First Home - Reno Update

So the other week I shared the dining/lounge reveal but I realised I haven't been sharing much else and a lot has happened! We pulled down our back and front entrance (too much cement damage!), repaired and painted our 2nd bedroom and hallway, got solar installed, and painted all our doors.  I still want to get a bunch of nice finished photos but today I'm sharing the before shots!

I shared the completed lounge/dining and before shots previously but as a bonus, some during photos!

Team work!

A dream was seeing these casement window fixtures scrub up (previously covered in paint!) 

Although (a bad dream!) having to remove the paint :P

Freshly painted dining room :)

This is a shot I took when we first moved in and you can see the cement back porch.  I think it's super cute with its little curve but it was falling to pieces so we had to remove it!! So many trips to the dump carting heavy concrete (not fun!)

ARGH!

It looks absolutely terrible now but it will eventually have a big deck that will wrap around we just need to get on top of the bamboo battle first! One thing at a time :P

I made it my personal mission to strip, prep, and paint all the doors in the house.  It nearly broke me.

Looks kind of fun and easy but the job ended up being mammoth 

All the fittings were covered in paint.  I tried to capture it above but I think the next three photos do a better job!

The previous painters definitely didn't tape up their doors when painting :P

The first result after scraping off as much paint as I could!

The final result after loads of sanding! 

Isn't it shiny and pretty :) :)

I still need to take shots of all the finished doors but for now, here are the front and back doors awaiting their second coat (stuck painting inside because of rainy weather).  The colour is Tamale red by Haymes Paint.  The photo doesn't do a great job at capturing the colour, the true to life shade is a bright solid orange :) You can also spy our freshly painted hallway.

After watching the David Attenborough's doco 'A life on our planet', Ben and I were inspired to get our butts into action and organise solar.  So glad we did!

Isn't it pretty!! You can also spy one of the windows sanded back, that is the window belonging to our second bedroom.   
We're sanding back and varnishing each window as we slowly move through the interior reno :)

Getting ready to paint the 2nd bedroom - yes rocks holding down our drop sheets :P

Goodbye pink and yellow!

The second bedroom needed the least work of all our rooms just some patching and light sanding.  We actually painted this bedroom and the hallway at the same time, so what started out as a little paint job ended up being a mammoth one!

You can see a very unattractive mold stain on the bedroom roof!

Wa-Lah! So nice and fresh, just needed the window frame to be screwed back in at this point :)

Our previous front entry ramp.  This is one of the first projects we completed.  Actually, it was a solo Ben job with assistance from his friend Drew with ramp construction :) Despite the concrete being in terrible condition, Ben and I became accustomed to the ramp entrance so we decided to keep this style, instead of going with stairs.

Close up of all the damage.  We actually had to step on strategic panels to be able to close the door properly :P

Ben bought this jackhammer second hand.  It ended up being a money saver because after using it for the front and back entrance, he resold it :)

The new ramp.  I absolutely love the plain pine but since it's out in the weather it needed to be sealed.  Ideally, I wanted a neutral sealant but when we went to the shop, the clear stains all had a yellowish tinge, so we made the bold move to go black.

I love the black BUT it does pick up dirt and probably not the best choice with a dog and two cats in the mix.  Maybe in the future, we'll replace the pine with darker hardwood planks that wouldn't look terrible with a yellow-tinged stain *shrugs*

Right now our current home projects include battling bamboo and trying to get it cleared so we can start out deck.  I'm also digging out our back eating area (that was just a tad too small) and once the rain eases we're going to make a start on our master bedroom which needs a lot of work and will force our mattress out into lounge until we finished it!

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First Home - Outdoors

From inside to outside! Compared with the interior, I wasn't as diligent taking exterior shots. This post is definitely a hodgepodge of photos (from different times) within the first few months of settling in.  

The garden was full and blooming when we first got it. It possibly looks less pretty now because we went mad with pruning. Ben's Mum is a stronger advocate of the cut-back, whilst Ben and I had loads of resistance to the idea. To us, pruning meant being exposed and making the garden (temporarily) less pretty. Months later and as the trees are starting to bush out I can see it was the right step - always trust the experienced gardener! Ben's Mum still likes to mention how we could have pruned back harder though :P 

We unfortunately have a textbook invasive-pest garden. We slowly want to replace the invaders with new plants. The garden is a big work-in-progress but it brings me ridiculous amounts of joy to plant and watch things grow and see the space transform.

Invasive species number 1, bamboo.

It's so darn pretty and it completely blocks our neighbour but it's also the exact bamboo species they tell you not to plant.  This guy has sent out roots to at least 50% of our block so we are constantly cutting back bamboo stalks as they sprout.  Ben's Mum wants us to get rid of it but it would leave us soooo exposed!

 You can see in the picture, it has sprouted underneath the house.  When we first arrived I crawled underneath and cut it all back and 6 months later I've had to do it again. It's a prolific grower.

As you travel down the side you will get to the back yard with a huge cadagi tree.  Even though this guy is native he is also on the environmental weed list for QLD, due to the negative impact upon our native bees - this article has a good summary. 

When I look at this picture, I feel like this guy has doubled, he is insanely huge.  I've been rallying for at least one branch to come down due to stealing sunlight from our washing line but Ben is super protective of him.  I understand, the cadagi makes our backyard beautiful, a complete joy to sit under in its shade.

The leaves (although slightly annoying) provide amazing mulch for our garden  :)

 and a perfect home for my orchids

Lowy was storing his coconut trees at the back before we started to turn this zone into our jungle section.  It already has monstera, heliconia and lots of other amazing plants.  We have easily planted 100 new plants in our garden since moving in - very exciting!

Ben heard about the plight of fruit bats and how they were struggling through the drought in 2019.  They suggested to make an apple wreath! It was fun to watch apples slowly disappear over a week.

Unfortunately our jungle section has the most invasive weed of our entire garden, cats claw! Ben and I sporadically go on missions trying to dig it out.  It's intense! The battle is still very much raging.

 The ginger, in the back corner, is one of my favourite, OG plants.

You can see the cats claw creeper on that blue shade cloth.  We have a council embankment which we are sneakily planting natives on.  This whole section is covered in cats claw - forever digging out new little sprouts.

 One of the first things we did was set up two veggie/herb garden beds.

 Collected some free mulch

Lowy was a big help!

 Joop not so much

Despite the effort of the garden bed.  We decided that planting the screening natives on the bank was a better idea to block out the street.  When they grow to their full height, they'll eventually block the sun needed for my veggie beds.  When that happens I'm going to set up shop at the front of the house and catch the sunlight there :) 

Can't wait till this pink bougainvillea spreads out across the fence!

 In this shot the veggie beds are just out of slight, to the left of the washing line.

Flipping around.  

We have lovely camellias which started to bloom just shortly after we moved in - such a treat!

In this shot you can already see one tree we pruned back and have since attacked all the others. Also that cement rectangle is the old sceptic tank we're hopefully going to turn into a lily pad pond.

 Turning the corner

 Looking back.

This shot was taken after we pruned (severely!) the bird of paradise.  During our pest inspection the guy said this plant (which was previously right against the house) was a potential entrance for the termites to get in.

Ben started a tradition of placing the fallen camellias on the fence - so cute! 

 Ben's Mum assured us that the twiggy, dead-looking vine, weaving through the fence was wisteria and very much alive and would spring back into life when the warmer weather hit...check out below!

*gasp*

It has amazing purple trailing flowers which for some reason I didn't photography when they were in bloom.  Since it was my first experience with wisteria I was a noob and thought they would be around longer than they actually were.

This is the front corner of the block.  We dug out the garden bed, re-mulched and fertilised and planted kangaroo paw and succulents and a banana tree.  Behind that I snuck in some passionfruit to cover that ugly pool fence needed stop Joop escaping.

 Baby banana plant that Lowy put in for us.

This is the front right side.  I've since put in a weeping willow and two frangipanis and a bunch of ivy to descend down the rock wall.  Actually I've put in heaps and heaps of plants but I'll wait to post photos of them flourishing rather than simply list them off. I'm excited to share the updates!

You can see the bamboo has spread to the right hand side!

 Standing over on the left looking to the right

The left hand side.

 If we'd let it, the bamboo would fill this entire space. You can also spy another banana tree Lowy planted.

 Cant wait for bananas :)

BAMBOO!!

 Back to the house. We've since painted the roof, a blue/grey (ready for solar panels!).  I haven't thought too much about the exterior colour of the house, I think the original blue works quite well.

I love the curve in the house and the verandah is so sweet but unfortunately structurally unsound.  Eventually I want to build a big wooden deck that comes out and swings around to the side of the house.  My dream is to have a little art studio built onto the deck with huge windows looking out to the bamboo.

 Standing on the verandah looking out.  

Big plans for a vertical succulent garden here, a pizza oven and a fire pit for those winter nights :)

You can see the interior here
and the video walk through here (which includes the garden)

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