warning: ugly pictures ahead


cabin2
Stage number 412 of our house renovation begins Monday. And it involves smashing this hideous space to smitherines, building a new mini house and decking whatever is left. My excitement levels? Peaked! Aside from using the laundry and throwing things in the cabin to store, we never, ever used this space. For SIX YEARS. And so it is most definitely time to do something about it. We’d planned to just renovate the cabin - new sheeting, remove interior walls and reconfigure the laundry and toilet, but it was all in such bad condition tearing it down and starting over didn’t cost too much more and so that’s what we decided to do. And so… it’ll be one large room off the ground in line with the house, with French doors in line with our back door (which we’re replacing with a full-light door) and a window looking out onto the grass (which will actually be grass, not weeds, concrete and a broken hills hoist!). At the other end will be a laundry/loo with storage cupboard – the window will be in the middle of the wall in line with the interior door so the whole cabin gets the afternoon sea breeze.
cabin3
There will still be a breezeway between the two buildings – it will be at roof level though, so really high and the deck will run the entire length of the cabin and to both fences in the far corner. We’ll have bench seats built along both sides of the buildings and one or two steps down onto the grass. It’ll be pretty simple, but pretty perfect for what we need. Best of all, it will be USEABLE – hurrah! We plan to use it as a bit of everything: my office/playroom/guest room… I can picture myself working while Zak and Layla run in and out and ride bikes and scooters on the deck and tumble on the grass. That’s the plan, anyway!
cabin1
I know I should have an idea of what colours and stains and tiles etc I want, but I don’t. Well, I can pretty much guarantee it’ll all be neutral, but have no specifics. I’m thinking I might go with a light floor – either a limewash or paint it white just for something different. Any other ideas? I might try and whip up a moodboard this weekend… But before then, we have to empty it all. And guess where everything is going? Oh yes, throughout the house again. One day every room will only contain items it is supposed to contain. One day – hopefully that one day will be early next year!
I’ll take a few more pictures once it’s empty so you can see for yourself the delightful interior. And when I say delightful I mean ridiculously disgraceful. It is not somewhere you want to be. But soon it will be and I am so, so very happy about that!

15 Responses to “warning: ugly pictures ahead…”

  1. Raru says:
    Everything will be ok soon :) Wish to you good luck :) and great day :)
  2. fat mum slim says:
    That’s huge, and EXCITING.
    I hope it gets done very quickly and you’re working away in there in no time. x
  3. Megan says:
    That is going to look fantastic and what a great usable space it will be. Im hearing you on the storage issue, we are renovating too and have the same problem, it seems that as soon as you get one room done it gets destroyed by the clutter of the next step, it can be disheartening but it will eventually come together beautifully.. eventually.. and its going to look so good you wont know yourself.. :-)
  4. Rosie says:
    Oh, how exciting! It’s going to be lovely! Love the idea of the deck too, what a great space!
    There was an article a couple of months ago (in Real Living of all mags!) of 3 ways to use a space like this one, and the little ‘cabin/shed’ that it was housed in was so cute! It made me want to build one (though we have no room!), so I am very jealous of yours!
    It will be awesome to see it come together!
  5. Julie says:
    Sounds like lots of work but it will all be worth it in the end. It sounds just fabulous. Will completely transform your lifestyle I’m sure. Good Luck! Keep us updated with in progress pic’s. We are madly laying decking boards again this weekend – it is really hard work, I could hardly move after last week. But we can actually walk out of one of our sliding doors now which is fantastic (although I was getting pretty good at balancing on beams, ha!). Hope your project goes smoothly!
  6. Sara says:
    Hope it all goes well. I love seeing renovation transformations so I’ll be watching this space :) Gives me plenty to soak up for when I finally buy my own home.
    I’m in love with white so a white floor sounds lovely. Can’t wait to see your finished space.
  7. I can see the vision… and me likes it!
  8. Lanne says:
    Check out anything you can find online about Brendan Moar… I am sooo not a gardener and flicked on to Dry Spell gardening when surfing foxtel. he has created some amazing spaces and really inspiring ideas..http://www.lifestylechannel.com.au/DrySpellGardening/brendanmoar.asp. This one with the mini shed/building and the extended deck might be inspiring -http://www.lifestylechannel.com.au/content/DrySpellGardening/Factsheets/Series1/Factsheet_EP2.pdf
  9. bel says:
    Bel, till the other night I didnt even know u had a backyard.
    PS the backstreet boys are coming to OZ next march – so i need to stay away from steve, heehee.
  10. Laura says:
    We are planning a very similar thing. The big question though……what about the hills hoist??? We have three kids, and they are so practical but so ugly, so what to do?
  11. Amanda says:
    What a gorgeous little cabin Belinda! I’ve seen similar ones in magazines and online and always thought how lovely it would be to have a little studio/sun room like this. Can’t wait to see the progress of your new project!
  12. Belinda says:
    thanks all, i’ll keep you posted!
    rosie – thank you! i was trying to recall where I’d seen a cabin story and you’re exactly right! mine will be a fair bit bigger, but definitely handy to have!
    lanne – thanks for the links; they’re great but i don’t think mine will be quite so flash!!
    laura – we’re getting rid of our hills hoist. it’s so old and broken and space-hogging, i think i’ll probably go with one of those pull-out lines – we don’t use the hills hoist at all now so it won’t be missed!
  13. dragonfly says:
    That beautiful French home feels so peaceful, doesn’t it. You just feel like its a place you can completely exhale in.
  14. It looks like it will be a really great space – lots of potential :)