Our house painting experience (interior)

Packing up the house for professional painters to come in and then unpacking it has been a big undertaking this year.  It has given us an opportunity to have a refresh and deep clean of the house.  There are still a few boxes to be unpacked and sorted but that work is now happening slowly. A home always feels like a work in progress.  I am sure the house will continue to evolve but I wanted to share some photos while the house felt shiny and fresh with its new coat of paint.

We had the interior repainted because there was peeling paint and small cracks on the previous paint job which was done before we moved into the house almost 20 years ago.  It was time for new coat.  And to fix some things that irked me like painting the wooden panelled backing of the glass fronted shelves in the kitchen.  They looks so much better painted white.  A friend suggested wallpaper at the back of them.  Maybe one day!

I wish I had done a better job of taking before photos but I had to dig through old photos to find a decent on of the kitchen in 2020.  Obviously it has changed since then.  I still plan to put some more pictures on cupboard doors but still have not found the time.  We have recently replaced the orange vinyl chairs with blue vinyl chairs as you can see in the top kitchen photo.  If you want to see photos of the work we did on the kitchen bench check out our 2011 kitchen post. 

Planning

Planning seemed to take forever.  It took a while finding a painter but we eventually found that Hipages database was a good source.  Then there was the challenge of finding the colours we wanted.  The old paint job was mostly a green that I loved but we had to look at which paints to buy and changed the green.  I found the online simulations of painted walls and recommendations of matching colours really helpful in choosing colours.  

Some decisions were affected by the non-negotiables.  We weren't changing the laminex benchtops in the kitchen or the beige tiles in the bathroom so these had to be taken into account. Our painter was great and it was helpful that he visited a few times before the job to discuss the paints, the added costs of adding more colours, what to move and what didn't need to be moved out of the house.

Packing

The packing took ages.  How have we accumulated so much stuff in this small two bedroom unit!  It took many days and hours, many piles of boxes and some help from a good friend.  It was a cat's paradise.  Our cat, Shadow, loved so many boxes to climb and sit on and sit in.  There were boxes everywhere I looked.

The only boxes I purchased was one dark and wet night when I was behind with packing.  On impulsive, I drove to the hardware store and came home with 15 boxes and packing tape and textas.  Our lives were ruled by the rustle of boxes, the sound of packing tape ripping from the roll, the smell of texta when marking the contents of boxes and the dust rising from every surface.  All with a looming deadline.

We packed over 100 boxes so I was pleased that only 15 boxes were purchased.  Most of our boxes came from people who passed them on and from used boxes at supermarkets.  My aunt had just moved house and had lots of boxes we could reuse.  My parents supplied a lot of old newspapers for wrapping crockery and fragile bric-a-brac.  I think it was the constant carrying and rearranging heavy boxes that resulted in tennis elbow.  A sore arm when packing is no fun!

Thank goodness we could didn't need to pack the contents of the fridge, a linen cupboard, some kitchen cupboards, bathroom shelves and a built in wardrobe.  I took full advantage of being able to stuff these places with far more stuff than usual. I filled the shower and bathtub and stuffed more under the beds that were not moving out.  So it was not quite as bad as moving house. 

While packing I was glad I took a few days off work.  There was so much to be done.  It was never ending.  As soon I thought I had done an area, I would find more to do.

• While we packed I sorted out what was for op shops, bins, and to return to others.  
• As areas were emptied, we dusted and wiped them clean.  
• As the boxes and bags filled with op shops donations, I drove around to drop them off so they didn't take up valuable packing space.
  
• All the pictures on the wall had to be taken down.  I took most of my framed pictures to a neighbour's home.  
• Blutak had to be taken off the walls, which was not always easy when it had been there so long it went soft and sticky.  
• I scrubbed shelves in the kitchen that were covered in greasy gunk from the frying and boiling vapour.  I used more chemical cleaners in a couple of weeks than I have in years (I am usually a big fan of microcloths and vinegar). 
  
  

Some items to be packed were more difficult than others to seal up in a box.  Sylvia's plants from her room ended up in a box without a lid.  Fortunately a lot of these were succulents that didn't need a lot of water.

Storage and moving out

Finally the weekend arrived when my dad, my brother and their trolley were amazing at emptying the house.  We had some big pieces of furniture to be moved, such as Sylvia's wardrobe above, and lots and lots of boxes.  It was amazing to watch them manouevre the large pieces of furniture through tight spaces.  I was lucky to be able to organise most of the temporary storage at home so the trusty trolley did not have to travel far.

A friend suggested TaxiBox which she had used during their renovation.  It was delivered to a place It was delivered to our home where it sat in our driveway temporarily.  I really appreciate having a sealed and locked space where we could leave big pieces of furniture for peace of mind and place odd bits and pieces that were awkward to pack in boxes like a lamps, blinds and clothes drying racks. 

I had a plan to put my tens of boxes of books in the TaxiBox.  In the middle of winter, I did not want them to be exposed to the damp weather.  Sorting out where to store everything was more complex than I had expected.  We put the books in the carport while organising the TaxiBox, they were so snug in the layers of tarpaulins and secured with bricks.  And it worked just fine.  More furniture was stored under tarps in the carport.

We also have a small shed in our yard that is always crammed with junk. I was amazed when I cleaned it out to find I had extra storage space there.  We packed surprising amount in there too.  I even put a few things I thought I might need during the painting so it was easy to access.  I only put in items that I was prepared to be exposed to a little damp because it t had had leaks before..

The photo above is of my lovely wooden desk that I bought second hand as a student decades ago from a big furniture warehouse in Brunswick Street in Fitzroy where there is now a restaurant.  I had decided I would prefer to put my Ikea kitchen table outside and keep this desk safe inside.  We sat around it and ate lunch during a quick break.

My mum also came to help out.  While all the furniture was being moved out and was brilliant at organising, cleaning and making sure we were fed.  I was still finishing the last of the packing as the house was emptied.  While my family was helping, I had to go to a local supermarket and collect more boxes so I could pack the very last of the my belongings.  I also was really busy overseeing what was to go where.  By the end of the weekend the I was totally exhausted as I slept in my empty house in preparation to hand over the keys to the painters early the next morning.
 

A week of painting

It was so odd to us to see the house so bare but there I was, finally handing over the keys to the painters for a week while stuffing one last overlooked thing into a cupboard.  If you want to know about what happened while the painting was going on I can refer you to my In My Kitchen: June 2025 on the upheaval of painting the house) and My Monthly Chronicles: June 2025.

I had thought that the week would be lots of time for me to relax after all the preparation.  It was not a week for catching up on everything.  I was so achy and tired on the morning after we moved out that I had to phone in sick to work and then call the osteo to give my tennis elbow so attention.  Then there was work and a party and visiting Sylvia and spending time with my parents.  It was a crazy week without my own kitchen and bed.

Meanwhile, Shadow had gone to stay with Sylvia at her dad's place.  He was not a happy pussy cat.  He was so upset that he could hardly eat or drink.  After a few days, he agreed to wear a harness so he could go outside for a walk in the yard.  Then we took him to the vet for an appetite stimulant and a laxative. 

I was staying locally for most of the week and was amazed one evening, while dropping in for something from the shed and a peek at the paint preparation, to see how much patching there was on my bedroom wall.  The few bits of remaining furniture in each room was covered with plastic as in the below photo.  They looked like they were wearing a shower cap or PPE. 

A new coat of paint

The painters were out a week later.   It was amazing to see the new colours.  We love them.  Most of the house was painted pea soup green.   Above you can see Sylvia's bedroom in its old colour.  E and I painted the feature wall in here and in the lounge a pale yellow when we first moved in 2006.  When we took possession, these walls were a dark blue which looked stylish but were not right for the small spaces.  Looking back, I am not sure the cream colour was the best decision.  If only we had had Sylvia with us then, who had a great eye for colour.  She picked the pea soup green colour which looks very stylish.

The new colour in Sylvia's room was darker than in other rooms.  She was so pleased she chose it.  This was it freshly painted with the plastic still on her shelves and bed.  It was very odd to see the walls so bare because Sylvia loves having lots of pictures and vines around her walls.

I really love all the cream trim with the pea soup green.  In this photo you can see a patch of our old lighter green which looks quite pale in comparison.  It was odd having the blinds off the front window while the painting was done.  I loved looking at the garden out the front.  One day we might replace the blinds with curtains.

In this photo you can see the kitchen right after the painters protective plastic was taken off the benches and floors to show the room in all its freshly painted glory.  It really needed a paint as it gets a lot of wear of tear.  As I mentioned at the start of the post where you can see the before and after photos of the kitchen together, I love the newly painted white backing on the glass fronted shelves.  

On the right is the cupboard we installed from Ikea which replaced our trusty old gas wall heater.  If only the heater wasn't so close to the stove that it was decommissioned.  Now we have an electric split system heater and air conditioner.  I like it but miss being able to stand against the wall heater when I was really cold and especially on the days I get caught in the rain and am dripping wet.

The bathroom was the place where I really wanted a change.  The pale green never looked right to me, especially with the the icky beige yellow brown tiles.  (You can see it in the above left hand photo.)  I chose a different pale green (river reed) to go with them.  I should have listened to Sylvia and gone for a slightly darker colour.  My pale green looked more white than green.  It was also used on the shelves in the lounge room and the kitchen cupboards.  At first it grated that it wasn't what I thought I had chosen but it is the right white to go with the green.  There are possibilities ahead with tweaking the paint job but for now I am very happy with the painting.

Unpacking

 

When we moved back in after the painting it felt weird to be in the bare rooms that usually felt so homely.  The kitchen light wasn't working so I tried to adjust the globe and it shattered on the kitchen floor.  Our lamps were packed.  It was a bit dim.  (It has now been replaced, which meant within a week or two the paint work needed touching up!)  More cheery was seeing how excited Sylvia and Shadow were to be back in their own home.  

On our first night back we were just happy to have beds and a couch.  For dinner we ordered pizza and doughnuts from Heaven.   We had a week until everything was moved in from storage.  Over that time we brought in the basics from the TaxiBox: a lamp, a microwave and a tv.  It took a day or two to empty the shower and longer to empty the bathtub.  I vacuumed and mopped the floors, wiped the paint dust off the surfaces, noting where some high surfaces weren't painted, and cleaned some windows.  In the meanwhile we were in a suspended state for a week in a minimalist home.  The house felt so clean.

Although we had food in the fridge and cooking equipment in the kitchen cupboards, things were out of place and I would turn to use something only to find it was packed or not in its usual place.  It took a while to get back into cooking. 

I was both relieved and overwhelmed when my brother and parents helped move everything back in.  It was yet another tiring day.  All the furniture and boxes came back in from the TaxiBox and carport.  The blinds returned to the windows.  A wall of boxes was built in the loungeroom.

It was such a relief to have everything back in but the house no longer looked pristine.  My clean floors were marked with the wet footprints and trolley wheel marks of many journeys in and out on a rainy day.  It was more stress than when everything had been moved out before the paint job.  While moving back in I was anxious that we did not mark the new paint work.

With everything back in the house, the huge task began of putting everything back in place and reviwing this as we went.  Even though we had culled as much as possible while packing, more items went to the op shop.  One of the first tasks was to put the all the books back on the shelves.  I took my time to sort books:

• I organised them into categories including Australian history, literary history, local histories, foodie books, travel books, and children's literature
• I put together the books that I am yet to read in hope that this will inspire me.  So far I have started one book from that area but put it down before finishing and started on a book I have just bought from an op shop!
• I found some duplicate books.  How did I end up with two copies of Diet for a Small Planet!
• I have eliminated the piles of books around the house.  For now!
   

On the above photo of the three shelves of foodie books that includes cookbooks, food history and food stories.  With putting all the books away there was a lot of flattening of boxes.  Most of the boxes were recycled.  Some large boxes were passed on to my brother to help him line his caravan (don't ask) and a few were kept for storage and sending items to op shops.

In the kitchen we had to unpack the items from the pantry and the glass cabinet.  The glasses and crockery in the cabinet are not used as much so I washed it all to make sure they weren't dusty.  I also washed a lot of bric-a-brac.  It is so good to get a lot of dust out of the house.  For now!

Not everything went back as easily as it came out.  I still have a few books packed on the edges of the bookshelves in my room.  And you can see some boxes to be sorted (the configurations of boxes still keep changing).  Getting the pictures back on the wall was great.  I really love how they look against the green wall.  The biggest frustration with the was in Sylvia's bedroom that those sticky 3M hooks (that come off the wall easily) would not stick to the walls.  She has had to use a lot more picture hooks there than before.  

Above is a picture of the lounge  room from 2020 and below is how it looks today.  Same same but different!  One of the biggest challenges in the lounge was getting my large picture from Florence back up.  Somehow my sister's ex-husband had drilled a hook into the wall with the string stuck in it.  So I had to consult my dad about fixing the hook (he always knows).  Then I found my picture wire has disappeared.  It was great when I had purchased more picture wire and could finally hang up that picture.  It is a fine souvenir of my time in Europe in my 20s.

We have made a few other changes and there will be more.  Take the chairs for example!  Sylvia found the vintage armchair with the tapestry upholstery in an op shop.  The saggy old velvet swivel armchair will go out with the hard rubbish as soon as we find the right chair to replace it.  And I keep noticing boxes that still need unpacking or areas I still need to sort out.

Although there are still some small areas to fix up, most of the house has returned to life as before but cleaner and neater.  I am relieved we have finally had the house painted.  Sylvia did a great job with her room but has told me never again.  I agree.  It was not easy but I am so glad we did it.  A new paint job on the house was a huge achievement and one that makes me proud to survey! 

More posts with past pictures of my home:

Fridge door (2008)

Food props (2010) 

Kitchen renovations (2011 renovations) 

About my cookbooks (2012)

About my oven (or why the nose is mightier than the timer) (2013)

Tea towels (2015)