Renovating

 I have been going through photo files of this house renovation to figure out where to start sharing the journey to date. I suppose there is no better place than at the beginning.
Feb '11 in a scorching Queensland summer, 34C+ days. Could it have been any hotter and uncomfortable?

Did you know that a 'skip' is a girls best friend. We loaded her up in four days with the stripped out contents of the house (anything not worth salvaging) and a lovely man came and took it away on a truck.

I refrained from photographing the dirt and decaying rubber underlay trapped underneath the carpet. The pic is blurry but can you see The Boss sitting in her bed supervising. Most days she came along but was incredibly bored and less than enthusiastic at our endeavours.

The slate in our entry was so much fun to remove. Not. I guarantee darling husband and I lost a kilo each sweating through this 'little' job. Underneath the green goo are wooden floorboards.

I like to commence a reno with all boxes of tricks lined up like little soldiers in a row as this gives me hope  the proceeding days will not turn to hell. Of course my neat line was short lived.

My husband and I are no strangers to wielding paintbrushes but even I was amazed at the almost uni degree one needs nowadays when choosing a suitable colour, finish, rollers, brushes etc. We experienced hiccups due to the dreadful humidity when applying the paint. A path was worn to the Dulux trade centre. Must say the consultants are very helpful. One of the nice men even helped me decide which white to use after I threw 500 'white' coloured swatches in the air in desperation.

I became proficient at sanding which I might add is usually a job I loathe but modern technology makes it bearable. Makita and I spent many days together, dust mask essential.

Unfortunately my standard of dress suffered tremendously and I rotated three sets of work clothes for months. At the beginning I even attempted to maintain a pedi as my toes in summer are never a la naturale but alas even this treat went by the wayside. Oops not a very Workplace Health & Safety appropriate shot here but hey it was HOT.

All in all, in my opinion, renovating is not for the faint hearted but we endured and now live a pretty spiffy house which I'll share bits and pieces of over time. The end is in sight!