Before & After - The Big New Project - Part 2

Welcome back for some more before and after renovation photos of The Big New Project. Are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin.

The Dining Room

Another area that has completely transformed was the former sitting room which is now a dining space. The pendant lights look better than we expected and the shabby chic furniture really suits the paint colours and wooden floorboards.

Wallpapered sitting room - before

Sitting Room - before

Dining Room - After

Chimney, Cupboard & Pendant Lights 

Second Bedroom

This room originally had a huge built in wardrobe which was chewing up a fair bit of space, so we took it out, removed the wallpaper and gave everything a freshen up. 

Only annoying thing is that there is a bit of colour variation between the 2 cans of paint we used.

More wallpaper - Before

The built in wardrobe - Before

Bright & cheerful bedroom - After

Lovely view through the window of the Dogwood tree - After

Backgarden
The established plants were already there so we just had to replace a beam and paint the pergola. We cut back the vine and planted some lavender and added the outdoor setting.

Pergola - Before

Back garden - Before

Outdoor entertaining area - Before

Newly painted pergola - After

New lavender, mulch and outdoor setting - After

Pretty garden from under the pergola - After

Newly cut grass and mulched garden - After

Herb & veggie patch

Bedroom 3

This was the first room complete in our renovation and was used as a dining room and involved yet more wallpaper stripping and then a nice lick of new paint and sanded floorboards. This is going to be a twin room but for now we have left it as another small lounge.

Bedroom 3 - Before

More wallpaper - Before

Bedroom 3 - After

Bathroom & laundry pictures are still to come so we can save a treat until next week! Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. 

Before & After - The Big New Project - Part 1

As some of my more astute reader's may have noticed, the renovation updates have decreased exponentially with the increased stress, exhaustion, delay and blow out costs of our 'Big New Project.'

Now that I have allowed my inner 'Property Ladder' renovator loose, I can officially announce that I seriously hate renovating and most certainly can't face doing it again any time soon. 

Blissfully unaware of the horrible 7 weeks ahead

Worryingly, Mr L'Orange quite enjoyed the epic renovation (even with the bathroom tile nightmare) and is busy trying to persuade me it will be easier next time and we should do it all over again with a new project! When I said, 'No,' he then said, 'Okay in 6 months.'

Our project that was supposed to be fairly simple and take 4 weeks ended up being very hard and took 7 weeks and lots of blood, sweat and tears. However it is now finished, looks fantastic and Mr L'Orange and I are still married - all of which are small miracles.

I am going to update you with more room by room posts of exactly what we did, but thought as a treat, we could just rush to the 'before and after pictures' to brighten up your week and mine!

So you can enjoy the next part to the full, grab yourself a cup of tea, sit down and take a look at what you can achieve in 7 weeks when you get up at 5am, do DIY on your lunch hour and finish working at 9pm each night!

Let's start with our favourite room in the house - the Sunroom.

Sunroom before the renovations

Light, bright & airy sunroom after the renovations

Sunroom - before

Sunroom - after. The retro curtains got to stay!

The kitchen was completed fairly early on in the renovation and now with all the finishing touches is looking fantastic.

Retro kitchen - before

Functional layout but totally ugly kitchen - before

Lovely and spacious

New kitchen - after

Pressed tin splash back - my favourite thing in the kitchen

Main Bedroom makeover, involved removing a wall, lots of wallpaper then replacing the windows and carpet but wow what a difference.

Main bedroom in all its wallpaper glory - before

Yet more wallpaper - before

Main bedroom with no wallpaper - after

Main bedroom with a little lounge - after

The front of the house has also had a dramatic overhaul so that we could bring things out of the 50's and a little more up to date.

Old verandah during demolition

Hideous crazy paving & verandah posts - before

New deck & verandah posts - after

New deck & windows - after

Get ready for the second instalment of 'before & after' pictures tomorrow! Hope you like the reveal so far, would love to get your comments.

The Big New Project - The Kitchen

Original kitchen - very retro!

The kitchen was in desperate need for a makeover, the layout was fine but everything was pretty dated so we turned to IKEA for inspiration.

Stripped out kitchen

After lots of planning and many hours spent measuring, designing and working with the IKEA kitchen team we had drawings and were ready to go!

Mr L'Orange and I hired a truck and drove down to Sydney early one Saturday morning to go and pick up all our kitchen items.

We came back with enough boxes to fill an entire lounge and got to work putting the cabinet carcases together.

Putting together the cabinets was easier than I expected, Mr L'Orange and I had all the kitchen cabinets complete in just a few hours.

Me and our first completed cabinet

Cabinets ready for installation

New kitchen with new stone bench tops

Smart sink from IKEA and stone bench top

New gas hob also from IKEA

The recipe book nook - we love it! 

Fridge panels, pantry and overhead cupboard go in

The grand reveal of the kitchen is coming shortly, prepare yourself for pressed tin panels, lovely kitchen island and trendy handles!