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.