Right now

Ok, this is the fourth attempt to write this post in as many weeks. Firstly, before I forget (and I reminded myself with this photo) THANK YOU all for your wonderful, kind, inspirational and nagging comments on my last post. They have most definitely helped me to get back here again ( I respond well to nagging but we'll ignore the fact that it has taken over eight weeks).

My last attempt at a " Right now" post dragged on over about four weeks and became completely confusing so it is sitting in drafts while I pretend it does not exist. This attempt is going to be done tonight and I am absolutely not going to fall asleep doing it.

Right now it has been almost a year since we moved back home after the renovation. There was a flurry of renovating activity back in Summer and then after Easter it stalled pretty much through all of winter. Now that we are coming out the other side of months of winter illness the motivation is coming back. Right now there are six completed rooms in the house, four that are half finished (undercoated) and another four that are untouched.

Right now, for the first time in as long as anybody can remember, my house is no longer blue. Yep, just yesterday, after seven long weeks of scaffolding and drop sheets and sanding and dust, a lovely painter finished giving Betsy her long awaited new frock. Here is a sneak peek, with some mulberries from my garden.

Right now we are all enjoying the beautiful spring weather and spring blooms.

Right now I am enjoying popping back to a few op shops ( there has been a bit of a hiatus there too) and finding some colour.

I love this pin case as it reminds me of the one my mum used when I was a little girl ( I think hers was the same but pale blue)

Right now these two curbside finds are lining up to get painted. The big one is a boot rack for the laundry, the small is going to transform into a stove for the sandpit.

Right now my girl is super excited to have won the prep prize for most bling'd up scooter on walk or ride to school day. We obviously know how to do good bling in this house.

Right now the kitchen art wall looks like this.

Well, look at that, an entire post written and I am still awake.  I very much hope to share some befores and afters of the last year but for now I am just thankful to be back, even if it is just in the moment of right now.

Unpacking

We have been home for three weeks now and finally we have managed to unpack some of those boxes of treasure that have been in storage for the last six months. The house is still somewhat resembling a tip shop with excess furniture lolling around the place but since we hit my stash of vintage glasses and pyrex, I am a happy girl.

Amidst the unpacking, there have also been some more bouts of painting. We made a start on the entry foyer, but it all ground to a halt when we moved home at the exact same time that school holidays started ( this was most definitely not part of our plan).

Instead, we spent a bit more time outside and Legoman borrowed our builder's jackhammer and dug out the random 70's slab under our macadamia nut tree.

While it was a very handy spot for cracking nuts, it will be much nicer to have grass. He did have some helpers,

until they discovered my raking pile.

The concreters came back to finish the decorative pattern on the driveway, to match the existing slabs.

And after much negotiation about which room to tackle next, we made a start on the other smallest room in the house, my sewing room.

Roboboy was not happy as he wanted his room done next but as it is a massive room and needs lots of preparation, we knew it would not be a fast room to complete. Also we were keen to cover all that new mdf which releases fumes, especially if the house is shut all day. And lastly, I did not want to unpack into unfinished rooms, only to have to pack it all away again to paint.

What we didn't realise when we started this room, was that I was shortly going to have minor surgery on my lower leg, which was really going to put a spanner in the works for all our painting plans. However, given that I am the sort of girl who thrives under pressure, I can say that having the deadline of a week to get this room finished, forced us to buck up and get it done.

So while half the house is unpainted, several rooms are half done and the kitchen company has still not finished the kitchen, we do now have TWO completely finished rooms in the house. And one of them is all mine. As soon as I have unpacked my vintage sheet stash, I will be back to share.

Going home - Reno Day 130

Well, here we are, the final week in a five month renovation. And look, there they are, those shiny gloss floors that have caused so much drama. By some miracle, the magical product was found to remove all the silicone and the floors were fixed for a grand total of $200 and one extra day of work. Thank goodness it's all over and we can finally move home. I am loving the floors, especially how they reflect all the light and the trees, in my opinion all that reflection actually distracts from any grot on the floors rather than making it more visible.

While we had limited access to the house this week due to the floors, we didn't get anywhere near as much done as we had planned. However, we did manage to complete Liongirl's bedroom. Yep, even the skirts, arcs and windows by some miracle. The first and only finished room in the house.

Whenever the grot and dust and peeling paint and unfinished bits in the rest of the house were getting to  me, what a lovely little space to hang out in and swoon over all the perfect whiteness.

The only small problem is when you are using Vivid White (ie pure white with no tint) it takes a good six coats to get even coverage. Yep, three undercoats and three topcoats. Needless to say, when Liongirl turned around and said she wanted a pink room, I told her to get back to me in say about a year or two. I figure by the time she strews all her pink possessions around the room, that will be all the pink required. And I need to save my wrists for the rest of the house.

Since we were locked out while the floors dried, we wasted no time and got stuck into some exterior jobs. Legoman was in charge of oiling the deck,

And I made some sort of commitment to an exterior colour. Let me just say I'm still not entirely sure. The blasted thing changes colour depending whether it's in sun or shade and is completely confounding me. Time will tell if it stays or it gets tweaked.

And lastly, while there are many unfinished bits in the house (bathroom sink, doorknobs, lighting, kitchen drawers fronts, a whole lot of cruddy walls), there is one really significant bit of our kitchen that is still pending. A sneaky bit that I left out of my sketched plans. Let me give you clue with a little peek at the work in progress.

So, we are off to pack up all our goods, chattels and children and find our way back to the new, improved and incomplete Betsy. At this point it is probably wise to point out that this is not going to be one of those renovation blogs where there is a big reveal of a complete and perfect house. Nope, unfortunately not. But if you enjoy watching a house grow beautiful, room by room, with lots of love and white paint, then this is that kind of blog. Me, I'm looking forward to going back to a normal life, with more time for creative pursuits.

Best $204 purchase and some good news - Reno day 122

Firstly I wanted to say thankyou for  the comments, thoughts and suggestions that you all left regarding all that floor trouble. It certainly takes the sting out of a problem to have so many calm, wise and sensible friends around the world to share it with. The good news is that the floor polisher has been talking to his rep and may have a product that can successfully remove the silicone. This would mean only a light sand and re-coat rather than a full re-sand which would save days of time and expense. Fingers crossed.

So, here we are, 17 weeks into the renovation and finally a chance to slap some white paint around. The original plan had been to move home this week but since the floors put a kibosh on that, and we were both on leave from work, we had a spare week to make a start on the epic job of applying the white paint makeover to all Betsy's previous dodgy paint jobs. First stop Liongirl's room, a previous unseemly shade of brownish cream.

Now, while slapping white paint around is definitely my idea of a great week, the standout moment  would have to be Legoman running off to Masters and coming home with this portable scaffold. After spending years painting ten foot ceilings in our last house, my god, what blessed relief to be up on this magnificent structure rather than a wobbly ladder. Can I state that this would have to be the best $200 the man has ever spent. Bunnings had nothing similar in this price range and it is light, sturdy, rolls around on castors and is height adjustible. We have put some mdf panels underneath to protect the floors (this is one of the rooms in the house where the floors did not need to be repolished).

And the other $4 of shopping joy would be this awesome item. A paint bucket/jug thingy with a handle, and a magnet to grip  the paintbrush. It even comes with thick reusable plastic liners so you can change colours and have a few different pots going at once.  I just about fainted with excitement over this one too. So far untippable off the top of ladders and that is saying something where I am concerned. Given that we have an entire house to paint, these sorts of things get a girl excited.

When I say that "we" are painting the house, what I actually mean is that I am painting and Legoman is gapfilling and performing general destructive duties. This would be evidence of him unsupervised for about five hours in Roboboy's room. It started out as just a teeny tiny area of flaking paint. The man borders on ocd with fun tasks like this. I cannot even bear to show you the ceilings in this room, it is going to be a big job.

Luckily, while I slog it around the room a few times, he is also happy to trot down to the bakery for treats, pour me more paint and crank the music. Bliss. Now I just need to remind him that he will be painting the ceilings in the rest of the house.  Can I add that the view from the work zone is mighty nice as well.

Anyway, hopefully only a week to go and we will be home. In the meantime some serious painting action will be going on and hopefully some finished rooms. Yippee! And just in case anyone was wondering, this is NOT a sponsored post, I just get very excited about sharing products that make massive painting tasks slightly less daunting. 

Floors galore and dropping the ball - Reno day 87

Last week was floor week. The builders left and Betsy, for the first time in months, had a little peace and quiet. Well, after the initial noisy sanding process that removed her old floor polish and revealed the true colours of her hoop pine floors.

The old polish was very worn and scratched in many parts of the house and had never felt clean underfoot, despite vigorous moppings. The new hardwood in the Legoroom appears to be an almost perfect match as the true colour is revealed.

Then came the laborious task of hand filling every single one of those holes. The house was very, very quiet for a few days while this happened.

 When I asked the floor polisher if he found it lonely working by himself he replied that no, it was really quite awesome as he could just pop in his earphones and not have to listen to anyone whinging and moaning. 

The fumes however, you never get used to. 

Meanwhile, we took advantage of the peace, quiet and incomplete floors to get some painting done. Have I mentioned that there is a LOT of painting to be done? As the kitchen and laundry cabinetry is arriving soon, we were keen to get the walls in these areas at least undercoated before they went in.

We were lucky to have my mum babysit at night so we could paint after work. Thanks, Nonna! There is nothing like a deadline to motivate the old brush.

 And it was really nice to see Betsy go from this,

 To this, within a week. She's almost looking like a house and not a demolition yard.

And what a treat to be able to sneak up and check out the wintery morning sun falling all over the lounge room floor. We made the ambitious decision to remove the large ugly hood over the lounge room windows to let in more light. By summer, with the sun higher in the sky, we will get all the light without all the direct sun, but in winter there is nothing better than a sunny patch and a cup of tea.

At this stage there is no lounge room furniture in the budget so we may just be rolling around on some vintage blankets. At least the new polished floors will be lovely and smooth. This is a semi gloss finish.

Apparently this is the finish that everyone is getting. We were talked out of going full gloss by both the builder and the floor polisher. Actually, I was busy dealing with real life issues unrelated to the reno and was unavailable to hash out that debate so I gave in.  And unfortunately I am not loving the semi gloss. So, now we will have to pay extra for a final high gloss coat. The motto of this is, even if you are near the end, you cannot stop to drop the ball.

However, the silver lining is that we now can paint to our hearts content, and let electricians and plumbers stomp all over the floors and we don't have to be precious with them. The final sand and last glossy coat will go on at the very end. See, I'm almost chirpy about it all as we are coming down the home stretch.

A spot of colour

Well, thank goodness those school holidays have finally arrived. The end of term had left me with a tired,cranky six year old, a  witchy three year old and me, well, I have been alternating between tetchy and snippy with a good deal of meh on the side. This little pile of goodies did slightly improve my mood, pyrex with sunshine yellow spots is just perfection in my mind. And the kids are swooning over those parfait cups with matching dangling spoons. They are now locked in battle over whether to go back to the oppie and get the green one that was missing the spoon, Liongirl is against, Roboboy just wants the full set, spoon optional.
He almost can't sleep at night knowing there is another little dish out there somewhere.

So while I was floundering around feeling tired and cranky, I was trying to think of a pick me up, something to get my mojo back. And then I remembered that a little white wall painting usually helped my mood enormously, and there was certainly still quite a bit of custard to be dealt with. Especially the wall that mocks me while I sit in my white lounge room.

Did I mention that I was tired and cranky? The only downside of painting in this state of mind is that you are highly likely to step into your sugar soap bucket as you come down a ladder to get more paint. As I am prone to leaving full buckets of paint on top of ladders, I just figure it could always have been much worse.

I tend to paint in small sections and do all four coats to completion before I move onto the next area. This allows me to work at night while the kids are asleep and not create too much havoc in the house. Can I just say that while I am sitting on my lounge that wall is no longer mocking me, but it was too dark to take any decent photos. It did however not prevent me from moving everything back and creating a wonderful new spot for our Little Golden book collection.

Not sure when I will be back as we are off on a few little holiday adventures, but I can confirm there will be white wall pics, some gorgeous scenery, flowers galore and hopefully some country op shopping.

Sprucing for spring and a pigeon pair

It's fitting that it's pretty much two years to the day that we moved into Betsy and finally I have some completed white wall pictures. Painting vj's can only be done with a brush and is slow, tedious, time consuming work. This was all done by me during toddler naps and late nights after the kids are in bed. (Legoman does not paint, he is way too messy both on and off the walls).

I finished a few months ago but with all the rain and sick children it just was too hard to find time to photograph it all. Not to mention the epic tidy up required to produce shots like this. When the sun was out today I decided to counter my post illness winter slump with a good spruce up.

Just look at all the white. Remember when it looked more like this?

So much better now it's all white. Pity all my hard work on this back wall will be demolished in a few months. Not going to miss the yucky barred windows though.

I will miss having  a wall space perfect for all the kids art. This wall will be going to make room for a much bigger kitchen and it will be good riddance to that nasty faux tasmanian oak laminate pantry poking out into my dining room. See how it is covered in art as an attempt at camouflage.

And the pigeon pair?  Well look what I found at the demolition yard. Initially I only bought the green one, but then I had the guilts over separating them. When I went back today to get the blue one, the lovely man gave it to me for free.

The green one is for my sewing table, not sure where the blue one is going yet. Just having fun moving my furniture around. I might paint them one day, but right now I like them just as they are.

I love seeing this change in Betsy, she is becoming more and more our home, and much more to my taste than the custard delight we moved into two years ago. I'm getting more excited about our having a new kitchen and there is definitely a whiff of spring in the air today.