The promised bathroom round up

Finally! I had the bathroom in a respectable state today and remembered to get out the camera for some photos. The laundry, well, this is an exercise in reality blogging not picture perfect blogging!

We love our new bathroom, it took about 5 months from start to complete finish and was out of action for about 4 of those 5 months. The cost ended up being around $22000, a little more than we expected but still much less than quoted ($40,000+)!

The toilet is separate to the bathroom, so, no, the we did not have to go 5 months without one!

We did everything except the asbestos removal, plumbing and electricity. When I say 'we', once J arrived two months into the process I bowed out and A did the rest of the job. We did have assistance over a couple of weekends from keen parents and my sister which certainly helped move the process along.

So without further ado, here are the pictures.

Bathroom before...

Bathroom after...

Bathroom - the reality!

Laundry before...

Laundry after

So there you go. Quick explanation - the original bathroom and laundry were next to each other going down the hallway and the laundry had a door to the backyard. We took out the wall between both rooms and created a European laundry in the hallway. This stopped the waste of space that was the walkway in the laundry and gave us more space to play with in the bathroom design. The bath and half the shower area is in the space that was the laundry. The wet room design worked for us as it is efficient in terms of space and means that J and any future kiddies can splash all they like without wetting the whole room!

Ok, so that's it. Thanks for reading and commenting over the past couple of years. 

Be well xoxo

Wrapping it up...

When I first started reading blogs I used to be a bit uncomfortable about bloggers who just disappeared. Normal post one day, gone the next. There was, for me, always an element of concern and hope that no dreadful fate had befallen them. This being said, I'm acutely aware that I'm at risk of just dropping out of the blogosphere in the same way!

So here's were I am at. J is now 7 months old! Where did the time go? He is still a terrible sleeper but he's an absolute delight during the day. He's started crawling around the place and getting into EVERYTHING!

Motherhood so far has been the most challenging and all consuming thing I have ever done, I suppose that is to be expected and a good thing.

I have until July off work. I know I'll blink and it'll be here. So, reflected in my lack of posts is my desire to be making the most of this time and that means I am moving on from some things that used to be important to me. This is one of them. Renovations are another. Given this was a blog that I wanted to first and foremost be about the house and renos it makes sense to bring it to a close now.

I know I am yet to show off our beautiful bathroom and I'm going to boast and say it deserves showing off so I'll do that before I shut up shop. I'm also thinking that I'll check out Blurbs 'Blog to Book' function so I can keep this, in hard copy, as a diary of sorts.

I guess that I just wanted to say I'm finishing up here but all is well, wonderful in fact. I just have other things to do. So, thanks for joining me on the journey this blog has recorded over the last couple of years and stay tuned for one final renovation post.

It only took 3 years!

For the last 3 years, this is what our fence has looked like. A very sad state of affairs! Please excuse the very neglected backyard. As we finally, finally have a shiny, new fence, we can start the backyard landscaping...when we've recovered from the bathroom reno that is!

And here she is...

The best bit about this improvement was that we didn't have to do it! The colour is Deep Ocean and I like that it seems to change colours throughout the day. We went for a darker colour so it fades into the background a bit more where there is greenery.

So, onwards and upwards with the backyard landscaping! It will be a slow and steady process but at least we have a plan in mind already!

Happy 3rd House Anniversary

As seems to be the tradition, this post is well and truly late! It should have been done in August, much like my taxes which are still on the to do list, ick.

Anyway, the list as it stood August last year...with updates in blue

• New fence - Finally happening next week!
• Painted lounge room + kitchen - Done
• Paint the rest of the doors - Ha! Maybe one day! I'll let you know on the 4th anniversary!
• Floorboards sand and polish - Chose to carpet rooms but main living/dining/hall still need attention. Glad we haven't done this yet as there would have been a lot of damage with all the bathroom renos.
• Finish the spa area - in progress again. The spa is in and usable, just not pretty. No further progress, it'll happen when the deck does.
• Bathroom/laundry reno  Waiting on the replacement bath to arrive but totally get to cross this off!
• Deck out the front - Changed to paving and is DONE!
• Vegie garden - Done
• Chook shed - Done

• Re-hang pictures that have been down since painting (in January) - Done
• Get old wardrobe doors back on or buy and hang new ones (they have been off since February) - Done

So, what is on the agenda for the next year?

• Finish two garden beds in the front yard
• Finish painting toilet
• Stain and varnish French doors on the back of the house
• Deck on the back of the house
• Build two more veggie garden beds
• General maintenance of things we've already done like cleaning and sealing pavers, weeding etc

The deck is the big one and not really likely to happen any time soon as funding will need to come from my return to work and I would rather the extra time off than a deck!

What's on your to-do-list?

More holidays

We've been out and about the last couple of weeks. It hasn't done wonders for J's sleep (don't think he's a fan of the portacot) but it has been good for us!

So, where have we been?

Supporting A doing Tough Mudder in Sydney.  A long day for spectators but certainly an eye opener!

Visiting the beach for the very first time

and taking lots of walks in the pram. This one is on a visit to Nana and Pop.

J is 16 weeks today! He's a total cutie, but I am a little bit biased! He's just started rolling back to front and has front to back so worked out it's difficult to get him to do tummy time as he just flips himself over! Cheeky monkey!

Other than that, I went down to my parents place for a week while A was still at work and came home to a tidy and rearranged house with no remaining reno tools inside. What an awesome husband I have. We still don't have a bath. We are getting a new fence. I need to take a picture of what is there at the moment so you can see just how much we need this to happen!

I want to do a house post but we'll see how J sleeps this afternoon to see if it is going to happen!

Hope you are well!

Hanging out and holidaying

Is what we've been doing.

We went on our first little family holiday to the snow. It was awesome, I even got out for a couple of runs myself! We then drove down to Victoria and stopped in with family and a couple of friends who have a daughter a couple of weeks older than J. J was a little champ with all the travelling and sleeping in different places, we were so proud of him!

Since we've been back we've been seriously working on day sleeps, I was getting sick of the 45min cat nap and resulting grumpy baby and the 'I'll only sleep in your arms' thing we had going. Thankfully we are making progress in that department. 

I'm loving spring and the sunshine it has brought, being able to get out and walk, walk, walk. I calculated that I've walked at least 20km in the last week! Thankfully J loves the pram and is perfectly content being pushed around and sleeps like a dream when we are walking!

Other than that, I'm just being a Mum. It's pretty wonderful even though it's the hardest thing I have ever done and I doubt myself a bit too much. J was 13 weeks last Thursday. That's a whole 1/4 of a year! I can't believe how quickly time passes. I want it to slow down so I can savour every moment and all the cute things he's starting to do - this week it's babbling away to his toys and us, it's so cute my heart melts. On the other hand, I can't wait to see what is next!

I'll leave you with some photos of the last few weeks. I will do a final bathroom reveal when we get the bath. *insert eye roll here* Please cross your fingers for us that it doesn't take 8 weeks! J will totally be too big for the baby bath in a couple of weeks, let alone 8!

Hope you are well!

Musical mobile never fails to please

"You're funny Mum!"

                 

Family photo at the snow

Getting the hang of tummy time

Bathroom setback 653...

So, last night we went to install the bath, open the box, big 20cm crack down one end....not happy Jan!

We can return it, although the bloke was not all that happy as it's been so long since we actually picked it up. I suppose we should have checked the day we bought it. We will have to wait potentially up to 2 months until they have another one in. So the saga continues...

On the bright side, the shower screen went in today so the shower part of the bathroom is now fully functional. I will be showering inside tonight! So freaking excited.

Jesse is awake.

More later!

It's starting to look a lot like a bathroom!

Jobs left - grout, sand and paint, cornice, seal grout, install bath, fixtures and shower screen.

So close, yet so far!

I'll let Jesse show you how I feel about finally finishing...

Wall tiles

Again a post in photos as Jesse is in one arm!

First of the wall tiles, a momentous occasion!

End of day 1

Feature tile in!

End of day 2

Vanity hung, end of day 3 - yes, this took most of the day, it's best not to ask!

A put in the bottom row of tiles last night after cutting them all to fit their specific spot and the fall of the floor so we can finally get someone in to measure and make the shower screen! What a milestone! Still lots to go and we are closing in on 3 months without a bathroom. It's getting a bit old to be honest but we are happy with how it's looking and excited that it's almost painting and grouting time!

Bathroom progress in pictures

Jesse is asleep in one arm and it's darn hard to type with one hand so here is our bathroom progress in pictures...

Where we were up to last bathroom post back at the start of June

Walls sheeted

More walls sheeted

Sheets jointed

    

   

Underfloor heating installed - did this with my sister the day before Jesse was born!

Screes to create fall to drain laid

Dry lay of floor tiles - the green stuff is waterproofing

Laying the tiles

Floor tiles complete!

They should be dry today so we, well A, can start planning the wall tiles!

Laundry progress

The bathroom reno continues. I've stopped counting the days. It's been a long time. However, we now have a functional laundry that only needs a tidy and a coat of paint on the door frame!

Here is our progress in pictures...

Short of the plumbing and electrics we've done the whole thing ourselves and are really happy with how functional it is. It's such a better use of space to stand in the hallway than to have a dedicated room with standing space that only serves one purpose.

As you can see there is still a lot of reno junk on the floor. The bathroom is still in progress but shouldn't be much longer as the floor tiles were laid yesterday.

Can't believe we might be finished soon!