Verandah no. 2 Completed

Hooray – verandah number two has been completed, and it looks great. This verandah also has steps leading down into the front garden, and even though my husband hadn’t tiled steps before, he has done an excellent job. This photo is pre-tiling and the doors hadn’t even been painted, and it looked pretty ordinary, don’t you think?

The photo on the left is looking toward the sunroom, which doubles as a spare guest room, and is situated off the loungeroom.

The photo on the right is of the steps, and when we replace the edging on the lawn, we are going to pave the area leading up to the steps. The only thing left to complete the front of our home is to paint the fascias and gutters in Solver Empire blue.

Then, there is only one side of our home to finish painting and tile yet another verandah – my husband will be only too glad to come to the end of our home renovations, and quite frankly, so will I. We have been renovating houses since 1990, but the difference with this one is that it is being renovated for us, and not to be sold to someone else.

This photo was taken looking toward my son’s sunroom, which is where he houses all of his childhood toys, matchbox cars etc. It’s so sad when children grow up, as all of the childish things are put away, and he’s only fifteen (nearly 16) – not quite a man yet, but I guess that it won’t be long before he wants to learn to drive. I’m not looking any farther into the future – just enjoying the time that we have left before he becomes a man.

Home Renovations – One Down, Two to Go

Hooray – the front (south) verandah tiling is finished,
and it looks great! My husband has been really busy tiling, grouting and cleaning off the tiles, and he has done a fantastic job. To see what it looked like before, please look at my previous post.

He has also fitted a “new” screen door that can be locked so that we can leave the wooden door open in summer, and that will be such a blessing, as the temperature here reaches 47°C in summer.

The next project will be to finish painting the front of our home, and then he will begin tiling the verandah (east) in front of our home. Our home has three verandahs, and if you read my previous post, you will remember that they were real eyesores, but all that is changing – Praise God!

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

My Husband’s Broken Finger is Mended – Let the Work Begin!

Do you have one of those grotty areas in your home that you would rather forget? Well, we have been here for about six and a half years, and my husband has started tiling one of those grotty areas – only two more to go after this one.

My husband has been busy painting our home, and it is really looking spic and span, but the verandahs really let it down, and there is no incentive to sweep and mop them, as they really don’t look any different afterwards.

First of all, he had to roughen up the verandah so that the tiles would stick to the surface. He started trying to remove all of the paint, flaking and otherwise, but this proved to be a mammoth task, so he decided to remove the flaking paint and to score the verandah.

The large tiles (500 mm X 500 mm) are exceptionally quick to lay, but the small ones (300mm X 300 mm) are taking quite some time.

Praise God – we had all of the tiles given to us – two tonnes of them, so we will have more than enough to complete the three verandahs, and we will have three beautiful areas that we can keep swept and mopped.

I’m hoping that we can use one of the verandahs to put an outdoor setting on and then be able to have morning and afternoon teas there in summer, overlooking the garden. Devonshire tea, anyone?

New Secondhand Kitchen

We are buying a new Westinghouse stove, as I was baking a Baked Egg Custard last weekend, and there was steam escaping from the oven. I stood next to the oven, and all of the heat was also escaping.

We were debating whether to put in a complete new kitchen, or to repaint and remodel the current one, so yesterday, I decided to take a look on the internet, and see what was possible. I saw many kitchens, but there wasn’t one that really took my eye, so we have decided simply to remodel the one that is here. It is functional and well set out, and I can’t see the sense in replacing something that ‘works’.

We are trying to decide what sort of frieze we will use, but I really like the friezes on this page, with a pastel pink on the walls and cupboard fronts and a darker pink on the top of the walls. We have decided to keep the dark green laminex cupboard tops, as they would have been too expensive to replace.

Our kitchen is functional, and with a little bit of remodelling here and there, it will serve us for many years to come, and the ‘greenest’ homes are the ones that are already there, so our kitchen will be ‘green’, too, or should that be pink???