{Studio Office Renovation} Almost done!

The renovation of an old 'shed' into my new office has been a long, long, and frustrating saga. Several times, I thought I'd secured a builder to do the work but it seems my job wasn't big enough to warrant their skills so, disappointment invariably followed.

It was serendipity that brought a young builder to my notice earlier this year and he jumped at the opportunity. So, nearly a year after stripping the shed and being excited that work was about to begin, I can finally say, "It's done!". Or, at least it's as done as it needs to be to be put to use. Nothing has been done to finish the interior but, after waiting so long, I don't care! Prettying up the inside is a luxury for some other time. Right now, the priority is to get my house back.

The outside is still being painted but here it is:

New studio/office

It's an incredible relief to have this space finished. Now I can separate work and home and hopefully, be better at both. 

Cheers,

Diane

Learning to be Self-Employed

The last 12 months have been an extraordinary learning experience. Even though I've run my online business as a moonlight job for a number of years, in reality I've been a salary earner my whole adult life. Walking away from that apparent security has been tough but incredibly liberating.

I readily admit I squandered a great deal of the first six months of 2013. Some of that time was devoted to 'decompressing' but an awful lot of it was also, although hard to admit, lost to floundering aimlessly.

By the second half of the year I was beginning to get a feel for working for myself and working from home. I started thinking about goals, revisiting dreams, taking stock of my life and making the time to appreciate everything for which I am grateful. It's amazing the impact this change in mindset had on everything around me. 

Unfortunately, the brakes were slammed on some of my plans when I tore the cartilage in my left knee. Thankfully not badly enough to need surgery but it certainly slowed me down considerably. However, this enforced inactivity gave me an opportunity to read and listen to audio books on time management, motivation and similar subjects so the time definitely wasn't wasted.

One of the books that helped get me back on track.

Once I was able to, I started walking in the mornings. My morning stroll takes around 40mins and is sufficient to get the blood circulating but not overtax my still temperamental knee. Other than helping with physical well-being and stress management, I find my morning walk fires up my motivation and imagination. I walk in silence and just let the thoughts wander in and out as they choose. On my return, I know, as I walk through my front gate, I'm ready to tackle anything!

As 2014 begins, that's me, ready to tackle anything!

If you too are self-employed or a small business owner, please feel free to share any hints and tips for beginners.

Cheers,

Diane

Studio / Office Renovation

As I'm now working from home exclusively, I ran out of excuses for not getting the old dilapidated outbuilding (circa 'around the same time as Stonehenge') on my property spruced up. 

The goal is to use this outbuilding as my office, warehouse and studio. 

Unfortunately, in order to rebuild one has to tear down. And, that my friends has been a herculean task. Partly because I can always find something other than hard work to occupy my time and partly because it really is hard work! 

Luckily, wrecking stuff takes very little skill, just determination and as you can see from these images, I am getting there.

Outbuilding Interior - North/East

Outbuilding Interior - North/West

Outbuilding Interior - West

Now that I can see real progress, I'm getting excited about having a dedicated area in which to work.

What a luxury it will be to be able to shut the door on work at the end of the day rather than being surrounded by it 24/7.

Better get back out there!

Diane

Freezers, Doorways and Silver Linings

My freezer died.

Yes, I know... it's something we'll all have to deal with at some time in our lives. But, the freezer is the appliance that we probably take for granted the most - until it dies. And, of course, they never seem to cark it when they're empty.


So, in the midst of my freezer grief I had to decide if:

• I'd live without one (tempting until I remembered the wonderful berry sorbets we made last summer)
• Get a chest freezer (better for tall people)
• Get an identical upright freezer to match the fridge (and then, no doubt, watch the fridge die a year later)
• Get a fridge and freezer in one unit and retire the old fridge to the shed for parties (this was the winner).

After parting with a hefty sum of money, I took delivery of a space-age, stainless steel, side by side, fridge/freezer. Totally gorgeous and swish and... too big to fit through the doorway into the lean-to kitchen. 


Apparently when they were building houses 130 years ago they didn't consider refrigerators... who knew?!


So, after much squishing, squeezing and a decent dose of lateral thinking the delivery guy and I gave up. Now we're back to the fridge and freezer being tucked away in what is currently the dining room, waiting for the time that the room is renovated and becomes the kitchen. Which is exactly where the fridge and freezer were before the temporary kitchen was constructed.


The silver lining though, is this: I am now fully committed to getting the next stage of the renovations started. That means, saving in earnest AND expanding my means. The most shocking bit of all? I'm actually excited about it!!!

Renovating - Investment or Vanity?

Renovating is an expensive business. It costs you money, even if you do most of the work yourself, but it also costs you time, stress and general disruption. So why do we do it?

Renovating your home can add considerable value to your property if done properly. It can also detract from the value of your property if the renovations are poorly designed, the workmanship is below standard or it's not tastefully decorated. You can also over-capitalise by spending more on the renovation through sheer vanity, than can be gained in extra dollars when you sell.

Renovating your home can also add considerable value to your life. If the renovation makes it easier to do the things that are important to you then it has a value beyond that of the purely financial.

For me, the area of my home that didn't work was the kitchen. The one room I probably spend the most amount of time in! It was tiny: 2.5 metres by 2 metres. Too small for the fridge/freezer to fit into and a bench for preparation that was not much bigger than a chopping board. For someone who values cooking from scratch as well as preserving produce from the garden, the kitchen was a daily frustration.

The effort to create a new kitchen has been huge because I was not in a position to just add a bigger kitchen, I had to work within the existing footprint of the house. That meant relocating the bathroom to the third bedroom (which was really just a junk room) so that the kitchen could expand into the space made available once the old bathroom was removed.



Cinnamon Scrolls - The first batch of baking from the 'almost finished' kitchen.



The work hasn't come cheap and it's been a major disruption for months and months, but it's much easier to reconcile the costs (financial, physical and emotional) when the benefits are more than cosmetic. And, the financial investment pays dividends each time I cook from scratch rather than rely on ready-made convenience.

Kitchen Renovation Update

This renovation was never supposed to be a big deal. It was supposed to be the next (small) step toward a bigger renovation goal but... that's not how it's turned out.

To cut a long and stressful story short, things did not run smoothly once the builders finally arrived.

One of the big surprises for me when I started removing the lining from the walls was the absence of any kind of insulation. The lean-to in summer is unbearable but I figured it had to at least have flashing on the roof and external walls, but no, absolutely nothing. When I made this discovery I decided to strip all the lining off so that insulation batts could be put in the walls and ceiling. (I'm using any and all passive methods I can to keep the house cool in summer).

The kitchen stripped bare. The whole in the floor shows where the wall used to be. And, of course, Loki.

After seeing very slow progress for the first two days, I arrived home from work on the Friday to discover that not only had VERY little been done in a full day by TWO men, but they'd forgotten about the insulation. They'd put up the plasterboard on the west wall (external) and ceiling before they remembered. I was livid! To make matters worse, all they'd done for the day was put up plasterboard in a room that measured roughly 4 metres by 2.5 metres.

This is the state the kitchen was in when the builders were 'let go'.

What really ignited my temper was the builder's suggestion that even though THEY forgot the insulation, I could fix that when I put new weatherboards on the outside walls. AARRRGGHHHH! There was no way I was going to pay for their mistake so I gave them their marching orders. So, my kitchen is STILL not finished. But, at least it is usable... more so once the electrician fits off the powerpoints.

Looking lived in already! The Udden sink from Ikea is great. It's just waiting for the dishwasher to be installed and then I'll organise the Udden cupboard for underneath the sink.



Temporary bench and cupboard space.



Commercial shelving from Officeworks. It's heavy duty and BIG!

The whole debacle has added much more to my 'to do' list than I'm comfortable with. I now have to put up the cornices, architraves, skirting boards and frame up the doorway plus the tasks I was planning on doing myself anyway, like sanding and painting the floor. And, it has been an ongoing lesson in disappointment, however there have been glimpses of a silver lining in there, too.

I've learned a bit more about my own capabilities. Demolishing the majority of the old bathroom and kitchen took a huge effort to do on my own and it brought with it a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Also, confrontations are not my favourite form of communication and I'm adept at avoiding them but this time I said what had to be said and dealt with the situation rather than just letting it go.

All in all, I'm pretty proud of myself!

Delays, Disasters and Disappointment...

It's now roughly a month since the electrician was here rewiring the lights and sundry power points; and I still don't know when to expect the builder.

Now... I need to add 'leaking roof' to the list of disasters, then 'replace hall and dining room ceilings' to the To Do List.

It seems the saying is true - houses do just sit in the garden and eat money!

In spite of the recent disappointments, I am still ploughing ahead with my plans to prepare this house and garden for a self-reliant future. Money is becoming harder to find but that just amps up the challenge to make the most of what's already here.

I know when it's all complete, the delays, disasters and disappointments will be the stuff of my survival story.

Bathroom Demolition, cont...

The demolition continues but there have been a number of 'challenges' over the last couple of weeks. The builder was meant to be on site at the beginning of this month but he's currently on the sick list after suffering an injury while on the job before mine. Hope you get better soon, Joe!

Loki - making sure everything is to standard.

Then, the lights started flickering... and dance parties aren't really my thing... So, the house is currently being rewired!

No need to mention the lack of any discernable budget for a major electrical job.

The interesting upside from the experience (which isn't over yet) is gaining an understanding of the impact of electric light on the way we live our lives. There are so many evening activities that are nearly impossible (or at best you do a lousy job) when you do them by candle light - washing dishes for instance! Even knitting can be a challenge if you can't see what you're doing.

Frugalista

My definition of a 'frugalista' is: someone who refuses to sacrifice style in the pursuit of low cost solutions to any problem.

My current frugalista challenge is my temporary kitchen. The builder is now scheduled and will spend a couple of days removing the old bathroom as well as the wall between the kitchen and old bathroom.

I've already started the demolition process - this is the first of the frugal solutions. I can wreck stuff just as well as the next person and doing it myself is saving me LOTS of money.

I figure that for every hour I have to pay the builder to work, I have to work at least THREE hours to pay for it. Not only does the builder earn more per hour than I do, I have to pay him with AFTER TAX dollars.

As you can see, the maths is pretty simple and the choice is clear.


Bathroom demolition in progress...

My next set of frugalista challenges involves making the kitchen workable during the period (possibly extended!) that it's 'temporary'. IKEA will probably feature largely for those things that need to be purchased but on the whole, the plan is to repurpose items I already own. Plus, if I have to purchase something, it needs to be appropriate for the final product kitchen so I'm only spending money once.

These are a couple of the pieces I'm considering for the makeshift kitchen...


IKEA Udden Single Bowl Sink with Legs

I like the open space under this unit. It would be perfect for the dishwasher and you can get a shelving unit that sits under the sink.

IKEA - Stenstorp Kitchen Island

But, I'll have to wait until the space has been cleared before I get too carried away!

First Major Renovation - New Bathroom

My Victorian cottage is typical of most houses of that era; the ‘wet areas’ were added at a later time in an addition invariably known as a ‘lean to’. The ‘lean to’ on my cottage is approximately 7 metres by 3 metres and contains the kitchen, bathroom, laundry and loo. That’s a lot of functionality in a small area.

'Lean to' - view from kitchen

Ultimately, the plan is to remove the bathroom and laundry, expand the kitchen and turn the laundry/loo area into a rear entrance/mudroom.

The first step in this plan is creating a new bathroom from the third bedroom. Once stage one is complete, the old bathroom can be removed ready for the expansion of the kitchen.

Bathroom stripped bare

Unfortunately, we had to remove the Baltic pine lining boards. I would have loved to be able to reuse them but most couldn’t be removed without damage. But... I’m sure I’ll find a new use for them one day.

Starting to come together

As you can see, I used a timber dado to tie the bathroom back to the rest of the cottage which has panelled walls throughout. All the woodwork in the bathroom is painted with several coats of enamel to keep it waterproof. I don’t mind saying that it was a VERY smelly job. Enamel paint really gets up your nose! The painting is not quite finished but has been put to the side until summer so that every door and window can be open for ventilation.

Here’s the (mostly) finished bathroom...

The new bathroom

So, stage one is essentially complete. Stage two is about to begin; demolition of the old bathroom. Now, where's that sledge hammer...?