The Maddens - Landed Gentry (Part 1 of 3)

Well, I wouldn't quite go that far. But we do own a small portion of our own home! After a tumultuous 3 weeks, things are finally starting to find their place; the dishes are in the cupboard, the coffee table is in the sitting room, our beds are in the bedroom, and Erin is in the local coffee shop :)

I dare say, the Bakery is fading into a memory rather than a longing. We love this place.

As you know from previous posts, we have bizarrely ended up just 4 doors up from the house we were bidding on. That house, a massive project, is now engulfed in scaffolding and is getting gutted. Thank heavens we did not win that bidding war. Our home, at first glance, was almost turnkey. But as my parents will testify, the four of us have been busy bees turning this house into a home.

In a nutshell here is what you need to know (but we'd rather you just visit):


THE HOUSE

3 bedrooms, 1200 sq ft, 2 storey, built in 1955. There is a large side garden, small driveway, and tiny back yard. The garden is extremely well put together, planted with gorgeous flowers and shrubs (the vendor tried to add $5000 on to the price after we were in escrow she loved it that much!). Unfortunately, we have neither the skill, capacity, or time to devote to it and it will surely die an ugly death. All gardening volunteers are welcome! There are features characteristic to the age of the property: 4 fireplaces - it was cold in the olden days before central heating (2 now blocked up), cornicing on the ceiling, bay windows, a tiny kitchen, and creaky stairs (which we mostly fixed). Here is how it looks from the outside:

The Front (it's the blue one)

The Side

Side Again

The Garden

THE TRANSFORMATION

Here is a sample of how some rooms looked before we moved in:

Main Bedroom

Bedroom 3

Dining Room

Living Room

First off, it must be noted and accentuated that this project, in this timeframe, and in this budget would only have been possible thanks to these 2 legends! Their years of experience, knowledge, and hard graft were invaluable to us:

Here is how it looked empty on the day we got the keys:

Living Room

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Porch

Laundry Room

Laundry Room

The Throne

Bedroom 2 - Yours!!

Bedroom 1 - Ours!!!!

Ours again

Bedroom 3 - Méabhs!!!

A big long wheelbase van was hired as well as using dad's van for the move. It was a marathon effort over 4 days. Here is the calm before the storm:

The Bakery Bomb-site

What lies ahead will almost wreck us but we are blissfully unaware at this stage

And just like that, it was gone. Our home for 3 years laid empty and bare. It was a sad day:

It just doesn't look the same!

Emotions on show (or not)

One last farewell

Next time on the blog.... the action shots! 90% of all the work done was crammed into one hectic weekend with 14 hour work days, lots of fast food, boombox music, and paint fumes.