Our first nest

Quintus and Lynette Deacon of Mossel Bay write After years of renting as a young married couple, my husband decided it was time to make a change. One morning while out jogging, he saw a house that he thought was a real find. At first I thought he was joking, but a day later we signed the offer to purchase!

The house was basically uninhabitable: all the window frames were warped and the panes were falling out, while cupboards that seemed alright fell off the wall the minute we opened them. In December 2014, we plunged headlong into the project without really doing any planning...

Because the old built-in braai was just about to topple over, we had to demolish it. We cleaned all the bricks and used them to build a stoep. Then the old stoep became an indoor braai room in which we installed a second-hand braai.

Next on the list was the kitchen. To save money, we built the cupboard carcasses with bricks and used floorboards from an old farmhouse for countertops. The bathroom was also enlarged; with careful planning we were able to fit in a bath, shower, toilet and basin. We wanted Cemcrete on the floor but it’s expensive, so we decided to experiment: Quintus laid a cement floor with a top layer of white cement – it looks just like Cemcrete. A few cracks here and there have just added character.

So far, putting together our first permanent nest has been a wonderful learning experience! >>