Well it would seem I've been a bit slack writing this blog, but I am happy to report that there has been alot of progress in the cottage. While I had hoped to be open in January, life and my 'day-job' kinda got in the way. I could've also employed some more 'help' but what's  the point in paying tradies when you can do it yourself! :-) Basically I spent alot of time un-renovating the previous owners botch jobs. 

I ripped up the perfectly good carpet to expose beautiful Tas oak floors. I then had to fill and punch all the nails which wasn't so beautiful

Then the ceiling in the living room needed some attention, it was quite badly sagged. I started taking it down carefully and then got bored of that idea so I got up in the loft, hung off the rafters and kicked it down. It was a very satisfying and quick way to take down a ceiling and not so satisfying cleaning up...

New ceiling went up and looks the business. We had some help here and also got a sparky in, fitting a new fusebox, and new LED lights throughout the joint. 

I should have probably replaced the windows, but in a moment of madness I had decided how hard would it be just to restore the old ones? The old windows had copped about a million layers of paint and no matter how much rubbing would get them smooth, a grinder did the trick tho and a dremel to remove the paint from the brass fittings. I should also mention here I did have some more help with Chris doing the exteriors...a job I was not keen to do, cheers Chris!

The place has been decorated throughout, the kitchen units painted, the laundry tiled and fitted out and a million other jobs I can't remember or didn't take any photos....

We've ordered all the beds and furniture and have it currently stockpiled in our house in Hobart and have been taking it up bit by bit

Just left to do really is give those floors a sand and a seal, fit some new worktops in the kitchen & laundry and then let the joy of building IKEA furniture begin

​I'm not going to put a date on it aside to say it will be soon.....we will open soon*

* (Disclaimer - Then I might just go stay there myself and actually ride some of these trails folk talk about instead of wielding a paintbrush) Maydena sunsets are pretty cool!

So last weekend the project officially started! The cruiser was loaded up prior to going to work on Friday with just a quick trip home to pickup the site supervisor we were off to Maydena, with a quick pit stop to pickup the essentials of course. Beer, food & firewood! We arrived just before 9 and soon had the fire cranking and the campsite setup.

It rained all night, heavily! Pretty noisy sleeping inside an empty house with a tin roof, but between the fire and the site supervisor we kept warm. Woke up to snow just above the tree line in Maydena. It was a winter wonderland up at the Eagles eyrie where the trail head will start.

The start of any reno is normally demolition. The previous owner of this joint had been a bit rough around the edges. He'd done a reasonable job with the bathroom until it came to the tiling when he'd left gaps in the vinyl tiles you could drive a London bus down. Rip it up and start again! We also removed about a tube of excess silicone sealant smeared all over the shower.

I carried on ripping things down, like old wardrobe racking, shelves in weird places, removed some doors ready for sanding and general tinkering until Janetta arrived after lunch at which point she went to work clearing the crap out the kitchen.

Shortly after disaster struck, realising the time was nearly 3pm and about 'beer o'clock' I opened the fridge (which the previous owner kindly left) and found my beer warm. The lights and fan were running but the compressor not. After watching several YouTube vids and poking around with a multimeter my conclusion is the fridge is fucked. Maybe I could replace the relay but to be honest it a bit old and skanky so it'll probably go to the tip.

Woke up Sunday morning to a beautiful sunrise. I know it was beautiful because I've seen the pictures Janetta took, it was also bloody freezing so I stayed in curled up in my swag for a while longer.

We continued with the kitchen. The cabinets are fairly solid they just look dated, so the plan is to give them a sand and a lick of paint, I think they'll come up nice! In the bottom of one of the cupboards you can see the original oak floor that is in the property, we're debating ripping the exisiting flooring up and restoring it.

After a tidy up, tea drinking, planning what we need for next weekend, and getting sidetracked taking photos we headed off in the early afternoon back to Hobart, via Bunnings of course!

So the contract settled last Thursday and we became Maydena's newest residents! We drove up there at the weekend to inspect our purchase while also taking the opportunity to go to a residents meeting regarding the development  of the bike park. Simon French the managing director gave a run down of where the project is at and answered questions from the local community. I felt it was pretty well received and that this is an exciting time for Maydena. The use of the old primary school is a great site for redevelopment and I don't know of any other bike park that also has a community craft room! Straight off the trails and into some extreme crochet...RAD!  We then poked around the house and made a long 'to-do' list before heading off, days are short up here at this time of the year.

We settled on a name for the house, Rosebrooke Cottage. We though about others, but then I noticed an old plaque on the gate. I come from a family of seafarers and have spent a fair bit of time working at sea myself. Its bad luck to change the name of a ship...so Rosebrooke Cottage it is!

This week I've been sorting out a website. I had a healthy distain of anything programming related when I was at uni and at work I've somehow given it a wide berth. In the last couple of years I've realised it would be pretty useful skill but I'm still none the wiser, so I spent the first few days researching which platform would be best used given I know diddly-squat about web design. Thankfully these days you can design a website without knowing knowing any code (although it probably helps) so I settled on Weebly for now, maybe I'll learn some of this code malarkey, we'll see! So we're online, on facebook and insta! Just got to renovate the place now. I'll be back off there this weekend, with a trailer load of firewood I think, Maydena is baltic this time of year!