The master suite

What was once a master bedroom, walk-in-robe and ensuite was not really working for us. The wardrobe was a funny shape and not very functional. The ensuite was really dated and the shower didn't drain properly. The bedroom was a bit too small and had shoddy plaster, garish wall-mounted lights and a doorway in the wrong place.

Here are some shots of how it looked to begin with:

What we decided to do was rip it all out and start again. Literally - rip it ALL out, including the bathroom floor!

Here is the demolition in progress:

We decided to take out the wall that was dividing the bedroom from the robe - the challenge was that this was a supporting wall. So not only did a beam have to be put in place of the wall, but we had to reinforce the brickwork in the garage (located below the master) to make sure the wall retained its structural integrity.

This meant bricking up the window in the garage - luckily we had some bricks salvaged from when we knocked down a side gate last year:

The window was bricked in and will be hidden by the bagging which we are completing on the outside once the inside is finished.

So once the foundations were strong enough, we thought we could go ahead and take out the supporting wall. But it turned out that the original side wall was not built properly and had to be rebuilt to reinforce the lintels above the windows:

Reinforcing the lintel - the left hand window is being bricked up the one on the right will remain

No lintel = poor workmanship...

Now the lintel is solid and the widow is supported

Simultaneously we are reinforcing the walls of the ensuite with ply as our Engineer suggested we needed to give the house more lateral stability. We also laid a new floor and hung new villa board on the walls of the ensuite - ready for tiling:

Plumbing in place for toilet, double vanity & double shower (from left to right)

Reinforced walls lined with ply for stability

So now it was time to remove the remaining wall and to create a larger master suite:

Using a beam to support the Acrow Props

Setting up the Acrow Props

One minute the wall is there...

Next minute the wall is gone!

We are thrilled with the huge space we have been left with in the room now!

The next step has been to brick in the window closest to the ensuite. You can see in the photo above that Ola has rebuilt the wall in front of the window. The next step was to lay bricks across the opening to seal it over. The whole L-shaped area next to the ensuite and in front of what was the window will be built-in robes.

Here is the wall being bricked in:

He is a man of many talents! Bricklaying is the most recent skill he has acquired - many thanks to the good people of YouTube!

Bathroom is complete!

Our bathroom is now more or less complete and it has been for a few weeks now - just haven't made the time to update the blog until now.

Here you can see our storage unit is now in place along with the heated towel rail. The downlights and pendant lights have been installed, along with an extraction fan:

The only things left to do in the bathroom are to paint the window sill and replace the very unattractive bed sheet with a much more functional plantation shutter. Otherwise it is done and very functional, we are happy to report!

Starting to take shape

Living in a construction site is quite a challenge. In the mornings, getting ready for work can be like going on an adventure with a bathroom at one end of the house, a mirror at the other end of the house, some clothes in one room, others in a robe somewhere else, makeup on a dresser in a store room & shoes located somewhere else. I like to think it adds just that little bit more sparkle to the drama and excitement of a renovation project... The other challenge is managing to navigate your way through your home without injuring yourself. We currently each have a broken toe, sustained when walking from room to room and tripping on piles of timber. We also each have several cuts on our legs, sustained in a similar fashion. If it weren't for the fact that our house is slowly starting to feel like a home, we would probably be going mad but I am pleased to report that finally (FINALLY) it feels like we are making some progress.

We are using our new bathroom, which is lovely. Here are some pics:

The other good news is that the walls are plastered now, so we aren't in frame-up any more. The plaster all needs to be painted, so first coat of undercoat went on the walls and ceilings this weekend:

Bedroom 4

Bedroom 4

Office

This is the office - a completely new room!

Supervisor keeping us hard at work

Rolling on the undercoat

Once the undercoat is on we are painting these rooms before the floor in the office is ripped up and replaced by boards and the floor in the 4th bedroom is carpeted.

The progress is slow but steady & we're happy with that!

Upstairs floor

Upstairs has been a real labour of love for both of us, but really mostly for Ola. It has become his Sistine Chapel and it looks incredible - we are thrilled with it.

Basically we started with some strong colours and challenging textures and stripped it all back to a more appropriate palette.

This series of pics show where we came from and where we are at today.

When we bought the house - note: this is the previous owner's furniture!

 When we started work:

Part way through:

Layers and layers and layers of paint - all the effects are drawn by hand:

And the finished product:

We are just finishing the trim - 2nd coat - and then we are moving upstairs out of the mess downstairs and in order to give us the space to make even more mess downstairs!