A work in progress

I must say that all I am capable of tonight is posting some update pics!

Be gone ugly brick wall!

The government insulation debacle worked well for us - $20 a bag for pink batts! Thankyou very much!

Hooray! We have window sills!

Let's not talk about the mess, I'm trying my best to ignore it. It's all going beautifully thanks to my very handy brother. It should only take one more day to finish and the paint rollers will be out! Hoorah!

Doors and the Funky Coffee House

Today I suddenly realised that we are past halfway in our first little renovation adventure! Electrician is done and dusted (post about that adventure coming soon), framework is up and unwanted household items have been listed and sold on Gumtree and eBay. Well worth the effort, as the extra $$ go straight towards the reno.

This morning we ordered the Gyprock ready for the room to be lined at the end of this week. Great way to empty the budget! Hubby ordered from one place and came home to tell me the price and I shrieked! He patiently went back to the other place and ended up paying about $100 less, but it was still over my estimate. Frustration here was that the suppliers weren't willing to talk price and wouldn't budge on delivery, which ranged between $70-$90! Had to swallow the frustration on this one as we don't have the means to transport it ourselves and the suppliers up here are limited. Our local Bunnings only stock two of the sizes we need, which was even more frustrating as the price per sheet is quite a few dollars cheaper. Regardless, their trailers certainly couldn't accommodate the 5.4m pieces! I don't like not getting my way!

My next job was to source two doors to fit in our lovely sliding cavity wall! I stumbled across a fantastic website of a business up here, Doors Sincerely. I was really impressed with the website and reviews given, so I decided to go for a drive over there today. I was met by the very helpful Rob, who was just amazing. He guided me through which doors I could choose from and I bit the bullet and decided on the Hume Sorrento 11. Rob offered a great price, great door furniture, he's bringing the doors himself when they come in and he's also going to service one of our glass sliding doors that has seen better sliding days. I just might get him to have a squiz at quoting our entry door as well . . . . . ;-)

Apart from finally ordering the doors was the fact that Doors Sincerely is right across the carpark from the most AMAZING coffee house on the Central Coast. If you're ever anywhere near Kincumber, you simply have to visit Loo Loo's Coffee Warehouse. It's an amazing experience, enhanced by the fact that they serve my favourite Asukar Patisserie Macarons! YUM!. 

Rev up the Renos

 

It was at exactly this time 2 years ago that I had the brilliant idea to totally uproot my family and move north. We had started married life up here some 12 years before my latest epiphany, so we did know what we were moving back to. It was a no brainer for us. 

In the September school holidays, we booked ourselves into a beautiful bed and breakfast for the weekend, the first time we'd been away without the kids . . . ever. It was only 11 years, no biggie. 

I'm not sure if any of our friends and family thought we were serious. After all, we were only coming up to stay and do some 'homework'. Check out some different areas, attend a few open houses and sit on the decision. Problem was, at 2pm one beautiful Saturday afternoon, I walked into our house, fell in love with it in 10 seconds flat and decided then and there that I simply MUST have it. I loved it so much I couldn't breathe. I saw stars. The fact we didn't have ANY finance sorted didn't register. I had to have it!

On December 6th, 2010, we settled. It was our 13th wedding anniversary. After 13 years of renting, we finally had our own home. It was quite a harrowing process, but we did it!

I'm not sure who was more shocked, us or our friends and family. You'd think they knew that when I make up my mind about something, I do everything in my power to achieve it. I am an Aries after all. 

So our house didn't tick ALL my boxes, but there was something special about it that money can't buy. I think you know when a home is right for you and it's not about the benchtops or cupboard space. It's a feeling. I did know that the unticked boxes could be changed to suit us and so the journey began. After 13 years of renting, my mind is literally bursting with renovation and home decorating ideas. If only my wallet was bursting with cash . . . . . :-)

The picture at the top of this post was from the real estate listing when our house was on the market. It's a 3 bedroom house which we initially discounted as we needed 4 bedrooms. That was until we saw the 'rumpus room'. The massive untouched rumpus room. The guy who originally built the house in the late 80's used the room for his model train room and the lady we bought it off used it as her craft room (weird parallels with my own family!) We saw potential in the name of a 4th bedroom and playroom or a future parent retreat. 

Over 18 months of settling in and gathering finances, the renovation of this room started this week. It was a really 'raw' room. Not sure why they didn't finish the room during building, but I was truly sick to death of the UGLY sites! Excited doesn't describe how I feel!

 

My original plans were to create the dividing wall halfway with a single entry door. Yesterday afternoon, I had a stroke of brilliance. The exposed piping forced us to make the 'bedroom' larger and suddenly I had the thought that a single door would look ridiculous. As a result, cavity wall frames were installed and there will now be double bi-parting sliding doors. My brother (who'll we'll call Jack, as in Jack of all Trades) was very patient (read 'obedient') and nodded and said OK. Hooray! Best decision yet!

 

The cavity wall frames were purchased ready made from Bunnings for $113. A slight increase to the budget, but totally worth it. Here's some before and during shots.

I think the beauty of these doors will be that they can be open to allow the beautiful sunlight we get through the room of an afternoon. The external wall with windows faces west and the sun is gorgeous. Needless to say, the wall itself will be insulated to protect from the heat in summer.

Our house is really starting to feel like OUR house! I'm now in the process of trying to convince Ms 13 to move out of the new space so we can move in. She's not impressed. I'll work on her during the holidays. Might even butter her up with a trip to IKEA.

The next stage is for our fabulous electrician to come and remove the hideous fluro lights and old rickety fan, install two new ceiling fan lights and a new powerpoint at the south end of the room. Then we'll lure Jack of all Trades back to start gyprocking! Might have to put on a BBQ for the workers. With cake.

Considering Chooks

Yesterday I was able to attend a free 'Keeping Backyard Chooks' workshop run by Gosford Council. What a great workshop! It was lead by a very keen chook enthusiast who referred to the chickens as 'her girls' throughout the workshop, which I thought was just gorgeous! She did talk about roosters, but I don't want to share what she said to do with them :-/

Here's one of her babies that I got to have a cuddle of. I think she's an Isa Brown, about 3-4 weeks old. Luckily she did a big poop on the lady I handed her to and not me!

We are trying our best to practice sustainable living in our little pocket of the world, I really feel like it is our responsibility to do so. Sometimes it does seem like a lot of work and we've got a long way to go before I am happy with the systems in our household, but we have to start somewhere! Next weekend, I'm off to a worm farm and compost workshop also run by the council. The chooks fit in nicely with the big picture.

One thing I am sure of is that my 'girls' have to be free range. There is no debating it. This comes with a few complications for us, which I was able to discuss with the chicken lady yesterday. She reassured me that my worries were somewhat unfounded!

PROBLEM: We have a low fence leading onto bushland. Worried about chickens going bush. 
SOLUTION: Chickens are creatures of habit, they'll always (?) come back to roost. They won't wander too far into the bushland. One wing can be clipped so that their flying range is reduced.We may have to fetch them out of a tree to begin with, but they should be fine.

PROBLEM: We have bush turkeys that wander in our yard. 
SOLUTION: Shoo the bush turkeys every time you see them and they'll eventually go elsewhere. Bush turkeys will try to mate with the hens, so keep an eye out. 

PROBLEM: We have two cats.
SOLUTION: Cats + hens = cat wishes it could. Be more concerned about dogs and foxes.

PROBLEM: We have snakes
SOLUTION: Chickens are carnivorous. They will gang up on smaller snakes and peck them to death. Snakes are not after the eggs, they are after the rats and mice that the leftover feed attracts. Make sure you don't overfeed chooks and it shouldn't be a problem. Cats will deal with rats and mice before snake does.

PROBLEM: We live in a paralysis tick area. 
SOLUTION: Chooks don't mind a bath! Then mist their feathers with a spray bottle (water mixed with grapeseed oil) and the ticks won't be able to get a grip. All of the other parasites can be dealt with by placing a clove of crushed garlic into the chooks water. 

After the workshop, I felt reassured and realised that I have very little to worry about. I'm always one to over research my choices when it comes to keeping animals as part of my family as it's a pet peeve of mine when people impulse buy and neglect the needs of their pets. 

Following a few more hours of research on the Internet and a visit to Bunnings today, we have decided on a lovely chook shed for our girls to roost in at night. For a bit under $300, it is spacious, sturdy and comes with a nesting shelf. It'll be near the back of the yard under some shady trees, so the girls should be pretty happy with it!

My next research task will be deciding what breed of chook to buy, which will be largely determined by what is available locally. The kids would love some Chinese Silkies so they can colour them pink and purple (thanks Krissy & Fay), but I think we'll need to go for a hybrid or sturdy old Isa Browns. Really looking forward to searching for and collecting our first eggs! 

Spring Garden

One of the main reasons we bought our house was the beautiful garden. Our place is set on just under 1000m2, which means that the garden is HUGE. I didn't really notice the hugeness of the garden when my brain decided to fall in love with it, it just took my breath away. I remember standing in the backyard with the real estate agent, the bellbirds twittering around us, kookaburras laughing (at me) and thinking to myself "I have to have this house". I won.

Soon after we moved in, I ventured out into the garden and started to assess what we needed to do with it to make it our own. I'm fortunate to come from a family of keen gardeners and my knowledge of gardening is pretty good as a result. These plans and ideas will form many of my blog posts because what I did is basically strip the backyard down to dirt and start again. It had been overplanted and badly maintained for many years as it was rented in the years before we bought it. I know this broke the heart of the owner, as she was a keen gardener and clearly loved the space.

Over the past weekend I ventured out into the spring sunshine with my camera to capture the emerging spring garden. I must say, spring makes me fall in love with my garden all over again. Even though it is in the 'In Progress' stage, there are still so many beautiful things to stop and admire.

It will keep me busy for the rest of my adult life, but I'm OK with that. It's a beautiful oasis. 

Spring Garden - picture slideshow

Welcome!

Yes, I'm at it AGAIN! Can't help myself! Blogging is such a fabulous outlet and a great place to share my passion about what I do, so here we are. Close to two years after purchasing our very first home (following 13 years of renting), we are finally making some real changes to our beautiful home. I hope you enjoy following our journey and wish that you may leave feeling just a little inspired. Don't forget to visit us often!