Renovating the verandah

Before we moved into our home here 18 years ago, we owned the house but had tenants in it. While we were still living up north, we contracted a concreter to jack-hammer out the old very small porch at the front door and then build a very big verandah. I like the old style of Australian living where houses in the hot areas had verandahs all around the house. That gave everyone a place to sit on hot days but also stopped sunlight falling on the windows, making a hot house even hotter.

The lesson we taught ourselves doing that was to never get a tradesman in when you're not there. The old little porch was left in and he concreted around it. We asked for tinted terracotta concrete and he lay grey concrete and painted it a strange colour somewhere between orange and pink. On top of that, Hanno asked for the concrete to fall away from the house and instead it falls towards the house. To pay for our stupidity, we lived with that colour and what he'd done for 18 years, then we noticed concrete cancer in two spots in old porch and decided that we had to do something about it.

In the old days we would have knocked this job over in a couple of days but now things take whatever time they take. We're okay with that because along with slowness, age also brings patience and understanding, and after 18 years we wanted the job done well.

Here are the new cushions Tricia sewed for my birthday. They're rabbits! The colour scheme blends in perfectly with the new floor colour and helps create a place we can all relax.  How's the serenity. 

;- )

We couldn't afford the ridiculous price for tiling the entire verandah so we settled for a tiled area at the front door. That cost just under $300, plus the cost of a tiler, the paint cost $200. It feels safe because the paint is non-slip and even when I water the plants out there and it's wet, I feel fine wandering around. I think Hanno did a really good job and I'm pleased to live with it for another 18 years. I'll be 85 years old then and I'll happily lift my skirt and dance a jig to celebrate not only my birthday but also 36 years living in our beautiful and simple home.

This is the little bench seat that sits right at the far end of the verandah.

It's such a peaceful place to sit and think or have morning tea and talk. I love having a shady outdoor area where we can gather to socialise or just rest between jobs. Have you had a job like this that you put off fixing for years?