Part #7: hard yakka.
In between looking for work and playing with Numpty Bub, I am working to improve the house. My mother and her husband are both DIY gurus, and together they have successfully renovated most of their five investment properties to a high standard. Mum used to be a real estate agent, so she can quickly tell a good fixer-upper from a lost cause.

Our Aussie house was built in the late 50s or early 60s, back in the days when Australia was importing Brits as cheap labour under the so-called “Ten Pound Pom” scheme. Our suburb still bears the legacy of the £10 Poms, with English street names and brick/tile bungalows constructed in a neo-British style. Unlike modern Australian houses, our house has solid internal walls. This keeps it remarkably quiet, and also acts as a form of insulation. The house is built diagonally across the block, so the sun rises over our garage and sets over our outdoor entertaining area. Consequently, the interior remains cool despite rising temperatures outside. We’ll still need to use our aircon in summer, but it won’t be unbearable.

The house still has most of its original décor, which is… not what we would have chosen. To put it mildly. However, there are many good features in excellent condition, which we will retain to preserve the character. One of these is the outrageous pink bath with matching sink; they look excruciating at the moment, but they are absolutely perfect, without a single scratch or chip – so it makes sense to keep them! The colour should be less intimidating once we’ve replaced the wallpaper with a calming shade of white.









Argh, the dreaded wall-mounted heater with traditional string-pull! Clear evidence that a Pom once lived here… Fortunately we have a built-in extractor fan with heat lamps, so that nasty old thing won't be staying for long.

Part #8: more hard yakka.
We moved into our house on the 18th, and renovation commenced almost immediately. First to receive a facelift is the lounge/dining area; next on the list is Mrs Stampede’s study, then Numpty Bub’s bedroom, then the kitchen and hallway. All the other rooms can wait. Most of the work involves painting and plaster repair, so it makes sense to do this now, before our sea freight arrives.

Here's a few "before" shots to let you know what we're up against:









Here's myself and Mrs Stampede, dressed in "renovation uniform" and looking like the bogans that Target rejected:

Vash, in that era and from looking at some of those features, get the old aspestos checked. You probably already have, its not just the obvious old grey asbestos style sheets, it can be in walls, floors, panels in bathrooms , even floor tiles, lino, the sheeting they used to put in showers. We did up a old waterfront in bris of that era and it came up in the cladding, shower cubicles, bathroom walls, soffits, as well as the obvious spots. We had some of the exact same products in our house as your piccys, plus 11 types of wallpaper and 7 different carpets. Different rooms had been done up in different eras, bed 2 had a 8 foot long padded velvet headboard mirrors. Always wondered what had gone on in there

We are also in the middle of renovating.We rushed it first time round so are now redoing it properly.Finally getting rid of the horrible carpet and putting in oak flooring.Also getting rid of the dark skirting and replacing it with deep white ones instead.We are keeping our local bunnings in business.All will be worth it in the end.Good luck with yours.

Thanks mate, you too.

We are trying to get it right the first time around. All skirting boards, doors and frames in the living area will be white. The carpet is a good quality wool berber and can stay where it is for a while; later we'll rip it up, polish the pine floorboards underneath and whack on a few coats of Estapol or something.

Will be fantastic. You can preserve as much character as you like - and a paint and plaster job will do wonders. (Nothing wrong with the bath really). In fact, it's all some rooms will need.

That (franky awful - even for the time) fireplace brick surround - we had that in our rental when we moved here.

Forget that many houses will have Brit tastes from the 60s.

To be fair on the poor old fireplace bricks, they do look a little more respectable now that we're halfway through the repainting. But we'll doubtless repaint them when we finally rip out the old (dead) oil heater.

Photos from today's renovation work:











Some of these might be slightly out of focus; it was hard to tell, as I think I still had some plaster dust on my glasses.

Its amazing what a lick of paint does.A window seat with storage would be nice in the bay window.Are you going to put some ceiling roses in.The fire place looks fine.Put a nice picture or mirror overhead.Jeeze you would think that I knew what I was talking about.

One step ahead of ya, mate! We have a window seat with storage already, and a hook directly over the fireplace for a mirror or picture.

We won't install ceiling roses, as this would break with the period style of the existing decor.

Bit short on detail Vash! Looks great mate

Welcome back mate . Looking good there

I loved reading these updates Vash. I think my fave bits are the one where you haggled yourself a bargain - good on ya!

Thanks guys.

Hey, is that a Black puss i see sat on the window sill?