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Hey all!
My fiancee and I have just settled on a 3 bedroom Californian bungalow in the northern suburbs. It needs a ton of work, but has great bones.
We've been in for 3 weeks and with the help of friends, family and a week off work, have completed the following:
- Sparky has rewired all switches and lights, plus added a few more (incl. downlights in kitchen)
- Cleaned, prepped, painted 2 of 3 bedrooms, hallway, lounge room, dining room, bathroom
- Replaced 30sqm of corrugated roofing
- Ripped out old kitchen (due to water damage and black mould) and fitted a secondhand one with granite bench and smeg appliances (scored for a cool $1k on FB marketplace!)
- Started hacking out over grown bushes etc.
Our rough strategy is to get the interior livable over the next couple of months, while doing guttering/roofing, then hit the exterior to replace a ton of weatherboards, build a garage (to house a project car currently in backyard), do the garden, then restump hopefully in 6-12months.
Will post some before/after pics, then document periodically as we go. Having a ball so far!
Bathroom
Some serious mould treatment here as the previous owner never replaced a broken celing fan; scraping, sanding and treating before painting with blocking undercoats and bathroom paints. Also had to replace all the timber cornices/mouldings. Used the following from Bunnings:
- Mould prep solution https://www.bunnings.com.au/flood-1l-mould-action-prewash-paint-stripper_p1562213
- Stain blocking undercoat https://www.bunnings.com.au/dulux-precision-4l-stain-and-mould-blocker_p1400860
- Bathroom Ceiling Paint https://www.bunnings.com.au/dulux-white-ceiling-plus-kitchen-and-bathroom-paint-2l_p1370219
- Bathroom Wall Paint (Natural White) https://www.bunnings.com.au/dulux-wash-wear-2l-plus-kitchen-bathroom-vivid-white-low-sheen-paint_p13...
Before
During
After
-Has been tidied up a bit since photo 
Bedrooms
Lots of plastering over cracks, but main difficulty was getting perished underlay of the floorboards in the 3rd bedroom ..which is now a tool/storage room I refer to as our 'walk-in workshop'
Paint used:
-Dulux Wash&Wear (Natural White) https://www.bunnings.com.au/dulux-wash-wear-4l-natural-white-low-sheen-paint_p1370173
-Dulux Ceiling Paint https://www.bunnings.com.au/dulux-15l-white-ceiling-paint_p1370217
Before/During
After
-No photos of other rooms, will add asap
Hallway/Loung/Dining
Plenty more prep work done in the lounge room (plaster had popped off on RHS of fireplace). Cutting in the cornices were my least favourite part!
Before/During
After
-First photo was before dining room was done, hence bookshelves blocking view 
Kitchen
Work in progress, but you get the idea. A massive improvement after finding a water leak and mould at the back of the cupboards.
Before/During
After (current state... plenty more to go!)
UPDATE - Just added some overhead cabinets, a bigger window, insulation and some new weatherboards!
Roof
Plenty more work to do on gutters, but we fixed some leaks above the kitchen
Before/During
After (plus some city views that are begging for a loft conversion / second story!)
There are always tough decisions to make when you are renovating, aren't there @simon_c? Thanks for the update.
Have you seen this blog post? - https://www.workshop.com.au/t5/Blog/Rolling-up-the-sleeves/ba-p/671. Your story reminds me of @mikedoeslife and his partner Friedel who are renovating a weatherboard cottage. Mike might like to share some of his tips and experiences so far.
And do let us know if you need a hand with anything. We have members with loads of renovation experience, like @2Belindas.
Jason
Many thanks for joining in the discussion @Bernie. I'm sure @simon_c really appreciates the positive feedback. Hopefully we can get an update soon on how the renovation work is progressing.
Let me extend a very warm welcome to the Workshop community. We're really pleased to have you join us and trust that you'll get plenty of inspiration from our clever and creative members, as well as helpful information and advice when you need a hand. Feel free to post anytime.
Jason
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