Progress Report On My Sister's Renovation - Lounge and Dining Room

A while ago I did a blog showing you my sister's new house. It's a 60's, brick and tile delight but despite the tired interior, it had loads of potential. We started with a budget of $3000 and I'll admit we have chosen to exceed that (we're only over by about $1000) but I still think we've done exceptionally well for that little amount of money.

So far all the rooms are mostly completed bar a bit of painting but the lounge room and dining room are as good as done and this is the result:

In this room we have ripped up the carpet, polished the floor boards, exposed the fireplace which had been covered over and installed a new wood heater which we had pulled out of another house (so it was a freebie - that's always good for the budget!) 

The old venetian blinds have been removed and new sun shade blinds put in. Curtains will be put up in the next few weeks but we're waiting for some brackets that we've ordered to arrive. The old fashioned light fittings have been removed and now only one simple pendant light exists in the middle of the ceiling. The walls were already painted by the previous owners but we have painted all the wooden skirting boards/architraves in a gloss white to further freshen it up.

The carpet mat is a end of roll from the local carpet shop which means we got it extra cheap ($90) and had it bound for an extra $70. It's a huge 3.2m by 3.2m and makes the lounge really cosy. The wall art is simply a piece of Cloth fabric (and Aussie designer) material covering a canvas. Big impact for a  minimal price.

This is a before shot of the corner of the lounge room. In the next photo, you can see that we have removed the old cupboards and lighting.

It really doesn't look like the same room does it!?

Off the lounge room is the dining room which used to be really really pokey as it had an old fire place which dominated it. Again we removed old light fittings and replaced them with a simple drop pendant and a Bunnings Hardware light shade for $22. 

This is a before picture looking at the dining room from the kitchen. You can see the old fireplace, it was really gross eh!

Now it looks completely different. We still have to replace a small bit of plaster cornice at the ceiling but otherwise it's now completed. 

There you have it, by stripping back the carpets, blinds etc as well as getting rid of the old mis-mash of light fittings, the house is feeling a lot more spacious and light. So many beautiful windows, I can't understand why the previous owner would have them covered up with ugly, heavy blinds and curtains.

My sister has cleverly chosen a main colour (red) to brighten the otherwise neutral canvas of the rooms. By using the same colour primarily through all the rooms, it makes the house all "flow" and tie together really nicely.

Once we've finished a bit more painting and final touches, I'll show you what we've done with the kitchen and bathroom. They no longer look like this, I can assure you!