Doors – Cooinda's Nest

Northern view of the shack, or what's remaining of it

The shack stripped bare

Posted on August 24, 2020September 30, 2020 by oneflewovercooindasnest in Renovation La Shacka

Our first home on the property was loved (and lived in) by many; including mice, rats, huntsman spiders, humans, dogs, and even a micro bat! It was our humble home on the land while we built ‘The Nest’, and beat living in a caravan any day!

It was originally a work shed predating three owners before us; the bushfires of Black Saturday in Feb 2009 however changed this. The main house at the time burnt down and this shed was eventually turned into a makeshift home by a latter owner. This ‘man-cave’ boasted a lounge, kitchen and two modest bedrooms when we purchased the property. The bathroom was taken down due to breaching council regulations, but it was clear that a family of three or four lived here prior to us. We suspect that the two bedrooms were added in 2013 as the timber studs removed from here had the year marked on them.

Back in 2016, Matty and I spent about eight weekends at Cooinda prior to permanently moving here. We would spend weekends tweeking up the shack and making necessary modifications such as adding a bathroom and a makeshift composting toilet. The outside dunny was a 50 metre walk from the shack, as it was connected to the septic tank that existed from the old house on the property. A brave pilgrimage given that temperatures can drop to -7 degrees celsius in the middle of the night.

Our project is to turn this ramshackled living space into a much more attractive one. This shouldn’t be hard given the fake wood panelling, fraying filthy carpets, graffitied walls and blue coloured corrugated iron don’t stand as much competition. The layout will remain pretty similar, except for the kitchen and lounge areas swapping over and we’ll add another sleeping space, the new bathroom will also be slightly larger. Hopefully all our efforts in sealing the place will ensure that creepy crawlies can’t stray inside.

La Shacka Grande will become our self contained guest house, complete with 2.5 bedrooms (one bedroom is just big enough to house a single bed), full kitchen, bathroom and a proper composting toilet. Like any renovation project, our journey begins with stripping out all the unwanted crap. This means removing everything except the metal frame, the roof it supports and the solar panels that sit on top of it.

On Monday 20 July 2020 (on our four year engagement anniversary), we began with stripping off the floor coverings, internal wall coverings, cabinetry etc. We had power to the shack disconnected (for obvious reasons) prior to any work starting. The next month was spent stripping off all the layers that made this space up; including years of mice/rat poo laden insulation bats, termite eaten timber studs and all windows and doors. We will reuse any timber and corrugated iron sheets where possible, depending on their condition.

We have a rough schedule of 6 months to complete, and a budget of $25K. This project is a quarter of ‘The Nest’s budget with half the time to complete. This time around, we are making sure to stop and smell the almond blossoms. Here’s some photos (a bit too many) to show the progress.

Internal views

Main living area and kitchen – views to the front

View of the front whilst living in there

Filthy fraying carpets being removed

Main living area with partition wall still intact

Partition wall still intact, with wallpaper removed from the windows

Main living area being stripped back

Front wall completely stripped back

Front wall view

Front wall intact

Front wall being dismantled

View of the front wall (or lack thereof)

Main living area and kitchen – views to the back

Views of the old kitchen whilst living in there

Carpets and underlay being removed

Partition wall starting to be removed

Partition wall partially removed

Bathoom removed

Back to bare bones

Internal partition wall

Internal partition wall starting to be stripped back

Most of the partition wall removed

Partition wall completely removed, along with the external stud work

Guest bedroom 1

Guest bedroom 1 before any work began. An amazing array of textures, colours and materials. Tell me you love it!

Guest bedroom 1 – off with the fugly carpet

Guest bedroom 1 - internal wall panels off

Internal wall panels off, Aisha was very helpful!

Guest bedroom 1 – external walls off

Roof off

Guest bedroom 1 stripped to the core

Guest bedroom 2

Guest bedroom 2 – wall panels off

Guest bedroom 2 – only stud work remains

Guest bedroom 2 – back to barest bones

External views

Northern views

10 cubic metre skip for our first skip run

View from north side with Aisha posing under the almond tree

View from north side, prior to any renovating work.

View from north side with everything stripped back

North-east views

North east view with bedroom corro removed

North east view with all corro removed

North east view with all external bedroom studs removed

Southern views

South view prior to anything removed on the outside

South view with the bathroom and toilet totally dismantled and bedroom rooves taken off

South view with back and all side walls removed

South view of totally stripped back

South-west views

South west view prior to any external work

South west view with bathroom and toilet being dismantled

South west view with bathroom and toilet totally dismantled, and bedrooms stripped back

South west view of bedroom external stud work removed

South-east views of the eastern wall

South eastern view prior to anything being removed

South eastern view with windows removed

South eastern view with eastern wall removed

South east wall when all is stripped bare

South-east views of the southern side

South east view prior to anything removed

South east view with eastern wall removed

South east view with back wall removed

South east view of southern wall with all external studwork removed

Western views

Western view prior to anything being removed

Western view of bedroom walls removed

Western view of bedroom windows removed

Western view of bedroom external studwork removed

Eastern views

Eastern wall starting to be dismantled

Eastern view with all external stud work removed

All windows and doors

A collection of all mismatched doors and windows, now all gone to another home

Winter warming sunlight streaming through the front door

Winter is here

Posted on July 8, 2017August 12, 2020 by oneflewovercooindasnest in The Nest

Without trying to sound all negative and stuff, but it is winter.. and I can’t shake the cold off. The time has come for when the world slows down and allows you to recuperate and reenergise, just through simple rest; something that I feel we may have forgotten how to do. Thankfully the build stage agrees with this seasonal change, and gives us a chance to slow it down and go with the flow.

The last few months have been a whirlwind of major structural work, and the tasks were all BIG! Now, as winter settles in, the attention goes inwards.

The open fireplace

One new addition of Cooinda’s Nest is the open fireplace. Matty and I had a cast iron wood heater in mind to do the job, but we were seduced by an outing to the local pub, where we sat in front of the open fireplace with Dad and Di (aka Mum). The ambience of an open fireplace is something hard to come by, or to match; so we opted for the better option instead.

To avoid the painstaking task of bricklaying (Matty shuddered at the thought of the besser block wall), we decided to hire a professional bricklayer with some experience in making open fireplaces. Thankfully we found someone local who was fit and available for the job. All that remains now is to attach the flue, chimney, cowling and damper to finish the fireplace.

Besser block ‘crazy’ paving tiles

The next big addition is the ‘crazy’ paving tiles that have been laid on the besser block wall in a half-moon shape. They serve a purely aesthetic purpose, and were placed on both sides of the wall, meaning they are visible from the main living area and the bedrooms.

The fireplace takes birth

The internal structure

Nearly finished

Brick masonry work complete for the open fireplace

Fireplace structure complete

First row of crazy paving

Crazy paving wall finished

Other bits and bobs

Besides these two changes, it may seem that no major changes are happening. However, we now have completed some essential tasks such as getting the plumbing prepped up, and doing another round of electrical work. Our bedroom fan units were mounted along with the bedroom reading nook cabinet now being complete with doors and latches. All other doors in the house now have door handles and latches as well.

A lot of sanding and varnishing is now complete, with the kitchen benchtops and brekky bar slab, as well as the timber worker’s bench vanity table all ready to go in. All 10 window sills are also complete after much sawing, wire-brushing, sanding and oiling. Niches now have shelves, the bookshelf spine is now erect and the laundry divider can be installed after the third coat.

Friends from overseas (Ron, aka Girly Man) and interstate (David, aka Shorty) lent us a hand with third coat prep and stuff and that! Thanks for being awesome mates :)

Bedroom fans installed

Bathroom fan plumbed in

Downlights cut out

Doors complete with handles and latches

The day bed copying the doors

Paint stripping the kitchen benchtops

Sweet sanding

Oiling the window sills

Niches are nicer with shelves

The bookshelf spine erected (the timber against the bathroom wall)

The laundry divider mounting area

Girly Man prep filling for the third coat of render

Shorty thoroughly enjoying cutting the foam back :D

Still having too much fun…

Where to next?

The third coat of render is booked in from a fortnight from now, giving us enough time to prep for it. Everything that needs to be protected must be masked up thoroughly, Matty estimates this taking up to 3 days. Once the render is complete, we reach the final ‘finishing touches’ phase, including painting and tiling. We’re on the ~~home~~ Hume run baby!

It runs in the family

Posted on May 14, 2017August 12, 2020 by oneflewovercooindasnest in The Nest

It has been an inspirational and exciting four weeks since the last post, getting so much done and being fortunate enough to receive much-needed (and appreciated) help from family.

Matty’s father and his partner, Di flew from New Zealand to give us a hand with cabinetry and other timber related features of the house, like the breakfast bar and the bathroom vanity. Both Matty and Dad got to play their talents whilst spending quality father-son time, which was really what it was all about :) Dad used to be a builder/carpenter back in the day, and Matty had wanted his help even before we bought Cooinda.

To top off all the achievements with Dad and Di, in no particular order:

Kitchen fit out and cabinetry – Dad and Di retrofitted the second-hand kitchen to suit our new home…but first we needed to move it from the main shed to the house. We all were happy to find that the kitchen fit our space like a glove, with some cutting and nailing of course ;) The timber surfaces still need the finishing touches like sanding and varnishing, but other than that, they’re good to go. The kitchen island, breakfast bar and bathroom vanity had to be taken to the main shed as we need to finish tiling first. Our neighbour Ken was kind enough to lend us his tractor for some of this heavy lifting.

Precarious moving tactics by Dad and Di, moving the kitchen from the shed to the house

Piecing it all together

Chookens in the kitchen

Second hand kitchen retrofitted

Breakfast bar in progress

The Breakfast bar is an old wool press about 100 years old, that needed some remodelling to suit our needs

Kitchen Island and Breakfast Bar

Brekky Bar with red gum top, the red gum top belonged to a bar prior to serving in its new home

The vanity table complete, this is an old wood working bench retrofitted to fit the bathroom space

Moving the wool press back in the shed for storage

The moving fun continues with Dad taking the stride

Internal and external doors – Matty constructed all three internal doors from recycled timber floor boards, he also made the door jams and frames and fitted in the one external timber door.

Matty and I cannot thank Dad and Di enough for taking 12 days out of their busy lives to come give us a hand. Not only did I get to meet the old man for the first time, but we all got to spend some quality family/ building time together. We can’t wait to see them both at our wedding next year! Yipee :D

Lock up

Less than a week since Dad and Di left, we also managed to get all the windows and main door (which is a double sliding door) mounted. This means that we are now sealed from the wintry frost and winds. We placed insulation blankets at the bottom of the back door and closed all windows and doors, to get a glimpse of the sound insulation properties, and we were not disappointed. Most if not all of the Hume Highway traffic was drowned out, a massive bonus! We are super happy with how the windows turned out, the Vic Ash timber varnished with natural oil really is stunning (I still need to do another coat of varnish) and the double glazing has definitely paid off :) Honourable mentions go to neighbours Cam and Benny Boy, whose help meant we got to reach lock down mode on Mother’s Day.

The only outside tasks that now remain are mounting the cement board sheets for the eaves and painting the fascia boards, and of course the third coat of render, but let’s put that one aside.

We are now at the precipice of the ‘finishing touches’ phase, and perhaps this part will take the longest…I know I know, there are things like plumbing, electrical work, tiling, painting, making window sills etc.; but some of these are the ornaments of the house, and we can’t wait to adorn her…