We finally managed to transform this little remnant of the XIX's century house into a sustainable and liveable house, in a blend of modern and tradition.
We can finally can call it home, having it made our own.
NOW
I will show you the front of the house at the end of this post.
BEFORE
THE PROCESS
My daughter sanding the floor boards after we rented an heavy duty sanding machine in Bunnings; lot of gaps filling between boards outside, and inside as well...
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| Gaps in the floor inside had to be remedied |
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| Gap filler for house exterior |
Over the years, pieces of wood had infiltrated and grown inside the drain water pipes in the ground, blocking the flow. We had to unclog the mess. The plumber's ingenious device on the right is linked to an infrared camera showing us what is going on inside the pipe through camera insertion.
Gutters had to be attended to as well - here you can see makeshift steel thread holding the gutters on the roof as a temporary fix
Dismantling the old deck was a huge task that I undertook with the son of a neighbour from my previous house that I hired to this purpose. It wasn't easy and involved a lot of trips to the city waste management area.
Mission accomplished, old deck removed!
Now, the retaining walls needed a facelift as well; my son gave us a help with that.
Retaining walls had to be made water resistant, so we put some gravel in a protecting cloth between the wood and the earth.
Deck long pieces of wood delivery - see the crane lifting the boards at an angle with the street where the truck is parked, quite an achievement from the driver.
Now the deck construction, Louis is watching!
New deck foundations
At this stage, I spent three evenings painting the deck railings etc.
Et voilà!
^Curtains and interior decoration after that...
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| Bathroom mood lifting frangipani that we collect when we take the dog out for his walk. |
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Shower curtain holders |
Our dog's imprint is quite visible: see the door leash holder with a 'L' for Louis, and a photo of him checking out a bubble (photo taken at a market by a local young lady artist dog-lover)
Everything has to be practically thought about because the house is very small: here is the grocery cupboard.
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Wine fridge (but no dishwasher) I am not showing you our bedrooms since it is a public website, but I am showing you some details. The pink window happened a bit by accident. I asked for a warm orange/brown colour but they were running out of stock for that colour, so I settled for the quirky pink. |
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Shoe cabinet that my daughter repainted to match the house interior paint colours - 4 pairs each |
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Coming to term with alopecia and learning to live with it! This head scarf is coming from Paris on the suggestion of a specialist shop-link sent to me by my dear friend there. I hear it is reimbursed by social security in France. Well, we are far from that here. |
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I keep the dream alive: my picnic basket it sitting on my wardrobe. I will make use of it ... one day. Now, for the first time in my life, after all the renovations were completed, I put the linen sheet that my paternal grand-mother made for me when I was 18 ... and yeah, the devil is in the detail. She did an amazing job, and I think of her as I can imagine she protects me with her craft when I sleep. |
One day, we decided to paint white flower pots after being inspired by some examples at the local florist. A friend of my daughter joined us in the effort.
Peaceful feeling inside
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Original features |
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We had to do something with the poinciana trunk from the tree I had to have removed as the plot was already very crowded with trees as it was. I planted new ones, like Brazilian frangipanis, wattle trees and lemon myrtles. It is now where I put my washing basket almost daily. |
FRONT OF THE HOUSE
that I fully repainted myself. My daughter handled the floorboard sanding and I did the varnishing
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| Louis is our guardian. As a social animal he is, he loves looking at what is going on in the street. |
All done now! This photo was taken as I was doing the work in my house in December with my Ninja hairband. I went from hairbands to scarves in three months.
To wrap it up, this is a drawing of our street completed this year by a local artist
