The first thing we did when we moved in was rip the carpet out of Aunty Shirley's room. It smelled like they'd locked cats AND dogs in there with no way to go to the toilet except on the carpet, for years. It was horrific!
We then decided to use her room as a "prototype" for what we wanted the rest of the house to look like.
Aunty Shirley's Room
We put new carpet in, and repainted the walls a soft color. We replaced the light fittings.These photos are during the process:
Here is the final result:
Bathroom
The next thing we did was put in a shower over the bath. This was when we found out that the house was made of precast, and had INCREDIBLY hard walls.Before:
During:
The scoring in the walls where the copper pipes were to be fitted:
Here is Squirrel cementing in the copper pipes:
After all that work, we discovered that the geyser that had been installed had no pressure, so we had to replace that with a high-pressure geyser as well.
When we finally had some money together, once the house was empty, we had the bathroom totally gutted and redesigned:
Unfortunately, the contractors also managed to destroy the bathroom door, which had to be replaced as well.
They then started putting the bath in, and left with our money, and the job half-done.
It was a lot of drama. Here is the final result.
After
Back Yard
The next thing I tackled was that horrible, unsanitary, pigeon house in the back yard. I ripped it to pieces myself, and in the process managed to get an infection that permanently damaged my lungs :(Before:
During (13 February 2015):
22 February 2015:
7 April 2015:
Damian helped me as well.
Unfortunately, I don't have any After photos of the back yard. We had to drain the pool due to the severe drought in Cape Town, and all the above rubble was also taken away.
Dining Room / 4th Bedroom
When we moved into the house, Damian was away at boarding school, so it wasn't an issue that he didn't have a bedroom. We decided to use the dining room area as a study for us.Before
During (Phase 1):
Yes, I know it's a mess!
11 March 2015 (Phase 2):
Then, Carmen decided to move to Cape Town, and we needed a room for her. We did a temporary convert of the dining room into a 4th bedroom, using a room divider:
 |
| Cheeky dad |
29 March 2015:
My dad and Squirrel decided to put drywall in place of the temporary room dividers.
Unfortunately, Carmen decided to go back home to Port Elizabeth, but we now had a 4th bedroom, for Damian.
After:
This is the final result of the 4th bedroom being created: |
| The archway in the lounge is smaller |
 |
| The dining room half is still there |
 |
| Inside the 4th bedroom |
 |
| Looking back at the dining room |
Braai Room
Before
There are a few things to note about this braai room. Firstly, there was a toilet off the side of it (you can see the door on the left of the above photo). The toilet was smashed and totally not functional.
Secondly, the braai itself was like a crematorium! You had to bend over to reach the fire at the back. You can vaguely see the shape of it in the above photo.
Thirdly, the roof was BAD. It leaked everywhere.
And finally, there was a stupid brick "bar" built in the most random place. Behind that was where the washing machine was.
During (12 September 2015):
We replaced the roof, and included strips of see-through fibreglass, so the area got sunshine, was warm, and brighter than it had been.
We couldn't do anything about the shape of the braai, but we did knock out the bar, and got the extra toilet functional.
Passage
Before
The passage was ABYSMAL. Pictures speak louder than words:
After:
We recarpeted the entire passage, repainted, and repainted the skirting boards a deep rich colour. We also replaced the mirror in the above image, and replaced the light fittings.
Main Bedroom
Before:
The reason I have uploaded the below photo is because it shows the horrible poo brown the walls in the main bedroom were, as well as the old, rusted fireplace that was in the corner (it's the only "before" photo I have). You can see how dark and depressing the room was.
Squirrel and Damian decided they wanted to surprise me one day by repainting the walls before I got home from work (that didn't quite work out).
 |
| Partners in Crime |
 |
| My furniture standing in the passage |
 |
| After repainting |
 |
| They missed a few spots (even the ceiling was brown) |
 |
| My daddy <3 td=""> |
After:
We also replaced the bedroom door with a solid wood door, to be used as a "panic room" in case of emergency.
Dad's Room
Before:
Dad's room was ... interesting. The walls were purple, there were glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling, and the edges of the ceiling and walls were painted in a light green glow-in-the-dark paint. There was also only one small cupboard.
 |
| Note the stars on the ceiling |
Sometimes you have to wonder what goes through people's heads.
After:
Front Yard
Before:
So, what they didn't tell us when we bought the house, is that all the pots with plants in the front yard was being taken with them. They also tried to dig out one of the palm trees, weren't successful, and just left it there.
During:
We spent a lot of time leveling the ground (it was piles of sand and rock everywhere), and I kept waiting to discover a body buried somewhere.
We also had to replace that badly damaged and non-functional garage door.
After:
Thanks to a lot of really hard work by our tenant, the front yard was totally cleared. We also spent a lot of time sanding down the wooden windowsills and door.
Unfortunately, the only photo I seem to be able to find of the garage door fix is from inside the garage:
Kitchen
Before
I've left the kitchen for last, as it went through a number of phases as well, and the transformation is astonishing.The kitchen had these horrible, baby-poo brown tiles on the walls, and yellow cupboards!
During:
I took that for as long as I could, before I bought some Dove Gray tile paint, and repainted the walls to a lighter color. We also added off-the-rack blinds for the windows, and Squirrel repainted the ceiling white, covering years of dirt and grime.
Still During:
Once we had money, and the house was empty, we gutted the entire kitchen and had it redone with a custom design.
After:
The end result was stunning:
