Daisys can Make my Day: Penrose Cottage

This page will be about the little fibro and tile house that I found here in Sydney (July 2006) in lieu of the rental market's move in move out routine, after 2 moves and looking at the 3rd within 18mths = motivated me to get finance & find a house!

So begun the house hunting search and having a upper limit for finance based on the deposit I had, I was overwhelmed in what money could buy in my budget, houses that were asking >$200k were ruins, they were nearly inhabitable, no fences or badly in need of emergency repairs, lots of problems and this was just from my observation let alone a building inspection, considering I was putting every cent I had into the deposit and associated costs to get into the market in Sydney I knew that I had to find something that was "liveable" it could look a little shabby but so long as it didn't need anything structurally or major repairs to move in.... It'd be ok.

It soon became apparent that the original suburbs / area that I was househunting in were considered "inner west" they were going to be out of reach, I would need to find at least another $15k to get in to that market which I just didn't have.. So I widened the search and went out to the west, way out there, way way out there... well okay it's only 20klms further then where I was living, and to me the location or distance from the CBD was irrelevant, I didn't need to commute for work, I knew where it was and how to get there to attend concerts & activities that are on in Sydney!

So began further househunting around Penrith, Penrith is at the foot of the Blue Mountains in the west, the same mountains that I used to drive up through and over when I was much younger to visit my family and friends (1999 - 2003) this wasn't going to be my first house, I knew what I liked and I knew by now what to expect in the market I was searching, I knew it probably wouldn't be a weatherboard... but that when I saw it I'd know...

This is what I found, solid as and very original

Ironic, it was an Estate sale and had Perfumed Roses.. (just like my first house 1996)

This was the view at the Back

A very frugal man lived here for a long time, grew everything..

So that's how the little house looked when I brought it in 2006, Penrose Cottage - it was very solid and has proven to be quiet sound in the 3 1/2 years that I've now lived here, nothing has let me down and I didn't need to repair anything urgently. Mind you if you read through the builders inspection report OMG you wouldn't dare set a foot inside the front door, much less live here... Blaahh

My partner had a bobcat at the time and this was very useful in clearing out the palm trees in the front yard - this was the 2nd thing that we ( he ) did, the first thing he did was rip up the old orange carpet in the living room and other loose lino in the back room on the day of settlement ready for the arrival of my Stuff that night!

The original Living room carpet, the walls are a darker mustard colour than this photo shows

No more Palm trees or side garden bed

So then I planted the first Daisy bushes along the boundary as soon as I could find some and it made me smile!

Yes I brought them, I'm a little too impatient to strike cuttings, and any time since that I've tried too it hasn't worked anyway...

As the first Spring was underway we got in and dug up the remaining original garden bed in the backyard ready for a veggie patch, the other big garden bed mounds were flattened and left for the chooks to landscape in their yard. We made a gate out of the real estate sign frame that was never retrieved and it matched the Blue house trim!

First veggie patch planted and the soil was amazing

Ched is watching the garden grow!

The Girls claimed half of the old shed so they were very happy!

My flock love their great backyard and watch the lawn improve so much with natural dynamic lifter!

Moving along................. Things to improve my Footprint!

I removed the old orange tree, it was a marmalade bitter orange that I just didn't want to eat, pick and bottle, the chooks enjoyed them though which is odd as they don't usually like citrus?

In place of the orange tree I planned to put in a rainwater tank, making the most of the Govt. rebate scheme as well while it was available, so after procrastinating about tank colours.... I finally decided on "Merino" aka "Paperbark" and found a 5000lt tank that we could roll in over the garage roof to get into the back yard, I really wanted a traditional Galvanised Tank but it wasn't feasible & too heavy to roll over the roof - duh! So with that I then went in search of - a tankstand, somewhere else for the pets to find a

cool shady spot in summer. Stu put his skills to the task!

They even use it to keep off the wet dewy frosty lawn in winter to catch some sunshine..

So lets see what else has been Done .................................

BEFORE & AFTERS of Renos Updates Makeovers

These are the fibro walls before Cladding was

installed, new Guttering and Facsias as well as new aluminum windows (including an awning style for the room on the back of the house that I won on Ebay) as well as a set of French doors (also Ebay) put in place of this Lounge Rm window that will open up into Sunroom. I also used 10mm Recycled gravel/terracotta/brick/rock/tile etc here >

I had alot of colourbond moments - just staring at the guttering before the cladding, it made such an improvement...........

I left the laundry/outhouse 4 painting

All the other houses similar to this one, do a internal laundry/bedroom addon at this part of the house, but I'd like to close in my porch to make a dinning room first ........ more on that another time

THE ROSES WERE ORIGINALS - PERFUMED AND VERY OLD
We built a raised garden bed and transplanted the daisys they compete with the Gumtree for water in summer, hopefully this helps them!

So that was the first stage of the Street Appeal Transformation of Penrose Cottage, The Sunroom was Incomplete - Stu's neighbour did the paint job over the existing white aluminum and it turned out really well colour matching the Cladding "Heather" with colourbond "Dune"

THE ROSES WERE REMOVED APART FROM THIS ONE LONGSTEMMED RED ROSE
THEY WERE ALL VERY DISEASED SO I DID WHAT I THOUGHT I'D NEVER DO AND REMOVED THEM..

I had white powdercoated aluminium louvres installed in the sunroom
< and the laundry window.

How Sweet it will look when finished, I planted a combination of large Purple Bearded Iris and Lavender across the front of the sunroom wall.. the Iris came from mum's garden at "collingwood lodge" Condo once we were sure they were the colour I was after!

**** there is a 2ndhand Ebay roller door sitting there it was to replace the old gal. garage door - it was there for a long time because it wasn't the current colourbond brown "Jasper" it was the old school brown.****

I always had visions of lovely white window hoods.. a little bit of FNQ that I couldn't get in NSW, after giving up hope on buying locally I resorted to getting them down from QLD - the freight was more than the hoods, we then found a local co. to powdercoat them White - they came Galvanised, The co. was in Penrith and did a great job they were in by Christmas 09!

The White Agapanthas came from Stuarts front yard (house up the coast) so I planted them alongside the fence beside the trailer - they never grew up there, but grow well and look great here!

PENROSE COTTAGE as at December, 2009

TIME FOR SOME MORE ABOUT GOING GREEN................

So I've installed a rainwater tank - it is connected to the laundry as well as taps in the yard. I rarely if ever use any water from the mains outside, the tank water is used throughout the year to clean equipment and for the animals and lawn watering in the peak of summer. 5000lt is great but a bigger tank would have been better as this year (2010) there has been a return to the winter rains and alot more water I could catch!

This old house came with an Original instant water heater - I don't think I have actually got a photo of this device, it was out in the laundry and was still working fine, although it was very tricky to try and run a hot bath, or get the kitchen sink full of hot water - let alone having a shower! I had it worked out but it wasn't favoured by anyone else who was staying with me... too much cold and the hot disappeared in the shower..

So I thought I'd seize the Rebate offer and install a new HWS - the new system is a heatpump and they say it is alot more energy efficient as well as being adjustable to how hot you want the water too get but it won't get too boiling. It turns out to be more efficient as my power bills reflected a decrease of sorts (until the charges went up that is!!!!!!!!!) The Installer kept the Old Instant for his antique collection

FRESH EGGS - My neighbours love them!

No surprises here - I have CHOOKS! these girls lay lovely fresh eggs and they get the scraps (only those of things they actually eat) from both my kitchen and Stu's kitchen, they love bones too and Mindy finds it frustrating when they get bones that she is sure she would like better!

My hens are crossbred layers with proven good egg production as well as being pretty friendly and contented in their yard. In April last year (09) we knocked down the old wooden shed and put in it's place a new 3 x 1.7 skillon shed, so they needed a new roost - Ebay here I come >>>>> and I scored an already dis-assembled cubbyhouse ready to be picked up in a trailer for $300.00 room for them and some....

I have a deep litter system in their House - that is I only clean out the poop and complimentary dirt, ground grain & straw once a year. Now and again during the year I'll give it a good stirr up and push it back under the perch until I'm ready to add it too my Veggie Patch ready for planting.

One thing I didn't get for the chook yard when I should have years ago is a clever Feeder that requires desire + skill + talent on behalf of the girls to Open the lid by standing on the Pedal Platform, this would have saved me Kilo's of feed that is raided by the topnotch pigeons and other birds that dare to try.. Young POL's were great at chasing off the birds in the yard but they tire of it after a few months and unless you have "new" young pullet hens to take over this role then the birds gather .............