Well, we may not yet have decided one way or another where the kitchen was or wasn't to be, but fiberglass fibers from old ceiling insulation still needed to be blocked off from the air we breathed, walls still needed to be plasterboarded and the ceiling support issue had to be resolved. The renovation went on.

The most important job was keeping the ceiling propped up. I'm sure you can imagine why. The second most important thing was sealing off the ceiling - with spare sisalation in the bathroom area and black plastic in the dining room. The black plastic had already been up but was now replaced temporarily. The usual unhealthy effects attributed to breathing fiberglass fibers and dust would have been worse in a family containing at least three asthmatics.

The view from the kitchen toward where the bathroom had been can be seen above. The books and various paraphanalia that the dinner table is bearing up under was all mostly cleared off the as-yet-unmoved crockery cabinet that can be espied in the distance.

In this photo (above), we have begun cutting the second-hand gyprock to fit the wall we are facing. As neither Dad nor I enjoy this job, I'm afraid we weren't very cheerful. 

 

However, we got through it. And it looks good when done. At least, it does after living with black plastic for months, I assure you.

It is surprising how easily one becomes used to the look and doesn't notice it after a while. Until, that is, one entertains visitors and notices with re-sensitized eyes the eyesore it really is. Not that we left our walls unplastered and unpainted out of laziness or choice, but lack of resources and time did mean that we lived with this state of affairs for some time.

Back to the bathroom.

It is now August 22nd. Due to budget restrictions, it has taken a while to actually install the plumbing and electricity. But now it is all just about done. We (unfortunately) had to take the gyprock off that wall in order to run the pipes for the sink and shower. I say 'unfortunately' because it meant more plastering later on.

This photo was taken on September 3rd. The new panelling is on, the toilet in and the sink installed. The sink bowl was taken in part payment for a job Dad did locally and is from a very limited supply. Only one man produces them, and the glaze is their most intriguing (and apparently difficult) aspect. The sink stand was built by Slick. In the above photo it is still undergoing final adjustments. Its surfaces have not yet been finished.

We based the bathroom colours on those to be found in the sink bowl glaze.

 

By September 8th, colour was being applied. The sink was removed for safety, meanwhile.

Perhaps it was because progress was so drawn out that we have very few and scattered photos of this part of the renovation. Even though the successful completion of this new bathroom would act as a removed chock, allowing all the rest of the renovation to go forward, and even though we knew this only too well (every other move we thought of making was blocked by the placement and necessary existence of the old bathroom), we could only go forward as fast as our resources allowed. By the time the above photo had been taken (September 29th), we had paid for the plumbing and electricity work, and bought a new toilet (you will soon see why that was necessary), new lights and a shower screen. All our outlay was over, and only our own time and effort lay between us and a completed bathroom. Finally our urgency for change could be translated into action!

This is a record of our renovation to date - with rather a lot of catch-up to begin.

On the 24th February, 2006, we turned up to inspect a house whose existence we'd only just discovered. It was an unprepossesing box with very few windows (13 in total, I believe) and on a block of land that boasted almost no landscaping whatsoever. It had a little garage with a laundry out the back, a hills hoist and a few mature trees. It faced both the main road and the railway track. However it also had good zoning, had a view out over the town sports oval and park (therefore a pretty view that would not be built out) and had back lane access. It was to be auctioned the next day.

As we had a very limited budget and were searching for a house that we could renovate to sell, thereby digging ourselves a little further out of debt, we decided it was worth attending the auction.

At 11:30 0r so the next day, we arrived and registered ourselves as bidders, information in hand. (To be seen at right>>)

The bidding began at an amazingly low number for the area, and proceeded fast and furious - at increments as low as $5oo. There was a total of about 87 bids! For the last $30,000 or so the bidding was between the neighbours and ourselves. We had set ourselves a definite limit - and there the bidding stopped. We held our breaths, the hammer fell, and we found we owned a house. (Well, it took some negotiation, as we hadn't reached the reserve, but for an extra 10 grand it was ours.) Then the hard work began...