the bushfield reno

February 10, 2020

Decking our Outdoor Space with HardieDeck.

Yes we have completed the decks structure. Still so much more to do including finishing the edges off and sealing the decking, although the hard part is done. This job has been looming since the beginning of the build. We always knew we would have to tear up the old decking as it was beginning to rot and there was no concrete in the stumps allowing it to sink slowly downwards into oblivion.

We decided to add on more decking also to make a bigger space. We love spending time outside as a family and we wanted to maximise the gorgeous view of Australian gums and rolling hills, just on our back doorstep. We had also installed many doors along the back of the house, which we wanted to be able to step out onto the deck from. We did originally think of decking half of the space and the other half with finish off with paving but we ended up deciding on going decking the whole way, to give the flexibility to tie in the whole space as one if need be.

We have built a couple of times in the past and have completed quite a few outdoor spaces. With this experience comes a wealth of knowledge about what we DIDN’T want.. We did not want lots of maintenance. We have enough land to keep us busy. We had a wooden decking at our first house and it required regular maintenance. Recoating, sanding back and recoating again… The section that was unroofed was a nightmare and we just don’t have time for that. I can think of much better things we could be doing than all that upkeep.

Our next house we decided to look for maintenance free and chose Bluestone. Looked amazing but if we had a day over 20 degrees it heated up so quickly. On a 30 degree day we had to lay towels down to be able to walk across it and this was so impractical with kids.

After figuring out both of these options weren’t for us this time we decided to try another product, HardieDeck by James Hardie. This product is made from Fibre cement boards. The decking is said to stay strong as it ages, resistant to rot and termites, its non combustable and generally just looks amazing. And the best bit, on a hot day it gets warm but I am yet to feel it get anywhere near as hot as bluestone.

The process of building the deck was a big one, this was mostly due to the size of the deck. The deck spans a massive 22.5m x 5.5m. I totally underestimated how large this space was at first, as all I was thinking about is making the decking look like it had always been there and to match the back of the house.

We ripped the decking up after we finished the internal part of the house. The old decking gave the trades a great base to work on the pitched roof that extends outside, without having to worry about the flooring. Once the outdoor area roof was painted, up came the decking. As mentioned earlier there was no concrete in the stumps, it was just sitting there and parts of the decking had started to sink. We had been told by the building inspector when we first purchased the property that this was the case so we weren’t shocked by this.

After the decking came up Jesse had our builders at HR Build help dig and put in the stumps to save some time as the area was huge. Once this had been done Jesse got to making the frame along with Blaine (Jesse’s best mate who thankfully is a Chippy) The boys smashed out the framework and before long we had ordered the James Hardie HardieDeck.

The HardieDeck arrived! The boards weigh 20kg each so we put them as close as possible to the decking, to avoid moving them far by hand. They recommend you start laying them from the outside and work your way in. We spent a lot of time lining up the first board and ensuring it was as straight as possible to avoid problems when we hit the house on the other side.

Jesse and I lifted a huge amount of decking up onto the platform and this was a massive job as 20kg awkwardly long boards aren’t ideal. Installing the boards was the easy bit as a small amount of glue goes underneath and then a couple of concealed joiners slide in. See our Instagram @thebushfieldreno to see the easy way to do this! Cutting the boards was a little fiddly as they are fibre cement, we are lucky the boys have all the right tools being tradies to be able to do this. (Especially when cutting around posts ect).

Jesse worked out a pattern every three lines of board are the same measurement to ensure they are staggered and making sure all the boards end up finishing resting on a piece of timber. The top of the deck took us a couple of weekends to knock over with some help here and there from family and friends. The end result is amazing and will be around for years to come.

The next exciting part will be sealing the deck and being able to add styling such as furniture and pot plants to bring separate such a large space into multiple useable spaces and give the large area some life. This project was something that had been looming from the beginning other than the house the biggest project to be completed and really finish of the house at the rear. Such a satisfying one to tick off our list.

I have left the process from the decking in our outdoor room highlights on our Instagram @thebushfieldreno if you would like to see the process happening.

FAQ –

Was it pricey? Our deck is quite big so it did cost a bit but we did most of the labour ourselves and we kind of expected this. We will save on upkeep and time later on and it will hopefully last a lot longer than timber. There is a calculator on James Hardie that worked out to be pretty close so pop your measurements in for an idea on pricing.

How big is the decked area? 22.5m x 5.5

Will you paint the decking or leave it? We won’t paint it as we have been warned it can scratch and with two little ones we want to make sure it is hard wearing. We will just be sealing the decking in the original colour. It is a very light grey tone.

Are you doing any more decking anywhere else? Yes we plan on completing our entryway, and another back entrance and maybe even a cubby house with offcuts but that is a story for another day 🙂

November 25, 2019

Update before the final push.

We have been crazy busy between work at Jean Jail, trying to spend as much time as possible with our beautiful girls and the house. Between all of this, we have not had time to catch our breath. I just looked back at our last post and was a little embarrassed at how far we have come and in that time I hadn’t updated the blog. All for good reason! We are flat out.. EVERYDAY!

Since the roof came off, the ceiling was insulated in the main area and lined with Scyon Axon Sheeting to give us that amazing panelled look. These sheets are made from fibre cement and are around 50kg each. The boys did an amazing job installing them so quickly.

We also removed the roof tiles and replaced them with Colourbond Steel Surfmist. This lightened the exterior of the house immediately and we are so glad we decided to replace the roof. Adjusting the pitch and changing the colour has changed the whole style and look of the property. Looking more and more like a totally new build.

The completed roof looked instantly amazing and we couldn’t have imagined at the time how good it would look white, as the Scyon comes with a greenish grey tint to it. Can you remember, we also pulled out the 5th bedroom wall and added the extra space into the main area? (See photo below) The shorter section of ceiling is where the 5th bedroom was, the other half of it extended our WIR and Ensuite. You can see in the photograph below how much is has opened this space up and we are so glad we did it.

The decorative rafters went up on top of the panelling to finish the roof off. We are so happy with this detail and it really finished room off. The plasterers from S & S Plastering came in and plastered the whole house so quickly and their work is always top notch! If you would like any of our trade contact details from around the Warrnambool area please head to our Trades & Suppliers page.

As well as the interior the boys have been working on the exterior. Not only have we had the guys from HR Build on site but we also have had one of Jesse’s best mates Blaine. Blaine’s work is always bang on and perfect. Jesse and Blaine have now installed all the weatherboards on the gable of one side of the house and they look better than we expected! Thanks to people like this and our builders at HR Build we have been able to power ahead much faster, without compromising on beautiful finishes.

We finally chose carpet and floorboards after many, many samples being tested out on site and a couple of boxes of boards being ordered, so we could get a look at a larger sample. This was so worth it, as the small samples were so different to the bigger sample of boards we ordered. (Scarily different.) So much so I would like a sample order it in, but hated the same colour when i saw it in a bigger piece. We finally found our combo and are so happy with the look of them both. We also chose a light brass trim which looks amazing with our choices and blends so well with our brass tap ware.

We headed up to Geelong to pick up some furniture at Freedom and made a stop at Wombat Gully Plant Farm this place is so huge and has so much choice. They even had a small cafe to grab something to eat, as we all know how long it can take to find the perfect plants for your garden. We ended up buying a lot of olive trees and have so many different styles of plants. We are lucky we have over 4.5 acres to spread them out on and try out different styles of plants. Stay tuned (I have not much of an idea on what I am doing) 😂

Painting began and was a real game changer. The house really started looking like it could potentially be a home, in the foreseeable future. The panelling looked absolutely amazing in white and our shelf in the master bedroom came to life. We have tried to add something a little different into each room to give it a point of interest. In previous houses we have found this hard, as we built with production builders and could only change so much. But this time we have gone all out and made each room our own.

Finalising all of our colour and supplies decisions were tough, although we have always had a real vision of what we have wanted to create. We used Pinterest to create moodboards, followed a huge amount of beautiful accounts on Instagram and have watched around 10,897 renovation shows and we pretty much knew what we wanted. The tiles are currently being laid and we cant wait to see these selections come together. At first we were confident in them, but as time goes on you seem to forget what you have picked and then it is almost like seeing them for the first time again, when you open the boxes on site. Lucky we still loved them! We sourced our bathroom tiles from National Tiles. Tiles above on left our Laundry splash back and on right the Main Bathroom selections.

The house had a freestanding fireplace already installed which we will need in Winter, as the house is not connected to town gas. It does have a gas heater which is ran of bottled gas, so it is not the most efficient form of heating. To create a space for this fireplace we had to pick tiles for a hearth as legally each fire has a specific hearth measurement you have to adhere to depending on its size. We went through many other options such as polishing concrete, bricking up a raised hearth but kept coming back to a flush laid tile. We hope this will give a much cleaner look. You can see above I was testing out the size of the hearth in the space and placement. The tiles have now been laid and grouted and look beautiful! The hearth stone was sourced from Welsh’s Buildpro Warrnambool.

Kitchen cabinetry install was so fast and brought the house to life. They say the Kitchen is the heart of the home and we can totally see why. Also this one is beautiful! The boys from Richardson Joinery have really outdone themselves with the beautifully finished cabinets. We are currently in the process of measuring up for the stone and all i’m letting you know is.. we are going for thick, marble vibes. We were a little worried about how much panelling was on the cabinetry, but are so glad we took the risk. We are in love with it all! Farmhouse sinks are to be installed shortly, after the stone so this will all finish off the look.

Bathroom cabinetry has been installed and tiling has begun. You can see in the image above our tap ware and sink sitting together as we got a little to eager to see what they looked like.. plus we were checking the placement 😉The tap ware is sourced from ABI Interiors and Sink from Concrete Nation.

Once the cabinetry was in, our tiler David Haynes came for a meeting on site. We were a little confused on how to lay the tiles on the kitchen splash back. David recommended drawing them up on the wall so we could see the pattern and we could see it was right for us instantly! Thanks for the tip Haynesy!! Something so simple, yet makes everything so much easier to visualise.

Outdoor room roof was fitted afterwards to allow the inside to be completed first, ensuring other trades could get inside. The focus was then switched outside to construction of the roof and then paint. 🙌🏽

Our wooden flooring went down which we sourced from Beaumont Tiles Warrnambool. We were so fussy when it came to samples and it took a long time to make our decision. We are glad we took the time on this one as we are so happy with the outcome. The colour is just perfect!

We have already progressed some more since I have written this but I cant really complain as we are getting a huge amount done. I will update again as soon as I can between, the craziness of everyday life.

October 1, 2019

Up it goes… Who doesn’t love a pitched ceiling.

Again it has been quite a while between posts, but we have totally had our head in the game. The roof has been pulled off and out in the last week or so, new posts have been put in and the roof reframed by our amazing builders HR Build. Ash and Brent worked so quickly to get the job done. Jesse has been assisting these guys wherever he can and trying to finish off as many little jobs as possible, to ensure the house will be ready for paint within the next few weeks.

Once the framework was completed the roofers have came in to replace the gutters fascia and entire roof. We are replacing the whole roof with colourbond as it is so much lighter and doesn’t need the amount of support tiles do. Also the tiles were quite old and would have needed replacing not too far down the track so we were better off to get it done now, whilst we are in construction mode.

Jesse has also framed up a few more walls internally, completing our mudroom framework which is the only part of the floorplan we have extended. This changed the layout ever so slightly at the front door to allow us an internal door access from the garage into the house.

We had all of our Windows and doors delivered, so later in the week these will begin to be installed. Our windows and doors have all been sourced via Warrnambool Window Systems and are hoping that our next post will include the installation of these.

We have had one window installed and it was a special one. We sourced a gas strut wooden window from Decorative Building Products in Queensland. So far away from us here in Vic, but we had our heart set on a gas strut after seeing them in a couple of Three Birds Renovations projects. We knew it was something we really wanted and would be a great feature in our home. We rang them and they made the process so easy and our window was on it’s way to us before we knew it.

When the window turned up it was beautiful! All the trades have been eyeing it off. It is very well made and looks like a piece of furniture. When the gas strut goes up and down, it’s so super impressive. We also opted for a hidden fly screen which is so, so good! If you want to see this one in action head to @thebushfieldreno on instagram and look at the Kitchen highlight. (Jesse giving the demo is in there 😂). We opted for a fixed panel and a maximum sized gas strut opening of 2.1m.

There has been so much more to update you all on like fences being finished, moving out of our old house, electrical being done, doors being moved and more but I’m trying to keep this light reading.

If you would like to know any more about our project or would like to give us any feedback of what you are interested to see, the best way to do so, is via our instagram @thebushfieldreno .

Again, thank you all for following along on our journey, the project is finally progressing and we definitely feel a step closer to completion.

August 19, 2019August 19, 2019

Progress and Decisions.

The last few weeks have been all systems go. Jesse has ripped out more walls and ceilings and has started ripping the ceiling in the main area down in preparation for the builders who will be coming in a few weeks.

For those of you who missed the memo we are ripping the roof off the middle section of our house to extend our 2.4m ceilings to a massive 4.8 at the peak of our cathedral. (See below). Our aim was to add as much glass as possible to maximise our view and increase the natural light in the space.

In the beginning we planned to only replace, around just over half the windows in the house but as the process went along we have decided to invest the money and replace the whole lot to include double glazing and ensure they all match as the existing windows were cream and our new windows will be white. As always everything in a Reno seems to get bigger and bigger as the process moves along.

At the moment we are really nailing down all our decisions and purchasing all the pieces we will need in the next couple of weeks especially to lock in measurements such as appliances, tiles, sinks, kitchen cabinetry, bench tops, lighting, skirting, paint colours and the rest.

So much is going on at the moment and at times it feels like we are never going to get out of a building site but once the roof goes up and the dust settles we will be on the home stretch.

August 8, 2019

What’s the Plan?

We decided against sharing our floor plan online for now. The ‘You can’t take anything off for real once you put it online’ quotes has got me, but I’ve had so many people ask so I thought I could just explain a little.

Our kitchen is the main move we are making, it was located at the back of the house and did not connect to the lounge space, as we are used to. We have moved this space along with the plumbing, to suit our lifestyle. This will make the most of the view at the rear of the house and create a real flow between the spaces. We will then replace the original Kitchen with a second lounge.

The next big change we will be making is moving the Master Bedroom to the rear of the house. Originally, the master bedroom was a small angled room at the front of the house, which didn’t have much natural light or any view of the land. This was a high priority for us as we wanted to ensure we are able to make the most of the location.

master bedroom nib wall — The beginning of the Master Bedroom.

The house currently has 5 bedrooms so we have knocked one out as we will only require 4 and have used the extra space in our Living Area. Our living area is so important to us, it’s the space we spend the most time in and everyone connects together as a family.

Wall going back in to create more space in the Ensuite and WIR and also in the Living room.

Where the existing Kitchen was will now be our second Lounge, we have increased this space all a bit by knocking out the wall and coming out into the hallway a little.

Existing Kitchen now to be second lounge.

We are really happy with our plans and the spaces now look massive. Once we take the roof off and install a pitched ceiling we think we will have an amazing space on our hands.

August 4, 2019

Week 3 – almost behind us.

Its almost been three weeks since handover and we feel like we have achieved a huge amount. Although we still seem to be demolishing here and there. The Kitchen we were originally going to keep for a while in case we need to use it, now has to come out so we can get trades into the area otherwise the Lounge will fall behind.

Old Kitchen turns into our new lounge. Now to get rid of the Kitchen.

I begun writing and the past few weeks already feel like a blur. Many internal walls taken down and more put up in different places. We opened up the whole space and have made way for a new Kitchen, Lounge and Dining. We also grabbed some space from one of the bedrooms we didn’t need to share between our Master’s Ensuite, WIR and to add to the lounge.

5th Bedroom was knocked out to create more space for the Ensuite, WIR and Lounge areas. WIR on left and Ensuite on right.

Ensuite on Left and one of our favourite builders Blaine Stables on the right in the WIR.

Walls for the Kitchen, Pantry and Mudroom going up.

The shower bases were all sitting on top of the slab, the white ones, you know we have all had them. In our past houses we have always had tiles and I love the idea of a flowing space so poor Jesse got to ripping them out and cutting out the concrete to allow the tiles to sit flush in the floor. What a job 😳

Nib walls have been built, we have decided to put a few in the bathrooms, and one in our Master behind the bed.

We are adding Scyon Axon cement panelling to many walls as a feature, in our rooms. It is also coming in handy as in many areas we would have usually tiled, we will be adding the panelling. These sheets of cement are around 45kgs and such an awkward piece to install but as always Jesse installed them with ease.

Panelling Up in the girls rooms to create a feature.

Pat and Stu from D & J Paroissien Plumbing have been in to start moving waste pipes as we couldn’t use some of the original locations and piping out the new tap locations.

Jesse is a qualified electrician and we are so lucky to have this skill of his, amongst many others. He has started wiring up new lighting and light switches were extremely high, throughout the house at 1300mm. We have moved these down so our girls can reach them and they are at a normal height.

July 19, 2019July 19, 2019

Demolition Days.

Today was day 2 of Demolition and we are more than certainly feeling it. It dawned on me today when taking out the 500th wheelbarrow out, how big this project is. We had 6 spaces with tiling we had to remove. The entryway, huge Laundry, Powder Room, Main Bathroom, Spare Room Ensuite and Main Ensuite. Jesse powered through the spaces with a Jackhammer Trolley we hired from Matko Hire. We got all 6 spaces cleared in two days, along with a couple of walls cleared of plaster.

The first night we got the keys our family all came over for tea and it became a demo party. Everyone had a go at ripping down some walls. 😂

Day 1 – Hauling out everything we needed was a huge job, there is so much to think of to ensure we weren’t trekking back and forth into town which is only around 5 minutes (but still annoying). We then cleared the Entryway, Powder Room and Ensuite tiles along with clean up of a lot of plaster from the night before. Pulled out all the fixtures from the ensuite as well. The toilets had to go as they were operated via a bore and had been stained from years of bore water sitting in them. The carpet was next to go in the old living area which will soon be a Mudroom, Pantry and Kitchen. The 5th Bedroom also had to have its carpet pulled out, which is now a part of our new Lounge Room.

Day 2 – Today we finished off the rest of the tiled areas removing the massive Laundry, Main Bathroom and Ensuite within the Spare Room. Also removing the worlds largest Bath/Spa to make room for a bathroom. The wet area tiles proved quite hard to remove and we found some damage to the outer wall frame, whilst removing the laundry tiles which we will fix up later on.

Entryway (Not at completion but nearly there)

These spaces are already becoming unrecognisable and we are so excited to see what they become! As always thanks for following along on our journey and we hope you are all enjoying the ride so far.

July 18, 2019July 18, 2019

Before

We got the house finally yesterday on the 19/07/19. And to say we are excited is probably the understatement of the year! Finally after so many years of looking, approaching people and having no luck whatsoever, we finally have our own little piece of Bushfield! I wanted to post some before pics which i took the first day before demo, as i new we would be in there the next day ripping what we weren’t going to use out. So here they are..

We will try and update you with our progress as regularly as possible throughout the progress. Keeping track of everything we hope will be so rewarding when we look back in years to come. Hopefully by this time we have a fully finished family home and can look back at how far we have come.

July 10, 2019July 10, 2019

1 Week to go.

*Insert excited/petrified/what have we done/even more excited GIF here * 😂

One week to go until we have the keys to 4.5 Acres of paradise.. well it should be when we are done with it. Our plans at this point are to get in suss everything out, take A LOT of before pics and videos, start demo and hope that in a few short months we will look back on the pictures and marvel at how far we have come.

It all feels quite surreal at this point. Not only will we be creating a new space with two little ones in tow, but also leaving our current property in which we love so much and have made so many memories in. I am lately reminding myself memories aren’t in something physical such as a house, all very easy to say.

Leaving you all with a few pictures of our current property, which will be our previous home very shortly and below them a peek of our new digs! 🙌🏽

And… the New.. @thebushfieldreno

Not so impressive.. but hold your judgement until we are done! We can’t wait to share what we have planned!

June 29, 2019June 29, 2019

Reno’s have begun, without beginning.

Under 3 weeks and we have handover of our new abode, following this we have 8 weeks of demo and renovations scheduled in. We will give it our best crack to get the most done before we move our family in an attempt not disrupt the inner workings of family life. Initially I had thought the renovations would begin when we had the keys in our hands, but to ensure we can get as much done as quickly as we can, we have been planning, planning, planning.

Currently Pinterest has been my life, along with a notebook (yes its old school, but i feel like I can get the inner workings of my brain sorted on paper) and sketchpad. When we first looked at the house we were given plans to look over and I couldn’t count how many times we have looked at these. Our first thoughts were to keep the layout as is, not moving anything to keep costs down. Once going through the plans with the amazing Nathan at Designing Spaces a couple of weeks ago, we quickly realised the amount we could gain by shuffling a few of the rooms around.

Layouts of bathrooms have been something we have been playing with. Keeping drainage in similar places has been our aim but we will be moving pipes if it is essential, to get a more functional space. No regrets! Cutting paper furniture and fittings out to scale, has really helped us shuffle layouts around and has even helped us picture our big ticket items in spaces such as a couch in the lounge.

Choosing colours, fittings and fixtures we can do at this point in time to save time down the track. We have been selecting as much as possible, getting quotes and pricing up what we can without plans. We know once we do get the house we will be tied up focusing on MANY other things. Having as much as we can pre-organised will help in the long run and once we have the plans will make it easier to order everything quickly.

We have many changes to the layout of the original house in the works and will keep updating you all as we move along in the process. Budget is a looming factor we really need to keep a close eye on and we don’t want to bite of more than we can chew with design. We are hoping we will get our first look at the first set of plans in the next week or so and have more of an idea from here. The budget we have heard is something that seems to often blow out in renovations so we have begun a couple of spreadsheets to keep track of every zone in the house and the budget as a whole as best as we can.

Thanks for reading and keeping updated with the process. You can also follow along @thebushfieldreno on Instagram for more regular updates.