Having just spent our first Christmas in the new digs, we were well aware it was in need of some TLC.

Before we moved in it had housed classic cars that needed renovating, didn’t have running water and was well in need of a new paint job (notice the racing stripe along the wall and floor 😥)

When we got in in July, we got it all cleaned up, hooked up the water and moved in all of our distilling equipment. We desperately needed to get making gin as had outgrown our previous space (glorified shed at the end of a garden) so got started as quickly as possible.

We knew January and February we’re going to be the months we could have a proper rip-out (thanks dry January 🙄) after the chaos that is the festive season.

First, we got our mate Jake to re-do the floor. He dug up all the old battered concrete, levelled it out and poured the new floor before painting on a shiny resin coating.

Next up prepping the walls and metal beams for painting. THIS. TOOK. AGES. We had to take back all of the brickwork to get all of the old paint off, scrub the bricks with wire and soap and grind off all the rust from the metal structural beams. Two weeks later the prep side of redecorating was complete. Cue time to get the brushes out.

We carefully calculated all the paint and materials based on the provided coverage information and then duly proceeded to use nearly 5 times that amount over a period of time just over three weeks, double the amount of time planned. If I never have to use a paint brush or roller again in my life I will truly consider myself a lucky man.

During decorating, we had the tradies in to rewire the building, plumb in our lpg connections and fit a new security system to keep all the bad guys out. In the first week of March, we finally finished and started moving in the equipment so we could get back to making tasty liquid.

At time of writing, we’re back to being fully operational and are already several batches in at the newly ‘furbed distillery. Here’s the end result: