Buying, Renovating, Selling, Buying Renovating……

In May 2009 Russell and I purchased our first house in Seaford Rise. It had been neglected, and we embarked on renovating and updating the house to make it more comfortable to live in. We bought a dog (Fox Terrier x Jack Russell), and settled in to our life together, spending almost every spare minute of our time on the house, from simply repainting the house, digging out the backyard, to replacing the entire kitchen, it took almost 3 years and it was done. By then (March 2012) we were ready to move on to a bigger place, so almost immediately after the house was deemed complete, it was on the market for sale, and we purchased our next house in Sheidow Park.

Sheidow Park was a much bigger project to tackle, but Russell was sure he could manage just about anything, and if he thought couldn’t, there was always a YouTube video to watch and learn. We started out the front, and worked our way back from there, completing the front yard, master bedroom and ensuite, floors, removing walls, building walls, kitchen, main bathroom, laundry, bedrooms and living areas. The only incomplete part of the house when he passed away was the backyard. He commenced digging that out in May 2022, with the intention of being able to finish it across the following 12 months, for us to have an amazing yard for the girls. Unfortunately, with a cancer diagnosis our world changed, and he solely focused on completing his shed. He managed to complete this before he passed away.

I will always remember how determined Russ was to do things himself, he was only out to prove to himself he could, and you would never catch him boasting about how talented he truly was. From teaching himself to paint, to tile, to grind concrete, to building a concrete bath, to cabinetry you could almost say he truly could do it all.

I will always miss having someone with me that could always fix anything, figure anything out and always give me security that even if he didn’t know how to do it, he would figure it out. He dedicated his entire life to making sure his girls had the perfect place to live, and that they would never have to move during their childhood. Always out to save a dollar, so that every spare dollar he had was for them.

Story From: Rachael, Russell’s wife