It’s Coming Together… Slowly

It’s been a few months since I last updated you on our farmhouse renovation, and my goodness, I have a lot to show you! We’re not in yet, but it feels like the end is in sight (you can check out where the renovation was up to last time here). The roof is now on, the walls are up, and the new verandas are down. We get a real sense of what it will feel like to live here once it has finished.

We have selected all our kitchen fittings, the bathroom tiles and fittings, as well as the floorings and lights, and I’m excited to see all our choices once they finally appear in the house.

Our builder took the school holidays off, and so we took the opportunity to do some of the painting in the freshly lined open plan living area, the mud room, linen press, and pantry. My parents kindly came down for the Easter long weekend and helped us to knock out the bulk of the painting. The walls are painted in Dulux Antique White USA, and I just love the way they look.

Of course, it wasn’t as simple as just whacking on some paint. We had to seal the fresh plaster boards before adding two layers of paint. At the end of the first day our arms and shoulders were pretty sore, but after a few more sessions, they are hardening up. Listening to podcasts and music definitely helped us to keep on going. Also, the thought of getting the painting done before the electrician and kitchen arrived was pretty motivating. The ceiling will have about 14 down lights as well as 5 pendant lights (3 over the kitchen island, and two over the dining table), while the walls will all have power points and switches and it is infinitely easier to paint if we don’t have to paint around all those lights and switches.

We still need to paint the trim and wooden doors, which we will leave until the all the trades have been through. We also need to repaint the old fireplace. We’re still deciding what colour. Currently, I’m considering a dark blue-grey, but I will no doubt change my mind several times. Got a suggestion? Please let me know!

Next up, we are painting the new exteriors. The vertical wooden cladding will remain unpainted to weather and turn naturally grey, but the fibre board needs to be painted. We are taking the opportunity to paint the entire exterior of the house, so we have had many discussions about colour combinations. We have selected a light grey for the house and will use white and Monument grey (the dark charcoal colour of our new windows) for the trim. I’m currently trying to work out what parts will be white and which parts will be Monument. I’m still planning a bright red front door to add some colour to the facade, though CB is leaning more towards a teal blue colour. Either way, I think a coloured door will add interest to our home.

We are planning on getting a painter in to do the old parts of the house both inside and out. They haven’t been touched in years and need a lot of preparation. The interiors have picture rails, ornate cornices, ceiling roses and batons on the wall, all of which are beautiful and add character to our home, but they also need to be hand painted with a minimum of three coats of paint. I lose the will to live just thinking about having to paint it all with a brush.

I’m in love with our verandas (there are three). The old ones were made of timber and were rotting. These new ones look awesome. They look and feel like wood, but are actually made of recycled plastic. They are meant to need zero maintenance and are guaranteed for 20 years. Sold!!! We looked at several alternatives to wood, but most of them look plastic-y (totally a word) and shiny, and I was not a fan. These ones weren’t cheap, but I feel they totally worth the investment both in terms of look and the zero maintenance. Next year when I’m not oiling my veranda, I will be thanking myself!

While most of the focus has been on the new extension bit, a lot has been happening in the old part of the house as well. The bathroom has been gutted and is now awaiting tiling. The very old, worrying electrical cables have been replaced – thank goodness! Just this weekend my parents visited again and helped us to pull up the remaining carpet in the bedrooms. No more mission brown 1970s carpet! Underneath the carpet are lovely floorboards, however, we are planning to put down carpet in the bedrooms and hall to keep them cosy and warm!

We start shearing our sheep this week, and my work is full on at the moment (though it always is these days – life of a teacher), so I don’t imagine I will be able to pop in and see progress through the week, but I’m already excited to see what will happen next. With the tiles going up in the bathroom, and the kitchen being installed (hopefully) next week, it’s all getting real. One day soon, we might actually get to live in our newly renovated house – exciting!