Manhattan Apartment

Late in October, we had two plasterers come in and finish our ceiling. Very professional and very tidy, as well as reasonably priced considering they visited three times. They were a recommendation from one of Petes workmates. The best tradesmen are always from recommendations! The "after pictures" are of the ceiling after just two coats of undercoat. We probably could have gotten away with one but the 10L paint tin was on sale and 4 litres wouldn't have been enough so we thought we may as well use it up. We used Wattyl all purpose undercoat. The top coat is Wattyl "Manhattan Snow". Tinted using Wattyl TradeMax (the trade equivalent. Cheaper than the Design id range and the salesman assured us its pretty much the same thing and no harder to apply).





The wardrobe is now ready for the internals, rails and doors which will be installed this Thursday. Supplied by Impressive Wardrobes, they were the best price around and THE best service. We added some extra drawers with molded handles to the basic layout.




The image above, where the wire sticks down and has black tape on it, will be a pull switch for the light that is to be installed. We found a pull switch by Clipsal. They are actually pretty expensive for what they are, around $25.

The shadow line was a bugger, we had to fill the gaps with pollifilla around the whole perimeter of the unit. Its also a bugger to paint, getting into the gap with a tini-tiny brush. Awesome finish though. It looks really modern, spacious and clean. Just what you need for such a small space.





Still two coats of ceiling paint to go. Its a horrible job. Hurts your shoulders and back, I don't know how people do it as their full time job. Renovating is exhausting! The walls are much more fun with instant gratification. The image above is after just one coat of paint. So much nicer than that horrid yellow colour that was there before. If that was a paint sample it'd be called something like "smokers stain".

Before and After

Not much new stuff to report, other than we have finished putting up the plasterboard. We are in the process of organising a plasterer to complete the finishing. It has been highly recommended by many people that we should leave this job up to the professionals. DIY almost certainly will result in a bumpy, seam showing, uneven, ugly finish (which naturally we don't want).



The cords are for our new light and pulley switch that will be installed after plastering and painting.

Besta Burs Storage Solution

During our shopping spree at IKEA a couple of months ago, we were looking at storage solutions. Getting things off the ground when your in a small space is a great tip. If any store understands small spaces and storage, its IKEA. Now don't think our house is going to be an IKEA house. because yes I admit there's a lot of crappy stuff there (like signed framed Matisse prints and canvas art) and poor quality stuff too so we were cautious in our selection. This wall storage is called Besta Burs and its intended to store DVDs above your 1800mm wide flat-screen TV, but seeing as we don't have a TV or many DVDs we were planning on putting it above the computer for office storage.
However, it didnt really suit and after we put it together, we couldnt take it back! so we looked at options around the unit and felt it was well suited above the bed. About the same width as a queen bed and easy to reach, it now is used as a medicine cabinet, also storing out hairdryer, tissues, haircare, toiletries - all things that we wont be able to fit in out TINY EN-SUITE SIZED bathroom. After much convincing Pete agrees it looks pretty good too.








The swatch of paper is wallpaper by Cole and Son. We are pretty sure this is print that we are going to use to wallpaper this wall behind the bed in the bedroom. Will our house look like a Cafe? Maybe. Will it look dated in a few years? Perhaps. Is it money better spent on something else? Possibly. But every time I look at it, I will feel really happy and may even sleep with my head at the base of the bed just so I can sit and stare at it for many happy hours.

The Glistening Oasis of Neon Shelves

Pete bought all the MDF and had most pieces cut to size at Bunnings. He also cut up some pieces at home and fit together each shelf.We wanted to make each shelf blend into the wall so each edge was filled with Pollyfilla (we used both large cracks and skimmer type) then sanded back. OHHH the sanding. It surprises me how long finishes take. Longer than the bulk of putting something together, plus the additional costs for all the bits and pieces that go along with the DIY that add to the budget. But in the end the final work comes out looking pretty good.

There was the undercoat by Dulux called One Step then two coats of Dulux 101 Wash and Wear in "White on White". Its a neutral/cool white. There are SO MANY shades of white to choose from and it can be very daunting picking colours, even the simplest like white. It is SO BRIGHT, and I think it will really enlarge the small space of the apartment.


I know there was pleanty of other things that we needed to takle before we unpacked and decorated, but it feels good having a little glimps of what the finished renovations may look like. The shelves now stand out like a little oasis in the unit. The contrast with the existing paint to the new white is pretty extreme. It was hard to photograph as it is the darkest spot in the unit. We will be installing two spot lights above the shelves to brighten up the corner. Also, in the last image, check out the gross vermiculite, that part is the original grey that was in the closet, the rest of the vermiculite is painted white in the apartment. (Soon to be covered, our next big job.)