When we bought the house we had it surveyed and the surveyor advised us to render within the first few years. It was good advice as the old mud bricks had originally been rendered with what appears to have been clay and in parts the old render had completely crumbled away exposing the bricks. Luckily the verandah shelters the walls from the worst of the weather but we were still keen to get them sealled and weather tight before any further damage was done.

We however wanted to wait until we extended the house to include the long planned for third bedroom and study. Once that was built at the end of 2006, the house was constructed with three different building materials: the original mud brick, bessa brick in the 1998 extension and then clay bricks in the new extension.

Chris, our builder, recommended Cameron Terry as the renderer he recommended and we got him to come and quote even before Chris had started work but due to his work load he wasn't able to start until February 2007.

While we waited we lived in what felt like a patchwork house with all the different bricks but concentrated our attentions to the interior doing all the decorating that needed to be done. The outside both of the house and the garden were largely ignored!

In mid February Cameron started work catching us by surprise as he had stated that it was likely to be the end of Feb before he could start. We hadn't done the preps that we needed to and the evening before he came Marcus was out on the east side cutting down an old rambling rose that was climbing up the old mud brick wall. Its only been cut down to the surface and might well sprout again.

While M heavily pruned the rose, I raced round and took some before shots.

The south wall from the new entrance

The east wall - note the trelis and remains of the climbing rose

The north wall

The terrace - note the bessa bricks

The dog enclosure

After the first day Cameron and his team had done most of the preparations. These were particularly difficult as they needed to secure wire netting to the mud brick walls as the bricks were too crumbly to be a firm foundation for the new render.

After day two all the netting was secured and a scratch coating had been put on all the walls with some walls having the second coat.

At this stage it is still not a uniform look but we are now getting an idea of how it will appear when its finished, particularly from the longer view:

The render that Cameron is using is the old fashioned limecrete render which includes horse hair. This render allows for more movement than the more modern concrete render and as the majority of the house is mud brick there is going to be a little movement.

The other advantage of limecrete render is that the final colour is mixed into the last coat of render and will weather in the elements giving a softer less uniform look. If you think of mediterranean houses with slightly different tones of the same colour that's what will happen to our house over time. However, we are not going for a terracotta or blue but a light sandstone/honey colour that suits the house and will ground it in its environment. It will give the lodge a real sense of place.

The renderers worked incredibly hard and in hot conditions so we were delighted when they finished in just 9 days. We are thrilled with the results - it has finished the house and has made it look even more solid that ever.

With all the other rooms getting a smarten up we felt that the second bedroom should also get a lick of paint not least due to the fact that the new bathroom showed up the poor state of decoration in that room. Luckily it was a quick job and done in three days.

Before:

Project completed:

The walls were repaired and rebagged, painted Souffle as in the Big Room. New lights were fitted and new curtains hung.

We need to organise the art work to be hung in here as it is going to be predominantly yellow and cream. A quilt is on order and should be sent soon.

With the new extension taking the place of the original formal entry into the house we needed to smarten up the side entry which was the way almost everyone came into the house. It always embarrassed me that guests would come in passed the washing machine and laundry tub.

We made plans and had a plumber come and move the laundry to the garage and where the laundry was we would construct a cupboard with the panels from the big room.

The extension necessitated the removal of the original front door which was the entry from the lounge to the study. As a result there was three doors to be rehung. The original front door from the formal entry was rehung as the exterior front door to the side entrance. The door that originally hung there was made the second interior door in the revamped side entrance. The door that hung there originally was a standard size door and was reused as the new bedroom door.

With all the doors hung I repaired the mud brick wall in the new entrance and painted it.

We are looking for an antique hall table or chiffonier and a gilt framed mirror for the wall. We have new lights to install and will hopefully get that done after Xmas.

When we moved in we recognised that the guest bathroom was a mess and would need to be renovated. Unfortunately it took us until now to get round to it - possibly because we didn't need to use it, it never became a priority but I was always very embarrassed when guest came to stay. Nevertheless it was a functional bathroom and served its purpose well for the guests. With all the renos being undertaken at the end of 2006 and the house already in chaos, why not do the bathroom at the same time particularly as we had a plumber coming to move the laundry to the garage and a plasterer coming to hang plasterboard in the big room. The plumber could do the bathroom and the plasterer could hang cement sheeting in the bathroom in the same visit.

As a result we got Marcus's brother to do most of the work other than the plumbing and plastering. We knew we would get a professional job done by Mick as he had only recently finished constructing his own house.

Before:

Original Toilet, shower tray and tiles

Original hand basin, mud brick wall and wall of linen press

Original door to linen press

Linen press from hall

After Day one – toilet and hand basin removed, wall and shelves in linen press removed

Shower tray surround removed, cement sheeting with tiles removed

We needed to get a builder in urgently to review the replacement of the rotten beam in shower corner. This was an unexpected and disturbing find.

View into hall with linen press shelves and wall removed. The right hand side shelves will remain and have a new door made to match the vanity that’s on order.

Note the white beam at the top of picture – the wall to the linen press included a structural post that needed to be replaced by the beam. Raced to Mitre 10 for it – unexpected cost of $1.05!!!

Shower tray installed and the rotten woodwork replaced. All battens up, insulated and awaiting cement sheeting.

Cement sheeting up, new vanity installed and tiling started.

New linen press doors hung.

With the tiling completed we were able to get in and paint however before we could do that the electrician returned and fitted the new lights and a tastic which meant that we had to paint carefully!

The walls undercoated in white and will eventually be painted honeywhite. The ceiling will remain white.

Once we had finished painting, I called the plumber and he came with his team to fit the basin, the toilet and the shower.

All that is left to do is to hang the mirror and organise a showerscreen. There are a few touch up jobs but essentially the project is completed!!!

In mid January I contacted several companies in Ballarat and went to several show rooms to organise the fitting of the shower screen. The plumber and Conor both recommended a new outfit called Shower Screen Solutions and they ended up giving us the best quote and also the shortest lead time.

Only 10 days later Todd came and fitted the screen and we are delighted.

There are some final touch up jobs (cleaning the grout and having all the tiles sealled) but the major work in this room is now done.

We are delighted with its transformation and it is no longer the embarrassment of a bathroom that it once was. In fact it is considerably smarter than the ensuite! It is however quite a bit smaller - we won't be moving the master suite!

The big room is our main living room off which is the meals area and the open plan kitchen. The kitchen was renovated almost as soon as we got in for it was unworkable in its original condition.

The big room while huge (7m x 7m) is quite a dark room due to all the wooden panelling. We decided that we should remove two walls of the panelling and replace them with plasterboard and paint it a sunny rich cream which will reflect light and make it a much lighter place to sit. Eventually the same colour yellow will be painted in the meals area and kitchen too.

Before:

The effect was instantaneous - it was lighter and much brighter and we are delighted. Whats more from woe to go the entire project only took 10 days! Minimal nest disturbance!

The Big Room dressed for Xmas

Since we arrived it was always our plan to convert the formal entry and porch into a study and a small guest room. After 2 years at Somerset Lodge we finally got the plans drawn up and after some difficulty we got a builder to do the work for us. Chris Murphy and his team were the best builders I've ever heard anyone talk about - courtious, tidy, punctual and hardworking. While the construction was not a difficult one we fully expected a fair bit of mess and disturbance, that wasn't the case at all.

Here is the progress:

Before:

Construction started with some demolition:

Day one:

Day 3 - the slab was laid

Day 5 - Framing the new rooms

Day 6 - windows and insulation installed

The new study. The library book shelves will go against the mudbrick wall on the right.

The antique desk will fit perfectly into this corner right next to the window

– it was measured and designed to do so.

View of the third bedroom from the study – a door will be installed shortly.

Corner of the bedroom

The sash window will be removed and replaced with mudbricks and put at the far end of the bedroom. We have an identical sash window in the lounge which is right next door so the east wall will have two matching windows

The feature mudbrick wall in the bedroom

Day 8 - Door hung and new entry made from lounge to the study

Day 9 - the brick external walls were put up in a morning!

The whole house will be rendered in the new year with limecrete with colouring oxide included in the mixture. We hope it will be the colour of warm sandstone.

Left over mud bricks from the previous owners reno were used to fill the hole where the sash window into the porch once was.

With the walls all up the construction phase of the extension is completed - our work now started as we planned to do all the decorating.

The new mudbrick wall will be plastered, bagged and then painted. The timber will all be stained in both the study and the bedroom

I moved into the study as soon as I could even before the pavers were laid and the walls stained!

The bedroom walls and ceiling panelling stained.

It was our aim to make the extension as like the rest of the house in look and feel as possible - we didn't want the new rooms to be obviously new. The stained panelling and roughly plastered, bagged and painted mud brick walls and brick pavers will do this particularly as we have recycled the windows and all the doors.

I thought about the decoration of the rooms long before the construction even began - the new bedroom was going to be predominantly blue and white with the second bedroom being yellow and cream.

The new bedroom is not very spacious but will comfortably take a double bed (which has been stored in the machine shed since we moved here - thankfully its a very dry shed and is only in need of a dust!). For some time we have been checking eBay and local antique shops for suitable furniture and just as we were starting the decorating we won two auctions on eBay for an Edwardian bedroom chair which was just perfect and also bedside table in the Queen Anne style. While its not strictly speaking an antique it has the right look and feel. The light is a converted chinese ginger jar.

Painting of the existing bagged study wall was the next project. As the lounge is painted white I planned to paint the study and bedroom white too as they lead off the lounge.

This wall will be almost completely hidden by the library book shelves with glazed doors which will arrive in mid to late February.

The other wall in the study needed quite a bit of work as it was part existing mud brick wall and also newly constructed mud brick wall. It was plastered, then roughly bagged and then painted white.

The feature wall in the bedroom also needed some serious work done to it as it was originally an exterior wall and had been weather damaged. It was washed, bondcreted, then plastered, bagged and painted.

Pavers were set in the third bedroom and study by Mick and Marcus and I grouted with mortar. Note the new light in the study.

Once the pavers and grout were dry they needed to be acid washed to remove the mortar from the surface of the pavers. This was a nasty back breaking job and not made better by the fact that it was a 34 degree day! It was sort of rewarding seeing the acid react with the mortar but you couldn't see how clean they got until they were dry. Unfortunately despite further treatments not all the pavers came up sparkling.

Once the pavers were as clean as they could be they needed to be sealed - another back breaking job but luckily the day wasn't quite as hot. The bondcrete took a full 24 hrs to dry and has given the pavers a shine and will be a lot easier to clean as a result.

Sealing was the final task before dressing the room. The new curtains were rehung (after being ironed again) and the bed we had stored in the machine shed since we moved here was brought across cleaned and installed.

We are delighted with the end result - its not a huge bedroom but as a third bedroom and an irregularly used guest room it is more than adequate.

With the pavers sealed I could also move the desk and computer back into the study.

All that is now waiting to be done is a few touch up jobs on the walls and installing the glazed library bookshelves which will be arriving in mid to late February.

The frame work for the new garage doors started and will be fully clad with western red cedar weather boards very shortly. The panel lift doors will arrive mid Jan.

The relocated laundry is visible on the right hand side next to the hot water system.

The weatherboards on the garage completed

Weatherboards sealed. Just awaiting the delivery of the panel lift garage doors.