We have recently purchased a 1900's chamferboard cottage. Thought someone would like to see some pics of our renovations so far.
I have made a budget of $10,000. The reason being is that it makes me think of everything I do to the property and having a budget of $10,000 I always think of how to save money. I do what is necessary and will do work ourselves or only get in a professional when we want to.
Timber floors polished : The floorboards were in reasonable condition so we are very pleased with the way they came up after polishing
Before : The enclosed front verandah had red carpet squares over timber
After: The floor boards after we had them polished
Bedroom 1 old carpet
Bedroom 1 New polished floorboards
Hello Reno Queen
What a difference a floor makes.
Looks great.Did you stain the floor boards in the verandah ?
Hi
As the verandah is enclosed (they call it a sleepout) we had it polished the same as the two bedrooms.I couldnt believe the difference and it is so nice to walk on the polished floors
Kitchen cosmetic makeover
Being a small kitchen we are constrained by what we could do. Being a rental property we decided to keep the stove and gas top which is in pretty good condition
Old kitchen
New makeover (still more to be done)
We got one of the benchtops and one cupboard half price from IKEA bargain sectionHave you got a picture of the front you wouldn't mind posting?
I confess I don't know what a 1930's chamferboard cottage looks like.Cheers
ElkaI will post a pic of the house but have a look at the enclosed front verandah. Notice the white wall these are chamferboards. . Its like weatherboards but wider. I believe you cant buy them any more they have to be especially made.
The white wall is the original front of the house. The original verandah has been enclosed to make another room
Chamferboards have a "straight" finish with a bevelled edge at the top of each board. Because of the bevel each board sits flat and creates a nice straight finished line down the outside wall. Queenslanders usually are weatherboard and Californian Bungalows generally are chamferboard. Weatherboards don't have the bevel and each board slopes out towards the bottom. They look quite different. Chamferboards look a bit more refined and "finished".
This is so exciting what you've done – we are looking at a circa 1930's house tomorrow that will need a touch up in the kitchen, floors done and a lick of paint. I totally think that $10k is a great starting budget (for us at least) to get a house looking fabulous.
Don't you just love IKEA !! Question – are buying, reno and selling or buying, reno, rent & sell. If you're Brisbane based, did you get a good deal on your polished floors ? We're about to do our PPOR.Hello Rache
I decided when I bought the cottage I was going to have a budget of $10,000 because if I didnt I would just buy whatever and really not try to get good bargains.
Last week I got these cupboard doors with glass in them from IKEA for $7 each normally $40 each . If I didnt have a budget I would have bought them at the full price possibly.
I have spent about $4500 so are on track. We are having a two car garage built as well but that is not included in the $10,000 budget for the house. I try to do as much as we can ourselves.
If I come under budget then I will be happy.
The floors cost us $1,100 which was for bedroom 1, bedroom 2 and front verandah. We had them professionaly done
We bought the house for our two daughters so we are doing the reno and will keep the cottage. We all pay a share in it
Removing the cladding;
I wanted to see what exactly was under the cladding as I didnt want us to paint the cladding. Luckily it is chamferboards. You never quite now what is under there as cladding can hide problems.
The chamferboards are in quite good condition. The cladding is difficult to pull off but its worth it to see the original boards
Removal of metal window hoods
Covering up old Louvre windows
I have come up with a way of covering up the old glass louvre windows without removing them
We are puttting up timber slats accross the window. These will be painted white.
The louvres can still be opened but they are old . This way the cost is minimal as the glass louvres would have cost a lot to replace so now they can be left in place
Reno Queen – thanks for posting your progress – very interesting to see – I hope to do a reno some day – I have my eye on a 4 Br house which needs massive csometic stuff but I suspect nothing structural and it would be +CF once it was done but I have failed to convince my husband to go with it. He thinks anything we can't rent out immediately is too risky. The irony is it is also a big corner block so subdivision would be possible too. I shall just have to live vicariously through you for a while!!
cheers.re Ikea…
about 1 yr back on ebay someone was selling a $10,000 Ikea voucher for $8k, they lived far north QLD and came down for a week to sell the card (was only valid at Logan). I asked myself, if Ikea had a 20% off everything sale, would I go in & spend $8k? NO!!!!……….so I thought, how can I make this work? I offered $6k knowing they were very motivated. They accepted! we were doing a reno at the time and only bought stuff from the discount area. We bought 4 wardrobes, a kitchen, bathroom cabinets & other stuff for $1500 as most of it was at least 50% off. so $1500 off the card left $8500 and we couldnt think of anything else we wanted so we put it up for sale on ebay for $6000 and it sold!
ka-ching……
so we got 40% off, then another 50% off that, so effectively 70% off !!
moral is, watch ebay for large store vouchers going cheap, especially when they are high value vouchers since most people cant afford thousands of dollars OR have trouble spending thousands in one store. I also saw a $4000 Good Guys voucher go for $2500.
Hi Kathlynv
You may like to hear a little background to this Cottage purchase.
My husband and I own a few properties but he is not interested in renovating just buying properties that are ready to go.
I enjoy the renovating side so about 5 years ago I bought a house and then he helped me renovate it. It looked great once we finished but we didnt really have a budget so I just go what ever we needed.
We sold it 5 years later as it was on a main rd and we did make a profit.
I saw this cottage which is in a great suburb and just couldn't wait to renovate it. Its on a small block and I then decided I want to concentrate on small blocks in good suburbs IE Worst house in the best street.
I then decided I would only spend $10,000 on this reno and I think all the time how to renovate the property under budget.
My husband helps me but I try to think of ways to get professional help at a good price.
CheersHello Crashy
I'm curious why did these people have a IKEA voucher for $10,000? Did they win it ?I would be so worried paying the money for a voucher from Ebay in case IKEA didn't accept it.
IKEA are very funny sometimes like that with returns purchases etc
Bathroom makeover
I originally was going to replace the shower screen for a newer modern one.
I then decided that I would just replace the vanity and taps and get an electrician to install a fan/light/heater combo in the ceiling. The shower screen will be ok for a few more years
OLD VANITY
NEW VANITY
they won it, first purchase at grand opening.
I met them there & verified it was transferable & had $10k balance.
heres another way to save on renos:
use 600mm x 600mm gloss black tiles on kitchen benchtops instead of granite. costs $40/m which means about $250 if you also use them for splashbacks, but recently Ive started using stainless instead for splashbacks. Its even cheaper & quicker, also gives more light & looks more modern. try it on kickboards too. I did all kickboards & splashbacks for $160. I also just repainted cupboard doors in gloss white enamel & replaced handles. total cost for kitchen was about $400 but it looked new.
Hello Crashy
I'm so surprised IKEA allowed it to be transferable.
I wish I could have a card like that I would just shop every day at IKEAThat was a good purchase of yours
New muli coloured gravel path
We have just finished the gravel path and think it came up well.
BEFOREAFTER
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
