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

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

Fancying ...

Image via The House that A-M Built via House and Garden

Summer and lazy days by a pool

Image via The Design Files

An ergonomic desk chair

Image via Desire to Inspire

This shower (but no close neighbours nearby!)

Image via All Women's Talk

Chocolate cake ... mmm, yum

What are you fancying right now?

Building Progress: 9 weeks to go!

With only two months to go (yes, that's right, we have to move out of our rental on September 10th!), things are moving full steam ahead. It will be tight but I'm positive we'll do it!

The outdoor sandstone wall by the pool is being built ...

And the internal sandstone wall that spans the entry down to the level below is underway.

The 'floating' stairs leading from the entry up to the living have been erected.
 

The timber floors are going down (pictures to come), the gyprocking is nearly completed, the joiner has begun making his 'bits', we have finalised the curtains and blinds and now, we have to decide on paint colours and pool tiles. Bring on those test pots!

Neighbourly Love

When I decided to create a blog on the designing, creating, building and decorating of our new house, I wanted to keep it an upbeat interesting insight into the process. Apart from a little whingeing about the weather, I didn't want to dwell on the negatives - like difficult neighbours, annoying tradesmen, building errors or architectural problems. And to be fair, we've had a pretty good run so far with most things apart from the sewer pipe issue at the start and a bit of a door-height problem with the brickies' job.

However, we have one particular neighbour who has been difficult at every stage of the process - objecting to everything and being impossible to reason with. And up until now I wasn't going to mention him at all. Neighbourly problems are not uncommon (in fact, I think they're positively rife) and they always seem to become  heightened when one neighbour decides to build or renovate. We've all heard the horror stories. But right now, I am livid. I am speechless. And I thought I'd share with you what our delightful neighbour did last week.

As you know we've built a pool. It's not yet complete - just formed in concrete and with all the rain we've been having it's filled up with muddy water. Last week, when the rain had eased the foreman decided it was time to drain it - which he could easily do through the sewer/water pipes. But when he got to the pool area he noticed a strong smell of petrol!

Turns out our charming neighbour took it upon himself to hop into our property after-hours (which is technically trespassing) and pour kerosene into the pool because he was worried about mosquito larvae growing in the water and then having an outbreak of mosquitos! (Am I allowed more exclamation marks here ..?).

Not once did he think to either discuss this with the builders over the fence, or email or call either ourselves or our architect about his concerns. Oh yes, and did I mention this guy is a 60-something (at a guess) lawyer? (I would like to use multiple exclamation marks here but will refrain).

So, naturally, now the foreman cannot drain the water away into the sewer/water pipes and the cost of hiring a special machine to do so is around $1000. Said neighbour is apparently apologetic (not that he's said so to us, mind you) and it's been decided (as said neighbour doesn't want to pay $1000 for the machine hire) that the kerosene will evaporate eventually ... but I don't know how long that will be as we've now had more rain.

So you can see why I'm livid, speechless, agog at this man's actions. I mean, it's meant to be the season of good will. Where's the good will in that?

Friday Fishin'

I wish had some riveting updates on our house build but there's really not a lot to say or show. Rain has held up the second floor slab going on and other work that's been completed (ie retaining walls, finishing the lower level brick work etc) isn't worthy of a either a photo or a blog post. Slowly but surely we are getting there but, like everyone in Sydney, we're sick of the cold, rainy, windy days that make it feel more like winter than spring.

I wouldn't mind jetting off to this house, though, that's not only got the weather but a rather amazing pool and house design that looks rather resort-like.

The Fish House which is described as a 'modern tropical bungalow' - which downplays it somewhat, don't you think? - is in Singapore and was designed by Guz Architects.

I mean, check out the master bedroom ensuite - what views, what size!

Enjoy the weekend folks!

Images via The Contemporist

The Pool

Image: The Contemporist

Hello online friends! What a hectic few days I've had (spending quality time with the hubby) and with no chance to get online and blog or peruse other people's beautiful blogs. But with the girls visiting their grandparents in NZ - on their own for the first time (!) - I am hoping to be able to get back into it.

And I'm very pleased to finally be able to say that the pool has now been formed and the concrete poured. I have to show you photos of course, even though it is highly uninspiring (unlike the image above).

As you can see it is kind of a cross between a lap pool and a normal pool - narrower and shallower at one end, getting wider and deeper at the other. Semi-established Lilly pilly native trees will line the eastern side, bordering our neighbours and timber decking will form the surround. While we were limited by space and the geography of the land and there isn't a huge amount of area around it, there is enough to put a couple of sun loungers at the narrower end.

But, hey, it's a pool! We've never owned a pool before so we can't wait to be able to jump in and cool off during the heat of a Sydney summer.

News from the Building Site

Popped down to the site today for a meeting with the architect and project manager. And this is where they're at ...

The brick work on the lower level living area is complete.

This is a view from the rumpus room through to the guest bedroom.

The rumpus room wall and windows (which will be louvres), east-side.

The guest bedroom ensuite (I know it looks a little prison-like, but squint a little and you'll get the idea).

You walk in and there's a window to your left, the vanity and mirror straight ahead and the toilet and shower to your right.

5.5-tonne Deb takes a break in the guest bedroom.

The old garage is gone and is now replaced with excess soil from the levelling of the second 'wing'.

A pile of old bricks ready to be used on the second wing.

The pool is formed.

Yipee for progress! Have a happy weekend folks ...