A bit of decor-um please?

I'm getting VERY excited about our slab pour (in 21 days time but who's counting?)and really don't have any interest in anything other than that beautiful home which has been such a wonderful distraction obsession.

So this is where I'm heading (for today at least) in the decor department...

Although we don't have any wall niches to fill with plantation shutters, we'll be using them on all front facing windows (thanks for the discussion Deb & Tonia)with roller blinds similar to the master bedroom image on all other windows. We'll take Deb's advice and leave the corner stacker doors to the alfresco bare (and hope like anything that we don't have a 2 storey directly behind us).

I know... too much time on my hands. But there's only so many times you can make a 1.5hr round trip to see that nothing has changed on your block. Speaking of which, check out this post from one of our bloggy friends in NSW, Tonia. I'm still laughing about it, but she's one seriously committed builder. HILARIOUS!

Fixed site costs = WINNER!!!

It was virtually a flip of the coin type decision to fix our site costs some months ago. We'd already had soil tests through Porter Davis which came back as M class, we had minimal fall (which is,as Janine says, "bugger all")so when Carlisle quoted us 10K for site costs, we were REALLY tempted to run the risk and not fix.

What we didn't know was there was an overlay on our land which I've posted about before, and we also didn't know that our slab would require some additional foundations in the form of 16 piers (which I now know are holes drilled down into stable ground and then filled with concrete for the slab to rest upon).  And, thanks to fixed site costs, we don't have to pay extra for the permits and additional requirements the overlay has brought with it OR the piers.  WINNER!!

I'm completely fascinated by this process.  Hope I can be there on slab pour day... January 20... 23 more sleeps!!!!!

On the street (near) where we live

I took a few (iphone) snapshots of some local gardens on our evening walk with the furkids tonight...

I love the deck that stretches all the way to the footpath, and the way they've created levels through the use of rock, on what is a pretty much flat block.

They've only used ground covers in front of the rocks, and small shrubs behind, which also look cool against the stacked stone and beige rendered walls.

They've used river pebbles in places too - it all blends in beautifully - LOVE it.

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The pics don't do this one justice.  Their driveway is plain, charcoal concrete, but they've edged it with random slate.  The right hand image is a touch too jungle-like for me, but through the trees you can just get a glimpse of a custom rust-finish gate.  I'll try to zoom in on it...

I don't know if it would keep our crazy hounds enclosed, but I might just have to look into getting something similar.  Dare we break the horizontal merbau side gate trend???

I felt like such a stalker snapping away through the streets.  Would you be flattered or sus of a random taking pics of YOUR house??????

Merry Christmas...

...from Reinsey & Loz. Wishing you and yours a safe and festive holiday season.

xxx

Just scraped in...

... before Christmas shutdown.

That's the garage right in front, porch to the left and alfresco aaaaalllllll the way back there near the fence.  It's soooo much bigger than we imagined now that we can see it's footprint on the block.

We had a lovely few hours yesterday in Kylie's gorgeous home with fellow neighbors Janine, David & Megs.  Lots of food, even more chatter.  The Avenue is going to be such a wonderful place to live.

Can't wait!

Unbelievable!!!!!

This is 3 day old news now, but I've been operating under a head-in-the-sand mentality and quite frankly, I just don't want to deal with it.

Loz recently started a new job - 6 weeks ago to be exact - and everything appeared on the surface to be going well...

The monthly pay was due to hit our account on the 14th (you can see where this is going, can't you...) and here we are on the 19th and N O T H I N G. Excuses have been made about company restructures, funds being deposited into wrong accounts, Singapore investors, blah blah blah.

Tomorrow, the business will be placed under the hands of an administrator. It's a start-up company with no assets to be sold, and the chances of December's wage coming through are pretty slim. And with little chance of trading through until their concept is actually income producing, Loz is more than likely unemployed.
I know people say building is stressful, but some of the speed bumps we've faced are just unbelievable, and have me questioning whether this move is meant to be???

I'm trying to look for positives... we have each other (awwwwwwww), which means more than a house ever will, and our kids are all happy and healthy :) Loz WILL find work, but it's a crappy time of year to be looking.

Soooooo if anyone out there in blog land knows of a company (of stable trading history!!!) who is looking for a very competent governance/compliance/risk manager (and a REALLY nice guy), could they PLEASE let us know???

Ahhh... you've gotta laugh :)

What would the "karma fairy" think?

True to their word, today Carlisle delivered us final plans and a final version of our colour selections to sign off prior to construction.  But... I noticed a little something that shouldn't still be in the colour selections as we had to remove it (over-spend) from the tender.  I'm talking about my beautiful soft close pot drawers that were deleted begrudgingly, and now here they are, appearing on that selection.

So... to make sure I stay sweet with the "karma fairy" do I bring this up now, or sign and forever enjoy FREE soft closing drawers???

What would you do??

Toodle Loo

Last week I thought I would surely die from excitement when we made the "tap discovery".  But to come around that sweeping bend on Mountainview Boulevard and think there may be a little something extra on our block... but maybe it's on next door's block... no... wait... L  OOO  ZZZZ  , we've got a dunny!!!!!
(How this man puts up with me I have no idea)
We've done a bit of builders dunny analysis and have detected some patterns (LOL)
Porter Davis use AIM branded dunnies, Carlisle use Eagle.  So based on this logic our back neighbor is building with PD.  But... scandal... someone else on our road has broken the PD condition too coz their dunny is not AIM.  Interesting name for a bathroom appliance used by males who are usually of dubious aim!

Activity central on Fieldstone today.  Slabs, fences, girlfriends delivering pizza to the workers (?) too exciting!!!!!!!

The big tick

It's been a HUGE week in the L&R household.

1.  Finance approval has finally been signed off.  We had to re-mortgage our current house to clear some equity, but still got slugged with a little mortgage insurance. (won't bore you with the details)

2.  Land loan repayment was deducted from a random account the bank set up.  The letter advising us of the repayment amount, frequency and payment method arrived this week.  As did a default fine due to insufficient funds in the random account.  Hmmm.... we'll fight this one!  Hard to transfer money when you don't know when its due, or how much to pay, or which account to transfer it into.  Ya gotta love banks!  What I don't love though is getting an account balance.  All those savings...gone...just like that!

3.  We're still coming down from our tap high.  Totally didn't expect that!

4.  Developer approval is through with those few minor changes to the garage included.

5.  Town planning permit has been applied for.  And this is all we're waiting on now for a site start.

6.  Final final plans are being prepared as I write, and we should have these early next week for sign off.

7.  We've been working like Trojans on our current house coz "Cat" is coming to view it on Sunday. New front door is being installed tomorrow.  Just have to work out how to get Loz's old 1.8m long fish tank OUT of the house by Sunday.  Without using a saw or match :)

This is all pretty intense, at a busy time of year, when work is also full on.  It would be nice to have just one element settled... house sold, permit granted, new house started.  I'd prefer the first option, but any of the 3 would do!!!

Take care,

Branching out

I have some strange ideas sometimes (mostly coz I spend more time than I actually have daydreaming about our house-to-be).  My latest whim is for potted bare branches in the entry hallway niche.

Here's the niche...

And here's what I'm thinking...

The idea being to change the decorations on the tree depending on what's going on.

Christmas;

Easter;

Spring;

Winter;

Autumn;

Special occasion;
(like a wedding - hint hint Loz)

Hands up everyone who thinks I need to get a life...???

This week's grateful... generations!

 Four generations of crazy!

 I reckon I'm incredibly lucky... I've still got my Mum AND my Nan.  And that girl of mine, I could write 28 posts just on her alone.  She's now the age I was when I had her, and the age Mum was when she had me, so in some ways, this photo is a 21 year forecast of our lives.  

And as I'm getting older, I can see more and more of my Mum in myself, both in appearance, mannerisms, likes and dislikes.  Mum has built 2 houses, including their current home about 24 years ago, which she physically built from the ground up.  I'm completely in awe of this amazing woman - probably don't tell her that often enough though!

My Nan, who has recently had her 85th birthday, is still a ripper.  She lives independently, still gets out in her garden, goes to aqua exercise classes every few days, and still is mad for her beloved Collingwood.  She would have loved to have built a house, but never had the opportunity, so this one's for you Nan!

So... to the women responsible for making me the determined, resourceful individual that I am, I will forever be grateful.

This post is part of maxabella's "blog hop", and I quite enjoy reading about what others are grateful for.  Puts a :) on my dial it does!

Thanks for reading,

I'd TAP that!!!!

Yes my friends, we are the proud owners of 2 beautiful taps... 1 normal & 1 recycled. (thanks for posing Loz!)

You can also see a couple of stage 11 site starts in the background.

Anyway - back to the taps... Does this mean that we've got council approval, that Carlisle have scheduled us into their work-flows, or does it just mean that some random came and put 2 taps on our block???

Can't believe how excited I was (and still am a few hours later) OVER TAPS.

Extreme tap close up - ha ha