The renovations are complete - this stage at least!

Today we finished it!

Despite Elizbeth being really unwell with a sore throat, and my energy leves way down - we pushed on and finished all the painting.  And then we put all the big furniture back in place. So here are some morning/evening photos.

8.12am - the ceiling needs painting, the curtain rail needs to be hung and the border repainted.

6.30pm - room back together - well almost - a happy cat asleep on my bed again.

8am the lounge with my bed and furniture all in it

The entrance all - all a mess this morning.

6.30pm - my lounge back in place - no picutres on the wall yet . .

But looking really good so far.

It has a very long 16 days of hardword - but the results are wonderful - I am so happy with the changes we have made. The house feels rejuvinated, blessed and healthy.

Almost finished

I keep saying this and thinking this and hoping that this is true, but at last we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel or should I say the bottom of the paint tin. Today after a 10 hour day - my bedroom, entrance hall and bathroom are painted. I still need to do the ceilings tomorrow, but all the horrible hard wall painting is finished - well almost.

Sarah helped Elizabeth and I in the bathroom, by cleaning the walls and taping up the edges

Painting my bedroom wall - note the carefully taped wallpaper border!

Red in the face from bending

And now the sad story about the wallpaper

The only piece of wallpaper in the entire house that I liked was the border in my bedroom - so I carefully taped it - BUT - it didn't work. As we tried to carefully ease the tape off the border, it just ripped of the pattern and even 'easily' pulled the border off the wall. I wanted to scream and cry and rage, instead just pulled it off and threw it away - new plan tomorrow - maybe a colour strip or just paint it the same as the rest of the wall.

End of a long 10 hour day  -  the roller, plastic and tray - all ready for the bin.

One more day to go and then I can get the house back in place - it will be lovely to be able to find everything and have the furniture back in place to appreciate all our hard work.  

Two days of hard work

 Yesterday morning, I started early and began painting the children's bathroom, I had spent the day before on my back in my toilet trying to get the wallpaper off the walls, I hate the idiots who put wallpaper up in this house.

 Back to yesterday, by lunchtime, with Elizabeth's help, both bathroom and toilet were painted - now no longer a horrible pink, but a lovely fresh creamy/white.  The electrician had also been and removed the 'stupid' wall lights from my bedroom and installed downlights, so I began patching the walls.

 Our room is going to be lovely, with downlights that have a dimmer switch for the 'romantic' moments, or even watching TV.

Today was a day of hell - we could not shift the wallpaper glue, so we called in the 'big guns' - Dad brought his sanding machine up and between the two of us, we managed to sand it almost clean.

 A few hours later Dad was snow- white with dust - I managed to stay behind the camera today, so sorry no photos of me covered in dust.

 Bathroom almost ready - a light sanding required tomorrow and then we can paint - thank goodness.

All the floors are done!

It has been a long day - we started around 7.30am and only finished around 5pm - what a day.  We whizzed through the floorboards until the last couple of small pieces and then the quadrant - this is the side that holds the floorboards down against the skirting boards. Well this was so awkward and the angles not 45 degrees, so had spent ages figuring them out.

Measure twice - cut once

The last piece of board

And so it slots all in together.

This was 4pm - after a very long day - finally fitting the spacer between the tiles and floorboards

One last piece to go!

The day also involved Mom, taking Matt to school, fetching Matt from school and taking him to the doctor and then taking him back to school. Doing the shopping, and then fetching him at 3pm.  In between that I also took Sarah to the doctor and brought home lunch.

Elizabeth spent the day stripping the wallpaper from my bathroom - it is a job from Hell.  What idiot puts wallpaper in a bathroom. It has taken over 20 hours of work, and we are not anywhere near finished. In fact we are going to have to sand the walls to try and get all the glue off - what a job.

A 'Shitty task' - Here I am underneath the toilet bowl, trying to scrape the wallpaper and glue off the walls.

No Space

Elizabeth leaning over the shower, even wallpaper up here.

The Mess

Another one of us trying to clear the wallpaper.

So ends another long day.  Nearly finished all the tasks for this stage - we have now been working on the house since February - so I guess 2011 is going down as the year of the new house.

Running out of energy

My energy levels have plummeted today - I think a week of solid work and little sleep has finally caught up.

So today, we were defeated by the floorboards - the final rows, were just too short and need some fiddling and I have a bay-window in my room, which requires, some awkward cutting - so we called it a day and will finish it off tomorrow.

I am so frustrated with myself - just wanted to get the floors finished today and then the painting tomorrow - never mind we have achieved miracles in a week.

Going great guns - on a roll

Nearly there

Defeated by this small strip . . .

. . . and the Bay window

Cleo enjoyed the company in the bathroom as we stripped wallpaper

I have the biggest bedroom in the house

Tonight I am sleeping in the lounge -  in the biggest room of the house.

This morning after 'another' early wake-up call from Cleo (3.45am) - I didn't get up then. I was still up by 5am and by 5.40am had stripped most of the wallpaper from my bathroom - who puts wallpaper in a bathroom????

With wallper

Without wallpaper - needs cleaning and then painting

So by 8am I woke Elizabeth and suggested we have the morning off - maybe a movie or some shopping.  I knew if I continued, I would work all day - so we headed out for a few hours and a rest.  Well - it was lovely - although instead of working for a full day - we worked for half a day and achieved a full day's work.

When we got home at noon - we decided to put all the furniture back into the correct rooms.  First of all my study, then the dining room and finally the lounge - but the lounge ended up in the dining room; so that my bedroom could move into the lounge.

 Putting back the glasseware

 Study almost back in place - bedroom furniture moved to the lounge - so let's leave the carpet until tomorrow.

 No of course NOT!  So up came the carpet . . .

 Pull - tug - fold - push . . .

Now Matthew - don't lift until I tell you to - do you understand????

So let's leave the wooden nail beds until tomorrow . . . No let's do it now!

 And finally my bedroom in the lounge

 And at 5.40pm I am in bed - exhausted, tired, finished and ready for sleep - well blogging first and then to bed.

Tomorrow we do the floorboards in my bedroom and the rest of this week - it will all be painted.

Another day - 2 rooms this time!

Last night, although Elizabeth and I were tired - we decided to push on and prepare the dining room for painting this morning.  After a restless night and an early wake-up from Cleo - 4.30am - I fell back asleep and had horrible dreams, so at 7am when I awoke I wasn't in the best of moods.

Still it was a fresh day and a fresh start. 

Today's achievements have been nothing but remarkable - Elizabeth and I began in the Dining room and powered through it,  and while the first coat of paint dried in the dining room - we emptied the study - which I had only put back a couple of days ago.  When the dining room was finished - it was on to the study and by 6pm both rooms had the ceilings painted and two coats of paint on all the walls.

I also want to acknowledge my family - to my Sarah who has kept Elizabeth and I watered - cold drinks on tap, today she made us a fresh beautiful cake and tidied up with Granny.  To my Dad - thank you for working on the floorboards in Elizabeth and Sarah's cupboards - a left over chore from the last lot of laying. And to my Mom - thank you for supper - yummy mash potato and sausages - for the shopping, for the encouragement, for the tidying up and just for being you.  To Matthew, please get better sweetheart - I am worried about you. (Matt is sick with the flu & has been for over a week).

So here are some photos of the day's progress. 

Matthew out of bed for the first time in a week - pretending to help - a few hours later - he was back asleep

Oh my goodness - wish I was getting ready for the Opera - at least I looked a little smarter!

I think Elizabeth feels the same

Our beautiful girl - baking a 'perfect' cake for morning tea

Preparing the study for painting

Stripping off the border in the study

The lounge filled with furniture

What - huh!  - Not a great look - Sarah took this surprise photo of me - I love it

Half way painted

Looking like a skunk - smelling like one as well, after working in high humidity all day - great to be posting from bed - fresh and clean

Final act for the day - sitting in the driveway washing the brushes and rollers - it will be a few days before we paint our bedroom.

Thank you Elizabeth for your help: for the fun that we have had together: for the laughter we have shared: and for your hard work. You are an amazing young lady and I love you - you have a work ethic to be proud of, and you can achieve anything you dream or want - if these few days work are any indication of how you live your life.

Tomorrow we will put the house back together and then Elizabeth and I are heading to the movies. A deserved day of rest.