This Is It

Well my friends, there'll be no more Before and Afters from Number 3. It's done. It's dusted... and it's time to move back and concentrate on Number 10.

Here are the final shots of the cottage. It has some new iron on the roof and has also been given a fresh coat of paint. It looks so much better than this.

Other areas like the bathroom, were also given a new roof.

New blinds and curtains were put in the upstairs bedroom, which was also given a freshen up.

Now to the Kitchen.... which was a bit of a mess....but it's looking so much nicer now.

I love the way the floors came up with a good sand and polish.

This was the last photo I took just as I was about to walk out the door and lock it behind me.

The dining room is also much nicer. It just needed some new curtains and a blind and a coat of paint to freshen it up.

All of my "after" dining room photos came out very dark...not sure why.

Here it is from the kitchen, including the vacuum cleaner which got a huge workout these past few weeks.

So my friends...that's it.

It's finished and now ready for someone to move into.

As much as I love Number 3, MONT and I both let out a huge sigh of relief last night knowing we didn't have to spend another weekend there ... until the next time that is.

Before and After - Bathroom & Family Room

Some more before and afters today, this time the little bathroom at Number 3 and the Family Room. There was a lot to do in the bathroom as there were problems with the plumbing, which led to water problems with the floor, timber frame, plaster and tiles.

Thankfully, the terrific plumber was able to get everything right and it was then up to MONT to hang new plaster, and tile the walls to make them waterproof.

As you can see, leaking water had really caused major problems with the wall beside the bath/shower.

Now it's all waterproof...

...and tiled.

...and grouted.

This is the view from the kitchen through to the bathroom. I couldn't get in there to take a photo as I'd just painted the floor to the back entry and it was still wet. The only difference is there's a shower screen and an architrave around the doorway into the loo.

This is the family room.


It was pretty good and only needed a freshen up with a coat of paint and some new window coverings as the drapes were sun damaged and had to go. I decided on timber venetians because I found some on sale at half price. YEY!

MONT installed them....

... and they look absolutely fantastic! MONT isn't a lover of timber venetians, but even he was impressed with the way they made the room look.

It was then up to me to sweep, vacuum and wash the brick floor and I have to say it did look terrific.

BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE !!

Remember the tiny front bedroom at Number 3?

It looked like this...

...and this.

Well, it now looks like ... this

... and this

The carpet looks terrific but didn't photograph too well. The curtains are just those continuous things that I hemmed down the sides, and I bought new blinds to go in there .

So, the small bedroom at Number 3 is FINISHED...as are a couple of other rooms.

More tomorrow. It's been a big day and I need a drink.

World's Best Practice

I paid a flying visit to Number 3 today to drop some things off and check out my gorgeous new kitchen and bathroom floors....

... and also to see if my back fence was still standing...and this is what I was confronted with. A nice big pink bow of netting of some sort, tied around one fence post then wrapped around my tree, which I might add, has been pruned in a rather unattractive, lopsided way.

Yep, it's state of the art bow tying isn't it? Where are the Occupational Health and Safety Inspectors when you need them?

But on a brighter note.....

This is my new bathroom floor...and new bathroom. It still needs an architrave around the door into the toilet and the shower screen has to be re-attached. But it's looking mighty fine.

Then, there's the kitchen. This is what it looks like now....ignore the dusty footprints, which are mine.

Remember how the floor used to look? Awful huh?

But now it's bright and shiny and very clean...except for those footprints.

Carpet gets laid next week, I'll put the curtains and blinds up...and...Bob's your uncle.

Grrrrrr

"Ummm excuse me, my fence is falling down and it's taking my clothes line with it...it doesn't look too safe to be working next to"
"Oh it's not our fault love, we're not responsible for the retaining walls that have been dug out here, we're just doing the plumbing work."
"Well, it doesn't look too stable leaning over that way."
"Yeah, well, maybe we can get the grader over there and prop it up a bit."
"Yes, but that doesn't help, because there's no dirt around the fence posts which are just floating in the wind."
"Well, maybe I'll just push it back then tie a rope around one of the posts and secure it to your tree so it doesn't fall any further....oh, you got any rope?"

Yep, that's the way the conversation went with one of the "plumbers" working on the site behind Number 3 yesterday.

As you can imagine, I wasn't favourably impressed

A new house is to be built behind Number 3 and they've dug retaining walls along our common boundary, which means there's no soil left to hold the fence posts up. It also means my block of land is now a little higher above sea level than my neighbour's.

So I went inside, and called the local council's building department and was given the name and number of the surveyor for the job and told to give him a call.

Long story short...After numerous calls back and fro to council and surveyors I realised that no-one appears to be accountable anymore.

I finally called the company responsible for building the house and expressed my safety concerns as well as the fact that I didn't want to lose my clothes line. I was told they'd get in touch with the person responsible and get back to me.

She did....and told me the person responsible would check out the job and see what could be done.
Haven't heard anything else as yet

It certainly was an interesting day at Number 3. Frustrating but interesting.

Anyway, the internal painting's finished and it looks really good and I measured up for the blinds and curtains that I have to replace. I also gave the bathroom a good scrub and it's looking a lot brighter and shinier than it was before I took to it with the Jiff, Domestos and the scrubbing brush. Amazing what a bit of bleach and elbow grease can do. Pity the previous tenant didn't think of that. There really is nothing more gross than cleaning debris from basin and bath plugholes and finding stuff the person responsible for the muck left there, should've cleaned before she left. Eeeww.

Glad I had extra heavy duty rubber gloves with me..

Manual Labour

Yesterday was a BIG day. MONT and I spent it working at Number 3.

We left Number 10 around 6.30 am and didn't arrive back home until just after 7pm

It was a long, hard day but we achieved a lot and got the house ready for the painter to start on Monday and for the floor sanding man to weave his magic Monday week.

The plumber rocked up around 2.30 and got the heater installed, after MONT spent ages drilling through 2 courses of brickwork to create a hole big enough for the gas pipe to fit through. The plumber also fixed up a couple of small problems in the bathroom and fitted all of the taps. He also installed the new kitchen sink and tap. It looks terrific too!

This is the overgrown passionfruit vine that's taken over the carport

The rear of Number 3. The room here with the rusty tin roof is the bathroom

This is the overgrown side garden. As you can see, the pergola needs a good clean and a new coat of paint. That will get done soon.

The upstairs room with the dormer window is a loft bedroom.

MONT finished tiling the kitchen, which looks mighty fine! I, on the other hand, was charged with washing down some walls that had been splattered with concrete and staining and coating some architrave to try to match the one that got damaged while it was being removed.

All in all it was a hectic day, but a really terrific one because the house is looking fabulous!

Bathroom at Number 3

MONT stayed at Number 3 again last night and achieved a lot

He's been working mainly on the bathroom, getting the waterproofing and tiling done.

Today, he's been grouting and getting some tiling done in the kitchen

Looks so much better than it did. I can't wait to show you the finished result. Just a matter of weeks now.