Half way and Plans revisited - Reno Day 52

It seems that we have reached almost half way through the predicted four month build time and looking back, the progress is huge. At the end of the week the massive span bifold doors arrived and here they are finally in position. Here is a before shot in comparison, taken from a similar angle.

And the granny flat now looks like this,

instead of this.

And we have a lot less grass and much, much more of this. (Yep, it's raining AGAIN).

But it's ok because we checked today and we have a DRY deck. So exciting.

Anyway, I thought this might be a good time to re-share the house plans. I initially posted a version of the plans almost a year back, but as I have had a few questions about the layout and making sense of it all I will do an updated version now. So for all of you who, (like me) love floor plans,

Here is the house before.

The front of the house is facing to the right. Bedrooms 1-3 and the bathroom are all getting new windows but are otherwise unchanged. There is no study as marked, it is really an entry foyer type room. We have removed the wall between Bed 4 and the old kitchen to create a much larger kitchen space. The  three rooms in the top left corner are what was essentially a granny flat, a separate structure added about 25 years ago and connected only via the deck. The rooms were narrow, with poor ventilation and for the last three years, really just used to store stuff as they were not easily accessible from the house.

Here are the current plans that we are working to.

Our main goals were to largely use the current foot print of the house (so as to not encroach into the yard), create a larger kitchen, add a second living space, move the laundry out of a cupboard in the lounge room, add a new deck which would remain dry and resolve some crazy roofline issues.

By closing in the granny flat verandah, we were able to add a separate room for the TV and create a good flow from the kitchen and deck. The only real addition to the existing footprint, was for the laundry and a small section of the family room, about 9 m2 in total. The carport has moved to the front of the house and will be a double instead of a single.

So, I hope this makes it easier to see the changes we are making to the space. If you have any questions feel free to ask away. I will try and reply within the comments section.

A shiny new roof - Reno day 45

So it has been a busy week with a lot  happening and not enough spare time to blog about it all. So this is where we were at a week ago. With a predicted  weather forecast of (finally) four sunny days and a rainy Friday for the week ahead. The roofers arrived with a deadline to get the bulk of the work done by Thursday, and they just scraped in before the rain plummeted down again. Aside from a whole lot more mess lying around,

they did also create this glorious expanse of silver sparkling in the sunshine. This was the new deck gable,

but we also had the old roof at the front of the house replaced. And of course this necessitated a decision from me about the gutter colour. Which I of course had not even allocated a nano particle of time to considering, and could I advise by tomorrow? Hmmm. (I'll share the outcome next post).

Meanwhile, while the roofers worked on top, the builders worked below to line the deck ceiling.

Suddenly, some balustrade appeared on the back landing,

And the old kitchen wall finally came down,  allowing a true sense of the space for the new kitchen.

The white vinyl floor indicates the old bedroom, the boards to the right (in the pic below)  show the position of the old (tiny) kitchen.

It's hard to see all the progress for all the scaffolding. When it all comes down, some time this week, I will able to properly share the absolute wonder that is the new deck.

And lastly, time for a now you see it.

Now you don't.

New front stairs coming soon. Can't wait to share the new improved version.

Thank you for all the enthusiastic comments on my last post. It is quite fun to know that so many fellow reno enthusiasts are following along and sharing my excitement at finding those long awaited doors.

Silver linings, sunshine and a lucky find- Reno Day 38

Can you believe it has only been six weeks and already Betsy is showing off her long blonde tresses, I mean trusses? Finally late last week the sun shone down and some serious roof action could happen. All the rafters are up for the new deck roof and if the sunshine holds this week the old roof will be peeled away and the new gable will be joined into the old roof.

Of course to take these photos meant getting over my significant issue with heights  to climb some very wobbly scaffolding and then balance precariously at the top. Not so much enjoying the  looking down part. Or the idea of climbing back up there to paint the fascia board later this week.

The other exciting change was seeing the oversized hole for the kitchen window splashback. The window will be about 3/4 the size of this hole in both height and length, and the light it lets it is fantastic.

Meanwhile there was a silver  lining to the laundry window issue from a few weeks back. After realizing there was no way to fit the louvres above the back door, it also became apparent that placing  windows above the door would have given us a first rate view of the angled ceiling of the landing and also limited air flow.

So, some minor changes were made and the laundry window adjacent to the back door was changed from a fixed panel to louvres. And then I realized that there was no good reason not to add a new high window on the external wall of the laundry that would let in a lot more light. ( I am slightly obsessed with sunlight, the more the better). So, with my first ( and hopefully, only) variation, we added a new window.

Now, what about those uninspired front doors? Not quite so ugly from the inside but with only louvres and  security screens on the upper panels they were also fantastic for either  blocking the light or letting in cold drafts. 

Well, I have been scouring the demolition yards for the last two years looking for leadlight double entrance doors from around Betsy's vintage in the thirties art deco style. As bungalow style queenslanders are a relative rarity in Brisbane I wasn't really holding much hope of finding as set of doors in the size we needed here  in our own backyard. 

And then we were down at our local demolition yard discussing selling some of our old doors when I noticed that they had opened up a new annexe off the side of the usual shed. With a neon "OPEN" sign beckoning me over. And sure enough, tucked away in the back corner were these beauties, in the exact size of our front doors.

Apparently they came from another Queenslander house that was undergoing a renovation but originally may have come from an old furniture store owned by the Marrs family in Fortitude Valley. Now if we can just salvage the original wind up door bell and transfer it over I will be a very happy girl. Sunshine predicted all week, so fingers and toes crossed for a new roof.

Scaffolds,Skips and Sunshowers - Reno Day 36

With a public holiday long weekend and buckets of rain, I wasn't expecting much progress this week. What a surprise to wander over to Betsy and discover masses of scaffolding. Roboboy of course thought that one of his umpteen treehouse designs had actually been constructed for him and has been eyeing off that assortment of ladders and platforms.

The rain literally cleared away for about an hour so I could snap these photos but is predicted to continue this week, so not sure how much of that deck roof will actually get built. I was very pleased to see that the builders have been raiding the skip and doing a little recycling.

Pull out crazy blue skillion roof. Throw crazy blue skillion roof into skip. Rain, rain, rain. Pull crazy blue roof panels out of skip and hastily re install them to protect precious floorboards. Love these blokes, especially as it all just happened before I even had a chance  to utter the word tarp. And look at that hole in the floor. Yep, the POLE HAS GONE. Woohoo.

With the rain slowing the outside progress there has been some action inside instead. Here is the shell of the pantry with framing for the cavity slider door.

And they have started pulling out the old wall between the poky kitchen and the old back bedroom. Once this is out it will make a huge difference to the feel of the room and the new kitchen space will be ready for a check measure from the kitchen company.

I'm already getting a taste of the view from the new kitchen window splashback though and there is nothing that makes me happier than a view of green, green, green. Extend that window another metre to the left and it should let in buckets of light.

The view is not quite so flash from the outside.

Sights like this make me very very thankful that we are not attempting to live here through the reno. Gratitude of the highest order, that I do not have to try and keep my kids off this pile.

Not to mention the multi story treehouse.

Now, I know I said that  I would be back with the find of the year ( or two actually) but due to our car breaking down I will not have the find in my hot little hands until the weekend. I can give you a clue though. Let me show you Betsy's current front door situation.

Inspired? Me neither. Back soon.

Functional with frills - Pantry, panic room & office nook combo

Panic room may not be exactly the right definition of what I mean. Unless it means somewhere to hide from your children with access to a computer and unlimited Tim Tams. In that case, it's spot on. I know the current trend is to have a butlers pantry, which I think is a miniature kitchen inside the pantry to conceal all the mess, but really, what fun is all that? Far better to have a small  room to blog uninterrupted than a closet to dump all the dirty dishes in I think.

So, given that it's come time to finalise our kitchen design and that includes our walk in pantry, I thought I would share what we are planning and get any tips from anyone who has an actual functional pantry. I personally have come from a tiny cupboard  so stuffed full of food that the garlic salt can never, ever be found when you need it, so I cannot imagine what it will be like to actually be able to put everything away, let alone be able to find it again.

Of course in my fantasies it will look exactly like this,

with all the milk glass lovingly displayed in neat rows with a gorgeous grey backdrop. Unfortunately, in the real world of Betsy, the pantry will actually be for..........gasp........... FOOD! I know, a complete styling nightmare but what can a girl do? After roaming around on pinterest ogling pantries, I have decided that what is really needed is a series of interconnected smaller and smaller pantries, kind of like in the 'Cat in the hat comes back' when he has a hat full of tinier and tinier cats named from A- Z.

Imagine, a pantry just to look gorgeous, then one to dump all the mess in, then another for the  milk glass, another for the pyrex, another one for an office, one for all the bulk goods and so on and so on. Don't giggle, someone is probably doing it now, for next months Belle magazine.

Anyway, back to the reality of only one pantry. This is the before shot. This small space is tucked between our bedroom and the existing kitchen. The previous owners were planning to turn it into an ensuite but instead became overwhelmed with the concept of a renovation and decided to ditch Betsy for a house that required no work. Luckily for us that meant no dodgy ensuite to rip out, just the bare bones of a very small room that we thought was in the perfect position for a pantry.

The doorway on the right ( which leads into our bedroom) will be closed over. A new doorway will be made on the left with a sliding door. The window will be replaced with a full width glass panel with a view out onto the side fence, with just a glimpse of the neighbouring house and lots of trees.

Below the window will be a bench with a stool and a filing cabinet to store all our paperwork. Above the window will be some shelves to store folders. Below the bench will be a filing cabinet and there will be a stool to perch on. Probably a  similar size to this, just add a window above the desk.

 When you enter the pantry you will be facing the left hand picture and the wall in front will have my teapot hooks and probably aprons and bags. To the right will be floor to ceiling shelves.

The opposite end to the window will have 500 mm deep pantry shelving almost to the ceiling to store large items and appliances. The shelves along left left hand wall in the photo below with have 300 mm deep shelving for all the pantry goods. The wall on the right will have no shelving but high up will be a large open space (which is above the fridge and microwave) to store eskies and probably the Christmas tree.

Given that the entire space is 1.2 m x 2.7m we hope that this is a functional use of quite a long narrow little room. I anticipate it being the place were bills are paid, food is stored, school paperwork is organised while still having enough frills that it will be a nice little nook to sit in and enjoy the view. Perhaps even nice enough to shut the door and hide in with a cuppa, and the floor to ceiling Tim Tams.

And speaking of doors, I'm quite liking that yellow one in the first pic. I had planned to get frosted glass doors to let in more light, but a solid colour painted door is also appealing. So given that my previous pantry space was about the size of a mini-bar, any tips or thoughts on general pantry design and function would be greatly appreciated. And answers to those pressing questions of course.

Would you paint your pantry door yellow?
Would you put an office nook in a pantry?
Would you like to able to lock yourself in your pantry too? (with internet access and chocolate).

Images that are not mine via 1.Remodelaholic  2. Thistlewood Farm 3. Apartment Therapy 4. Decor Pad

A surprise discovery- Reno day 8

So last week appeared to involve a flurry of destruction and then a few days of not much. This week heralds a gaping hole in Betsy's backside. The old bed 4 has been opened up to allow positioning of the massive steel beam that will support the new roof. There was also the discovery that several stumps on the granny flat plan did not actually exist in reality and 5 new ones would need to be ordered and added to the overall cost. There are always surprises with old houses, this just happens to be one of them.

The position of the new carport has been marked out,

and concrete has been removed in readiness for the post hole digger. These mark out the position of the new laundry.

The big steel beam and all the new footings have arrived.

But none of these were the surprise find. No, that came when I wandered inside to take a better look at the gaping hole in the back of the house. Can you see what might have grabbed my eye? See that bit of blue poking out of that pile of rubble?

Yes, that one with what appears to be a star and a stripe on it. What on earth is that? Roboboy thought it might be part of a flag and could we please salvage those bits because he might want them for somewhere in his room ( he has been watching The Block since he was five and no doubt plans to create some elaborate installation).

On closer inspection my awesome site manager pointed out that it appeared to extend further under the lino than just  the boards they had removed. He kindly ripped up a big piece of lino to reveal this.

Woah there, a painted floor in the most vivid of blues that based on the colour alone, I would strongly suspect is old lead based paint. My god did I have to restrain myself from ripping up all that lino on the spot just to see what had been done. This floor will be polished and will become the new kitchen floor when the house is joined together so the pattern won't be staying but it is still a pretty cool unexpected find.

These floorboards can't be reused in the house as the tongue and groove edges have been damaged in removal, but I'm actually kind of pleased as that means that  Roboboy and I get to  find some way to restore and display this little bit of Betsy's history.