We Are Still Here

It has been around 10 months since we moved in and we have been busy with life, work, school and family. The house is now feeling more homely as we continue to put our own stamp on it. We have had some custom made entertainment units installed in the family and leisure rooms and storage cupboards built and installed in the garage so we now have somewhere to put coats and shoes and all those other garage odds and ends that you never have space for.
We have even started buying decorative pieces which really add character and express who we are thus making this our space. Still however we are struggling to decide on art works and have vast amounts of bare blank wall space staring back at us but its not too bland as we have some lovely views out of our up sized windows and bifold doors.
We have a brilliant veggie garden and have begun harvesting salad leaves, herbs and this week broccolini - loving having a garden big enough to give is the space to do this. Soon we will have French beans, tomatoes, cabbages, carrots and beetroot. Yummy. With sweetcorn, broad beans, capsicums and egg plants to follow assuming they all grow successfully.

The build directly behind us has started (and stopped for now) they have had the slab poured and then nothing has happened since. Sadly they are building about 2 meters off our rear fence so our lovely views out to the gum trees and I suspect lots of our natural light from the early morning sun will soon be blocked. Look we knew it would happen one day but after living here for so long with an empty lot behind you just kind of get used to it.

Next door had handover last week but are yet to have their drive done so not sure when they will be moving in. I think it is the slowest Metricon build I have witnessed so far having said that though there is a house on the estate that was started about a month after ours and it still isn't finished!

Are we still happy with our home? Yes we love it and can see ourselves living here for many, many years to come.

Photos to follow......

Visuals

Rear of Garage

Dingo Action

No More Moonscape

Resort Furniture From Freedom

Outdoor Seating

Outdoor Dining

Cleared Ready For Veggies and Puppy

Feature Bed Near Outdoor Room - Pony Tail Palm Should Get to 2m Eventually

Feature Bed Near Pool - The Grass Here Will Be Replaced With Gravel In The Future

Citrus Grove - Left to Right Orange, Lemon and Lime

Dingo Bingo and Outdoor Seating

How lucky are we? We rang a local dingo company (a small bobcat not the wild dog) to see if they could come and level out the land near our laundry and aircon areas and dingo bingo they could come the next day or in a months time! So they came out on Wednesday and after about an hour of running the little digger over the 100sqm of land our interesting moonscape is now relatively flat and weed free. This means we can now look at getting some concrete slabs poured for a step and small paving area out from the laundry door and another one for the shed. We need to do some measuring and rough sketching of what we need before hand though as we need to allow for raised bed as vegetable plots and a little piece of land for the dog toilet (sorry too much information?). We've decided to have a "that'll do for now" garden and make additions and changes as time goes on.

That same day we got a delivery from Freedom and now have our new outdoor set which fits our outdoor room really well. I finished work at 4pm came home had a swim in the pool, cooked a lovely meal on the BBQ and broke in our new table and chairs. I felt like I was still on holidays. Fantastic.

The renderer should be coming soon to finish the wall around the pool and we still have no idea what colour to paint it now that we have a blue pool not grey. The fencers will also be back soon to add side gates so that the garden is secure and hopefully this spell of dry weather continues and we can finally get the driveway sealed with the polyurethane coating.
We also need to hire/borrow/cajole/bully/press gang a couple of guys to help us move our old sofa upstairs and the spare sofa to the apartment at work as we do not have the physical strength or stature to do it alone.

Off to look at more plants today as well as feature pots, garden art and statues that we can use to add interest to the garden.

In Glorious Colour

Picasa has a glitch but I have found another way to upload pictures so here they are:

The New Sofa from King Furniture - Will Be Getting A New Rug Too

Another View

Simply Add Water

Pool Light Before Being Fitted - 8 Different Colour Combinations

The Steps With Edge Tiles

Nearly Ready For The Hose

Wall Needs Rendering and The Garden Needs Plants

Garden Levelled, Top Soil In and Garden Edgers In Place

More of the Garden

The Thing From The Swamp!! Looks Yacky

Turfed

Ahhh My New BBQ

Pool Cleaner In Action - The Water Looks Much Clearer and More Blue Now

Sparkly

Plants In and Look How Blue That Water Is

The Plants Look Lovely

Once They Grow They Will Be a Beautiful Backdrop To The Pool

Preparing For Christmas

The BBQ has been assembled, the outdoor room pavers have been cleaned and are now awaiting dry weather before being sealed, new outdoor furniture has been purchased in the sale from Freedom and will be delivered early in the New Year, pool handover has been completed, the pool lights are connected we have 8 different colours to choose from and even a disco setting (cool), the retaining wall will be rendered approx 5th Jan and the chemicals and pool cleaner are still working away so we may get to see the final water colour in a few days time. It actually sounds like it will be clear blue like being at Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays which I would be able to live with I think. I wrote a very open and gentle letter to the pool people explaining our disappointment at them not delivering what we had asked for and they have now mellowed slightly, saying enjoy you pool over the holidays and lets discuss it further if you are not happy with the end result which is better than where we were a few days ago.

Most of the Christmas food shop is done, just the fish and seafood to get this morning. There are a few presents under the tree and we are beginning to relax and unwind after what has been a massive year for us. We  sold our home, moved house twice, built a house, ran a small business with its many ups and downs through a very difficult year financially, and raising a family - glad to say we made it with our sanity intact and are very satisfied with everything we have achieved this year. Would we do it all again? Of we had to yes as we have really loved the build but in truth we wouldn't do it again for a long time but I do have my eye on a little weekender in Northern NSW (dream on as there is no money left in the kitty at this stage!).

Hopefully the weather brightens up and we get a few warm sunny days as I would really like to have a quick swim in the new pool. I have has a paddle but its not the same.
Seasons Greetings To You All. And A Joyful 2012. Those of you who have moved in to your new houses wishing you many love filled years in your home and those of you who are still building enjoy the process and hopefully you'll be getting handover dates soon.

Resort Style 3 Seat Sofa in Graphite x2

Resort 9 Piece Dining Set Graphite

Resort Lounge Table Graphite

You Want To See More

Great Swimming Pool But Its Actually On The Other Side Of The House

The Drain Must Be Blocked!

Our Lovely Retro Stair Light

From Upstairs Now

Night Lights

And Again

The Living Room

Living Room - Our Old Furniture Fits Perfectly

From A Different Angle

Frameless Pool Fence

Closer View

Privacy Fence Also Hides Water Tank

Fence and Tiles In Pool

Other Side Of The Fence With Pool Gate Lock

View From The Kitchen

Form 21

I haven't seen anyone at the house, don't know whats happening, the SS didn't call (again) for the weekly update but we did get some exciting news..... Metricon are applying for a Form 21.
In plain language a form 21 is a certificate of occupancy from a building certifier which is basically a final inspection with council who will come out to make sure your home has been built as the plans show. Once the paperwork is issued this is sent to the bank or your lender so they can then do their bit and make final payment for handover. Wow its really happening, I am chasing up a date now for PCI so I can organise our own building inspector and get a time frame on handover so we can start packing and book the removalisits. Pinching ourselves because can't quite believe it.

Yesterday afternoon we went to King furniture and picked out a very nice sofa and some cushions to match and contrast. We eventually chose one from the Phoenix range as this was more comfortable for us short people. They have good sale on at the moment otherwise normally we'd have only been window and ideas shopping in there. To get delivery before Christmas we need to order it in the next few days. Until it arrives we will put our existing sofa in the family room which will then get recovered and moved up to the leisure room.

Phoenix Range From King Furniture Ours Is Similar To The Larger Picture

Once our things come out of storage we will be able to plan what we a re keeping or selling and which pieces are going where. At the moment we are looking at keeping the dining table but getting different chairs and may be treating ourselves to a king size bed (luxury!).
The other thing we desperately need to source is some floor rugs. Fun times shopping ahead.