It's really happening

One thing that's shocked me this week is the realization that we are actually doing this renovation. It's all good to plan it but it's quite confronting and even a little bit scary when it actually happens for real. Knocking down our house means there's no turning back and whilst I know I should be excited, I guess it's just a bit scary to think "are we doing the right thing?" "Can we afford this", "was this the right decision?" .. Because let's face it, there is certainly no turning back now! 

Half our house has been demolished! Here's a few little pics of the progress this week. 

It's all in the plan

If you are as much of a fan as I am of reality TV shows like house rules & the block, you would know that the key elements of success are: planning & design. I am beginning to know how the contestants felt at the beginning of each new challenge having to plan every single detail from positions of power points to the layout & style of furniture. 

I guess it wasn't so difficult for us in our last home as the layout was pretty simple.. There was only one wall for the TV to go on, so that's where the TV went. But what do you do when you have multiple walls to choose from, and expensive custom built furniture that is no longer custom built for your new home? How do you decide what type of dining room table and chairs you want and whether it will look best this way or that way.. When all I have to work with is a concrete slab! 

The debate will be whether we get it right or have a massive design fail. Hang on, I mean it's not like we have two famously experienced judges coming around to critique us but, doesn't everyone want one of those houses that looks like it's straight out of a mag? Home Beautiful me up, I'm a fan of that mag too and the app is really good if you haven't downloaded it yet, do it. 

So anyway we did have a win by mapping out our kitchen last night with a bunch of chalk; and managed to work it out so that we utilize 80% of the cabinets that we already have. It seems a waste to just buy a new one when the one we have is only 18 months old, and I love it! There's nothing better than a good deep kitchen drawer! Anyway, let's see what the cabinet maker thinks of our ideas before we get too excited. 

Time to get the creative cap on for the rest of this house! 

Demolition Week

So it's school holidays time and what better way for my hubby to spend it than by starting our demo. We got a list from our builder of what to do and where to start, and my husband has been "GO" ever since! He has ripped up the floors, knocked out the laundry & bedroom walls and even taken down the 60sqm pergola! 

A big thanks to my brother and step dad for coming and helping with all the manual labour, I wouldn't have been any use with my bad back and so we couldn't have done it without them. 

Also if you are doing a renovation yourself I highly recommend doing the demo yourself. Not only can you save in labour costs but you can make some money back by selling off whatever you remove (if you do it properly). We have sold our gas heater, old cupboards, floor coverings, windows, doors and we even have some beautiful cornices and skirtings that can be recycled. Any money you can get in your pocket is better than it going in the skip! We used gumtree to list our stuff and so far we've sold 90% of it. 

My handy hubby also put up a barricade and a door to block off the work zone from the functional space in the house. He may not have a trade but he most definitely is a tradie at heart! 

Here's some pics of all his hard work: 

Blocked off from the hallway but still gives us access when we need it. 

Interior walls stripped back to frames. Ceiling to come down next. 

Back of the house after the pergola came down. You can see the frames through the windows where the renovation will happen.