Malcolm and Lesley McLagan. Working at speed, made easier by the complete removal of all trappings, the house in Paton’s Rd took shape quickly thanks to efficient and professional tradespeople.
With structural and building work complete Lesley and Malcolm McLagan’s next move was to have the newly plastered walls and ceilings painted.
Given the compact size of the house it was decided to use light colours throughout with Resene Thorndon Cream chosen for the living area walls. The ceilings and timber trim have been painted in a 1/8 tint of the same colour giving a easy integrated feel to the home.
Some timber mouldings were damaged while being removed during the renovation but replacements machined by Jag Kitchens’ factory manager ensured their effect was not lost.
Then the McLagan’s also decided to sand and polyurethane the existing timber floors in the living areas but first had to replace damaged or badly water stained floorboards. A search eventually turned up a company, which could supply and replace the necessary boards, before work went ahead on the sanding and finishing. Stain was incorporated into the polyurethane to darken the typical yellow look of Tawa.
With the painting and floor finished it was time to install the lights, power points and gas log fire. A host of new power points were added and all existing power points realigned to the same height to give a uniform look.
A gas log fire had been chosen as a convenient way to heat the living area with the fire effect providing a warm ambience. For total effect a false chimney was built to house the fire and a flat screen television placed above it.
The tilers were the next to arrive, their job to tile the bathroom and en suite floors and walls. “Tiling some of the original walls proved a challenge with walls being out of plumb and ceilings out of level,’ Malcolm says. “While the final tiling result looks good the issues we had just illustrates why it would have made more sense to have completely stripped out all the old gib and replaced it with new.”
The kitchen design had its difficulties as the removal of the wall between the original kitchen and laundry had resulted in a long narrow room with one full wall of windows.
“I had no choice but to install the cooking facilities under a window which made mounting a rangehood of some sort a real challenge,” Lesley says. “Having good extraction at home was a must as Malcolm tends to cook steaks on a cast iron griddle pan with all the accompanying smoke. I solved the problem by building a bulkhead above the windows into which we installed a powerful Powerpack rangehood.”
“These problem areas were typical of issues a kitchen designer constantly deals with,” says Lesley. “It’s a lot more complicated than just screwing some standard sized boxes together. Renovations can be particularly taxing but it’s the kind of challenge I really enjoy. The fact that Jag Kitchens can custom-size its cabinetry certainly makes renovations easier.”
With the kitchen and laundry area installed and tiling complete in the bathrooms, the next job was fitting bathroom vanities, shower screens and wardrobes.
A shower-over-bath arrangement was chosen to save space in the main bathroom. This allowed for a generous vanity and a towel storage cupboard, the latter a real bonus as storage was problematic in this smallish house.
The floor in the ensuite had been cut out and waterproofed as part of the building process so that it could be tiled straight into the shower waste giving a seamless effect. “While it was more work doing it that way it did achieve a nice clean look with no shower lip to step over.” Lesley says.
With work progressing steadily the next job was to connect the plumbing and wire in the appliances. The McLagan’s chose a 900mm-wide, free-standing cooker combining a five burner gas top with electric oven while an icemaker fridge, dishwasher and front-loading washing machine with dryer above completed the appliances in this combined kitchen/laundry area.
With most of the interior finished it was time to measure up for carpet and window coverings. Find out in OHT September 22 who Malcolm and Lesley enlisted to help in this area and see the end result of their renovation project.
