Transformation Of Our Home Exterior

Since the garage extension was approved late last year and we started the build in March, Mr P and I have made steady progress almost each and every weekend as well as the tradesman coming and going to do their bit over the past 6 months.

Not only has the new garage extension been built but we have had a complete overhaul of the exterior of our 1960s house as well ... come take a looksy

Before
This is how it looked in the very beginning
when we first moved in September 2009

Now
This is how it looks August 2012
Still to do - Roof Restoration & Garage Door (booked for August 2012)
Driveway, Landscaping & Fence (left to plan and do)

Since the render went onto the inside of the garage walls we've had the concrete floor poured in the garage which has made it really take shape. Mr P levelled out the ground and compacted it flat and then the concrete guys came in for the day and poured the floor and set it into shape and included a new step up into the laundry door which will be the new 'shoppers entry' into the house - that shoppers entry is the feature that made this house perfect for a garage extension.

Compacting the ground

New concrete floor and step

Mr P painted the ceiling in the garage with an undercoat and 2 top coats of white - yes that's 3 coats people perfectionist anyone?! It took quite a while because of all the cutting in around the corners and managed 1 coat a weekend over 3 weekends (this is when I busy myself making man soup!)

Painting the garage ceiling and new wiring

Then we spent 3 weekends painting the walls inside the garage - Mr P is the cutter in guy and I'm the roller girl - I have the blisters to prove it!

We went through 1.5 tins of 15 ltr paint (classic cream, the same as the front of the house) we did not 1, not 2, but yes you guessed it 3 coats of paint on the walls. The render really does suck up the paint so you need to apply it really thick. The render had to be painted because we have discovered it marks easily so the paint will protect it from any water marks or scratches etc.

Painting the rendered walls of the garage

The electrician came over a few weekends to do the lights and electricity for the garage doors and power sockets.

New lights went on the outside pillars (the first ones we bought from Bunnings had no earth in them so the electrician didn't want to install them so we took them back to replace them with better ones and they had new stock which were the same lights for the same price ($40) but with an earth in them - score!). We bought from Beacon Lighting 2 large fluro lights to go above each car space and 1 smaller fluro for the store room area but the electrician hasn't yet come back to install these ones.

New lights for the garage

As for the rest of the exterior of the house this has also had a total transformation.

All the outside eaves were taken down by Mr P and replaced by the roof carpenter with new ones. These will need to be painted as well (when we get the time!). The old eaves were asbestos so they had to be taken down carefully wearing a suit, mask, etc and wrapped up and disposed of properly. 

Old eaves off

New eaves on

The front of the house was rendered the weekend after the garage was rendered. So the render can go on smooth and straight Mr P got the grinder out and cut up our concrete pathway around the house so the render could get to the base of the house and also cut off the window ledge bricks to make it a smooth sleek render finish.

Before - With brick ledge

During - With bricks cut off

After - With render

Cutting the concrete path around the base of the house

Before
Bye Bye 2 tone bricks

During

The render going on

This is the only progress photo I have as I stupidly deleted them from the camera

before I uploaded them - so mad at myself!

After
What a difference the render makes
A facelift for old house bricks!

You saw our attempt at painting the front of the house render (and accidentally turning it into the hulk house with the wrong paint colour!). We still need to finish painting the front of the house.

We also need to paint the window frames - we painted one white but since picking our exterior colours we now think the window frames might look better the same colour as the gutters/facias in Ironstone or the roof colour (which we are yet to decide on!). As they are now, the white is very bright and glarey against the classic cream paint and a darker colour on the window frames might be what's needed to add some definition. Will see how it looks once the roof is painted and the garage door is on (which is happening this month).

The new facias have been on for a while as we needed them on to put the roof tiles back on.

The gutters and down pipes have been off for 3 months in this Winter weather and were installed earlier this month. I don't know how we survived the wet muddiness around the house but we have. We really had trouble finding someone to install the gutters and down pipes as we had already purchased most of the materials ourselves so in the end we just got them to supply and install and we'll have to sell our materials on Gumtree.

New facias and gutters in Ironstone

We painted this area of the house so the down pipe could go on

New down pipe on - blends perfectly with the paint colour

So that is the progress of the garage extension and home exterior over the last 6 months which has turned into not only a garage extension but a complete overhaul of the exterior of our house.

The roof restoration is booked in for this week (after a mammoth 10 week wait for them) and our garage door is going on next week (after a 6 week wait). It is really going to be the icing on the cake and cherry on top when those things are done I can't wait!

The next jobs to plan and organise are the retaining walls and once they are in the new driveway can be poured and I can actually drive my car into the new garage woot woot. The front fence will also need to be designed and built and the front landscaping done. I haven't a clue what materials we are going to use for any of these yet or who is going to do the work - us or someone else so I really need to get my front of the house design sorted out in the next few weeks so things can keep on moving.

Ideally, I'd love for this front house renovation to be finished by the end of the year - it's my 2012 goal and with 3 months to go I need to get moving!


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