So this week, we commenced the great, epic adventure that is renovating. Renovating with children, and children on the way that is. Well, child on the way to be completely accurate. Renovating is one of those things that you really, really, really have to want to do, to do it. You have to keep your eye on the prize and put up with the endless months of tradies, dust, budgets, budget blow outs and general inconvenience. Not to mention the hard work.
One of the reasons that we chose to renovate, is that we are lucky that my husband works in the field, and this can do much of the process himself. And the parts he cannot do himself, he can get trusted tradies to do for us. It’s half the battle trying to find good people to get you through the process, relatively unscathed.
We had talked for over a year about what we would do when our little family got bigger. We are lucky to own our own home (well, to live in a home that the bank owns), and feel extremely lucky that we live in an area we love, close to the city in Melbourne. We purchased our two bedroom home on the same day that we got engaged (Dan proposed out the front), and felt so blessed that we could simply be in the market, let alone own a home that we loved. Our two bedroom home is completely loved, and we discussed the possibility of keeping it as it is, and having our children share a room. If it were not for the toys that have invaded every part of every room (all five of them), then this could have been a viable option.
We also talked about selling and buying, but given the fact that we love the area, and we would be looking at well into the millions for something that is bigger, then we crossed off this option quite quickly. So the option that remained to be the most logical, affordable and reasonable was to renovate.
So after months of plans, permits and town planning, we finally got the go ahead with almost four months to go until baby Korber no. 2 arrives. We are lucky that we can move in with Daniel’s parents who also live locally, and have ample room to put up with the three of us, as well as store our worldly possessions packed into what feels like hundreds of boxes. We said good bye to our house for the next few months….the next time we sleep there we will have a new house and a new baby!
I write this from the couch of my Mother in Law’s after having moved in over the weekend. Daniel has worked at an incredible pace, pulling up the back deck, veranda and demolishing the kitchen, bathroom and laundry. We are almost ready for the new structure to go up and pray that this will all go according to plan. Like most people who renovate, we hope to stick to budget and timeline. Famous last words.
They say renovating is a true test of marriage. We’ll see. So far we’ve agreed on most things, and had only a couple of minor arguments. Most of our discussions revolve around tiles, paint, floor boards, tapware, cornices etc. etc. but as long as he sticks to my Dad’s motto – ‘A happy wife is a happy life’, then we will be just fine!
As for Ella, she has no real idea what is going on. Ignorance is bliss!
Stay tuned for regular updates to see how we progress. If you are on Instragram, feel free to pop over and say hello, or follow the hashtag #korberreno.
Until then…Happy Renovating!
A few pics so far…
Dan and Ella assessing what is left of our kitchen..
The tree loppers chopping down two trees in our backyard. This was the saddest part of deciding to renovate!
The name on our packing boxes was quite ironic…
What is left of the back of our house. Deck gone and veranda gone!
What do we pack?
Fun times ahead! Wish us luck!
