Your Home and Garden – September 2019

RENOVATION WORKSHEET

HONESTY BOX

+ Best lesson learned? Jane: It can take

time to find good tradies, but taking that

time is well worth it in the end. When

we moved into the house, the deck spa

pool wasn’t working. We got it fixed, but

not well, and when it inevitably stopped

working again, we had several tradies and

companies out to take a look. They all

gave it up for dead, until we found Chris

at Crystal Clear Pools, who not only fixed

the pool but did the job quickly and for an

extremely fair price. It took us nearly two

years to find a good tradie to fix the pool,

but it was so worth it.

+ What would you never do again? Never

underestimate the bush. Coming from

more traditional urban suburbs, we moved

into our home thinking that the bush

setting would mean less yard maintenance

than a lawn. But the bush grows and

encroaches and needs to be tamed quite

often. It’s lovely but it is a lot of work.

+ Any DIY disasters? Bryan built the kids’

bunk beds last winter. Once he had cut all

the pieces of the bed and assembled the

sides, he wanted to paint it before putting

it all together. But he needed somewhere

to do it that would stay consistently dry

over about a week.

Our au pair had recently left so Bryan

brought the bunk-bed pieces in and

painted them in her old room (which later

became Charlie’s room). He put down a

drop cloth, but it turns out that paint can

soak through drop cloth! There were

some sizeable circles of blue paint on

the carpet when he was done. Lesson

learned – furniture painting should never

be done on carpet.

+ Is there one thing you would change

about your home if you could? The master

ensuite. Bryan loves the vintage silk-

screened shower door, but between the

carpet (that our daughter spilled makeup

on), the tiled vanity top (with grout that

never quite comes up clean) and the

showerhead that shoots in every direction

but at the person showering, it would be

the next thing to go if we were staying.

+ Most memorable experience you have

had in your home? Nearly giving birth to

Charlie in the living room!

CONTACTS

Builder Origin Builders, originbuilders.nz

Kitchen design and cabinetry Kitchen

Mania, kitchenmania.co.nz

Spa pool repairs Chris Boyd, Crystal Clear

Pools, crystalclearpools.co.nz

MAY 2016
Movedin.

TIMELINE

FINISHES

FLOORPLAN

Kitchen floor

Sequoia tiles in

red cherry from

Tile Depot

Exterior

Resene ‘Triple

Masala’

Kitchen walls

Victoria tiles in

white gloss from

Tile Depot

Bunk beds

Dulux

‘Goat Island’

Interior walls

Dulux ‘Mt Aspiring’;

trim in Dulux

‘New Brighton’

Levelone

KEY

1 Entry

2 Toilet

3 Bathroom

4 Bedroom

5 Office

6 Deck

7 Family

8 Dining

9 Kitchen

10 Lounge

11 Masterbedroom

12 Ensuite

13 Wardrobe

14 Storage

15 Carport

16 Shed

1

AUGUST/SEPT 2016

Installedheatpumps

andshed.

FEBRUARY 2018

Startedrenovating

thekitchen.

MAY 2018

Kitchen finished.

Leveltwo

Levelthree

3 2

(^44)
5
7 8
9
10
1
3
11
12
13
14
16
6
15
6
6
86 | yhg