Day 36- job swap

The girls were missing dad so we swapped roles today. They got to go to an indoor play centre (must be what dad thinks I do with them everyday!) and I got stuck into some painting. I am completely over ceiling paint. It's not a job I like at the best of times but when you are painting the equivalent of a whole house it gets a bit tiring on your neck. To make matters worse I apparently used hubby's favourite safety goggles. (Hard to distinguish between one safety goggle and the next if you ask me) by the end of my shift our bedroom is now painted, the ceilings are done and the hallway has one coat. When the kids arrived little miss s needed to do a number 2. Hubby thought it would be a great idea to hook up the toilet so she could use the nice new one. Now most if us mums realise that number twos wait for no man. you can see where this is going! By the time the toilet was functional miss s had caught it in her undies; on to the third set of undies for the day.

Hubby has just arrived home after hopefully laying the last 6 tiles in the bathroom and plastering the girls room.

Reno tip for today- I like to paint in a certain order. Probably not recommended by professionals but it works for me. Ceiling first. Around the windows, doors and skirting boards next. I always over paint all of these so you are sure never to get any of the old colours coming through. Finally cut in the walls( that's just fancy painter talk for the edges) and then roller the walls.

Day 35- all hands on deck

Today was definitely a group effort. Mother in law, father, and both of us on deck. Achievements for today- both ceilings painted, two other ceilings one coat, one coat on bedroom, toilet grouted.

One set back from today- we have a paint colour that we love but unfortunately we are having trouble replicating it. We are now on our third attempt at matching the colour and its still not matched. Bunnings have been really obliging and tried their colour match machine etc but no luck. I don't know whether to accept it or keep trying to get our colour.

Reno tip- if you have a paint colour you love make sure you write down the colour code before it gets painted over or destroyed!

Day 32-34- beach holiday

The girls and I headed to the beach to spend time with nan while I went to a course. In my absence, thankfully some progress was being made. The bathroom is almost tiled.

Day 31- a wasted day

Today felt like such a wasted day. Not much got done this morning and then just before lunch the terrible discovery was made. Tiles that were supposed to be the same size and require the same grout space turned out not to be the same. A call to the tile shop and they assured us they could swap them. 30 boxes of tiles loaded in the car and a trip down to the tile shop.

The tile man had a number of theories- none of which explained why the sample tile was the right size but the delivered tiles weren't. His theories included offsetting the tiles, laying them on their side, rip up the already laid tiles and pay for new ones. No theory that offered a swap of tiles. We did get some glue etc but it just felt like such a wasted trip!

Reno tip for today- just because a tile says 300x300 or the sales assistant assures you they are the same- double check the actual size of the tiles before you accept the delivery.

Day 30 - kitchen planning

Lots of errands today. Pick up a tile cutter, fix the paint that was tinted the wrong colour, pick up air conditioners and plan the kitchen.

This is probably the most important decision to be made for us. Hubby being a chef he has as much say as I would. 3hrs moving rearranging and stacking boxes and we are decided. A bit of compromise here and there. You can see some of the finished design drawn skillfully by hubby on a piece if card.

Hubby still isn't back so hopefully the toilet is painted and tiled by now!

Today's Reno tip- you can use packing boxes to mock up kitchen designs . Make sure to leave 1.2m in the aisles to move around!

Day 29 - the truth about toilets

Shopping for toilets can be more complicated than you think. You need to know what type of trap, how far out from the wall, how high up the wall the waste is, whether you want close coupled or not etc etc etc.

Thankfully the friendly customer service people at Masters were more than happy to help and despite tricky plumbing I think we have got a toilet that fits. We can take it back if not- funnily enough she didn't feel the need to say providing it hasn't been used!

It has been Barbie approved- essential for little girls everywhere!

Reno tip for today- if you have an old house make sure you check what height your waste comes out of the wall or the floor, this will dictate which toilets are appropriate. You may need an offset pan collar or an adjustable one ( it looks like the arm of the robot from lost in space) to help it fit.

Day 28 - tiles tiles tiles

So today was the start of tiling the bathroom. I must admit the amount of checking and rechecking that goes on I'm sure is extreme but I guess we don't want them not to fit. Thankfully they all fitted down as planned and look great- although I'm glad I didn't choose pale blue tiles for the walls.

Reno tip for today- when you are tiling your bathroom make sure you allow enough glue underneath the tiles in the main area so you can reduce the glue under tiles around the floor waste. You need enough fall so the water will go down the hole!