Thursday 19 December 2013

Living Through Renovations

Our house is currently in a state of chaos.
We have had to empty 5 rooms (entry, 2 bedrooms, office/craft room and lounge) so that we could do some painting and get new carpet laid.
So we currently have our belongings piled up on every available surface with little pathways running around from room to room, basically we are living like rats in a maze.




 This is the reason we are painting.  Ugly ugly fake wood paneling, we call it caravan cladding.  Both our living room and our kitchen dining room are clad in the wood paneling and it makes our house really dark not to mention dated and unattractive.


So we called in the assistance of Hubby's parents and started painting.  First coat was a undercoat/stain blocker as we were not sure if the stain would come through.


Even with just the undercoat on we could see that the paint was going to make a huge difference.


Then it was on with the colour.  It is the same colour that we have used in the other rooms we have painted and is a pale beige colour.


The reason for undertaking painting this close to Christmas is because we had ordered carpet and it was a bit of a last minute decision to paint the walls.  We had originally thought we would not bother but we decided it was worth the effort.
We have been looking forward to getting carpet for ages as our floorboards were really ugly.  Years of paint drips, evidence of old carpet and lino and plenty of ventilation.  Getting the floors sanded and polished was not really an option.  It would have been really expensive and we were not sure all of the boards would have stood up to the sanding.

One of the ventilation hole.
 Woo Hoo here comes the new carpet and nice thick underlay.


 And here are some before and afters.

Looking into the spare room...


Check out the floor...


And now look at the difference.  Amazing.


And in the lounge...


No more fake timber...



The spare room had already been painted but the floors were still terrible.


We couldn't wait to cover up the mess.


And now it looks like a proper bedroom.


I am so glad it is all done, now all we have to do is put the house back together.  But not everything will be going back where it came from.  We will be using this as an opportunity to have a big de-clutter.  Thankfully we are not having visitors stay for Christmas so we can take a bit of time to sort everything out.  But I suspect we will get sick of the chaos and not let it drag out too long.
We still have the kitchen/dining room to paint and it is a big space so we are going to leave it for a few weeks.  Plus it is where all our stuff is currently piled so until we get that sorted there will not be any more painting.
And let's face it it is Christmas.

Have you lived through renovations?

11 comments:

  1. Fiona, Have you been sneak peeking in our house! I so hear you. We are in the same predicament as you were, we're selling up soon, have a similar wood panelling in our dining room, dark teal carpet in the lounge, grey in one bedroom and cream in the other. Like you our floors would cost a bomb to sand, patch etc. And like you we will be doing the same, just as soon as we're finished with the downstairs extension, the decks, etc etc! Your's looks fantastic now, gives me hope.

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    1. Barb it has made the room so much lighter it was worth the effort. I was not sure how it would look painted but it is actually really good. Where are you moving to?

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  2. Wow Fiona - this is massive. What a lot of work, but what a great result!
    I think (as I often do when watchng those reno shows) seems such a pity that now you will turn around and sell it. Hope you have some time to enjoy it all before you do. I'm sure you will reap the rewards though. Wishing you all the best over the Festive Season. cheers Wendy

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    1. Merry Xmas to you too Wendy. Yes I think we will be here for another year at this stage so we will get to enjoy our work.

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  3. Paint and carpet is the best home improvement you can do and relatively inexpensive in renovating terms. The rooms look so much lighter and fresh and you will love living their until you move. Great job and thanks to your extra helpers. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia

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    1. Thanks Kathy and yes it was great to have extra help. The amount of money we spent was well worth it and it will add a lot of value when we sell.

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  4. Wow looks great! We have been putting off any painting because the house is so tiny we don't know where to move our stuff!

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    1. Some of our stuff also ended up on the verandah covered in a tarp but the mess is worth the end result.

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  5. The caravan walls look fabulous painted..so fresh and clean they look like tongue n groove....and yes 5 and ahalf years later and we are still going thru renovations and living thru it all

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    1. Yes they do look like real tongue and grove now which is what we have in some of the other rooms

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  6. Wow it is an amazing result, it will feel so clean and fresh for the coming Summer and hot days and so light and bright for Winter, it is soooo worth the effort, it will feel like a whole new house once you are settled back in with your things.
    My kitchen living room had this ugly stuff, I'm pretty sure it is called "random groove" sheeting,when it was taken off there was fibro asbestos underneath ,so another expense was added for removal, but it is sheeted with plasterboard and painted now so looks great.

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