A bit about our house

We bought a 1970's house, that pretty much looked like it had not had any TLC done to it since it was built. Undoubtedly one of the worst houses on the best streets (which is great for renovation and investment purposes).

(View from the back yard when we bought it). On the first day of owning our house we went in and filled up an entire skip bin from our demolitions. We ripped up carpet, lino, smashed out cupboards, got rid of the curtains and blinds, you name it. By the end of the week the house was bare, we were down to the sub-flooring, we had taken off walls that had been dodgyly gyprocked, and ripped out the kitchen. A week after that we moved in, since then we have done a fair bit, but nothing is finished to completion... we are very much living in a half-done-house.

The work we have to do is; paint the entire house, lay flooring through whole house, new kitchen, new bathroom, new toilet, new laundry, new wardrobe in main bedroom. All of the windows have been painted in Mission Brown, which unfortunately is a mission to get off, and we aim to get rid of it! We would like a verandah extending along the length of the back of the house with decking, this will extend our inside living space and add value to the house. We also aim to knock down the single garage that currently exists (and is in terrible condition) and replace it with a 6x9 metre garage, and stud-wall a section at the back to create a games room/study, and once again add extra value to the space with an extra living area. We also have plans to landscape both the back and front yard.

Our vision in the end is a clean, modern looking house filled with light, but that feels comfortably and lived in. We would like to make the house as sustainable as possible, and are looking at putting in LED down-lights through the entire house, when we put in the new garage we will look at adding solar panels to that for the house. We have plans to add water tanks, and already have a bore. When we put in new lawns we will be installing underground drips, so not only will it save water, it will be easy to maintain for tenants when this eventually becomes an investment property... Phew, when do we hope this will be over? Well, hopefully by the end of next year, if not sooner. This is our mission, get it done within a year of buying it! Can we do it? Keep posted.

My next posts will go through the process of painting, and show our journey of each individual room.