Hearts Haven

Hearts Haven Home & Garden transformation | recycled & rustic | Happy home | Happy heart | Deloraine, Tasmania

04/03/2026

A quick same day laundry/bathroom makeover.
There is minimal storage in my bush retreat, and this area, which I call the wet room (toilet, shower,laundry) will eventually get a full renovation, creating separate rooms needing sorting out immediately as a 'please make me workable' facelift.
1. Utilize the under sink space for maximum storage
2. Create a calming space but also practical
3. Don't spend $ as it's all temporary

I built two under sink shelves utilizing timber found in the garage. Whilst building this I noticed that this part of the house is not level!

I created an under sink curtail to hide the cleaning products and laundry supplies by cutting up an old bed sheet, adding hems and using a curtain wire to hang it from

Added plants; hanging, floor and bench top placement

Hung wash baskets, pictures, decor

Lightened the room by changing shower curtain

I am pretty happy with the end result achieving what I set out to do...tick that box ☑️

Look what I found!At the cottage, I decided to remove the plaster board from the area which once was a bedroom, located ...
01/03/2026

Look what I found!
At the cottage, I decided to remove the plaster board from the area which once was a bedroom, located in the kitchen lean-to side. The lean-to was an add on that housed the kitchen, toilet, bedroom and the walkway to the wet room. They attached the plasterboard directly onto the original weatherboards which once was the exterior of the house. I needed the original weatherboards for the repair of the outside of the cottage. Once the plasterboard was removed, it exposed all the weatherboards that were intact. Once I removed the weatherboards it exposed a beautiful brick wall that is the back of the lounge fireplace...my plan was to reinstate this room as a bedroom, but I am thinking it might be a dining room or reading nook now!

One of my first projects at my bush retreat home was to house my hens...in a quoll area! I was told there were two resid...
01/03/2026

One of my first projects at my bush retreat home was to house my hens...in a quoll area! I was told there were two resident quolls on the property that made keeping hens very difficult. Quolls are protected and delight in killing chickens for fun...this is not my idea of fun!
There is a little cubby on the property which I decided to make into a safe and secure hen haven, that is safe from any digging, gnawing quolls. I had to Google and ask questions from friends who live with quolls, and many said it was near impossible. I questioned whether I should keep the hens as I was certain it was not going to end well.
I added layers of wire mesh to a couple of no glass windows/vent, and then found some perspex in the garage and really made it secure.
I added battens to the boards giving it a cohesive look as well as filling up any gaps.
Added nesting boxes (thanks to 1910 cottage), roosts, straw, a run and a heavy escape door that leads to their wired run. I dug the mesh into the ground and have temporarily used a bird net to protect from crows during the day.
Quolls do their hunting at night, so I am not too worried, but it's on my list to wire mesh the run roof and add a solid door to enter the run.
The hens have been at the bush retreat for 8 days/nights and are settling in. I lock them up around 7pm, well before it's dark and scout the area for any quoll evidence. So far, so good...hens are still here

Before I moved, I had to seal up the cottage, onto the other side of the nasty blue tin wall.I did what I could do, and ...
01/03/2026

Before I moved, I had to seal up the cottage, onto the other side of the nasty blue tin wall.
I did what I could do, and maybe the builder needs to fix it up, but it's watertight, vermin proof and locked up. I found the window on marketplace and it was free! Again, zero $$ spent, just time. Originally I wanted to lower this roof line, but it was going to be complex so I kept it as it was and I think it looks ok now that it's all weatherboards.

Part of the renovation with the 1910 cottage was to repair windows and get it to a lock up stage. Remove the ugly blue t...
01/03/2026

Part of the renovation with the 1910 cottage was to repair windows and get it to a lock up stage. Remove the ugly blue tin and replace with weatherboards.
Why someone wanted to clad this cottage in tin is questionable, but I did find all the materials needed in the junk pile and the window I used was the bathroom one that I removed recently. It has cost me zero dollars!

What can happen in a month? I can buy another home which also needs work!Really!?Yes, I found urban living a little conf...
01/03/2026

What can happen in a month? I can buy another home which also needs work!
Really!?
Yes, I found urban living a little confining and I am not quite ready to downsize, so during February I moved onto 7 acres of bush with a lovely craftsman built cottage. Plenty to do as it's been left vacant for over a year, and being 'craftsman' built, there are a few wonky bits and pieces!
I will continue sharing my projects, gardens, renovations and hidden surprises.

02/02/2026

One of the joys of undertaking a renovation or older home is the treasures you find...and under the birch trees in the back corner was the previous owners dump zone, rubbish, timber, rocks, bricks...yes old convict bricks, most likely from the old fireplaces that were ripped out of the 1910 house...but they are beautiful, still layered with mortar but retaining a beautiful colour and shape...they will be reused and a new purpose will rise again from them

02/02/2026

Update, I successfully removed the hidden window that was partially rotten, and replaced the weatherboards.
The door has been trimmed and no more wildlife can squeeze through the gaps!
I then was on a roll and removed a window and door that were just wrong (too high, wrong shape, wrong timber wrong placement etc). I have just filled the gap for now temporarily until I find the right windows for the space. I removed the rotten wood out of the window and repaired it, I might use that again, not sure yet.
All of this is just a make do situation to make it vermin proof and until I am ready to do whatever it is I am going to do with the place. It's not perfect by any means, it's just practical.

Never forget, love is everywhere, you simply have to look
02/02/2026

Never forget, love is everywhere, you simply have to look

30/01/2026

Let's remove a rotten window with minimal tools and a tool I found buried in the yard.
I don't have all the fancy power tools, I have second hand, garage sale tools that "will do the job". Maybe one day I might get the right tools, but for now, let's just see what I can do.
Once the window is out I will trim around the back door and put the boards back. Well that's the goal, let's see what happens

Today's job is actually to fix the back doorway, but before I can do that I have to remove some weatherboards which are ...
30/01/2026

Today's job is actually to fix the back doorway, but before I can do that I have to remove some weatherboards which are hiding a window...why people do this I don't know, but I will take the boards off and see what state the window is in.
I quickly found the window is rotten so I am going to work out how to do that hopefully without smashing it up.
Oohhh look, an old key was found on the sill under the rotten wood....love it!

29/01/2026

Ok, I replaced the pipe with a split pipe (stupid rookie mistake, and it exploded water everywhere), so replaced the replacement pipe with a not split pipe and joined it together...did it work??
Thanks everyone for your advice and help, Nick for saying keep digging, Tracy for saying a split pipe, so far so good, no leak, but I will leave it open to dry out and see what happens

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Deviot, TAS
7304

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+61432419355

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