The Gatehouse

To be honest, this one's name hasn't stuck. The idea was that the house is at the front of the property right up by the road, with a large property below which we planned to build our forever home on, we imagined it to be like the gatehouse to the estate. Dreamers ever. But the name hasn't stuck because this is just plain old home.

When we first arrived the house was in a real state. We had to strip everything out and start from the beginning. The place had been home to a dog breeder and there was a distinct aroma of wet dog around the property, especially on the deck and in the garage where the dogs had spent the majority of their time. Our first weekend our girls stayed with their aunty while we prepared to live in a renovation. That weekend we stayed with neighbours at night and worked on the place during the day.

We first cleaned and then Simon painted the main bedroom. The intention being to keep the ensuite as it was for the duration of the renovation and live out of the main bedroom. We set up mattresses there for the girls and pulled the small caravan we own to the front door for Simon and I to sleep in. The laundry we set up as a kitchen. Perfect really. To be honest, to this day the laundry and ensuite have yet to be fully renovated!!

However we did strike a problem: the ensuite shower didn't even work!! And by the time we worked that out we had ripped out the other bathroom. We ended up replumbing the whole house in the first few weeks, putting in gas hot water and cutting a hole in the shower. Simon did patch the shower, but as said above, the ensuite is still the same, so the shower still has a patch in it.

The deck really was grubby. Almost black with grime and dog hair. The cleaning was amazing, dog hair and dirt jumped out from between the wood, but it was surprising how well the wood came up with a simple waterblast.

For the interior, let pictures paint a thousand words...

THE KITCHEN FROM BEGINNING END

THE LOUNGE FROM BEGINNING END

THE DINING ROOM
START FINISH

THE BATHROOM
BEFORE AFTER

BEDROOMS WHEN WE MOVED IN

A PATH DISCOVERED

A POOL UNCOVERED AND PREPARED FOR SUMMER

The pool has probably been the biggest struggle with this property. When we bought the place we could only see about one square metre of the pool. It was covered in ivy and blackberry with random bits of furniture and fence through it.

Our friend Paula was the first to attack it all, curious to get a closer look. She cleared a good couple of metres in the first week were there. Slowly over the months Tess pulled and cut and scraped the weeds away to reveal the pool. At which point it was mid winter and she fell in. A real shame she wasn't photographed in gumboots and jeans sopping wet and freezing, not knowing just what was in the bottom of the green pool she'd just been in.

At about this point Tess went to the council to see if there was an as-laid plan for drainage. When they showed her it she said "but wait I think that's where the pool is" which sparked the pool then being registered and a pool safety inspection being booked in. Of course we failed, we actually had the gate locked. A bit more garden clearing and a new gate latch was needed all of a sudden right when we were busy with enough other renovation activities.

Then we got closer to summer and we got in the mood for swimming. Queue Simon finding the best and cheapest way to fix up the old pool ready for his girls. After two lots of pumping out water and sludge, some cleaning, a whole lot of sanding, and several coats of some paint that was on special from some firm in Auckland we had a beautiful deep-blue colour pool for the summer.

BUT by the next summer when we went to enjoy the pool again something in the paint had failed and the girls were coming out like smurfs with blue paint all over them.

SO it was back to square one for Simon, hoping that this time he had the right paint and that he was painting at a time of year when it was drier and warmer. Unfortunately we couldn't get our first choice of colour, it's much lighter but it's at least sticking to the wall. So far so good, we're onto a second summer and it seems to be fine. The girls spend whole days in and out of the pool and we wouldn't be without it. All Simon's hard work was well worth it.