The Christmas and New Year period was a busy one at The Charlton House, with Saturday 14^th December being a particularly significant milestone – that was the day we picked up the kitchen!

The weekend started a day early as we headed up the Calder on Friday 13^th. Fortunately neither Shirleen nor I suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia, and the trip was without incident.

After our usual inspection of the house and grounds on arrival, we emptied the ute and hooked up the trailer ready for an early morning trip on Saturday to pick up the kitchen from Bunnings in Bendigo, where the lovely people there had placed the flat packs on pallets and wrapped them in plastic all ready to go. The larger of the 2 pallets was forklifted directly onto the trailer and the smaller one unpacked and loaded into the ute tub. It wasn’t too long before we were on our way back to Charlton, excited that the next chapter in our renovation story was about to start.

Once back we unloaded the base cupboards, wall cupboards, doors, drawers, hinges etc into various places around the house ready for assembly over the Christmas break.

The remainder of the weekend was spent finishing the paint on the kitchen walls and trim, before heading back to Melbourne on the Sunday.

I was keen to return the following weekend (which was the start of a three week break from work) to start assembling the cupboards and the week in the office was one of the slowest I’ve experienced, despite being busy.

The weekend finally arrived, and I was now on holidays – but there was no sleep-in… I was keen to get back to Charlton ASAP, leaving home around 7am (sans wife and dog) and arriving shortly before 11:00.

The entire weekend was dedicated to finishing the painting and starting the cabinet assembly. After a full on 2 days I retuned home on December 23^rd to celebrate my birthday and Christmas with the family.

On December 29^th we all returned to Charlton intent on getting as much of the kitchen done as possible. After all the base cabinets were in place I was in a position to confirm the measurements for the benchtops and place an order for them, happy that the scheduled delivery was only a week away.

Installation of the wall cabinets soon followed, then doors and handles, and pretty soon we had what was becoming a great looking and functional kitchen. Whilst I was busily assembling flat packs, Shirleen got busy with paint stripper and scraper and continued the work Emily had started on the dado panelling in the hallway. We suffered only one hiccup during this time… on unpacking the pantry door, the very last door to be installed, we discovered it had somehow been damaged most likely in transit from the supplier to the store.A quick call to Bunnings was all that was needed for a replacement to be ordered.

By Wednesday 8^th Jan we decided that, given there was little more work we could do until the benchtops arrived, we would return home via Bendigo to send back the damaged door and order the kitchen sink.

The benchtops were scheduled to arrive on the following Friday, so I returned to Charlton the next day to await delivery.

The following 2 weeks back at work went surprisingly fast. I had arranged annual leave for 24^th Jan, giving me a 4 day weekend to cut the benchtops to size and install them. The trip up was via Bendigo to pick up the replacement pantry door and the sink. Over the extended weekend we achieved what we set out to do, having completed the installation of both the benchtops and the sink.

On the morning of Monday 27^th, the Australia Day public holiday, we packed up the car, locked up the house, and after visiting mum on the way out of town, started down the Calder for the trip home.

No sooner had we travelled about 10 minutes that the car suddenly lost power, and dashboard warning messages started flashing, and I knew something serious was wrong with my almost new Ford Ranger. After coasting to a stop on the side of the road, we checked the owner’s manual which confirmed a powertrain fault and advised contacting Ford Service.

Realising that we were going nowhere, we rang the RACV who advised their usual “within the hour” response. The outside temp was in the low 30’s and whilst the car engine could run with the air-conditioning going, I was mindful of it overheating without the proper airflow though the radiator, so we wound down the windows and sat… waiting…

Realising it was futile for the three of us to wait, we put in a rescue call to Janet who came to collect Shirleen, Skylar and our bags and return them to the house. The sight of Shirleen and Skylar sharing the front seat of a 2 seater sports car is one which will stay with me for some time!

The following day the Ranger made its way to the Ford dealer in Donald, who confirmed a broken component in the automatic gearbox, requiring a replacement transmission to be shipped from Melbourne.

Fortunately they were able to dig up a 20 year old Falcon as a loan car… it aint pretty (it has so much Mallee dust in and on it it really does look like it was dug up!), and despite having travelled over 300,000 km it is mechanically sound, so we were able to return home to Sandhurst by early evening.

The next trip will be an unscheduled one to pick up the Ranger once it is repaired.

Tiling in the kitchen will be the next task… can’t wait. In the interim check these before and after photos!

The Kitchen the day we bought The Charlton House

The Kitchen today.

On the morning of our last trip up the Calder for a week long stay at the Charlton House, Shirleen’s Facebook feed popped up a memory from 12 months ago, showing us driving up the Calder in the hissing rain. Who said history doesn’t repeat itself?

Unfortunately one of the tasks I had set for our week at the house was to complete the stormwater and repair a couple of minor leaks in it… the constant rain meant I was doing it in sticky Mallee mud, dredging up memories of putting in the stumps for the deck back in September 2016 when heavy rain in and around Charlton and the Avoca River catchment caused major flooding in the township. Not quite as much rain this time but enough to make it uncomfortable.

After 3 days all “water related” tasks had been completed – the stormwater drains fixed and properly feeding the new tank we installed last visit, the small old tank relocated to the garage, and the pump for the new tank plumbed and installed.

Next task on the list was to fashion up some edging for around the fruit trees so that the pea straw we had delivered would stay around the fruit trees. Wind and rain delayed the spreading of the pea straw somewhat but Shirleen soldiered on between the showers to prepare the beds. It was during this that we discovered vast colonies of earwigs residing in and around not only the garden beds but also in the clothes that had been hung to dry on the clothes horse on the back deck. From the clothes they made their way into the house, bed, car… you name it!

Whilst Shirleen was busy weeding, feeding and mulching, my job was to complete the removal of the plaster and dado from the kitchen walls, install a new kitchen window (including replacing weatherboards where the old window was removed), complete the lining of the kitchen with cement sheet and install the new cornice in the kitchen. As the end of the week drew near, we had successfully completed all we set out to do and the new kitchen is another a step closer to becoming reality.

Next trip will be filling nail holes and plaster stopping the joins in the walls followed by paint. Feeling excited!

New Cornice

New Kitchen Window

This weekend’s trip to The Charlton House had been earmarked to replace the aluminium window in the kitchen with a new timber one, however the plans for that were changed mid week when the new 22,700 litre water tank was delivered but not put in position due to the ground being too wet, on account of the tap timer being used to water the fruit trees being faulty… it turned on OK but failed to turn off, resulting in a swimming pool in the yard and the trench for the stormwater pipe, which Randall had dug a couple of weeks earlier, being full of mud.

By the time we arrived late on Friday afternoon, it had dried out considerably although the ground was still a bit spongy. I guess the sprinklers being on for a couple of days will do that. At least the orchard got a good watering, although I dread the thought of the next water bill.

The trip up on Friday was also the opportunity to test out our new car, which I had picked up just hours earlier on Friday morning. The Commodore Ute was nearing the end of its lease and whilst researching the market for a potential replacement I found the ideal car at an ideal price. So exit 2014 Holden Commodore Ute, enter 2019 Ford Ranger XLT dual cab Ute.

Whilst Skylar found it very different travelling in the back seat and being strapped into a harness which was attached to the seat belt, rather than having free reign in the back of the wagon, we found it an extremely comfortable trip. The new car also got a workout positioning the water tank, after manipulating it over the stormwater trench and into the front yard so we could haul the tank into an upright position via a strap attached to the tow bar.

Once the tank was in position I was able to complete the stormwater drain and hook it up to the tank, so all we need now is some rain! Saturday’s work ended with the backfilling of the stormwater trench followed by a hot shower to remove all the mud, and a hard earned beer.

Sunday morning’s job was to make some adjustments to the back door, after the warm weather caused the house to shift a little and stop the door from closing properly.

After completing our usual Sunday chores we toured around the town visiting a number of lovely gardens opened up as part of the Charlton Gardening Club’s open gardens day. We then headed into town for lunch at the Rotary Club’s annual art show.

After a very pleasant day we packed our stuff and ourselves into the car for the trip home. Now looking forward to the Charlton Show next weekend.

Manipulating the Ranger over the trench and into the yard

Tank on its way to being upright

Success! Tank in place.

We had been looking forward to a nice 3 nights at The Charlton House for grand final weekend, as I had some work to do at the Bendigo courthouse on the Thursday prior to the public holiday and the plan was to travel straight from Bendigo to Charlton on the Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately Shirleen was feeling quite poorly on Thursday and decided to stay home. This meant I was unable to take Skylar with me as I couldn’t leave her in the car for the time I was working at the courthouse, so it was a solo trip up the Calder for me, arriving in Charlton late on Thursday afternoon.

After stopping at the supermarket for some food for the weekend I arrived at the house to find that Randall, the local earth moving contractor had prepared the base for the new water tank during the week. Our new 22,500 litre tank arrives on 10th October!

After unloading the car I pottered in the workshop until it got too cold (even though the day was sunny and warm) and retired to the study to catch up on some work email.

Saturday was, as usual, mowing day. It had been three weeks since the last mow as the weather on the previous trip was wet and windy, but not so today…the skies were blue the sun was shining and the grass was long (and the weeds even longer) so after a round of the block on the ride-on I dragged out the push mower to do all the bits the ride on couldn’t mow, then progressed to the whipper snipper and finally, for all those bits too awkward to get to, like the woodpiles and behind the shed, I filled the the sprayer with roundup and rounded up the weeds!

Saturday I continued to rip plaster from the kitchen walls in readiness for the cement sheet lining, which went up in fits and starts due to my occasional pausing to check the grand final scores… what a flop that was!

Fortunately that was the only flop for the weekend with the work to reline the kitchen walls only stopping when I ran out of cement sheet at around lunchtime on Sunday. The final result was significant – plaster removed, window removed and the hole reclad with weatherboards, insulation inserted in the wall cavity and cement sheet affixed. All in all a very productive weekend.

So by mid afternoon I had packed up the tools, cleaned away the rubble and left for home, knowing I was another weekend closer to a new kitchen.

What the kitchen looked like the day we first inspected The Charlton House

What the kitchen looks like today

What we hope the kitchen will soon look like.

During this weekend’s trip to the Charlton house Victoria was in the midst of one of the coldest winter snaps for many years with snowfalls recorded in some of the last places you would ever think. Yes, Charlton was bloody cold, but not cold enough for snow. The snowman encounter was on the way home after we made an impromptu decision to turn off the Calder and visit the township of Macedon, after spotting snow on the side of a hill that not so long ago hosted a raging inferno… the sight of charred sticks that were once flourishing trees rising from a blanket of snow reinforcing the extremes in climate that Victoria often experiences.

Skylar was unsure of what to think of the snowman, unlike the hoards of families who had stopped on the side of the road to take a few snaps who left us thinking that it wasn’t only Skylar’s first snowman encounter.

Rewind two days and we were just leaving home for the cold and wet trip up the Calder, complete with MDF sheets wrapped in a tarp and strapped to the roof and other building supplies loaded up in the back of the wagon.

A few days earlier I had ordered some corbels for the mantle we were building around the old brick chimney and was hoping to have them for this visit, but they had not arrived before we left. 20 minutes into our trip however I received a notification from Australia Post that they had been delivered, so we did a quick turnaround and headed back home to collect them, much to Skylar’s confusion, given we had told her we were going to Charlton. 

On arrival the car was unpacked and the heaters turned on to high and I retired to the study to catch up with some office work, whist Shirleen relaxed in the lounge room.

Saturday morning work started with a vengeance. Shirleen continued stripping paint from the lounge room dado… paint that would make Sarah Lee proud… layer upon layer upon layer! 

Meanwhile I started cutting up the MDF for the new mantle around the brick fireplace surround in the kitchen where the stove will eventually be housed. After a full day’s work we were both tired and sore but pleased with the progress we made this trip. 

Next trip will hopefully see the  walls being replaced in readiness for installation of the kitchen cupboards. 

Excited!!

What does a Snowman smell like??

Before

After

In my Easter update I flagged that the next phase of The Charlton House project was to be the kitchen renovation. That has now become a reality with the temporary relocation of the kitchen to the Hawthorn Room (so called because it is painted in brown and gold).

Early on in the renovation we identified the Hawthorn Room as the best place for the new bathroom. Hot and cold water were nearby and the new sewer we laid to pick up the kitchen waste ran right past this room. It was therefore easy to deck this room out as a temporary kitchen whilst the “real” kitchen undergoes its transformation.

Squeezing the benches, sink, cupboards and fridge into a room that is half the size of the original kitchen was not as challenging as we thought and it took only a couple of days to convert what was a dusty, cobwebbed storage area into a fully functional kitchen.

The fun now begins with the first tasks to be stripping the dado panelling from the kitchen walls and replacing it with cement sheet and sand blasting the several coats of paint from the fireplace to restore it’s brickwork to original condition.

Watch this space for further updates as we progress. Super excited!

Installing temporary kitchen cupboards

Finished, albeit temporary kitchen.

Ready for demolition…

My last blog post was Australia Day when we picked up the new doors from the wonderful people at Custom Timber Windows and Doors at Kyneton. Whilst I haven’t posted since then a lot has happened at The Charlton House.

New split system air conditioners were installed in the bedroom and study, and painting of the study continued, amongst many other minor works such as organising the workshop and storage in the garage, some more stripping of paint from the dado paneling in the hallway (thanks Emily), installation of the french doors in the lounge room and the biggest (and most expensive) news… WE HAVE A NEW ROOF!

We are also pleased to announce that we also have completed our second room (if you count the entry hall as a room). The hard work on the study has paid off and we think the results speak for themselves.

Having decided that the next room to be attacked is the kitchen, the work is about to get harder (and costlier) but after what’s probably years of planning the layout and colour scheme, we’re confident that the final result will be stunning and we look forward to bringing you along with us on our journey with regular progress reports on the all important kitchen renovation.

In the interim check out some of these before and after photos of the french doors, roof and study.

West side of the house June 2015 on signing the contract

West side of the house April 2019

Lounge room June 2015 on signing the contract

Lounge room April 2019

Study June 2015 on signing the contract

Study April 2019

French doors from the outside

More of the study

View from the street

I had arranged with the wonderful people at Custom Timber Windows and Doors in Kyneton to pick up on the Friday of the Australia Day long weekend, the doors we were having made for the study, back door and lounge room french doors.

Unfortunately Mother Nature had her angry pants on so the trip up the Calder was in VERY hot and blustery conditions, and slower than usual due to the increased wind resistance on the loaded trailer.

On arrival at The Charlton House we were greeted with a 47 degree temperature, so the first task was to start up the air conditioner, before quickly unloading essentials from the car and retiring to relative air conditioned comfort for the rest of the day, but not before our obligatory walk around the grounds to inspect gardens etc, and on this visit to check out the new heat pump hot water service which was installed earlier in the week.

Cooler temperatures were the order of the day for Saturday so we were able to resume renovations in earnest, but not before Shirleen’s trip to the chemist at Inglewood for some medication she forgot to bring with her. Unfortunately the Charlton pharmacy was closed for the long weekend.

Whilst Shirleen was gone I set about removing the door and frame from the external study door onto the verandah. By the time she returned I had the new door in place and was well progressed on fitting the internal architraves. Having the good people at Custom Timber Windows pre-hang both the glass and flywire doors and install the door hardware certainly made the job easier. By Saturday evening the job was completed and the study another step closer to being finished. All that now remains is to finish stripping back the window and a bit more painting and we’re done and ready for carpet.

Sunday I decided to finish clearing the remaining tools and miscellaneous workshop items (which came up from Somerville) from the sleepout, so we could use it for boxes and miscellaneous furniture being stored in other parts of the house, providing much needed “space to renovate”. Shirleen, in the meantime, continued stripping paint from the study window, a task which had taken a back seat during the hotter weather, as the paint stripper was drying before having a chance to work its magic on the old paint and varnish.

The weather was still milder on Monday so I set about the next door installation, this time replacing “holey” back door and splintered frame with one identical to the study door I had replaced 2 days earlier. The new door really transforms the feel of the house with much more light now entering the hallway.

Tuesday morning at 8:30 was the moment we were most looking forward to all weekend… the air conditioning installer arrived to fit 2 new split systems to the bedroom and study. The install was completed shortly after lunch and now with all units running the whole house can be cooled – WINNER!

Having completed all our tasks for the weekend we packed up and headed home, happy that the renovating is back on track after a hiatus during our packing up and moving house.

Next milestone to look forward to will be the re-roofing, which will hopefully start soon.

New heat pump hot water unit

new back door

new study door and a/c compressor

After a lull in activity at the Charlton House pending completion of the garage, things are now starting to get back to “normal”.

Completion of the garage meant we were now able to empty the storage unit in Somerville where a lot of our excess furniture and boxes were being stored, as well as clear out stuff stored in some of the rooms at the Charlton House so we can get back to renovating in earnest.

First in the order of business was to set up some shelving in the garage to create a workshop, complete with mezzanine style storage above enabling me to move all the tools which had been in the workshop at Somerville out of the sleep-out, freeing it up for boxes being stored around the house.

With the study now free of everything bar the furniture which will eventually housed there, I was able now to continue work on the study. This involved moving the furniture onto the deck (a relatively easy task as I had it stored on dollies) so that there was space to move around, so I was able to finish the third coat of paint on the walls as well as a couple of coats on the skirting boards. All that now remains is to finish stripping and repainting the window (something I have been unable to do due to the heat over the Christmas break), fit the new door out onto the deck (which I am hoping to do on the Australia Day long weekend) and install the new fireplace and surround, which I can now do thanks to my last trip when I partially demolished the brick fireplace so that he new electric fire would fit.

Our New Years trip to Charlton was a little shorter than we had hoped, courtesy of the mid to high 40’s temperatures which were predicted for the the first week of the year. We did though manage to cut the grass (weeds?) which had grown over the last few weeks, courtesy of the 75mm of rain we received earlier in December. Much of the weed appeared to be the dreaded “Tribulus terrestris” otherwise known as Bindii. A trip up the road to North West Ag for some Bindii and ant killer ensured we were busy for the rest of the visit, Shirleen attacking the mountains (literally) of ant hills whilst I sprayed the yard with Bindii killer – unfortunately the pump on the spray tank we tow behind the ride on mower was broken so the spraying was by hand.

On the trip home we detoured via Bendigo to take advantage of Harvey Norman’s sale and interest free terms and purchase three new reverse cycle split system air conditioners for the bedroom, study and craft room. Installation is scheduled for 29th Jan so they will be operational for the hottest part of summer.

Thanks to a work trip to Mildura I spent the following weekend at the house finishing the fireplace in the study and completing a few more odd jobs around the place, including further bindii spraying and continuing to organise the workshop and clear out the sleepout in preparation for storing boxes and furniture during the next phase of renovation.

Looking forward to the next couple of trips when we can finish the study and make a start on the kitchen – YAY!!

Workshop Storage

Preparing for the new electric fire

A couple of weekends ago Shirleen and I purchased an electric file insert for the study and a lovely mantle which we thought would look great ion the lounge room. With that and the new cistern in the ute Skylar and I headed up the Calder around midday on Friday 12th to get the leaky toilet sorted out, inspect the recently poured slab for the garage and do whatever else we could, weather permitting.

Arriving mid afternoon we quickly had the ute unloaded, so whilst Skylar scoured the yard for any scrap bones dropped by the birds (they steal them from neighbouring dog bowls then drop them under the peppercorn tree… sort of like an Uber Eats for dogs) I got stuck into fitting the new cistern. Within a couple of hours the new cistern was up and running and all the leaks were a thing of the past, so we relaxed for the evening contemplating the following days tasks.

I decided that, as the weather was going to be warm, I would get out the pressure washer and blast the weatherboards which were covered in a thick layer of red/brown mallee dust, before starting to renail and patch weatherboards on the front of the house in preparation for future painting. But not before the usual mowing round… hopefully the last for some time given the grass (weed?) had gone to seed and the ground was super dry courtesy of the lack of recent rain.

Whilst waiting for the trusty Agnew’s Water Putty to cure I started stripping what I thought was numerous layers of paint from the front window, only to learn that it was just one VERY thick layer over the original paint. Lots of stripper required for this job!

When the light started fading at around 7:30pm I finished up work for the day cleaned up both the tools and myself and settled down for a cold beer or three.

Sunday was just the usual washing of clothes & dishes and packing packing up ready for the trip home.

The fireplace and mantle

I wish I could have stayed for longer.

Garage Slab

Clean on the left, dirty on the right

Ready for sanding

Partially stripped window