One thing that I was looking for when I first bought the house was the inclusion of some or hopefully if not mostly original hardware and fittings. I was impressed to find three of the original four solid steel rimlocks. Unfortunately they were not in great nick, so I decided to pull them off the internal doors and restore them.

so after rubbing the brass with a famous brand brass cleaner for what seemed like 10 hours; I finally had a result I was happy with. I also noticed the die cast stamp in the metal 'made in England'. Wow what a difference it gives to the solid silky oak four panel doors!

Floors completed, prepped, sanded and polished. All ready to go. Now comes the hard part - painting the walls, skirts and ceilings.

I am so happy of the result, still cant believe how lovely they look. Time effort and money well spent I thought. Notice the asbestos removal at the far end of the dining room? That is for another post.

Historical reference

Just found this book:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/162225906?selectedversion=NBD48534755

Must for anyone restoring a Queenslander. I also purchased this : The Queensland House

http://www.oldhouses.com.au/docs/books/ausbooks.html

I am committed to restore this old girl to as much original as possible. The lounge room was an old veranda and the bathroom is an add on, however the rest of the house will be returned to as original.

These books detail the history, reasoning and techniques in building these houses. They are absolutely fantastic. I was glued to every single page.

First the floors

The kitchen and dining rooms had a wonderful array of floor coverings. Upon inspecting underneath the house, the kitchen had the original Hoop pine floor and the dining room had a hardwood floor that would have originally been a sun room. Of course these were covered. Removing all of the covers noticing the trends over the years.

In the kitchen the cork was put on a masonite and stapled to the boards. Once we lifter the masonite there was the original lino with Japan oil stain around the edges. The old boards were absolutely beautiful. They were still white and had probably not seen light in 100 years.

Prepped waiting for sanding

The dining room had concrete and tiles on it and the kitchen had a cork floor! These had to go as the first job in the renovation.

Floors coming up with a jackhammer. I had to engage a builder as there is no way I could have done this myself. Once the floor in the dining room came up the Builder noticed the rear of the house had sunk on its stump and bearer. This meant re engineering the support post to get the floor level again.

Big $$$. This project budget has just blown out about 5 thousand dollars. Once the floor bearers were leveled it was time to lift the hardwood floor.

In the beginning......

My first drawing using paintbrush in the digital age came about when I was about thirteen. My dad had bought us home our first computer. It ran the first version of Windows and had this cool application that you could create an image using lines, boxes, ovals etc. The very picture I drew was of a Workers Cottage.

My dream ever since was to one day buy a Queenslander. Six months ago my dream came true with the purchase of this charming historically filled asymmetrical bungalow in Kedron.

I plan to blog about the renovations of yet to be named house. I am extremely keen to research the history in an attempt to restore as much of the original features of the house as I can.