Before and After: the ensuite

Before: this bathroom was not an ensuite and was probably the original bathroom to the house, renovated last in the 1950s or 1960s. The RHS wall backed onto a wardrobe in our daughter's room.

After: We knocked through to the wardrobe and increased the size of the room by 50cm. The door you can see to the right is the original wardrobe door. It is now an ensuite with a second door to the hallway.

After #2: view of the ensuite from the bedroom. Above the tiles the walls are wallpapered in a vinyl waterproof fabric with a basketweave texture.

Before and after: the main bathroom

Before: this bathroom was a reclaimed verandah last renovated in the early 1990s. The stained glass window was beautiful but not original and didn't fit with our plans so we sold it to a renovation company.

After: We added a bay window and gained and extra 1.5m which makes a HUGE difference to the space. We can now fit a generous bath in this room.

After: looking back towards the door.

Happy Easter

May the Easter Bunny's evil cousin have by-passed your house last night...

May your kitchen bench be overflowing with chocolate eggs...

May a Haighs Super Frog have hopped by your place...

Happy Easter!

Weird neighbour update

Froggie asked for an update on our crazy neighbour, so here 'tis.

The good news is that they've sold their house! Not sure when they're moving but hopefully soon and hopefully the new neighbours aren't weird/crazy/petty. In the meantime we have planted a hedge of Lilly Pillys which will sheild our house from theirs and should reach full height in the next 18 months - 2 years.

These neighbours are a couple, about my age, who are renowned in our area. They have no children, live in a five bedroom house on a 1/4 acre block on the lower north shore and the wife has no discernable occupation unless you count annoying neighbours and pestering council as an occupation.

Throughout our renovation the wife would call Workcover, the local council or whoever to complain about anything. If the builders stepped foot on our property at 6.59am she'd call, if they swept up and dust blew anywhere near her yard she'd call.

At the back of their house is a large conservatory with no blinds on any of the windows. Any passerby can stare straight into their house from the road and yet they objected to us replacing our entry stairs to the property because it would affect their privacy. They objected to their other neighbour's plans to increase their deck by 1.5metres (which sits on the service side of their house) because it would affect their privacy. They objected when the other neighbour enclosed a 1.5 x 1.5m section under their entry stairs to create a small cubby house for their 18month old because it would affect the filtered light coming into their property.

But the kicker is that even after they had sold their house they insisted that the above matter be referred to a full council meeting AND turned up to argue strenuously against the changes.

At that point I think even the council realised they were crackers and approved all requested changes.

We're not sure when their settlement is but there will certainly be a large street party to farewell them. And I doubt they will be invited to it!

Renovation before and after: The Powder Room

The downstairs Powder Room had always been a talking point with its red suede walls, dark red carpet and 'crystal' taps. It was very Bordello.

We wanted to maintain the sense of drama in the renovated version. This time we went for a swanky nightclub feel

The wallpaper is an Ostrich Egg texture in pearlescent green (IRL it shimmers!), the toilet is wall hung and the flooring is wool carpet. Boys who cannot aim correctly can't use this bathroom unless they sit down.

Still to come is a rectangular, bevelled mirror which will reflect the shimmer.

Library

Before: a sun room that became a general junk room. We think this was a partly-enclosed verandah in the orginal house.

Now: a library. We've added a small bay window and shelving to create a fantastic space to sit and read (window seat cushion still to come...) or to do homework on the table or at the desk.

In keeping with the Arts and Crafts ethos the house contains a lot of hand-carved detailing added to match the original house.

I know I've been a bad blogger but here are some before and after renovation photos!

Gosh, where did that five months go since my last renovation update? I've been around but just not here. I've been boring relatives silly with endless renovation photos on my private blog - really, you've been spared.

But for those of you who are interested we are seven months in to a renovation/restoration of a 1912 early Arts and Crafts style house in Sydney's lower north shore. After living elsewhere for seven months we have now moved back in. The house interior is mostly complete but there is still a bit of work to do on the exterior and in the landscaping.

We have had huge cost overruns, of course. Due to the complex nature of the job it was done Cost Plus. We believe this was the best way to go as we had ultimate flexibility but it is hard to keep control of every cost. This has been a HUGE project especially given that we wanted maintain respect of the Arts and Crafts movement in everything we did inside.

So a few before and after shots...

Kitchen before...

Kitchen after.

We love this room. The kitchen is a pleasure to cook in and has had a huge workout in the last week. Special favourites: Stainless Steel island as a workspace (love that it doesn't have the sink in the island); the scullery/laundry set up (accessed via a sliding door) and the induction stovetop.

It was a Good Friday

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Blossom made hot cross buns for the first time today. She doesn't like currants so she substituted dried apricots.

It think they tasted better than the currant version and had three.