The House 'The Jacks Built' 2007 - 2014 started with the kitchen.
As much as I'm a lover of all things old and vintage....sometimes things are
even just a bit too old for me.
It started with the oven.
Check out the left hand side of it....there is discoloring to the cupboard door.
That was because the oven door had 'warped' and all of the 'HOT' air was escaping.
Not only were we wasting a heap of heat and power, but the paint was beginning to burn on the cupboard next to it.
The kitchen was also extremely dark.
With a Rimu kitchen, floors & furniture - it was too much.
We even had a rimu ceiling.
Once we could afford it - it had to go.
So onto Trade Me it went.
Along with the table!
Which I might add - was a 'dumping' station mostly of bags, mail & junk
as we sat mostly around the tiny breakfast bar in the middle
of the kitchen.
This is the wall opposite the stove which was also taken out.
We closed this off and created an entrance from
bedroom on the other side....
as this would one day be our en-suite.
Next to the back door here - there is a large set of bi fold windows
which we also removed and in place we put a massive
set of bi fold cedar doors.
That really was the making of the room along with the new kitchen.
At the opposite end of the room from the back door - was
this eye sore.
I really really hated this fireplace in the room.
Not only was it ugly, but it served no purpose what so ever.
The original 'Aga' that once stood in the place of the pot belly
we actually found down the back of our property in the wooden playhouse.
That also went on Trade Me....along with this Pot Belly!
We had the builder close this old brick fire place off to create more wall space.
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This is the wall today!
No giant dining table in the middle of the room to take up space - we converted this end of
the kitchen/dining into almost a second living area since our
house doesn't have one.
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The wall by the clock is the other wall we closed off to make our en-suite on the other side.
With the back door & old windows gone - the bi fold doors work a treat in
the summer time!
A bigger breakfast bar was decided on since we all love sitting up there!
And a smaller dining table in the top left corner.
The paint colour on the walls is the same as the ceiling.
While our kitchen isn't overly huge - the space works really really well.
I am a lover of baking and cooking - so the size of the stove
was a must for me!
The bathroom was hideous!
Dark purple and mauve on the walls along with more Rimu.
Believe it or not there was a wall from the floor to ceiling between the bath
and the toilet.
In this photograph the door into the toilet has been removed.
So there was no window in the toilet at all for light or fresh air!
To the left of the photo was the original doorway into the bathroom and there was only
a bath and the pedestal vanity in there with
a mosaic mirror.
And prior to walking in there - in a wee room all of it's own, like the toilet was
the shower!!
That too had no natural light - so was incredibly dark and damp.
We opened it right up as one room.
At the end of the bath in exactly the original spot - is the toilet.
To the right hand side behind the heated towel rail is a 2 metre x 1.5 metre
walk in tiled shower.
Plenty of room and by having the shower this size meant
we didn't have to have a glass door to catch any over spray.
This is a photo of our first Christmas in the lounge.
There was no carpet on the floor and the window frames were all Rimu.
The wall colouring, which you can't see was a soft mushroom colour.
As you can see I have painted over the Rimu and we now have carpet!
This is the end of our hallway.
This is taken from our front door so you can see how long our
hallway is!
With our floorboards - we sanded them and then oiled them with a
final coat that had a hardener in it.
I wanted the floor boards to look not only rustic - but lived in.
Our son's room was yellow.
It was updated as it too needed freshening up.
Like most teenage boys - he has a passion for cars!
That is why I picked a wallpaper full of them.
The red throw and light shade compliments the colouring in his wallpaper.
I also chose the 'drum' light shade to make it a little more modern.
I unfortunately don't have a photo of the front room.
But I do remember this day very well - it was incredibly hot when I was pulling
things apart to decorate and the cat came in and
passed out on the bed in the sun.
This is now Ruby's room.
Pink and Ballerina's - and all things pretty!
Ruby also love's to draw, so I painted an entire wall with black board paint.
Our master bedroom.
Once upon a time, a little window was in here and it was a shame not
to take in the view of the garden from our bed.
So we had a set of french doors installed.
We are more than happy with the finished result.
I also love our wardrobe doors!
We have a 3.2 metre stud (12ft) and these doors are 3 metres high.
Not only are they gorgeous doors, but the storage is amazing inside!
I actually found them for sale on Trade Me.
A clothing shop in New Market had gone into Liquidation
and were selling different items off within the store.
These were the doors to their changing rooms.
And finally, our teenage daughter always dreamed of having her very own sleep out.
So we created it for her.
She too is a lover of all things Ballet, Pink and vintage.
There is a set of french doors off her room out to her own private courtyard.
She also has her own toilet etc out there too.
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