What to do, what to do

OK, so now we have a house with insurance and are able to pay for it with a mortgage...... now comes the fun part - deciding what renovations to do.  Unfortunately our grand ideas of building a deck on the back or getting a new kitchen or bathroom were blown as we needed to hand over a 20% deposit to the bank.  Lucky the kitchen and bathroom are quite liveable for the moment.

So we needed to look at the little things that could make a big enough impact for now.

We both loved the wooden floors so of course we were going to get these polished.  The idea of white walls with dark wood floors appealed to us.  We didn't realise how many people asked us if we were going to get the whole house done.  Our idea was to carpet the bedrooms and polish the rest of the house.  Others had different perspectives.  After changing our minds about 3 times we thought to go with the majority... so polished floors throughout it is then.  We thought it would be a good idea to keep the possibility of a higher resale value.  (I had read that one of the major things to keep in main when renovating is resale value!)

Glen got the local paper and called around to get some quotes.  Variety of people with a variety of experience.  Some people said they wouldn't be able to do a dark brown stain with the natural oil polish we wanted.  This was a bit worrying as we were wondering why.  One person quoted above $3,500 for the job and another guessed about $2,500.  The quote we settled on was $2,900 from someone that met Glen at the property and measured up.  The guy doing the floors also wants to bring his father back with him this weekend after our settlement as his Dad has more experience.  The guy also wants to show us the stain on a test area before we go ahead with it.  This is because the floor is a mixed hardwood so it will be different brown colours when sanded back and may give a different finish after the stain goes on.  I think the area of wooden floors is a bit under 80sqm.  Here is what they look like now - picture of the hallway looking back towards the dining room (where I am standing) and on to the living room.

I am so lucky that Mum & Dad have a wardrobe business so they are going to install wardrobes in 3 of the 4 bedrooms.  Thanks Barry & Jackie!  Also thank you for paying for our polished floors.  That is a great help for us at the moment.  We can therefore concentrate on buying the other things we need - like an oven!  (Can you believe there is no oven in there at the moment!)

Another plan we have is to make something of the outdoor area for now until we can afford to build a lovely deck on the back of the house.

I think we will dig up the concrete parts and put some white pebbles down.  Perhaps, if we can afford to, put up a shade cloth above the area so you can sit underneath.

Here is what it looks like at the moment.  The door at the top of the ramp is our back door.  The double door at the bottom of the ramp leads into a studio room that use to be a carport.  Glen has ideas of making this his bar.  I think that's a good idea too!

We also want to either tile or lino the entry, the area near the backdoor/laundry and the toilet.  It would be great to hear what other people like - lino or tiles.  I wonder what is cheaper?  Will need to start and research that soon.

It is going to be great to use these pictures to compare before and after.

Glen has notes on what needs to be done outside.  After our building inspection some things were brought to our attention.  Maybe he will get on and blog about what needs to be done.

4 days till settlement...... how exciting!!