We Have Lights!

Amazingly, I have managed to live for three months with these light fittings....

But now, after finally buying the last of the light fittings we got the electrician in to do a heap of stuff - and some more to be done this week too.

Firstly, my favourite - the entrance. This is an old light that I got a few months ago at Chapel St Bazaar in Prahran. The other older lights are from there too. Love it!

Our lounge room. We not only have a light, but curtains too! One of the three lights isn't working, so shall get that looked at when the electrician is back this week. Again, an old fitting, so hope it can work. This room finally feels pretty much finished - although looking at this photo I realise I need to get the piles of stuff out of that cupboard that can be seen through the doors! Must hook up the dvd etc in here... The room now feels cosy with the curtains in, so I imagine we will start using this a little more.

Our kitchen and the new light over the island bench. This one is from IKEA, and I am very happy with it. We really needed some light on the island. I probably should have put some more lights on for these photos - but was also trying to avoid including the dirty dishes near the sink in the photo! Two of our down lights have just blown, so will be replaced this week. Hopefully they last longer this time as I don't want to be changing them.

And finally for today, the light fittings for the minor bedrooms. Firstly a close up of one (ignore crooked photo), then each of the spare bedrooms (I didn't take a photo of the study). We have finally done up the second spare room as a twin room for guests. All the spare beds got a work out recently with family visiting, so great to be able to fit in a whole family of guests! Also, the spare rooms all have blockout roller blinds now - just white but with a self pattern.

Also - have replaced other main hallway lights with downlights, and just put in simple batten light fittings in the back hallway, WIR, laundry etc. We have put a fan/light in our bedroom and a fan in the alfresco.

This week some outside lights will be put out the front either side of the garage. Somehow we forgot to include these in the electrical plan with the builder. Plus the sparky has some exhaust fans to finish and the stereo speaker set up. We have little speakers on the ceiling in the back room!

That's about it.

Next things to happen - blinds will be here soon for the back room and then all windows done. We will probably get some wardrobes fitted out better. But most importantly the focus shifts to the outside landscaping and getting plants happening soon.

Decking!

We have finally had our decking done. Yaaaay!

We used Modwood, which is... (quote from their website)

Made from recycled wood and plastic, our products are wood composites. They look and feel like natural timber, but require none of the maintenance of traditional woods. You will not need to paint or stain our products since they already come in a range of colours and will maintain their beauty for years to come.

So some photos...

Firstly the porch area. Decking pretty dirty here, and looking forward to tarting up with some greenery around the place now. I haven't yet got into the planting frame of mind - so time for that to start. We did get some pebbles delivered for this front area though, so now can at least walk around to the side of the house without being in mud! Decked area is level with the drive and level at the door.

Our back deck. Overview shot. Deck takes in the under roof alfresco and is then extended in both directions. Dimensions are 9.2m across back of house, then 4.3m out from kitchen, and the part with the bench seating is 6.7m from seat to other end. Not sure if that makes sense!

Built in seating. Loving this! Am planning to get some cushions made up for here. The seat under the kitchen window is 900mm deep - perfect for lounging. The rest is normal depth and all is at a height so can pull up a table for dining. Planning to get an outdoor coffee table for this space.

Oh, and the seats life up for storage underneath - but they are really heavy! OK for occasional lifting under supervision!

View from built in seating around the corner back to table under cover.

So we had our deck warming on Saturday in beautiful (if windy) weather - for two and a dog! The cat refused to get out of bed... It was such lovely weather, so we threw open the bi-folds and it made the house feel great. I felt like I was cooking outside when in the kitchen! And luckily the wind was going the right way so didn't blow inside.

So a few shots of that. Definitely makes the big room even better. So happy we invested in the bi-folds.

So that's it for now. This week we are getting our lounge curtains tomorrow. Blinds for the back room are ordered. So then all of the windows done finally.

We have an electrician booked for Wednesday, so finally get all the light fittings hung and a few bits and pieces done. Well quite a few bits and pieces... Shall post more photos once all that done.

Then the next, and major project, is to continue the landscaping outside. All the hard landscaping and drains now done (had lots of rain to work out where drains needed!), so now onto planting.

RIP Tess

A sad time with the lovely Tess leaving us to play and eat bones in doggie heaven... It was rather sudden in the end, but she had a happy and pretty long life at almost ten years old.

So some favourite photos to share.

Firstly - the "I've never done anything wrong in my life" look.


A happy girl!


Tess a day or two after her knee surgery in 2006. Also showing off a fresh all over summer haircut.

Trying to sneak a bone inside..

A reflective moment at the farm.

Outside - progress and lots still to do...

Finally some photos of the outside - with lots of earthmoving done, driveway and other concreting. Definitely not 'after shots', more like in progress shots. Now trying to decide how to proceed with landscaping.

Firstly - the front of the house taken from across the road, and also showing retaining wall. Very happy that the front area to the right of the driveway has ended up fairly flat and even since the retaining wall has been done.


The so called 'dead' side of the house. Actually a reasonable amount of land here thanks to our stupid building envelope. Doesn't seems so daunting now that it is divided by the new fence. We plan to eventually put some fruit trees on this side, although haven't yet worked out if they will grow in clay... Fence gate is to be changed as doesn't fit properly.

Our driveway, and Tess in profile! We were able to move the crossover but had to retain the colour - got away with it being wider though. Crossover is sandy colour and grey for the actually driveway although seems lighter in this shot.

Front of the house - and Kirk. Porch has had concrete added further out. This will all be decked very soon - just waiting for our landscaper to schedule it in. Can't wait for it to look more finished. Also sorting out mulch etc for this area in front of the windows. Then some greenery one day too!

Left hand side of the house. Alfresco has been extended in both directions with more concrete. Again, all this will be decked soon. Trying to decide what to do with all this dirt in the foreground... Trying to avoid grass because of high maintenance, but throwing pine bark on it doesn't seem a great option either - although considering this for short term help with reducing dirt and mud inside. Problem is, as a short term option it doesn't have a short term price... decisions!!! This areas is heaps flatter and more usable than before, thanks to lots of earthmoving.

Back of the house, showing alfresco and the slope thanks to our cut and fill. Our longer term plan is to have a lower deck and pool (but who knows then that will be!). So for now we will plant something on the slope and towards the fence. Definitely a challenging site... Again, we have a quote for pine bark / mulch for here, but not sure if should do that or something else.

And a final shot of the doggies at the bone-eating tree!

Update - with new sofas

Well I have been told it has been too long between updates! So here you go - a few photos taken tonight. The main update since last time is that we have our new sofas for the back room. They seemed so big at the start, but now fit right in and seem the perfect size, even if it does look like ten people should be living here...

We will need to get a rug and coffee table at some stage. Oh, and a massive new tv! That isn't a high priority just now though. Finally put a picture or two on the walls today, only taken us a month! Need lots more and some really big ones too.

Note the doggies happily on their beds. Yes, we only have two dogs - not sure why we have three beds! They tend to move between them all, and then of course onto the carpet in lounge or bedroom to leave hair there too.

And one shot of the lounge. Struggling to decide on curtain fabric for here. Will have to try again next week. We have ordered just roller blinds for the other bedrooms/study. Also tossing up between roller blinds and romans for out the back. Will work that out soon.

We are feeling very settled and all is going well. There are still a few odd things on the list for Carlisle to complete, but nothing much.

The dogs (and Molly the cat!) seem to be loving the outside too, with lots of new digging spots for the bones. My intention was to take some outdoor shots, but I left it too late today and it was raining too hard for me to brave it. Shall try to do one morning this week. Our landscaper has done a great job so far. Still the deck to do, plus about to order a lot of pine bark or similar to cover the mud! My attempts to implement a clean paw policy are only mildly successful in terms of minimising the mud inside...

Settling in...

OK, it has taken me a week, but finally some photos of us finally moved into the house. I will write more in a few days and add more photos on the weekend - once we have had the new sofas delivered for the family room (on Friday - yaaay!), and unpacked more of the boxes. Shall also post photos of the driveway and paths - too dark to take photos tonight.

First - a photo of happy Kirky on move in day after he ventured down to the reserve and came back with mud up to his eyes.

Kirk and Tess relaxing in the lounge after a tough day of following removalists and burying bones!


Our lovely kitchen. Still some boxes to unpack - but nothing we seem to need! Slowly getting organised here.


The dining area, taken from the kitchen. Complete with lots of boxes and muddy footprints all over the floor...


Our lounge. We are keen to order curtains or blinds for this room soon, so will attempt to pick out fabric this weekend. Still thinking about whether to paint the walls a different colour in here. Can't wait to get pictures on the walls this weekend - I hope.


The guest bedroom - currently home to Molly the cat who is spending most days asleep under the doona.


The study - which is actually the largest of the spare bedrooms. We figured this will get the most use, so may as well be the nicest spare room. We have an old sofabed in there for guest overflow!


Our bedroom - with Molly waiting for bedtime. Note our lovely silver/grey silk curtains. Very happy with the choice, exactly the look I was after - a little shimmer without being too Vegas!


The aftermath of our first spa.... I really do need to learn to limit the bubble bath... Very happy we added the headrests too!

The famous towel rails that we searched the city and internet to find something just right. Thanks to our friends Phil and Greg for putting these up for us (and they thought they were just coming to lunch with their families!)

The powder room, now with toilet roll holder and towel holder. Followed by the main bathroom with double tail rail and new blind.

So that is it for now! More on the weekend...