I’ve not had much time over the last few days to do anything other than renovations.

The last time we did some much needed renovations was 15 years ago, when the driver of the repairs was a very badly leaking patio which the original builders tried twice to fix it, and failed miserably.

I came to the conclusion that if anything, if you want something done properly, then you have to do it yourself.

Then, a look through the house brought to light a great many other problems that over the preceding years.

The list grew:

Rebuild the patio

Completely remove the kitchen and replace it

Completely remove the main bathroom, and replace it

Chang a rather strange split roof in the main bedroom and make a bigger space for the bed

Completely rebuild the walk in wardrobe

Add ducted air conditioning

Replace all the doors, and I mean ALL the doors

Replace all carpeted floors with tiles

Repaint all the walls, doors and windows

Replace the curtains on all windows

That took nearly a year to get done and made a huge difference to the house we owned, making it much more livable. 

Needless to say, tens of thousands of dollars later, it was done.

Now, 15 years later, there was a new list:

Build a carport

Refresh and re point the roof tiles

Have the brick exterior rendered, and change colours to black roof and cream walls

Add security shutters to all the windows

Completely re landscape the front garden

Dry wall the exposed interior brick walls, and close in the cathedral roof

Repaint the rooms with a lighter shade, namely Antique White

Repaint all doors and windows.

Renovate the kids bedrooms to now accommodate grandchildren

Replace curtains with Venetian blinds

Scrub the floor tiles, especially the grout

It’s been a long list, and a year or so in the doing, and I’m now down to the final painting, floor scrubbing, and we’re looking at new blinds.

Then I can get back to writing, which I have been missing terribly.