The renovations...

Regular readers would know that DH and I have been having some renovations done as we have decided to stay where we are instead of buying a newer home 'farther out'. One thing that we wanted in a new place was an 'entertainment area' where we could have family gatherings without the 'squeeze'. We already had a side veranda which was just under 2 metres wide. A bit 'squeezy' but many times when it was raining our gatherings overflowed to that narrow space.

The railings on the veranda had started to rot from weathering (and we were also told that the 'wrong' nails were used which exacerbated the rotting of the wooden slats) and the roof leaked. So we decided to repair the veranda and at the same time extend it out a little bit. We first looked at doing this a couple of years ago and the builder who had worked on our front veranda gave us a quote, but he could never give us a start date...he finally admitted this year that he was too busy. DH's brother found us another builder, Russell, his neighbour. Russell came to see DH and I and we discussed what we wanted. He came back a day or so later with a quote. We agreed and then he came back on the first Saturday in October with a contract for us to sign. He started the following Monday and worked like a trojan on the job.

DH and I have had many shared meals at this table

Our old veranda furniture takes up so little space now!

The design of our 50s house was a bit strange...it didn't have a defined front entrance. The 'front' entrance was almost in line with the back door! I asked our builder if he could make what would give the appearance of a front entrance when he built the veranda. Don't you love it when someone interprets your ideas/concepts perfectly! We now have a front entrance.

Next step is painting the house and then planting some shrubs near the new front stairs

The cost of this renovation is about $1000 more than the stamp duty if we had been able to sell for a good price and buy somewhere else. Stamp duty went up quite a bit in the last state budget and the new rates came into effect on July 1 this year. We're happy to remain here until the yard gets a bit too unmanageable...should be a while though! lol

On Wednesday night we are having a family gathering to celebrate Nikki's 25th birthday. We'll be bringing out the trestle tables from under the house and the outdoor chairs stored under there as well. Eventually we'll get a larger table which can stay on the veranda, along with matching chairs but we're in no hurry. DH wanted all of this to be a surprise for the family so nothing has been written on our respective Facebook pages yet. I feel very fortunate that we have been able to add to our house and now have a very pleasant area to not only have family gatherings, but also just a nice place to relax and read/knit/sew or just somewhere to daydream.