Beach Shack Renovation Five

There have been a few more improvements to the beach shack, but with it taking time, and it being winter, things seem to be progressing slowly.

In Memoriam

My grandfather passed away August 2, 2014, leaving behind two daughters, four grandchildren, one great grandchild and a tonne of memories and stories.

Beach Shack Renovation Four

My aunt then decided that since the new furniture (and antique fridge (which weighed a tonne and was difficult to move)) was scratching the floors and lifting the grey paint, in the communal kitchen/living room we needed a new floor covering. Something like laminate floor boards.
A more sensible (cheaper) suggestion of lino was made and as lino now comes in a range of styles and patterns we were able to find one that suited the style and colour scheme of the room.

So one bright Sunday morning my uncle and I got to work installing it. When it's substantially larger than the room in all directions and tears easily, we made the executive decision to remove the 'key decision makers' from the visual vicinity so we could lay it in peace and do what was necessary to squeeze it into the corners and remove the excess. The last thing we needed was them pointing out where it was ripping, stressing if a rip got too close to the important bit...

Beach Shack Renovation Three

With 12 family members having access to the shack (two currently living in Berlin), it seemed sensible to streamline Granddad's amount of furniture and have more than a main bed and two hideous foam mattresses.
We decided on a Queen bed in the main bedroom, a double bunk in the second bedroom and a sofa bed in the living room.

The new furniture was bought as part of yet another shopping spree by my mother and aunt, but it was left to other members of the family to assemble it.

...and the three year old to test its possibilities as a tent by hanging a sheet from the upper bed over the lower one.

It was decided that she was too young for the top bunk and yet too clever at climbing up the ladder by herself, and so the rungs were removed for the time being.



To compliment the very colourful curtains, make the most of the opportunity to do some interior decorating with vibrancy as opposed to the whites and off-whites with which most people decorate their houses, and add vibrancy to what is essentially a summer beach shack, we went with the most outrageous sheets for the beds.

 

The discussion of what to do with the kitchenette unit was lengthy, though as one of the two decision makers insisted on keeping it, the suggestions of the rest of us are virtually unheard. It's currently getting a new paint job and a patch up as the green and cream no longer goes with the decor.

In the kitchen we decided on a buffet unit for more storage (can never have too much storage) with a smaller under-bench fridge. 

The former was put together from flat pack (like the rest of the furniture) while the fridge was an amazing bargain buy from Ebay. 

Beach Shack Renovation One
Beach Shack Renovation Two

Beach Shack Renovation Four

Beach Shack Renovation Two

When we finally got our hands on the beach shack and could implement our own vision on the place things started to change. Mum and her sister had the final say, but suggestions were tossed around and pressures were exerted to ensure some things were removed for good.

With access to the skip bins we were using to clean out Granddad's home, my cousin and I made a trip down to remove any and all of the larger pieces that could be fitted into the skips.

The kitchen counter was dismantled and it's complete destruction relieved a lot of built up tension and frustration as it too went in a skip bin.

With hygiene issues of some concern, we took great pleasure in tossing all of the old, used plastic kitchenware. Bin bags were filled over and in moments of hesitation, the response was always 'bin it'. Given how cheap kitchen utensils are at Kmart, and how long these pieces had been sitting here, we weren't willing to risk it. Besides, Granddad had virtually new stuff at his house that we could easily rehouse here instead of sending to the Op-shops.

The beds were dismantled and thrown away, along with all the other excess furniture, chairs and mildew-ing beach towels. It was rather nice to get a true idea of the size of the shack and discuss what we would be able to achieve with it.

With the vast majority of the contents removed it was time for a lick of paint. Something bold, with a little bit of brightness but without the fading properties of the former colours.

We'd already spent considerable time perusing paints as by then we'd repainted the inside, outside and outhouses at Granddad's. With some discussion, we reached a decision. I have a decent eye for colour and one that closely matches my aunt. Mother on the other hand has far more muted tastes.

Between the three of us we came up with grey and red, with furniture in black and a golden pine.

With the paint chosen, we went fabric shopping for the curtains. We'd been looking for something that incorporated the grey and red but wasn't too nautical or too depressing. The shade of red had to be right, and it couldn't really have a cream or blue background as neither would work with the grey walls. After raiding every fabric shop we could think of and not finding anything bright and colourful enough we finally ended on a delightful choice from Ikea.

13 metres later and we now had to measure, hem and sew these 12 curtains.

With Mum busy and my aunt having no skill on the sewing machine, I undertook the actual sewing of the curtains. However my aunt was roped in to help measure and cut, before Mum ironed the pieces down and I raced them through the machine. There may have been a few arguments as to how long the curtains needed to be and by how much they should overhang the edges of the windows to ensure they blocked out as much light as possible.

Now time for the furniture...


Beach Shack Renovation One

Beach Shack Renovation Three
Beach Shack Renovation Four

Beach Shack Renovation One

Granddad's brother and brother-in-law have had beach shacks for probably as long as Mum can remember.

Not so long ago, Granddad got himself one, the one right between the other two.



Now there are three in a row.
Uncle Ray's (now his son's)
Granddad's (now his daughters')
Uncle Tony's

It's a lovely place... almost on the beach, a bright little cabin and porch surrounded by grass.
It is off the grid, with no electricity and no connected water.

But you're on the beach (virtually your own private beach) with your own patch of shade, own patch of grass, own little kitchen with endless supplied of hot water for tea and cold water from the fridge.

Though when Mum and my aunt inherited it they decided it did need a bit of a spruce up.
The paint job was notably faded and still just a little bright.

And Granddad was a hoarder. Everything that he might possibly need was there, some things in an obvious state of disrepair or so old they were no longer useful. 

We found tins of dried paint, metres of hose repaired and joined together even though the central tap has its own permanent hose attached. An unopened gas bottle, possibly dating to 1995. 

There were three tables, one of which was never used and being circular, just ate up space. 

Not surprisingly, we found 4 BBQs/stove tops within the shack, despite there being a big wood fire BBQ just outside. 
An unwieldy corner kitchen unit that never got used. (note the stove to the left, the black weber to the right and the blue primus on top of the cabinet).

The kitchenette unit (below), dating to when Granddad had married in 1954 was full of useful cutlery and crockery, but also 'non-perishables' that hadn't been touched in five years.

Granddad had previously spent weekends down there with his partner and so they had suitable food stuffs for breakfast, coffee, morning tea... However more recently we would only ever pop down for the day. As a result we'd take our own tea and coffee and the fridge would never be turned on to chill the soft drinks waiting in the bottom of the cupboard.







Of the two bedrooms, one was the main, the other had the most uncomfortable foam mattresses.
Not that we were really allowed to stay over. Granddad had some funny rules and as he held the keys (and wouldn't let others have copies) we fell in with his demands.

This meant we only visited sporadically for a morning swim and lunch, and lived out on the patio.
The curtains and windows were not opened, the beds remained unused.
At most we used the rooms to change in and out of our bathers and the stove to heat water for doing the dishes from lunch.
With the discovery of damp towels in a drawer and out dated produce in the kitchenette it was no surprise that the whole place had acquired a stale feel to it.

With such potential, it was almost a relief when we were able to get our hands on it properly.


Beach Shack Renovation Two
Beach Shack Renovation Three
Beach Shack Renovation Four

With Fresh Eyes

My grandfather had two Federation houses, mirror images of each other, one in which he lived and the other as an investment property.

Samson House, Fremantle (Not Granddad's)

The first he bought in 1962 for his small family and before long set about fixing it up. The second he bought later and as it was just an investment property he did not bother modernising it, just updating it so it was rentable.

In the early sixties fixing up an old Federation house mean modernising it.

• Streamlining the face of the interior doors, 
• Removing (and burning) the Jarrah mantlepieces, 
• Replacing the tall sash windows with squat ones
• Knocking out the fireplaces and removing the chimneys
• Covering over the red brick facade with a rough white monstrosity. 
• Removing the front door and glass surrounds and bricking it up to fit a narrower, safer door. 
• Removing the decorative skirting boards and architraves that collected dust in each and every grove.

The new architraves viewed through a doorway with the old architraves still in tact. 

Granddad did all of this, but it wasn't just renovation; he also improved the house so that it was habitable.When he moved in, the house was in such a terrible condition that the front door was without a lock.

The kitchen walls were a dark brown particularly unsuited to the already dark style of a Federation house. It wasn't until he began preparing the walls to repaint that he noticed that the dark brown colour cleaned off the walls revealing a lighter creamier paint underneath. It had been a build up of grime over the years.

And in the bathroom, once located on the verandah but eventually closed in so it became part of the interior of the house, the bath tub rocked on its bottom, the claw feet having gone through the rotting Jarrah floorboards.

Hints of its past glory as still scattered throughout.

In the lounge room, the long sash window still exists, overlooking the brick wall of the neighbour's house, its age and beautiful architraves overshadowed by the axminister carpet Granddad had laid.

In this room and one of the bedrooms the skirting boards still retain their undulating form, mirrored around a door way by the short fat version with which we are more familiar to this day.

The doors were all recut from sliding doors, the only things big enough to fit the older, wider measurements, except that is, for the bathroom, where the inside still features the moulding that would have been seen throughout the house.

In the middle of the hall way an archway still stands, the columns still decorative and the keystone decorated with a carved bunch of lovely flowers.

In the lounge room the cornice winds around the chimney, wider and more ornate than seen in modern houses. In Granddad's house it remains white shaded by its own height, though I have seen the various bands painted in graduated shades of grey or pink, tying in with colour of the walls. 

In the centre of these bands in the ceiling rose, the last of its kind supporting a thoroughly retro light shade.

In the process of our renovations, undertaken after my Grandfather's death, the carpets were lifted, revealing the Jarrah floorboards that run the length of the hallway and floor the four rooms at the front of the house. 

Knowing what it could have looked like, the historian in me weeps at how much historical beauty was discarded for the sake of modernity. How the pieces removed were viewed as waste products, wood worthy only of burning in the fireplace before that too was dismantled.

It has only been recently that I have started to focus on the beauty that still remains. Tradies and services come in to provide quotes as part of the current renovation efforts and each and every one marvels at the house. They gasp at how much detail does remain. 

And noting the pattern you come to realise that there is still enough beauty and history in this old house to acknowledge, should you chose to enhance those remaining features. 

Halliday House