m_mdimond; My constant whippet! Yes change is inevitable. Youth was great! Middle age more challenging, now the dread of what happens as the body slows, bu the mind still runs at top speed! Funny how we eventually become our parents and live with all the things they once complained about: eyesight less sharp, glasses, threading needles a challenge. Oh what we so easily dismissed or took for granted when we were young! Pain at bay to this point. Sad to hear of yours, but fantastic you are still managing to walk your Shepherd, despite it! Dogs keep us centred and motivated. They shower us in love and lack of judgement. My dad had his Jack Russell at his side into his nineties. He was his constant companion and often his sole company for days at a time, other than his twice weekly cleaner. Animals are so special. They deliver their own unique greetings and communicate in such different ways. My life would be so much the less without the animals who have been part of it. So lucky to have had two wonderful ponies and an incredible galloway. So lucky many of my friends had horses too. Horses, dogs and cats are always a point of connection into special human experience and also lead us to new human and animal connections. Nothing wrong with memories and sentiment. I think we feel it even more accutely as we age. Glad I kicked up my heels, as well as keeping those "heels down, legs close to my horses side and and elbows close to my own" for much of my fantastic and sometimes wild youth! I was a pretty good kid really, but do admit to having been a teen groupie, back in the day, wouldn't swap that either. Somewhere here, I believe is my scrapbook and definitely a few photos in the albums. Still like to kick up my heels, too! Yes. Gratitude is vital.

What a beautiful cottage, how many will be living there and ages. The Verandah/Bedroom 3, I can imagine has a different level sloping floor.? These spaces were often converte d to bedrooms/sleep outs, with single and bunk beds and worked well. As already mentioned the cottage is only 2 bedrooms. For me without spending what I haven't got, I would 1) keep the verandah as the Sleep out and open up between the kitchen and lounge with a long farm house table on lockable wheels so it can be pushed aside easily. 2) As suggested by OK turn the lounge into bedroom 3 and open up the kitchen to the verandah with 2 wide openings with a support in between for this external wall and the verandah becomes a small living area that can also be opened up to the undercover area weather permitting. When you are ready perhaps the old brick chimney could house the cook top and oven, as you said it's not a big house which I think is already perfect as you have that wonderful big shed. My ideal is a Small House with a big shed! Perhaps you could even find a smaller version of an old concrete laundry tub when you re do the laundry cheers

What would it be advisable for you to focus on prior to revamping your home? How treat start from and, most importantly, what should not be absent in a redesign for the attempts to continue without a hitch? Here are some basic guidelines on how to organize a home renovation in peace, untangling the jungle of home construction, between costs, projects, estimates, projects, and surveys, without going crazy. How To Renovate Your Home Without Worries? First of all, have clear ideas It is easy to say that you want to renovate your home, but putting your hands on walls, systems, and furnishings always means, to some extent, going to upset a living space. You start from one environment to get a different one, but in most cases, you don't really have in mind the final result of the renovation project of our home. Often we rely on the suggestive images we see online or in magazines, those crazy photos where everything is always perfect: lights, furnishings, and use of space. Better to keep these photos (almost all from showrooms or renderings) only as a starting point and focus on the reality of your renovation. Measurements, test drawings, and attention to overall dimensions Those who intend to try their hand at home renovation independently must start from the measurements and prepare a plan with all the dimensions of the existing rooms, including the height of the ceilings and the position of the sockets. This will be the initial photograph of your home to be restored, the starting point for evaluating different solutions and understanding which interventions will be necessary and which ones will be best avoided. So let's make copies of our plan and try to create different versions of our new house, moving walls (obviously not the load-bearing ones) and inserting furniture and accessories. The pitfalls of this operation are numerous and common errors: passageways that are too narrow, bathroom fixtures not in a regular position to meet the minimum requirements, underestimated dimensions of the furniture, and so on. It goes without saying that taking this path is risky: when there is little experience, it could lead to an unsatisfactory result or even run into mistakes that are difficult to solve, if not at a high price (both in terms of money and stress). This is why it is preferable to consult a designer or, better still, a single point of contact for the entire renovation process. Single point of contact: the alternative that makes life easier To avoid confusion, mistakes, and related home renovation stress, the only solution is to contact a professional who coordinates the entire project. Before restructuring, therefore, it is good to look for a property service company who is able to understand your needs and desires , who knows how to translate them into realistic and quantifiable proposals, who can interface with different professionals avoiding overlapping or overrides of competence and, above all, that can take care of the thousands of flaws and chores that happen every day on an open construction site in your place. Building Permits, How To Proceed To Have The Permits In Order Your permission is given for each intervention Depending on the type of renovation work you intend to build at your home, the type of building permit will change to be requested at the Private Building Office of your city or municipality before starting the work. In principle, we may have to request: No permit - for all ordinary maintenance interventions relating to the replacement or repair of existing finishes, the works can proceed freely, It is necessary for all light extraordinary maintenance work, i.e. moving non-load-bearing masonry, replacement of existing sewers, and splitting/merging of real estate units, always provided that the total volume and destination of the building are not changed. 'use. Given that the current legislation provides for the obligation of a professional technician for this type of intervention. Permit to build - required for interventions on load-bearing structural parts of the building, with a project by an engineer filed with the Civil Engineers. This category includes works with modification of the volumes of the house, demolition of pillars, beams, and floors, foundation consolidation, and roof reconstruction. The above is valid in standard cases, but the real problems occur when you put your hand to the volumes and if the works carried out do not comply with urban planning or cadastral compliance. In these cases, the sanction can increase considerably and it is also possible to incur the obligation to demolish/restore what has been done. One contact, zero problems Let's go back to the convenience of a single point of contact for the entire renovation. In addition to managing the construction site and supporting you in the construction of the house of your dreams, a renovation professional will take care of every aspect relating to the communication of the works, the request for permits, the collection of safety certifications of the construction site and compliance of the systems. The Accounts To Be Done Before Starting To Restructure Once you have clarified the interventions to be done, decided who to entrust with the design and construction site, and obtained the permits, it is good to do some exercises with the calculator. In the total calculation, also take into account that a renovated property increases its value by 10-20% , based on the extent of the interventions carried out. In case of sale or rent, therefore, we will have a clear advantage over the costs incurred for the renovation. It is then necessary to open the whole question of tax concessions, first of all that for building renovations with a 50% deduction on extraordinary or ordinary maintenance of condominium parts. There are also deductions for energy-saving, furniture, and green areas. To find out about all the tax savings possibilities available to those who want to get a hold of their own home, you can do due diligence about redevelopment deductions. Good Renovation! Once everything is in order, we can start with the construction site. If you have decided to personally coordinate the work and manage the various professional property service or contractors and engineers involved, always have an eye on all the activities in progress, without being too intrusive or putting your hand on the work of others; you have paid professionals to work and, if you notice something wrong, talk to them face to face. For those who prefer not to have problems and contact a qualified professional property service provider who follows all the works, that will form a team of interior designers and renovators with proven experience and professionalism, building craftsmen able to assist and support you at every stage, from design to implementation, with the guarantee of a final result that is always in line with your expectations.

Well, I had a structural engineer come to the house yesterday at a cost of $600. I thought I would get drawings or something for that price but this is what he said.....(oh, before his visit, I cute into some of the plaster of the dividing wall between kitchen and lounge and the brick wall goes all the way along the wall). Structural engineer said that the wall is load bearing because he think that it provids support the support rafters (or what the horizontal beams that are at the bottom of the cathedral ceiling). Those horizontal beams that go across the house (each one from back to front of house) and partly supported by the brick dviding wall. He said that if I totally removed the overhead walkway, I would still need to leave a post or some of the brick on either side of the current dividing wall , as well as a support beam between them. He said I could cut out a window into the wall, but the bigger the window the bigger the horizontal support beam would be required. He said he didnt like working with brick because it was not like timber etc, where you can calculate what load it takes. He said there can be a lot of variation in a brick wall. He said that I should contact a building designer (someone who can give an idea of design whilst also consdiering loads and being able to draw plans...he said normally, those people will ask his advice on something). I hate tryin to do renos, because you can spend a lot of money and not really get much from it, and also go in circles about knowing who is the best person to contact. I know I do need someone to help give me an idea of design, but someone who also takes into consideration comparative costs including structural elements/loads etc. When I said to him ..so I shouldnt see an architect, he said that he often sees things from architects with no technical drawings...just design only. I really would like to be able to see the view at the back from anyway in the house, but I am a little bit reluctant to move plumbing, as I imagine with a concrete floor, the costs will start to rise significantly if plumbing has to be moved. I tend to spend most of my sitting outside time, at the back of the house, looking at the lake...even though there is only 1.5metres from the back of my property to public land (and that I have to put fencing up there to keep my dogs in). It is only me and my dogs at the place, but I do want to make sure that any changes that i make are family friendly and AirBnB friendly. The exisitng laundry seems to have heaps of wasted space in it and because the current windown is so high in it, it seems to be very segregated from the outside pool and not in the best place. I dont know what to do with this place.