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The New House

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I mentioned in a recent post, that we had just shifted house when the photos were taken.

We had sold our home and moved here looking to buy.  We were becoming more and more concerned as the market was changing and we couldn’t find a property that fitted our needs and budget.  The agent finally showed us this house that, at the time, had not officially been listed.

It was tri-level.  The front entry had a large bedroom/ensuite to the right and a double garage to the left and led to 8 stairs which brought you to the central level which was essentially a 2 bedroom home : kitchen, dining, family, laundry, bathroom, toilet and of course, 2 bedrooms.

Another 8 stairs then took you to the top level : lounge and main bedroom/ensuite.

I was really concerned about the stairs and my back but was also really mindful that we needed to find something – and soon.  On the second inspection, as we were coming down the stairs, I spotted a wall hanging that said simply “Take Courage” – so I did!  We purchased and moved in.

The house had been built in 1980.  All the trims were dark brown and the walls a stark white.  The floors in the entry, kitchen/family and bathrooms were tiled in highly decorative tiles and the rest of the house was covered in that ‘pub red’ carpet!!

The windows were heavily curtained and the light fittings were interesting to say the least.

I was not in a ‘good place’ emotionally at this time – I had finally realised, but not accepted, that I could no longer hold down a job with my chronic pain and fibromyalgia and things like that carpet really played with my mind -so to get on top of it, I set about making this house our home.

I can’t remember the exact order of progression of the transformation, but I have found some old photos and I will take you with me as I reminisce…….  I will attempt to take a photo now of the same area as way of explanation.

The front entry:  Yellow, patterned glass, heavy dark creamy/yellow and dark olive green tiles, dark brown trim around doors and on stairwell



We replaced the glass with glass bricks, re-tiled the floor in a terracotta tile and painted out the brown

We ripped up the carpet and found a lovely timber staircase which we decided to leave natural.  The dark brown staircase is now white!



  We jack hammered up all the tiles and put down a layer of marine ply and then a floor of 19mm black butt boards.  This is much easier on my back and much warmer in winter and it looks gorgeous!!


The Kitchen:  The kitchen was the original kitchen, finished in white laminate.  The cupboards had white(now yellowed) plastic knobs and the bench tops were marked and stained.  The splash back tiles were large, thick and brown.  We didn’t want  (or need) the expense of a new kitchen so decided to do a ‘simple’ update.

We replaced the tiles, curtains, knobs and bench tops Oh and the fluorescent light that you can’t see here.


Laundry:   The laundry had a broom cupboard that had seen better days, so it went and was replaced. 

I had the cabinet maker who redid the kitchen bench tops, build a cupboard  to house the dryer and he finished it with the same blue laminex.   I added a cupboard on the wall above.

The laundry floor tiles were the only tiles that we left – they were terracotta , matched in well and were the right height to match the new timber floor ie no step/ledge to trip on. We removed the swinging door –  it took up so much room – and replaced it with a cavity slider.


Bathroom:  Oh the bathroom…….


The bathroom was completely covered in the tiles you can see above.  The huge, oval spa bath was chocolate brown as was the hand basin.  The large mirror and all of the taps were gold and the soap tray in the shower and a large shelf beside the mirror and the towel rails were dark brown plastic.  The vanity was a light olive green. (yeeew – the memories)

The spa bath had to go – I couldn’t reach the windows to open them without climbing into the bath!  We gutted the bath room and I re-designed it to make better use of the space.  The vanity moved to the opposite wall, the new spa bath is where the vanity was (and I can get to the windows!!) and the shower recess was enlarged.  It is now large enough to accomodate a shower chair if required and can hold all the grandchildren at this stage! 

We are currently doing a repaint throughout and the laundry,main bathroom and toilet are all that remain of  the sandy colour  – we have now painted  in  Antique White USA





The Toilet:  I just HAD to show you the frog green toilet seat and cistern!  (and more of those bathroom tiles!!)


Upstairs:  We continued the timber floor up into the lounge area as well and we plastered over the exposed beams (they were rough, the spiders loved them and they were too high to reach)) and the large laminated beams.  We considered keeping the laminated beams but it would have been a mammoth job to get them to a satisfactory state – it was easier to cover them!




















The balcony


The dark brown,wooden railing structure needed to be replaced and we re-tiled the balcony, the entry and the back area that just happened to be painted with dark green cement paint (off the kitchen) all with the same terracotta tile.  We also enclosed this area with Midgie mesh which has made it into a great space where we can have a BBQ, watch the golfers go by and snigger really feel for them when we hear the’ thwack’ that means a tree hit!



I hope you have enjoyed my little tour – I’m going to take my coffee out now to enjoy the wonderful back view across the golf course (and wait for the next thwack!!!)


Until next time
Nanny xx

Wonder no more …

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In the last posts, I  shared  the dining suite and lounge that I had found and today I show you the result of quite a bit of work!
The Buffet – such a lovely, rich, honey coloured finish.

Look at that grain!

The table and chairs:  Congratulations Mel – the first to guess and you picked it!!  I went for blue…  I used the diamond pattern for the dining chairs.

and other patterns from the same range for  the lounge.  I love the blue with the Black Butt floor (yes, the red carpet is gone!), the Oak furniture and the Australian Red Cedar standard lamp and stand that my very clever Dad made for me.

I chose a leaf pattern to stay in keeping with the original style

and used the small check for the piping trim and  scatter cushions.

You will notice that they all share the same room.  I commandeered the ‘formal dining room’ to become my Craft Room – a very wise move wouldn’t you agree?

If you have enjoyed seeing the results of our efforts, you may be interested to know that I will be sharing more of our ‘projects’ in the future ….  Thanks for being here!

Until next time
Nanny xx

Clubbed in the Lounge

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I’m enjoying finding these old photos!  I know you are waiting to see the Dining Suite finished BUT before I show you that I needed to show you my old club lounge.  My Maternal Grandmother had one of these in the formal lounge room and I loved it.  
When I found the old dining suite I set off to the local Tender Centre and placed a bid on this gem.  I don’t have a photo of the lounge in full  – these have been cropped from ‘room views’ of the house before I started redecorating/refurbishing.
So we have 2 single chairs

and a three seater.
and that fugly   gorgeous ‘pub red’ carpet!
Why am I showing you these?  Well these were reupholstered at the same time as the dining chairs – I thought it might help you with your guess of  the colour choices I made …..
Until next time
Nanny xx

Bring back Dining!

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I always wanted a nice, old dining suite – you know – the oak table, padded chairs and buffet to match.  I had looked in the furniture stores and nothing ‘modern’ worked for me.

One day, PJ (Poppy) dropped me off at the local Salvation Army shop while he did an errand and when I went into the back room I saw it!!!! An oak table with 4 chairs, 2 captain’s chairs and a buffet.

Well, I was beside my self with excitement and I just had to growl fiercely   smile sweetly at anyone who ventured too near while I waited for PJ to return.

At last he arrived and after a little inspection we purchased the lot and I felt like I’d won the lottery!

Mind you, it needed a hell of a lot  a little bit of work!

The table pieces – needed re-clamping, stripping, sanding and finishing.

The chairs on careful inspection required a complete re-build   :/  The springs were ‘sprung’ and poking through the seat pads.  We decide that after all of that time and effort on PJ’s behalf,  they deserved to be professionally re-upholstered.

The buffet was in great condition – it just needed stripping, sanding and finishing.

When I look at these photos I cringe at the ‘pub red’ carpet – we had just moved in but that’s another story….
Would you like to see the finished results?  What colour do you think I used on the chair pads?
Until next time
Nanny xx

By the Bed

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I showed you the first piece of furniture that Poppy and I revived and today I’ll show you how , once bitten by this refashioning bug, the hobby took on a life of its own!

A trip to the local ‘Tender Centre’ resulted in a huge outlay of $20.00 (yes that is$ 20.00) and the acquisition of two, candy pink, chests of drawers.( Remember too, that this was all before I started ‘blogging’ so I just have to use photos I can find!)

You can see by this first photo that Poppy got a head start before I thought to grab the camera:

We were excited to find such nice timber under all of that paint!  It also became obvious that the drawers had once been a part of a larger piece, with large holes that had been filled on the top and one side.
Mmm – thinking,thinking…… “Take the top off and turn it over!!” The problems on the side will disappear when they are placed beside the bed!
While the drawers were in this state, I came up with another idea. ( Poor Poppy!!!)   Remember what the bottom of the chest of drawers looked like?  This is the side:

and this is the front:

I could ‘see’ that by losing and using the bottom drawer, we could cut out shapes to make the bottoms match and then it was just a simple process of drawing a line on the sides for Poppy to cut along!  We were also able to buy the same hardware in 3 different sizes – so the large for the chest of drawers, the middle size for the bedside tables and the small for the mirror boxes – perfect!
We were feeling very chuffed with the results!!  ………..and already looking for the next project……
Have you been bitten by this bug?  I’d love you to share with us if you have!
Until next time
Nanny xx

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