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Some Mutt's live in Kennels, this one lives in a Palace...

This page is to show you how we are going on renovating the house. There are before and after piccies, click on the small image for the full sized one. The most recent notes are at the top.

Check out this Palace Page archive for details and photos from earlier than 8 October 1998.

20 February, 1999: Well we have sorted out the "concept plan" for the landscaping out the front. We'll now get some prices from 3 landscrapers and go from there. The architect's first plan was a little abstract, but we have now sorted out the practicalities of it all and are looking forward to the implementation!! No word from the Builder (as usual). Good news is that we finally have fixed all the leaks downstairs (we think) so that takes us one step closer to getting the carpet laid!

27 January, 1999: Got a call from the landscrape farty-tech: "Your plans are ready!" Gnarly thinks Mutt, and they will arrive in the post tomorrow maybe. We also got a quote from a cribwall man on building up the wall in front of the garage. Unfortunately it was for twice what we wanted to spend so we will go with plan A.

The Painted Palace!! The Painted Palace!! The Painted Palace!! 21 January, 1999: Things seem to have slowed down renovation wise. Mutt has been trying to fix a leak armed with some "mastic" in a tube that the previous owner left. All the tradespeople that are supposed to be doing things seem to have dissapeared: the PMPMTDTC Builder is supposed to be putting up a verandah, gate and relining the upstairs bedroom, but no sign of him. The landscrape architect appears to have dissapeared off the face of the earth, the plumber has not come back to do the flashing under the deck, the concrete cutters havn't come to do the stairs yet. But the good news is that we have finished the painting of the hallyway and stairwell. It took a fair bit of ladder work to get up the 5 metres high stair well, but with a little bit of enginuity it all worked out ok.

New feature wall colour! New colours downstairs! New colours downstairs.. New colours downstairs..
1 January, 1999: Hmmm, got a good dose of sunburn from painting the deck balustrade today. I have almost finished painting the downstairs hallway; our "brave" choice of a deep mustard for the feature wall has turned out well!

New Paint Job for Palace! New Paint Job for Palace! Painting the Balustrade New Paint on the Roof too!
18 December, 1988: Painters have still got one pipe to paint. one day. And still no calls from the Landscape architect. We've bought some more paint, so we'll get the hallway painted soon!

22 November, 1988: Well, the painters have aaaalllllmost finished. Just a few bits here and there to touch up. Havn't heard from the landscrape architect recently, she must be ready with the plans soon... The PMPMTDTC Builder should have plugged up the major leak too, now we just have to wait for the next major storm to prove him right.

Starting on the Roof 14 November, 1998: The painters started with a hiss and a roar, but have decided to take the weekend off. The house is beginning to look awesome, the painters expect to finish 17 Nov. PMPMTDTC Builder finally turned up at least. The house colours are 'ice cream' for the walls (a sort of light beige cream colour), 'canopy green' for the roof (leaf colour!), and white for the highlights.

House with scaffolding 12 November, 1998: Wow, things are happening fast. We found some sandpaper jammed in the front door Monday night saying "It's the painter, I want to start tomorrow, call me." So the painter has started, PMPMTDTC Builder has promised to catch up and finish his work so they can paint - haven't seen him since. Painter claims he will finish in a week. I guess depends how many painters get blown off the roof.

The 'New' Kitchen!! The 'New' Kitchen!! 2 November, 1998: We have done a "Changing Rooms" on our kitchen! We decided over Labour Weekend to do a temporary low-cost beautification of the kitchen. We pulled up the lino, put a coat of poly-urethane onto the floorboards, painted over the mix'n'match wallpaper, and painted a great "highlight colour" on the previous white walls around the sink and stove. This highlight is a deep mustard-orange (?) and is now on our 'feature wall' up the stairs. No sign of PMPMTDTC Builder or the landscraper yet.

Before shot of Palace Kitchen 18 October, 1998: We've hired the landscape architect, and will get the PMPMTDTC builder to start on the weatherboards. Havn't heard back from the painter yet, he claims to be waiting on the price from the scaffolding people. "If you hired monkeys you wouldn't have to get scaffolding" says Mutt. Mutt does a weekend of repair work - the letterbox is finally attached to something, and the gorse has had a good clip.

Christine & Alaine airing the new rug 8 October, 1998: We've had lots of people around to quote on things... the house painter, two landscape designers, and the PMPMTDTC builder. We are really enjoying the deck, and BBQ there every night! Luckily the BBQ sits in a little sheltered spot. We bought a painting for the lounge, 14 chairs at auction for the various tables, and a large rug for the "snug" area. The lounge and sunroom are almost looking finished?

Check out the Palace Page archives for details and photos from pre 8 October 1998.