A year in the making

Well a year ago this week the ball started rolling!  Feb 1st I put the holding deposit down on land and then on Feb 7th, black saturday I signed the contracts and paid the remaining deposit!  I would love to say that the time has flown, but I honestly think that it has been the longest year in my life!  I'm the kind of person that can take a while to make up her mind but once it's made up I want it done right away!

Thanks to everyone for sharing this journey with me over the past 12 months!  I hope the next 12 months are productive and a lot more enjoyable and less stressful!

I keep meaning to put my slide show together of the changes, I really should get off my bum and do that this week

Gardening - Chilli Plants

Today I finally got around to re-potting the chilli plants that I was given! My friend that gave me the plants has literally hundreds of them growing (mostly in pots in his front yard!) and was more than happy to share some with me! The pot's I used I was also given (how good is this!) by someone that was going to throw them out and the best thing they both live in the next suburb which makes it even better!

So first of all I had to clean the terracotta pots as I was originally going to paint them (not so sure now) but first they need to be sealed! I also had to go buy more potting mix as the pots I decided to use were a lot bigger than the black pots I had planned to use, but at least these pots mean that the plants can stay in them a lot longer, if not forever.
After getting back from the big green hardware box, I had the sealer required and painted up all the pots and then left them to dry for a few hours. I used this time to finally assemble the wheelbarrow that my sister bought me for Christmas - too many bolts, urgh! I then replanted all the plants and watered them well with some seasol!

Here are the pictures:

Cleaning the terracotta pots and letting them dry


The chilli plants in need of bigger pots


Shiny! Just after being sealed


The first chilli plant re-potted and a lady bird appears, awesome!


All 7 plants


Bottom to top - Thai Chilli (my original plant), Hungarian Hot Wax and African Bird


Left to right Naga Morich, Corno di torro ross, Golden cayenne and Red Savina (Worlds Hottest Habanero Pepper according to Guinness book of world records!)


I assemble this wheelbarrow today, it was a christmas present from my sister

New table and stools

I finally got my new table! After a few dramas - firstly they ordered the wrong colour and only realised when they were about to deliver it, then the day they finally did deliver the correct table, the screws weren't included in the box so I couldn't attach the legs to the table and then when I finally got it setup the table is damaged! It looks like it wasn't packed properly and the edge of it has rubbed on the box or something -sigh- They are going to replace it, but in the mean time here are some photos!

I can't decide between the blue table runner and the green. I love the bright blue, but I think the green goes better with everything else

My table with the blue runner




With the green runner




New stools for under the bench, I love the shape of them

New soil!

Today I got my extra soil delivered, all 15m3 of it! I also organised for a friend to come around with his bob cat to spread it out - took him about 90 mins which included putting the fence back on.

Two trailer loads


Very skilled, that trailer is still attached!


15m3 of soil


It's a tight fit


Lets go up


Half done in the backyard


First soil in the front


All done


Rear of the house


From the back fence looking forward I still need to level out some bits near the fence line


LHS of the driveway


Front yard done





My tomatoes

Fence is finished!

My fence is now finished and it looks great!! I'm mostly excited because now I can get my outdoor setting and bbq out of my garage and start using them!

Gate from inside



From outside

Fence is 95% done!

Yes, my fence is now 95% complete!!! All that's left to do is the gates and about 1.5 panels to the blind side where it joins my neighbours garage!! I'm surprised how tall the fence is, it certainly provides privacy although I will be building the soil up a bit but still, being a short arse people wont be able to see me.

From the front of the garage where the gates will go


My backyard from the back of the garage


Rear of my block where the vegie garden will be


Looking back to the garage/front of the house


Blind side looking to the rear of the block - the missing 1.5 panels are to my right in this photo

The fence has begun

My fencers started today and have put all the posts in the ground and will come back later this week to put the panels in

It's going to take a while to get used to the reduced space from it having been an open paddock for so long but I sure am going to enjoy having my BBQ and table n chairs outside!

My backyard from the front of the garage


Blind side from the front yard


The main part of my backyard


The back of the house where the vegie garden beds will be


Blind side


The vegie garden area from the other side


Looking back to the garage from the back corner

Rotary Hoe Part 1

oooowwwww my hands!!!

Today I hired a Rotary Hoe to dig up all my existing soil. 2hrs it took to do it all and for 2hrs my left hand has had to hold the go handle on and OOOOWWWWW!!!! I think its stuck in a grippy handle position

But I'm done! They are pretty cool machines with the reverse feature and all but bloody hard to turn corners!

I had to get someone to help me get it off the trailer too, cos my dad's trailer has high sides I couldn't get the leverage to start it on the trailer to reverse it down the ramps and then we dropped it and it wouldn't start but then I fixed it and got it going

I was knackered! I was covered in sweat and my head sweats a lot so my head was drenched! Got it all done in the one go though w/out stopping and glad I did it! When I finished I really felt like I needed a nice cold beer but my hands were too sore to grip it and open it and it was only 10:30am ;)

One advantage of having no fences and a close boundary, throw all the big bits of broken brick and rocks to other property hehehe

I got woken up by this at 6:50 am :(


Before: Front yard


Before: Side of garage


Before: Backyard


After: Front yard


After: Side of Garage to back yard


After: Backyard


After: rear of house


Tomatoes


Two tiny tomatoes!!

Bricks are moved!

Thanks to some very awesome people, yesterday we got all my bricks moved!

The suggestion was made to put them on pellets so we grabbed some from over the road and got to work. I am so thankful for the help, it didn't end up taking us too long to do as there were 5 of us and two wheel barrows which helped to get it done a lot quicker and easier

The pile of bricks to be moved


The bricks have been relocated to the concrete


The Bricks


A lovely clear backyard ready for fencing and soil to be brought in


Mars Bar cheesecake that I made - mmmm yummy!!


New window coverings, it's just material that I have thumbtacked into the window frame but it blocks the light so my bedroom isn't full of daylight at 6:30am anymore!


I can also now see out the front windows!!

Drinks Fridge

I finally decided to buy a second fridge, a drinks fridge to go into the garage. It's second hand and I got it off ebay but it's only a few months old

Shiny


Freezer


Stocked and ready!

Water Damage?

I thought I survived the storm that hit my area yesterday but now I'm not so sure...

These are my upper kitchen cupboards and you can see the slight discolouration of the paint and that the paint is peeling off the wall - it's not a crack like the other area's although there is also a crack
Is this something to really panic about, should I be emptying the top cupboards?

I can't see anything else anywhere that joins the wall

My new couch

I have my couch!! Yes, after almost 14 weeks I finally have my couch and I love it!!
It's sooooooo big and comfy, it's massive!

I'm going to have to move my entertainment unit too as when it's in the centre of the room now it's not in the centre of the couches, not a big issue but I just need help moving it - sooo heavy

The photos are taken on my iphone as I can't locate my camera







This shows the colour better

Thinking about the outside

I really need to start planning the outdoor part of my block. Yes, I need to finish the indoors still, but that's hopefully going to progress a LOT more this week with hopefully getting my couch!! Yes, that's right, after over 3 months of waiting, I should get my couch this week or next! The ship is due to dock today so they said I should be called later this week to organise a delivery day/time.

I've also discovered that I need to get the outdoor roof put on ASAP. The hot afternoon sun directly hits the living room windows and the room just heats up soooo much that I really need the roof before blinds. I'm hoping that I can get it done before Christmas, but it really depends on my brother on when he has the time to -cough- assist -cough- me build it (read: he builds it and I help).
I'm thinking of doing a pitched roof that as I walk out the sliding door the roof goes up and then down to the fence line. The cover will most likely be alternating sheets of colorbond and laserlite and then also put a fan in the middle of the roof.

In the meantime I am thinking that I might go buy some bamboo blinds and install them on the outside of the windows by way of putting some cup hooks into the bricks and just hanging them from it. I can then later use the hooks for other things and the blinds could possibly then go on the end of the new roof or something.

I also really need to start planning my backyard and front yard. Do I want pavers around the side of the house to the clothes line and the vegie patch or do I just want a lillydale toppings path? Other paths, so out to the front of the house from the backyard will probably just be lillydale toppings, and also around the blind side, but I'm thinking maybe something a bit nicer through a lawn or something. I dunno - need to work it out!
I also really need to nut out the plan for the front garden and go looking for plants and draw it up so that I can get it approved. I'm not really in a hurry to do a huge amount plant wise until after summer, but I can at least start planning it.

I love my house

I really do, I love my house! I love the location, it's soooo peaceful here and you can hear all the animals - this morning I have been sitting in my chair, with the sun and breeze coming in through the window listening to the magpies, ravens and the cows while watching the rabbits run around! I'm going to miss the rabbits when I get a fence, although I'm pretty sure I wont miss them if they start eating my plants when I get around to starting the garden.

Today I am thinking about heading to a nursery to start investigating plants for my garden. Ideally the best time to do the garden is Autumn so I may end up waiting until then, but I can at least start planning it now and getting it organised.

Seeing as I don't have a vegie patch yet, I'm thinking about using my vegie boxes from my old place for some tomatoes again this year. I need to buy some more stakes and might also need some chicken wire or something to wrap around them to stop the rabbits, but it will be nice to have some vegies growing again.

Damage update

So I called next doors builder yesterday and left a message for their admin person who called me back within an hour or two. I explained what had happened and she said she would get the supervisor to call me.
I didn't get the call on Friday but when I came home the fence was up and my house looks as though nothing at all has happened to it! Not sure what they did but I don't mind as now it looks fine

Damage from next doors builders

I came home today to find that my next door neighbours temp fencing had pushed over and it had hit my front wall and has damaged my render. I'm pretty sure it was knocked over when they did a site clean as the left over brickies sand was spread all over their driveway area AND the blue feet thingy that the fence sits in to stop it falling over was sitting on the middle of the wire as you can see below

I'm also quite annoyed again as they are using my power by unplugging my Solar hot water system! A) I am annoyed they are using my power but b) they are unplugging MY stuff to do so!! There is a perfectly fine power point 5m down the wall that they could use w/out me even knowing!

Neighbours temp fence was knocked down and hit my wall and damaged the render :(


Close up


Down through the first layer to the second (white) layer of render


Mortar in my fly screen from the neighbours brickies

house warming present

House warming present - it's actually a BRIGHT purple frame to match the bright purple gumboots!

Bathrooms are done

I've been a bit light on with regards to updates but that's mostly cos there is nothing to update!

I've now pretty much finished the bathrooms so I thought I would post some photo's of that and then a few other bits n pieces too

Some flowers I bought at the market today for $11 - BARGAIN!


Ensuite


Bathroom


Candle in the bathroom


Bathroom


Bamboo in the bathroom


Can you see the rabbits? they are about 4-5m from the edge of my concreted outdoor area


The rabbits like this mound of dirt for some reason


Two of the rabbits


House warming present from my cousin - it's Wine Glass Bay in Tassie, he stitched 10 of his own photo's together - it's awesome and I love it's going above the TV


Garage is sorted!

It's nice

I love being in my house. I love the space, I love the kitchen bench space, I love the size of the oven, I love having a garage and I love the peace and quiet! I also love the animal life, the ducks, the birds, the cows and even though I know that they are an evil evil pest, I do enjoy watching the rabbits run around. I'm currently watching one dig into a pile of dirt that someone dumped just the other side of my fence line (no fences yet though)
Another thing I love is having visitors! At my old place no one visited but that's also because it wasn't really the kind of place to have visitors due to the extreme lack of space. Yesterday I had 3 different sets of visitors! :D I love it! Although I think I need to stock up on some things like maybe some biscuits or something to offer visitors hehe

Off to VCAT

I'm being taken to VCAT by the landlords of the unit I just moved out of. I handed the keys in at the rental on Tuesday and as expected the landlords think I broke the glass on the shower screen. What actually happened was during the heatwave in Jan/Feb I was showering and I heard a tinkle noise which I thought was my shower egg timer thingy falling down, but it was the glass of the screen cracking. If you look at the glass you can see that there has not been any impact... anyway they have decided that they will take me to VCAT to get the money out of my bond. If VCAT say I need to pay then so be it, but I will be putting up my own photo's and putting my own case across :D

It should be interesting as the unit is being advertised as up for rent again with the availability as being 'now' so the whole vcat process could take a few weeks so they will have to pay for the replacement upfront.

They've also put the rent up another $20 per week!

Possible lights

I went to a light shop today and saw a couple of lights that I really like but I'm just not sure about them - they are the same colour and I was thinking of this pendant for the family and meals area
and then the green one of these for the 3 across the bench maybe? They are the same green and the pic above is more representative of the actual colour

I've been shopping!

Harris Scarfe are currently having a big sale and so what better time to go shopping? :D

I bought a Stanley Rogers cutlery set - Monte Carlo which is a 56 pce Stainless Steel set with a 25 year guarantee - I got it for $99 and the RRP is $269!
I got two complete towel sets, 2 bath sheets, a floor mat and a face washer.
I got a Wiltshire 12 knife stay sharp block thingy, it has 6 steak knives and 6 good cutting knives to cook with
I also got a pasta machine thingy - I've never made pasta but I figured if I was going to then I needed one!

I have done it

No doubt I'm going to have lots of these moments in the coming weeks but, wow! I am in my own house! -cheesey grin-

I've done it, and I am in! It's really going to sink in this week when I am back at work and after work I drive out here and I open the front door with my key and I am home :D

I have concrete!

The concreters came today and poured the concrete and coloured it! It looks great :D

First Pour


Pouring it


Smoothing it and leveling it out


All smooth


Driveway being poured


Smoothing it and leveling it out


All smooth and raining - the bucket is to catch the drips form the leaking gutter


Technical way of spreading out the colour for the top. They then trowel this into the top layer


All done - colour is Chocolate


Finished


Driveway and portico is done, Colour is Charcoal


Driveway


Portico


Chateau Lisa


Driveway


Side view

Inside photo

Here are some photo's I've taken over the past few days

Security doors were installed - marine steel grade mesh or something, I'm calling it the door people don't see as I have already had two people not realise it was there and try to walk through it


Driveway is all boxed up for concrete


Driveway boxed up


Outdoor/alfresco area boxed up


I asked them if they could move all my bricks to the back corner with the bob cat and they did :) Although I wonder how many broke


Now the bricks are moved the side of my garage is all cleared and flattened out


My kitchen!


Kitchen


Island bench


Oven


I love the space on the top here, it's huge!


Meals and family with my old furniture


Family, meals and kitchen


My letter box - it needs a bit of a clean up and I want to paint it the same as the render


First meal cooked in the oven

I am in!

Removalists are the best invention since sliced bread, I'm serious! It was sooooooooooo good and stress free!! They did an awesome job and they dismantled my bed and didn't even charge me anything more for it!! So far it doesn't seem like anything is broken or damaged, they were very professional and were just sensational. I HIGHLY recommend Epping Furniture Removals - Call Darren on 9401 3400 or 0408 352 349

My Sister and my step mum both came up and gave me a hand to unpack my kitchen (half of my stuff is kitchen stuff!) and now my kitchen is completely unpacked and I owe them so much for helping me to do that! My sister even made my bed for me after we assembled it all!

My oven is in and it is huuuuuuuge and I love all 900mm of it :D I haven't used it yet, but that's mostly cos I can't be bothered cooking anything as that involves standing and that is something I'm adverse to currently due to VERY sore feet!

My first night sleeping here last night was OK. I didn't get much sleep, but first night in any place I never really do, so hopefully tonight is better as I got out of bed extremely tired this morning! I also have the redi shades on my front windows as the blinds I bought didn't fit and with a street light right out the front it means that they kind of glow in the night, but I will get used to that eventually I think. If I don't then there are ways around it with some material.

My ADSL is now connected and I have my wifi connected and all going - YaY to being organised and getting that done before moving in!

The concreters came today and have done all the boxing up and stuff for laying the concrete and they will be back on Sunday to pour it. It looks great already as it is as it isn't a pile of mud and dirt! My outdoor/alfresco area is going to be huge, I love it!

I haven't really unpacked a lot today as my feet are just really quite sore and I am TIRED so I am having a bit of a relax and might even go have a bath soon :)

0 sleeps to go!

I set my alarm for 7am but I've been awake since about 5:30am so at 6am I just got up. I figured I was thinking about what needs to be done and seeing as I am already awake I may as well just get up and do them! So I am basically ALL done except the fridge freezer which I will wait until they get here to do that, I figure the less time things are in the eski the better.

I actually feel organised, I might not later though, so I am enjoying a cheese toasty and a cup of tea ::kiss::

I'm rambling and thinking outloud/through my fingers a bit but....

I've done it! I've built my very first house, my very own house and I am moving into it today!! And I have done it all on my own!

Home Owner, I have the keys

As you could see from my last post, I have the keys to my house! I got the keys at about 10am and I also got a small handover gift of gardening gloves, a handheld garden fork and some seeds.
It was such a great morning wandering about my house, MY HOUSE and letting myself into MY house with MY keys! I put all the temporary blinds up (redi shades) and by the time that was done the guy turned up to install the security doors but I had to leave to go to my friends funeral so my Dad and his wife stayed while they installed the doors - so very nice of them :)

There are still a few things that need touching up on the house, but they will get done and they are not major and if they have to wait till the 3 month maintenance then so be it, but I doubt it will take that long.

The funeral was, well, draining and emotional and right now I am mentally exhausted as well as quite stuffed physically. I've had to do a bit more packing tonight but I have stopped now and will do the last few bits in the morning and what doesn't get packed into a box can just stay for a few more days, but I should get most of it in.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day of moving, so glad I am getting removalists

My precious!!

The Cheque

I have The Cheque! All that's left to do now is inspect my house, drive all the way to Port Melbourne and hand it over and in return I get the keys!

Oh and I also need to finish packing! I really can't be bothered though... but I have to! I got some more boxes from Bunnings, some biggish ones for the awkward things left to pack... why do the fiddly bits n pieces remain as the last things to pack, that just makes it even more annoying.

Oh and I also now need to disassemble my beds my self as my brother was meant to help but no longer can... great...