special once we have made it ours, because we will have done it ourselves.
I guess sometimes I look at perfect houses in perfect blogs and feel a bit down. Hopefully this does the opposite for you!

It's all ok. I'm happy to wait to find the right thing, I'm happy to wait to buy something that I love, we don;t have heaps of extra money lying around at the moment (ahem, wedding...), and all of our little jobs will get done.

What are you happily living with at the moment?

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day means a lot to me, as it does to most Australians. My Mama and Maxie both were in the airforce during WWII-it was where they met. Mama was beautiful, and Maxie was so handsome in their uniforms on their wedding day.

Mama always marched in the ANZAC marches when I was growing up, Maxie stayed home and quietly watched the Sydney services on TV. He never spoke of the war.

The Last Post was played at both of their funerals, and now never fails to make me cry.

In July 2009, while living in London, L and I went on a week long tour of Turkey. It was such a highlight of our year living overseas. It is such an amazing country, and I would-and do-recommend it to anyone. We spent a day at Gallipoli. It was quiet and peaceful and oh so beautiful on the day we visited, but you could see how incredibly tough the terrain was.

I missed the Dawn Service today-my alarm was set for pm. But I went and watched L surf at 7 this morning. It was a perfect morning, on a perfect beach, and I paid my respects then.

I'm incredibly grateful to live in such an amazing country. Lest we forget.

accidentally buying a house

Tuesday: we drove past a house for sale that was in our price range, looked good on the website, pretty good position. We had a chat and decided we would leave it for another 6-12 months, just keep renting, save our money to get a bigger deposit. 

Real estate photo of living room

Friday: A house showed up on real-estate.com. We both loved the look of it, but it was a bit out of our price range. Plus, we had decided just days earlier that we were going to wait a bit. So we closed the page, and planned to get on with our life, including driving to Brisbane the next day to buy a suit. 

Real estate photo of bedroom

Saturday: It rained, and rained all night long. L had to work at 4, and we were afraid we might get stuck on the motorway if it kept raining, or if there was a crash, so we went to breakfast overlooking the beach. And started talking about the house we saw. We decided it could't hurt to have a look (famous last words), and rang the real estate agent. There was an open house in half an hour... 

Real estate photo of outside

We went along. We loved it-yeah, it was an older house, and had been a rental for years, so needed work, but it felt like home. We went back to our unit, talked it over, and decided to put in an offer. 

Real estate photo of top back deck

It was accepted. We started signing contracts on Monday, and 30 days later it was ours. 

On a side note-a 30 day settlement is ridiculous! But it all worked out in the end, moving matched up with my holidays and we were in by Easter. 

welcome to tea and beaches

It was love. 

From the moment we first saw it on the website, we loved it-rainbow walls and overgrown garden and all. 

We put in an offer, moved in, and have been spending the last 8 months decorating, renovating and learning along the way. 

This will be a blog recording our renovations. 

The front deck, before settlement. 

Welcome.