Renovation Central

This is how you find me most days - engrossed in green living and building magazines that I borrow enmass from my local library. Unlike our previous renovations we are intent on doing a bunch of things before we even move in. Structural work is a given - the house is being restumped and re-roofed before Christmas (yay!) but I am also absolutely intent on doing everything as green and sustainably as possible (as much as our budget allows as well LOL).

But it's been a challenge so far. Finding a roofer was mission impossible and then finding one who doesnt use toxic products was like finding a needle in a haystack. But I'm keeping lists of the products I've found and investigated and that we want to use. Magazines such as Green Living and Sanctuary are such a great starting point for ideas. My current obsession is paint - we've tried eco paints in the past (total disaster) but I'm hoping to not have to resort to Wattyl ID paints this time around (but am cool if that's what eventuates).

I loved Gavin's post last week about retrofitting and this is fundamentally what our new house is about. We want to retrofit it to the best of our abilities to account for life now but also in the future. We are starting with double insulation in the roof cavity after the roof is fixed. Then come the ceiling fans in the bedrooms. The rest will come as our budget allows but we hope to get underfloor insulation pretty quickly, then solar hot water and a wood heater installed into the fireplace.

And since we lost all our stuff from the old house, we are also trying to kit out the house as sustainably and minimally as possible. Friends and family have given us some 2nd hand furniture and I've found some friendly secondhand and vintage stores who understand about my mold allergy and let me know when they have found a "clean" item for me to see. And since the house is art deco we also want to make sure that the house has a vintage feel to fit in with the period pieces that it has.

I love the promise that a new house brings and have to say love the idea of renovating (until the actual work begins - then I'll be the first one moaning about how much I hate painting LOL - ironic considering I'm always the wall painter in the house, whilst Mr B is the fixer of all things fixable!!)