I'm Back & the House is Becoming a Home!

I'm Back & the House is Becoming a Home!

Builders Building progress flowers Gardening landscaping plants pool privacy screens tree ferns

I can't believe it's been two months since I last posted and, not only that, but the house is still being worked on!! Since we moved in we've had tradies here pretty much the whole time - whether it's working in the garage, making gates, putting in mozzie screens, touching up paintwork, putting in glass balustrades, handrails ... the list goes on.

Right now the landscapers are finishing up and although I still don't have a washing line (!) the garden is starting to come together. Even just having some grass helps make the place look less like a building site. But I can tell you I'll be very glad when they've all gone. I'm sick of looking at builder's cracks, finding cigarette butts in the garden, listening to power tools, having issues with sub-contractors and just trying to get stuff done without being interrupted.

Having said all that, the house has turned out fab and I don't regret a minute of it. It may have been a long and, at times, frustrating journey (sorry to use that word!) but it's been worth it and may I never have to move house again for a very long time!!

So, finally I've taken some updated shots to show the house being turned into a home. These are views from around the deck ...

The pool was finally completed two weeks ago much to the girls' delight! For those who are interested, we used a metallic blue mosaic tile for the top trim and seat and a product call Gemtex - which is a mix of coloured glass and concrete - for the inside.

View showing roof pebbles, a feature Yucca and the louvre screening.

A bit of my own gardening - succulents on the table and six different herbs on the railing. Star jasmine will eventually climb up the back fence.

Another view of the herbs and the rebuilt rockery, where the barbecue is (just out of shot to the left), and the transplanted tree ferns which amazingly survived.

We've got cream cliveas and cycads, star jasmine along both fence lines and on the top part is my mini vege garden which has a tomato plant, strawberries, a perpetual lettuce, rosemary and rocket which is still to sprout.

So now that I've finally got my blogging groove back, I'll return with shots of inside!

Take care
Jx

Four days to go!

Four days to go!

Bathrooms Builders Building progress Carpets interior design Kitchens Living Rooms Painting Sandstone tiles

I've been really slack with my blogging, I know, I'm sorry. And some of the tradies have been really slack on site, too! The painters have been sacked and replaced by a new team and the pool man has been fired for not turning up. The painting is only half done, there is no carpet, no wallpaper, no study joinery.

We move in on Thursday and this is what it looks like ...

The carpet is being laid on Wednesday and the stair balustrades are going in Thursday morning. Talk about tight! But at least the front door's in.

And we have an entrance.

We have kitchen benchtops, a gas hob and a new fence behind.



We have some lovely bathroom tiling.

Master bath

Girl's bathroom

We have a louvred privacy screen on the deck.

A partially formed barbecue area off the deck.

And a fence-less back yard which better be fenced when we move otherwise Ruby will be roaming!

And at least they're trying to look after the floors ...

No matter if the paint's still tacky I can't wait to move in!

P.S Tomorrow I'll show you two pendants I've just picked up which are yet to be hung ... Jx

Update: Two and a half weeks to go!

Update: Two and a half weeks to go!

Bathrooms Builders Building progress Sandstone tiles

Okay, so things have been getting a bit stressful over at my place. The builders have been working towards us moving in on September 10 and so we decided to book the removalists for the 12th. But despite them going all out, there has still been quite a bit to do and we weren't sure they would get done. On top of that, once the inside is complete, the architect has to do a final 'defects check' (crikey!) before the inside is given the all-clear. Soooo, we've asked our agent if the landlord would mind terribly if we moved our move forward to the 16th. Haven't heard yet, but am crossing fingers!

In any case, the good news is that the concrete for the parking bay in front of the garage has been poured - after finally getting the go-ahead from the engineer that doing screw piles instead of deep-set piles (which are time-consuming, expensive and come with the risk of hitting goodness knows what boulders or pipes below). And to ensure access is guaranteed for the removalists, we'll wait until after we're in for the guys to lay the stone flagging.

The stone masons are doing an amazing job with all the stone. Here they are out the back. It's a bit hard to see properly but they're rebuilding the old rockery (to the left) using a mix of the old boulders and new and adding bigger and better steps from what will be lawn up to the BBQ area and onto the deck.

After a few false starts and some tiling mishaps (oops!), the bathroom tiling is well underway. The photos don't do it justice at all - the lighting or something not really working but they give you an idea. Above is the master ensuite - the back wall where the shower and toilet will go is  in small pearly white mosaics, and below is the guest ensuite with the same kind of mosaics but in gun metal.

I think the grouting will make a lot of difference!

That's all for now, folks. Have a great week!