A man's house is his castle or in Neil's case a source of never ending work! But my lovely man has achieved so much with our home in the 18 years we have lived here. There is still more on the drawing board but this is the progress so far...
In the beginning the house was pale yellow outside, had blinds everywhere and a bunch of Camilla bushes along the front fence. The gardens were non existent and the whole place looked bare.
Now the house is pale green with blue trim, surrounded with roses. the Camilla's were the first things to go, Neil used his land drover to put them out. I adore white roses and we have them planted right around the house. (Apart from a couple of gaps were Molly has dug some out and eaten them!).
This is what we found when we first moved in, very much a work in progress! That is the neighbours shed so that is how close our neighbours are.
The BBQ area has been slowly transformed and is still under construction. Neil built the pergola in 2000 and it makes the area lovely and cool during the hot summer times. We want to concrete some of the grassed area with exposed agate concrete, and more brickwork, hence the bricks stacked in front. (They have been there a very long time) The gardens, which are filled with native trees and shrubs, will be extended to the fence on the other side of the big tree, incorporating the now defunct sandpit. Neil has a bigger better BBQ on his wish list too. There will be a water feature incorporated too, at the moment we have a large fish pool with no fish.
That is the front door you can see, there was a plan at one stage to put in french doors and take out the front door and window in front of the ladder but now we will just replace the front door with a nice wooden one at some stage. The fire place was moved back into the hole in the wall, ceiling and walls regibbed and then the work stopped LOL.
The lounge was the first room we did, a wall was knocked out to make the front room one big room, and then we lived with jib for what seemed like 5 years! Now it would be nice to have a separate kitchen, its funny how the trends change.
People who visit my house can tell you this is not how my lounge looks 90% of the time LOL, I had to work hard people to find the floor, clear the PJ's, put away videos and dust! Luckily the photos don't show the shocking state of the lounge suite, never ever get a dark plain lounge suite if you have kids!
Future plans include a paint job of more neutral colours, new blinds and curtains and to finish the surround on the fireplace. New furniture would be nice, stuff that matches preferably, a smaller surround system with small speakers that fit in on the walls nicely.
Please note any DIY husbands out there, ripping out the bathroom just as your wife comes home with a newborn baby is not a good idea! There are no photos of the bathroom before cause you just couldn't get in there. Another point to remember is if you are changing where the door goes make sure the neighbours can't now watch you have a shower from their kitchen window!
I would never be without a gas hob now, though it was a learning curve for cooking. Thank goodness for smoke alarms, when they went off tea was ready! LOL. The kitchen is looking really tired now and needs a revamp, we will replace the cupboard doors and put in blinds at the window at some stage. It is on the list...the very long list! On the list is also a extractor thingy for a above the oven and a place for the rubbish bin.
It took 17 years to get the shed painted properly, it was part of the agreement of the mortgage that the house be painted within a year. Neil painted the bits you could see from the road and that was it for a few years. Good things take time LOL. Like getting the door painted, to be fair he is replacing the door soon.
We love our privacy and an old woman across the road who wants to know everything we do, eh Mum
Can you tell they make corrugated iron where Neil works, next on the list is a new woodshed and a gate to separate the back half of the property from the front half so we can leave Molly out when we are out earning the money to fulfil the very long list of stuff to still do!
We have also painted all the bedrooms, hallway and toilet at various stages, put new lino in the bathroom and toilet, (never get bumpy lino for non slipping, its a pain to keep clean!) and have recently put in insulation and an HRV. This years plan is to paint the roof, build the woodshed and concrete the BBQ area. Did you take note of that Neil?
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