Long time no post!

9 months since my last post, slight coincidence seeming that I am 8 months pregnant as of yesterday! Well since that August day when I last logged on to update my blog a lot has happened...

First, we moved into our beautiful new home in Fish Hoek. I love it here. It is like living in a permanent holiday town. Walks to the beach, train trips into Kalk Bay or Simons Town and even just being able to hear the sea on a still night from the comfort of my own bed. Bliss!

My bedroom

To decorate the interior I have been lucky to have my mom to help me. She has a "showhouse" (garage) full of surplus furniture and decor that I enjoy "shopping" at. I like to change things around often so I tend to keep the canvas neutral.


We have made the most of the original characteristics of the home, knocking down walls to let in more light and creating uniformity by painting the interior all one colour. We also resanded all of the beautiful wooden floors and tiled the kitchen and bathroom in a more modern way.

Pantry - kept fully stocked and tidy

My husband, Shaun, has loved doing the garden. Again, trying to highlight the charm of the house we have stayed quite classic, planting iceberg roses, lavender and hyndrangeas. I love cut flowers so am really looking forward having some blossoms to trim to appreciate inside our home too.

The trick to renovating on a budget is to remain flexible, have many ideas and pictures for inspiration as well as being permanently glued to gumtree for deals on materials you need. We found a great builder who has two sons, one an electrician and another a plasterer/tiler. It was great because they worked together well and were able to finish everything quickly. They had a friend who did our plumbing for us too. We were lucky but I would never recommend this route if it didn't come highly recommended by a friend or family member. Remember to get a quote first and to pay weekly/once the project is complete.

There are still a few projects we need to tackle. For example, Wednesday is baby room day and Saturday is D-day for the bathroom tiles to go up and curtain rails to be put up in the lounge. Yes, we have lived here for 9 months without curtains in our living area... We were hoping to tackle the next stage of the project this year; building on an ensuite bathroom and fixing up the entrance to the abode but our priorities have changed just a tad since falling pregnant. We now live in the world of prams, car seats, epidurals and ultrasounds.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Update on our 'addictedtodiscounts' home

So, building is under way! The builder estimated the first phase to be completed by July 1st but unfortunately (as anticipated) they are still building. The first phase consisted of gutting and totally refurbishing the small cottage on the property. This is for Shaun's grandfather to move into as he is the current occupant of the house we will be moving into - hopefully ASAP! The photo below was taken about two weeks ago but sadly it doesn't look very different now. The builders have assured us that the new week will hold much progress...

We have already started packing up the main house, and let me tell you that packing a 3 bedroom house of a lifetime's belongings and trying to economise to get it all to fit into a 6 by 6 garden cottage is not easy! My mother-in-law and I have been there (her more than I) the whole week and the progress is slow, very slow. Shaun has however been very efficient by selling off surplus furniture on Gumtree (let's have a moments silence in respect for the wonderful creators of this genius establishment).

As soon as he has moved in and the builder's have done all their finishing touches we will start to renovate inside our home. This will also been done over a number of phases as money allows. We've tried to break it up into what is more important and make the biggest difference in the rooms we occupy the most. The house is very closed off and dark with a long passage dividing and blocking off light. We plan to rectify this by knocking down the passage door on the left to create an open plan lounge and dining room.

The floors are beautiful so we are going to pick up the carpets in two of the bedrooms on the right hand side to expose the wooden flooring. We are going to paint the whole house to create a little more uniformity in a warm grey/beige colour (aka. greige, copyright Cara) and repaint all the doors, ceilings, cornices and skirtings in white. There is a huge problem which is definitely essential - there is no plumbing for a dishwasher - so while this is being taken care of the geyser will be replaced too. This is all that will be done in phase one. After it is complete and before we start on the extensive second phase we will be changing light fittings, modernising door handles, sprucing up the kitchen and bathroom, doing landscaping and general decorating.

What I've learnt so far is that when doing building on a budget, the costs never end! There is always another list of supplies to be bought and problems occuring. We did find that Bathroom Bizarre had a great deal on a "package" of a bath, toilet and basin which of course didn't include the small, surprisingly expensive taps, toilet seat and plumbing. You need to shop around for these specials and talk to people who are in the same boat. We got this tip from the mother of my very special friend, Monique. I have also learnt that when you are unable to afford to do the whole thing at once break it down into things you hate and by correcting will bring you the most joy, also to keep the things you don't hate (thanks Tamara!) We also have paid our builder for the job and not per day which as you can already assume would have been much more expensive as they probably underestimated their time by half.

I can't wait to be on the other side of this journey - the after, but am enjoying the process and finding it so much fun!