Category: General
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The Shed Conversion
After finally completing the new garden shed and moving everything out of the old sheds, we could begin on renovating them. The design was simple: resize the existing 3 rooms (each measuring around 2.5 x 5m) to make a box room (2.5 x 3m) a cubby for chemicals, pool equipment and charging station (2.5 x…
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The New Shed
We have a block of sheds that, apart from being hideous, are quite dilapidated. Although they’re water-tight, the roof isnt high enough, the walls are cracked and crumbling and they arent particularly secure (tools are constantly being “liberated” by night-visitors!) So we thought it was about time to address that. The only problem was that…
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The Swimming Pool
We built a swimming pool over the wall a year ago (to the week) and lost access to it once the new tenants moved… just enough time for us to realize we really wanted one of our own. It was perfect. Big enough to swim lengths, practice tumble-turns or just sink yourself into on a…
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Over The Wall (Phase 1)
We’ve spent the last 18 months slowly chipping away at bits and bobs on the house next door. In an effort to curb the budget we decided not to make any structural changes and just do our best to return the house to its former glory with a few mod cons here and there (solar…
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Patio Upgrade
This was our house when we first arrived! I don’t have a picture of the original patio at that time, but I’m standing on it to get a shot of the house in the photo below It went through a few neaten-ups since 2014 when we arrived, but before the overhaul began this is what…
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The Cottage (Brickwork & Roof)
Having deliberated for some time on whether or not and if so then where we should build a cottage, we threw caution to the wind and broke ground on our latest project. It was a shot in the dark given the state of our economy (in October 2017); a decision to risk borrowing-to-build at a…
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Two Years Later
Just over two years after we first moved in, I thought it would be a good idea to post pictures of what everything now looks like. The kitchen, scullery and rear side of the house where the two spare bedrooms are Unrecognizable. With the new garage in the way, the house is now completely…
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The Pantry Conversion
This project was (essentially) turning what was the passage from the kitchen to the bedrooms, into a functional pantry. There was an intermediary step taken when we first arrived two years ago to block off the passage way (which used to go straight through the back of this room) which was a good temporary move.…
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Our New Driveway
Day one, bringing in the quarry dust, crusher run (gravel), pit sand and 12,000 driveway pavers Day two, excavating the old driveway Day three, finishing excavation Day five, laying the herring bone pavers Day six, cutting the edges and finishings up to the tar
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The Laundry Conversion (Part 1)
Day 1, master builder Freddy going over the plan with his labour End of day 1, foundations dug and laid Day 2, up to floor level Day 3, slab preparation and keying for doorway Day 4, full swing getting to roof level and floor slab Day 5, floor screed and truss extensions fitted. Roof level…