Well, it’s taken me ages to get around to posting these… but I’ve done enough moaning about the stress and disruption on here so I should really show you guys the results of our home makeover. I’ve got some of the real estate pictures (and a few others we took) from when we bought this house and have taken matching pictures of how it’s looking right now. We still have a new floating floor and kitchen to install, but we needed a break so we’ll be doing that after Christmas trade is over!
Livingroom & Dining Area – Before
Livingroom & Dining Area – After
We’re still using some of the previous owner’s old furniture just for added authenticity 
– we’ll replace once we’ve chosen the flooring and kitchen finishes. There was an awful lot of terribly under utilised space in our house. We could see it was big when we bought it, but somehow there was no room for anything. A few walls / railings in the skip and it’s looking lots better.
Livingroom – Before
Livingroom – After
One wall removed, some trimming of ceiling beams, and the true space of our living area is revealed. We did this to bring the bush backdrop further into the house. Still some new windows and blinds to be added.
Livingroom Towards Dining Area – Before
Livingroom Towards Dining Area – After
2 Walls and a bit of bulkhead left over from a previous extension have been culled. The “windows” you can see in the wall through to the kitchen will be filled with some custom slumped glass with RGB LED strips embedded around the edges. We will then be able to programme them to be whichever colour or series of colours we want. MMMM, mood lighting!
The Deck Outside The Livingroom – Before
The Deck “Outside” The Livingroom – After
Floor to ceiling louvres to catch them breezes. We had a daybed made by our next door neighbour (artist and general clever chappie) from some of the timbers that were pulled out of the house during the renovation. Duncan’s mother has just spent 10 days upholstering it and making us some cushions out of raw silk I sourced in Thailand.
Kitchen Area – Before
Kitchen Area – After
We quite literally raised the roof here – we discovered that a previous extension had created a false ceiling. The line between the kitchen and dining area was originally the outside wall of this house. When it was extended, the old owners just left the internal roof in situ. We just thought it was too good a chance to waste – but gosh darn it cost a few quid extra. I can’t tell you how wonderful those 32 degree days were in this house with nothing but corrugated iron between us and the sun 
Downstairs Lounge – Before
Downstairs Lounge – After
We robbed a few square metres from here, tacked it onto the dining area, and shifted the access to the back door (and the back door itself) up into the main part of the house to give a better flow. The old back door location was on the deck off our bedroom so not great for privacy or ease of access to the back garden. This room is now a “snug” and the old back door is now a cupboard!
The New View from My Sofa (Couldn’t Find a Before!)
*Cough* So yeah… just a few small changes. Of course, being good techie type people we also installed a sexy C-Bus lighting system, had the entire place re-wired with new circuits installed, wires for sound and internet passed through various walls, ceilings and floors and hooked our TV into our computer network for optimal viewing pleasure. Quite frankly after all that watching TV is about all we have been fit for.
So if you were wondering why my sites got a bit neglected and my blogging tailed off significantly I’m sure that the fact I was trying to work not 3 metres from all the execution of this resculpting will answer all your queries in this direction. If you’re still not convinced of just what an effing mess we had to live and work in for 3 months, I’ve selected the 3 messiest, most destructive, horrid “progress” pics I could find below for your delectation.
I’m sure you’ll find it hard to feel sorry for me given the really lovely result, but I’d just like to close with a reminder that this took 3 long months to complete, and another 2 months for us to bring far enough up to scratch to be considered a semi-home again! We also painted it all ourselves. 3 coats.
August 1st, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Lovely Kirsty, you certaintly put in a lot of effort to get there. Also something for us affiliates to aspire to!
August 1st, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Hi Kirsty, Looks amazing! Have you or could you write about your experience of moving from the UK to Oz/Overseas? It’s something I’m considering and I’m canvasing opinion/experiences
WP
August 1st, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Wow. Simply wow. The transformation has been amazing, and even though it sounds crazy, I’m jealous! You have so much room and flexibility in where everything went, and you’ve made a fantastic job of it all. We’ve stripped our house back to bare brick and even lifted the floorboards but we don’t have the space that you’ve got.
Some of the before and after pictures don’t really look like the same house, so it’s quite an achievement in what you’ve actually achieved.
I can see now why you need a holiday back to the UK!!
At least once you have finished everything you will be able to sit back knowing that it is all exactly how you want it.
Great work!
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:10 am
Thanks for the kind words guys, it doesn’t really look like the place we bought – but we could see the potential in it. Actually, the potential we thought was there has been exceeded significantly.
Winalot – I haven’t no, but I do get asked about it a fair bit so I should really write something about it.
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:04 am
Nice crib Kirsty.
Here’s the house I bought with my affiliate earnings:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/LEGO-Creator-6754-Family-Home/dp/B001U3ZMEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=kids&qid=1280736452&sr=1-1
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:10 am
Oh ha ha ha Paul, hilarious!
Hope you don’t mind, I took your short link to bits as I’m not familiar with the Amazon link structure and couldn’t work out if it was an affiliate link or not
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:11 am
That is absolutely stunning, Kirsty! Having renovated our own house here in the UK, I can absolutely appreciate how difficult it is to focus whilst also project managing a rebuild/renovate.
It’s just fantastically quirky and very very stylish. The view from your sofa is breathtaking. I’d imagine it is one of those things that would look equally as fascinating in the sun with the all the animals as it would in the rain…
I’m so jealous! Would that I achieve so much one day!
August 3rd, 2010 at 2:11 am
Aww, thanks! Must confess the extent to which I couldn’t concentrate took me totally by surprise. By the end some of the tradesmen were starting to get scared of me – I just wanted them to finish and get the hell out
It’s a lovely spot here, I was fabulously excited when we viewed it. We get lots of wildlife too which we can now see a lot better from inside the house. King Parrots, Lorrikeets, Kookaburras, Blue Headed Honeyeaters, Whip Birds, Brush Turkeys – and of course our local Kangaroo Family.
I’m very glad Affiliate Marketing has made it possible for us to live here. Makes all the hard slog at the start worthwhile!
August 3rd, 2010 at 3:43 pm
WOW! When you mentioned some renovations I didn’t realise it was a complete gut out! The changes have really opened the spaces up and made it a lot lighter, and airy. Particularly like the outside/inside area with the stunning view from the sofa – who needs a TV right?
Surprised to see a Blue headed honeyeater was! I thought it was going to be some crazy looking lizard for some reason LOL. We get sparrows and blue tits :-p
You’re most definitely reaping the rewards for your hard work and are a testament to any aff marketers looking for a success story. They should forget about those get-rich-quick solutions and read your previous posts to realise that hard work equals realisation of dreams! The pics are proof of that!
Thanks for sharing.
And yes, would also be interested in a ‘how u got to Oz’ post