Almost time to meet you little one!

Wow time flys when you are having fun! I can literally count on my hands now how many days until we meet our baby boy. That is unless he decides that we would like to meet us earlier and come out on his own terms, otherwise it will be a caesarian on Thursday 4th June 2015. Coincidently this is the exact same day that my sister from another mister (my bestie Jodi) had her baby girl last year too! We must of conceived on the same day and everything despite us having IVF! 

So our two little bundles of joy will be exactly 1 year apart & I couldn't be happier. Also adding to this years baby news, 4 of my friends are expecting from between September & December of this year so my boy will have plenty of play friends (& importantly I will have lots of mummy friends to have coffee catch ups with!!). 

Anyway right now we are just playing the waiting game. I've been on maternity leave for just over a week and am just starting to relax. I've finished the nursery and have got my creative hat on making some cool wall hooks and burp cloths. 

 

Here's a peek at what's been happening. 

I'm really happy with this little corner of the Nursery, although I love the whole room to pieces! Just need hubby to hang my super bunny print which I won from minimi store and we're all set! I went a bit print crazy in this room... I have prints from My Little Lovebird, Alma Custom Designs, Buggyboo & Minimi Store! I also purchased some hanging stars from Essi & Co which I'm hoping get delivered this week. I got the wall stickers from The Wall Sticker Company, shadow boxes from Target, shelves, cube & curtains from Ikea, the lamp shade, Mr Wolf pillow and a few other bits and pieces from KMart, my favourite most amazing chair is from House & Garden... An expensive purchase but one I will never regret! 

This is my favourite spot in the nursery to just sit and ponder my thoughts. Soon I will be feeding in here!! 

This is the WIR that hubby built for me. He turned our old pantry into this amazing space! What's better is that it fits everything (so far) including the pram! 

Me at 37 weeks with hubby. I didn't want a pregnancy photo shoot because my belly is covered in stretch marks. So we took this one only and I must say that it's pretty amazing! 

These are the cool wall hooks I'm making for the nursery & for some friends. Just need to paint eyes on the bunnies and get hubby to drill the back together and we are done! I chose black, white, gold & grey. They look great! 

Finally these are the burp cloths that I'm making.. If you know me then you know that I don't sew.. In fact I got my sewing machine for my 30th bday last year and it's still in its box! But my intentions were always to learn, and this week I shall!!

Progress update, March 2015

Well it's certainly been a while since I've blogged and let me tell you things have changed! The reno is 90% complete with just a few jobs needing to be fixed by the builder, the paving needs to be done & the nursery also needs some fixing up.

Yes, you heard me right I said nursery! I'm proud to announce that I am 6&1/2 months pregnant and expecting a boy in June 13th 2015. My husband Adam is very happy. 

So needless to say the list of things to do continues but this time with a very tight budget! Here are some pics. 

This is the demo happening in the nursery. Making way for a WIR. 

Progress update

Hooray things have started to take shape this week with plenty of tradies on site... Some for good and some for not so good reasons unfortunately! 

The good: we have roof frames and they are absolutely humungous! They have even started to extend the frame out to where our old pergola sat and you can just feel how magnificent the space is going to be when it's done. So grand! 

For the bad: an accidental spill of concrete down our laundry pipes has resulted in our cabinetry being ripped up and floor jackhammered to get to the source! What a disaster! We have a hose running onto the lawn just so we can use the washing machine and our builder is left wondering which of the tradies is going to foot the bill. Whoops! 

Here's some pics and I will throw one in of the cladding that's being used to finish it off. Amazing! Can't wait. 

Yes we are using black cladding with raw cedar bifolds and a feature stone wall just like in this picture. Stunning! 💚

Progress update and mood boarding!

We have more progress! Actually, we have a mess that's what we have... Mess everywhere ha ha! It's been a busy couple of weeks at our place with our god sons visiting from Melbourne, our huge gum tree being removed from the backyard, demolition being completed, and the rebuild beginning. 

The weather wasn't in our favor for the first week of demolition and our site turned into a mud pit. Our poor contractors were out there in the slush and rain jackhammering up concrete, digging trenches and putting together frames. Then we had the team from Mr Stumpy turn up to cut down a giant dead gumtree from the back corner of our block. Lucky they were strapped into their harnesses because the wind was ripping through them up there. 

So next stage is framing and trusses and while we wait for that we are putting together some mood boards for the kitchen and ensuite to help with selections. Our theme is contemporary with natural elements. I've taken some inspiration from becmarksthespot blog and custom homes Instagram pics. 

This is what we have come up with... 

White Stone benchtops, 

Natural timber feature doors paired with white cabinets and black back panels

Dark timber floors. 

Layout similar to this with the sink under the bifold windows to the right. I like how the cabinetry elongates both length and height. The bulk head really finishes this space and of course I get my three seater breakfast bar! Let's hope it's possible. 

I'd like to do a green wall filled with herbs and I've seen some really cool indoor hanging displays that I would love to incorporate. If you have seen some at reasonable prices let me know where I can get my hands on them!

xx

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. 

Recap on Stage 1

Well our Rumpus room and new laundry are complete! What a transformation! Thanks to Residence Building Group. 

Exterior of Rumpus room before the renovation

Interior of rumpus room before the renovation 

During the renovation, stripped back to bare bones

External of completed rumpus room

Completed external

Completed internal

Completed internal

Stage 2

So it's been a while since I last checked in and things have been moving along nicely in the world. Our home has had the pleasure of many tradies, with lots more to come in upcoming weeks with the commencement of Stage 2 of our transformation. It's had it's ups and downs but we are finally on the move to start getting stuck in with the sledge hammer in the old laundry and spare bedroom. There's not too much demo work we can do here since it's pretty much a shell anyway but we are still looking forward to it! We are trying to achieve a relocation of our kitchen and create an open plan lounge & dining area.  Here's the space we are ready to demo which will have a new roof and transform into the open plan lounge room. 

Goodbye pink loo! I will not miss you. 

This is the laundry that has already been replaced in our new rumpus room. 

Small changes

It seems like we have been working so hard and keeping ourselves busy with a list full of things to do to our home, yet only small changes are noticeable. Time has flown by and the most recent stint on school holidays has come and gone. My hubby and I have been busy in the gardens, both front and back, stripping them both down to nothing. The front has been replanted but will take a few years to properly establish... Like they say everything takes time and I am one impatient lady! Ha. Never the less we have made it through most of the hard work and we are almost ready to sit back and watch it all grow. Here are some latest snaps of the happenings at Miller Street! 

Big thanks to my brother for doing this great paving job for us out the front. Of course it wouldn't have happened without the relentless hard work and help from my hubby either so big kisses to him too. #ryanrebbeckpavingandfencing. 

Looking forward to finishing things off before we get started on the internal works. Excited it's all coming together! 

Settled in!

Well it's been a few weeks now since we have been in the new place. We have painted and painted, cleaned and cleaned, and tried very hard to make this house our home. Finally after many long nights and weekends we have done it. The house is looking good and starting to feel like we belong.

So stage 1 of our interior re-design is now complete and we are just waiting on the plans for stage 2 from our builder and architect. Once again, here are a few pics to show you how far we have come.

This is our entrance way coming in from front verandah. We threw out the old fabric chandelier, took down all the picture hooks and coat racks and added fresh paint & a new light fitting.. thanks Bunnings!

Before we moved in this hallway was 'clutter city'. It had furniture everywhere, an old run down linen press on the right and was just really shabby looking. It has some good features though like the width.. my friends say they are hallways for ladies with prams! This one connects the original house to the extension and through the arch is the open lounge room and access to the yard and rumpus room. Our bedroom is on the left and bathroom is on the right. The archway will be knocked out in 'phase 2' and the glass doors and windows will be moved further to the right to allow for the kitchen to be moved down here. I am not a real fan of being able to see straight through to the back yard from the front door which is the current situation. If you look closely enough you would be able to see our 'weed city' out there which is not so much of a nice view; and plus its bad feng-shui. It's the old saying "money comes in, money goes out"; but this will all be fixed with the re-modelling design. It works for now.

the 'backroom'. If you have seen the previous pictures of this room you would remember it used to have brownish cornices and cream walls. Our furniture is nice and 'cosy' back here... it only just fits in! Dining table on the right overlooks the back yard for now, it's not until we finish the shuffling of rooms and knocking down of some walls until we will have a proper open space for this. Our beautiful kitchen is being picked up and moved out here and we are closing off the sliding door to the carport. I took this photo standing in a spare bedroom which will also be opened up by knocking down the dividing wall and then this entire space will be big enough for kitchen and open plan lounge and dining. We don't want to do too much out here just now because it will all be knocked out soon... bring it on the demolition!

The start of something big

Okay so if you have read my last couple of blogs you would know that we have bought a 1920's bungalow which we have now officially moved into. The house is in okay condition, it has a brand new kitchen and bathroom which we absolutely love; some of the ceilings and door frames have been replaced but it really needs some TLC. There are mismatched floors everywhere, skirtings and power point sockets that are not even fixed to the wall, a really shabby laundry and second toilet that looks like a timber sauna, doors that don't close, doors that don't open, weeds galore out the front and back and not to mention the DIY timber decking around the pool that is just a tad dangerous... the list goes on.

So before we moved in, we set ourselves a goal to finish four main rooms, which meant painting, painting and more painting. We chose the entrance-way, master bedroom, guest bedroom (because Ian & Jany have come to visit from Bendigo) and the front Lounge room.

I must say, it has turned out pretty well and was worth the countless days and hours of painting which, is all mainly thanks to Ads who has been on school holidays which worked out brilliantly. We got through most of it, with only a second coat remaining in the hallway and bedrooms and of course the floor coverings which we will do last.

Here are some before and after pictures of how it all started:

 BEFORE:

We started with two layers of undercoat on everything... walls, skirtings, door frames, window frames, you name it, we painted it!

Then we chose our colour... we ended up going with the one in the middle which is called Navigate by Taubmans. Believe it or not but there is actually a colour on the left which you can barely see (5 colours to choose from in total).

 

 

AFTER

This is the guest bedroom (right) that was before painted purple. We painted the picture rail, cornices and skirtings in white and the walls in a light grey (soft apparition). We hung new curtains in charcoal, added our own furnishings and presto...

On the left is the lounge room. New paint, curtains and our furniture have really modernised this room. Still need new light fittings and floors.

I will post some more pictures of the other two rooms once they are ready.

Our very first home... SOLD!

Well today we can officially say that our home has been sold! Although it has been under contract for a few weeks now, as a purchaser there is always a sneaky 'get out of jail free' card that you can play to get out of settlement... that is until the finance is approved and signed. Fortunately for us our purchasers didn't do the bail out, and we can now stop stressing about having to pay two mortgages.

So the 'sold' sticker was happily rolled out on our for sale sign yeterday afternoon. Great news!
Bit sad to see this home go though.