Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Plans are afoot


Well, for anyone who has felt let down by the lack of renovating on this self proclaimed renovating blog, we are finally making some progress. We have some plans. Now, let me qualify that, we have fantastically detailed plans of our current house, complete with feature laundry in the lounge room , least functional kitchen in the entire universe and roofless deck rendered completely useless in the rain. And it has been raining in Brisbane for the better part of the last 18 months since we bought Betsy.

We also have a building designer who as we speak is making various changes to some concept drawings that plan to renovate Betsy on a pretty tight budget. We intend to take out a wall, put in a massive beam that spans the entire house, double the size of our kitchen and rebuild our rotting roofless deck with a new roof. She  also has some exciting ideas to link in the granny flat that was tacked on to the back about a decade ago.

To say I am excited is an understatement. As soon as we have some drawings we are happy with I will share all the details. Fingers crossed in the next week or two. In the meantime, to satisfy any renovation cravings I can heartily recommend a visit over to a very new blog I have just found where real actual renovating is happening daily as we speak. If you pop over to Rachael's house you will find walls that are already white (not custard and whinged about daily), a backload of posts about previous renovations and daily posts about an unfolding renovation of a glorious Queenslander house in northern NSW. Oh yes, and she has great taste in artwork, house styling and very cute children. Don't even get me started on the vintage wallpaper tree in the kids room, I am desperately plotting to replicate it somewhere in my house.

When I am not up late at night obsessing over kitchen layouts, I am finding things to do on endlessly rainy days with the kids.

A spot of baking. Yay for the discovery of dairy free chocolate chips. The pyrex birthday bowl is a gem to work with.


Some paper plane folding and racing.


Growing crystal gardens (lovingly chosen and gifted to me for my birthday)




And trawling the internet for inspirational invitation designs for one upcoming 6 year old birthday party. You'll never guess what kind of cake I have been begged to create this year.



Back soon with news. Could be a party, Betsy related or op shop love. Should be good either way right? Before I forget, if anyone else knows of any other blogs with actual renovations going on, I would love you to share, nothing better than living vicariously through other peoples renos when your own are slow going.

10 comments:

  1. I'm so excited about your new addition......I adore your crystal garden..its beautiful!
    I shoveled 3 feet of snow off the roof last night with hubby he was hoping to get our 17 year old up there with him but I was scared he might fall off as he's scared of heights but as I was up there I realized I'm a little scared too!

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  2. Very exiting news about the plans for the reno!! And Rachel's blog is great isn't it? xx

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  3. How exciting!! Can't wait to see what great things you've got instore for Betsy. Those crystals are magic! Wishing you a wonderful rest of your week. :) x

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  4. My blog!

    www.creativechaosnz.blogspot.co.nz

    We have added a room with walk in robe and ensuite; gutted old bathroom and turned into new bathroom and hallway laundry ( walk in laundry not just a cupboard.)

    Onto blogging now that I have an app which beats begging other people in house to use their computer rather than this silly I-pad thing! Do plan a big post with start to finish which has taken nearly 3 months!!!

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  5. Hi Mel!

    Rachael here. Still haven't set up new google account so I'm posting as anonymous.

    Ooooooooh! Very exciting about the plans! It sounds like a very similar scale to ours. We're also on a tight budget. Despite being on a tight budget, I haven't been keeping track of expenses. Somehow I've spent all my free time blogging and not bookkeeping...oops. I'm planning to do a post about that kind of stuff but basically we're hoping to come in at about 30k. Our first quote came in at 42k but the second guy came in at 24K. He's working for a wage and we're paying for materials ourselves so there's no mark up on them. So far so good.
    Thanks for your lovely mention of my blog. I'm really flattered. I don't know how to create links to other websites on my wall. I tried to figure it out yesterday because I wanted to mention yours and some others that I follow. Any tips?
    My girls would love those crystal gardens. Peach has a b'day coming up soon!
    x

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  6. Hi,
    Rachael here, I created a new google account and I'm testing to see if it works. Sorry, your wall is my laboratory!

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  7. Love to see busy happy kids,plans sound exciting and your real and crystal gardens are looking awesome. Can't wait to see the lego cake. Thanks for the link to Rachael's blog, I never find them on my own.

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  8. Lots of fun ahead! I love using my Pyrex as I would use Mums as a kid when I would bake (so it just feels right). You mentioned a vintage sheet set I had pictured last post. I am hanging onto fabric for now as I can't part with it and am supposed to be doing a project with my Mum when she gets around to it. If I don't end up using it I will give you first option. Can't wait to see your renos! Sherry :)

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  9. Lots of fun ahead! I love using my Pyrex as I would use Mums as a kid when I would bake (so it just feels right). You mentioned a vintage sheet set I had pictured last post. I am hanging onto fabric for now as I can't part with it and am supposed to be doing a project with my Mum when she gets around to it. If I don't end up using it I will give you first option. Can't wait to see your renos! Sherry :)

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  10. This time a year ago we were chatting to an architect and looking for the first time at plans to add an upstairs to our bungalow. Two days ago my girls moved in to their brand new bedrooms! Life has been too frantic to blog it all ... And no pretty decorated room pictures yet, but today am sorting it all so photos are not far behind!

    Www.womanofnotes.blogspot.com.au

    All the best with your renovations. Horrible to live through ... But I've almost forgotten the bad bits already now we've come out the other end!

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