Working backwards

I know it won't make a huge amount of sense, but I'm going to post photos of the process as I find them (rather than as it happened). Bear with me!

As you will see from the photos of the original kitchen, at least half the kitchen was covered in wooden panelling. The rest was painted brick, which is one of my favourite finishes. The panelling however was pretty awful. We painted it white initially (except on the internal wall, which was purple [Porters Muscatel]). Soon after we decided to renovate the kitchen J* decided to take out all the panelling ostensibly to replace it later but really just to see what was behind it. The ceiling was already on the to-fix list, as each time we have had a downpour for the last few years we have had to put buckets and towels underneath it.

Removing the panelling revealed some beautiful bricks underneath - the end of the original house - but more importantly a good 1cm gap between the bricks and the extension wall which had been built in the 70s. That would explain why we could stand in our kitchen and have a conversation with our neighbour in normal speaking voices.. Ha.

Once we had started we figured we'd better keep going. We discovered another remnant of the original wall colour... eek...

...and then took out the panelling around a brick support wall which had always blocked a lot of the view.

At the time we didn't quite know what we were going to do instead of the panelling, but obviously we figured it out!

P

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*At some stage last year, my husband read the blog and decided he didn't like being referred to as Husband. So from now on, he will be just J.

New ceiling

 

Last night's effort. I didn't think we would do it ourselves but my husband decided to give it a go - can't be too difficult!

Can't seem to be able to change the orientation. (Anyone?!)

 

Standing on the kitchen sink to do this

I'd gotten so used to the lack of ceiling, but it was lovely coming out this morning to a real one!

Family update

I guess I'd better fill you in on what we have all been up to since Valentine's Day 2011.

I had another crazy but fulfilling year at school. I still love the job, my colleagues and the challenges but it definitely is hard work. The good news is that after three years I have finally finished studying and already feel that I have room in my head for other things!

My husband is one essay away from finishing his law degree, so this year we will have two full-time jobs between us. It will be a juggle but we are looking forward to the stability.

LP finished his first full-time year of school successfully and can't wait to start grade 1 in a week's time. He has recently discovered Zac Power books (thanks A&A!) and the joys of reading, as well as the usual 6yo boy things of superheroes, ninja lego and Star Wars.

Miss I continues to be a delight, a challenge and a drama queen. She knows every word to The Lion King (recently re-released on dvd, hooray!) and is working her way through Beauty & the Beast. She still loves puzzles and animals.

And the garden... well, that's another post for another evening.

The original kitchen

 

 

 Wow, I can't believe this was the kitchen we inherited four years ago. It had its own charm in its own way... I have some in-between photos but please bear with me as I track everything down from the last year! Meanwhile I'll get back to gyprocking the ceiling...

way too long!

Hello there dear readers.

I realised yesterday that I haven't posted since 14 February 2011... nearly a year ago. It's been way too long, and consequently I have forgotten which email address I used to log in, and any addresses I could think of have been disconnected too from lack of use! Oh dear. So, here we are - a new year and a new ilipilli, until I figure it out.

The original blog can still be found here: http://ilipilli.blogspot.com

I'll write more about the kitchen tonight. Of course I can't locate the original pictures to even remind you what it *used* to be like! Leave it with me...

Px