Work in Progress

Miraculously, I was able to find my camera download cord so I can share some pics of our progress! Our house is 3/4 packed into the garage and kids rooms - chaos!

99% of the floors have been ripped up to sub floor level, with only one patch of remaining ugly lino to go! Not too many sub floor surprise issues so far, thank goodness! Our bamboo installers are arriving next Wednesday and Thursday, so we're making fine progress.

On Monday, in the middle of everything, I had my wisdom teeth removed which has slowed me down . . . . a lot. Not sure what I think about it, but I'm getting my strength back day by day and I'm hoping to chip in again soon (pardon the pun).

So here's some pics with descriptions of the action!

Lower set of stairs minus carpet and devoid of the 5 000 staples I had to pull out!

 

I decided that stripping the paint from the balustrade and stair surrounds would give the best finish. These will be painted white, as will the stair risers (with bamboo tread). You can just see the very (un)attractive vinyl flooring which we found under the carpet. This is the entry way - imagine walking in the front door to THAT! ERGH!

We had to sprinkle baby powder as we removed the vinyl as the sub floor is very tacky from the old adhesive. Smells gross . . . but it works!

And just when we thought the ugly vinyl was gone, we found this under the carpet in our new bedroom. 

What was this . . . 

  

Is now this . . . (we're aiming for the shabby student pad look!)

My study that isn't a study, we even had to shift the Sylvanian Family homestead! Ergh, that vinyl!  

 

The playroom. The only concrete floor in the house and I have my fingers crossed that it's level. We found some funny scrawling from the original owners and messages from the builders, so we decided to write some of our own.

 

 I'm so glad 'Trever' cleaned up his pile of dust 24 years ago!

 

And lucky last, this is part of our upstairs 3-way bathroom. It's being renovated as we wanted the new flooring to go under a new wall hung vanity. I couldn't get a 'before' shot because hubby and our neighbour (the plumber) ripped it out before I could find my camera. To give you a visual, it was a custom built 1980's vanity with gold trimmed white taps and matching white and gold handles. Very retro. Very GONE! 

 

Onwards and upwards until next week when I'm really looking forward to sharing some pics of the new flooring! :-)

 

It's all about the bamboo!

I've been quiet for some time now, for two reasons. Firstly, we've had a break in our renovations (mainly due to exhaustion of body and budget!) and secondly, I started a new position at a new school this year which has left spare time for . . . well, nothing!

School holidays have finally arrived and that means that we are embarking on the second stage of our renovations - flooring.

A few months back, we were fortunate enough to win a competition where we won $3000 worth of flooring from Choices! A most welcome boost to our renovation budget, this meant that we were able to go ahead with our flooring plans at least 6 months ahead of schedule. The $3000 took care of the deposit and that money was redirected to other projects!

We have decided on Embelton Natural Bamboo after considering a range of hardwood flooring. We really need light and bright in our house, so we finally settled on the natural colour. I chose Embelton Bamboo because it has a more consistent finish than other brands of bamboo flooring, which I dislike due to their streaky, watercolour type finish.

We also chose Embelton bamboo because it;

• is a 100% Australian owned company who has provided us with outstanding customer service
• is sustainable
• has a Janka rating of 16 (highly attractive feature with 3 kids plus neighbours kids trampling through our house!!)

Today I started pulling up the carpet . . . and I have the blisters to prove it!

I started with the stairs and I was greeted by at least 300 staples stuck fast into the wood. Armed with a hammer, screwdriver and pliers, I got to work removing them. What a chore!

Before . . . . 

During . . . . (I think those marks are the builders boot scuffs from the original build!)

Then I pulled up the carpet in our entryway and HELOOOOOO 1989!! Noice, different, unuuuuusual!

This is what I am aiming for it to look like AFTER! I know, not bamboo, but you get the picture! Bullnose tread, white painted riser.

My next challenge is the rest of the rooms and removing all of the skirting boards. I've done a 50cm section and it nearly killed me. Off to trawl You Tube and Google to find an easier way!

Stay posted - plenty more to come! :-)