Monday 21 May 2012

Our First Weekend at the Beach Shack

Over the weekend Roge and I spent our first 30 hours at the new beach shack....renovating!

I'm not sure how much you are going to see of our hard work from these photos but I can tell you that we flogged ourselves. I painted 3 rooms (walls, windows and architraves) and Roge ripped up carpet in the lounge and 1st bedroom and started sanding and puttying the floorboards ready for polishing.

Before shot of the lounge looking towards the 1st bedroom door.
Before shot of lounge, looking back at the amazing north facing windows which for some reason, are covered in lace!
Before shot of lounge again, looking towards the downstairs kitchen/dining area.
Carpet pulled up and curtains taken down. Looks a million times better already
Another shot of the floors with the carpet pulled up.
Phew, floors sanded. Now for putty and last sand before polish.
We asked "Granny" (my mum) to look after Ewan on Saturday night so we could concentrate on doing all the messy jobs before we took him up there.

I very naievly thought we'd have all the main areas painted and the two rooms sanded and polished by the end of the weekend. Wake up call....we got only half that done!

I sent Roge back up there today to finish the sanding but the power was out for the first two hours (much to his annoyance!) Tomorrow, he'll stay with Ewan so I can go and finish the floor polishing and some painting. That way we can all go up there together in future because messy renovating is not a good place for little people.

So there you go, a little peek at what we've been up to and I'll try to take some better pics for you next time. Hopefully there will be a completed room...fingers crossed!

8 comments:

  1. Just look at the difference already. With all that light streaming in, this is going to be a stunning room, Alex. You and Roge are ace at spotting a diamond amongst the coal. Looking forward to updates as you progress.

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    1. Ahhh thanks Sheryl. We do like a do-r-uppa but II've had some moments where I've thought "what the hell, we're doing it again!??" I think we're crazy or maybe renovating it like childbirth, you forget the pain until you're doing it again! It will all be worth it in the end though and that's not too far away, this one is going to be one of our easiest renos.

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  2. God it looks so much better already without that ghastly carpet! Isn't hard work satisfying? ;)

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    1. That carpet is the WORST! I've just pulled up 3 more rooms worth today and I'm not sad to see it go. Even with the bare concrete floors underneath, it looks better! I've ordered some seagrass matting for the rooms. It's something I remember from when I was a child and it's not very fashionable any more but it's cheep and will go well with the "beach shack" theme.

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    2. I'm just glad - and yet surprised - that you had some good wood floorboards underneath! What do you think you'll do with the kitchen's concrete slab, leave it or tile it in something? (Also so glad you took down the shoddy "railings" around the stairwell!)

      It's funny you mention seagrass matting - we used to have it when we were little kids, I was reminiscing with Mum about it recently and she said how she loathed it, gave her hayfever all the time! But it will definitely add to the beach vibe!

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    3. Haha, I remember that your mum and Tara had issues with hay fever so yes I can understand it wouldn't suit them to have seagrass in their house. I've laid two rooms with it so far and it looks really awesome but yes you're right, it's only suitable for a beach shack. I mainly got it just because it's cheep.

      The concrete floors in the kitchen are going to have a "floating timber floor" laid over it. The stuff I have my eye on is pretty expensive but it's such a small room, I think I can justify it. The rest of the house's flooring was relatively cheep so one bit of expense isn't too bad!

      Those shoddy railings we have replaced. I've put taller ones up and have threaded sisal rope through them which also has a bit of a beach vibe. I'll put up a pic when it's finished to see if you approve! Unfortunately we couldn't leave it with nothing there are Ewan would have certainly tumbled over the edge. He has not sense of danger at all!

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  3. You guys have done an amazing job already.
    Im so excited to see the tranformation as you continue :)
    Great work!

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  4. Thanks Dahra, I'm pretty pleased with how it's going. I wish it would all happen quicker though! I shouldn't complain, there is light at the end of tunnel now and it should all be fairly finished within the fortnight. Well, the main stuff any way!

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