You want to stay in the area, but there’s nothing to buy that suits? Enter the renovation. The thing I love about them is the before and after can be so dramatic. Because you have already lived in the house and knew it’s limitations, your sense of relief and pride when we improve it is huge. Sometimes we don’t need to add extra space, instead we need to change the layout to make things work better. It’s a good feeling giving a home a new lease of life for another 30 or 40 years. Remember a 70’s house has been working hard for over 40 years. No wonder they need a bit of love and attention lavished on them!
So what needs improving?
Only three bedrooms, one bathroom and a single garage – it’s just too small. And it’s been rented out for years and is very tired, but the location is great.
Hmm, not much road appeal and dated colour scheme
Hows that for an attractive rear elevation and indoor outdoor flow? By the way, a south facing conservatory is never a good idea.
Cramped 2.4m high ceilings and this is the only access to the back yard
With not much room to the front and the house already taking up the full width of the site, the decision was made to go up. This gave views, sun and retained the lovely large back yard.
Small addition at the front
Small addition to the rear. Note no existing building paper or insulation in the wall.
The builder thought this was hilarious
The owners went off to a family wedding overseas for a week and came back to see roof framing up with a little something extra on top, just to wind the neighbours up. That’s mean! It’s a great feeling to walk through spaces that have only been on a piece of paper up to this point.
Kids ready to help or else play on the bales of insulation
This Autex Greenstuf insulation is safe to handle so the kids helped to install it.
Ready to line
The owners lived in the home while it was being renovated; this was only possible because the bedrooms and bathroom weren’t touched.
Plywood ceilings starting to go up over the office area.
The light is flooding in downstairs now that the void above the Lounge has had the scaffolding taken down.
The finished product, just waiting on the brick to be plastered over.
Outside is looking good with beautiful rusticated cedar weatherboard, a new Gerard metal tile roof and double glazed aluminium joinery.
Inside always takes longer!
All cabinets repurposed from original 1971 kitchen.
The old solid timber kitchen cabinets were pulled out of the original kitchen and reassembled in the new space as a temporary (5 years!) fix. Another whole blog will be devoted to this kitchen as we all know how much work a kitchen takes.
Exposed Glulam timber joists and beautiful Keruing ply are the ceiling for the huge open plan Living area. Polished concrete floors bounce the light around and act as a heat sink to warm the house at night.
Et voila! A home bought up to the current standard and made livable for the next 40 years.
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