Romsey Here We Come!

Long Overdue!

2011-07-21T23:28:00.003+10:00

I just realised how long it has been since I last posted. 18months! So I thought for those of you still out there in blog land I should update with a few recent photos. We've done a lot! Or should I say, Bikeman has done a LOT. He has done an amazing job and I'm so proud of our beautiful house. He's had great vision and has done that hard yakka to pull it all off.

We've done a heap inside, too. Painting all done (except garage) and some of those things that needed to be touched up... well that hasn't happened. But no-one notices, not even us anymore! Still to do are the walk in robe fitouts, have kitted out one with an ikea box setup which looks great (not finished putting stuff away yet!) and have bought the stuff for the others, just need to put it all together.

So .... now all we need is some warm weather. Can anyone tell me when winter finishes? We have our lovely solar heating for the pool now, all we need is a couple of 35degree days to test it out!

House is lovely. We are very happy here. We love Romsey and the people we have met. Takes a little bit longer to get anywhere but we just have to factor that in when we go somewhere. Thanks to all who have helped us during our mammoth effort. We love you all and are so lucky to have such wonderful, special family and friends. xxx

Some photos...

2010-02-22T00:07:00.006+11:00

The 'pool slide' !!!

Boxes to hold all the pool toys etc.... doubling as handy seats as well!

Beautiful sunset tonight ... no photoshopping here, this was the real deal!

New washing line (yes string needs to be tightened a little!)

More progress - mirrors, moving, showers, skirts, and a washing line!

2010-02-09T23:43:00.003+11:00

We're still moving on.. although a LOT slower than we have been moving the last 12 months! Too much swimming in the pool, hehe. And the kids started back at school which meant for me finishing the rest of packing while the kiddies aren't around to say 'but mum that's my favourite toy ever!'. Nearly done, bringing boxes back as I go so it's not so daunting all at once! Our mirrors were installed a couple of weeks ago, which is really exciting. Sorry I haven't had a moment to take photos, but will put them up when I get a chance. Mirrors in ensuite, bathroom and WC and it makes such a difference to those rooms. Bikeman and Rizzo had a crack at putting up one of the shower screens - took a long time and a lot of frustration when it became apparent (after the first screen was up) that it was smaller than noted on the box ... put all the measurements out... eep! So a bit of ingenious fixing by Bikeman and we have half a shower screen - better than the scraps of plastic underlay I had taped to the sides of the shower to stop the walls getting wet! What else.... ooooh I have a washing line, which is pretty exciting. It's very high up at the moment as we're going to have the concrete paths done soon - lucky I'm tall! Laundry is working brilliantly, is it incredibly dorky to say that I really like my Laundry and all its storage? It is?? OK. I won't say it then. :) Our new couches arrived, they are really comfy and suit the house beautifully. If only now we had time to go looking for a new table, the old green plastic table is starting to look a bit out of place now! We have one in mind, just have to find it. Skirting boards are pretty much all on, apart from one area that is going to be a built in cupboard eventually, so not sure how skirts will affect the cupboard - in place just not painted or nailed on. The rest of the house are nailed on, and have at least the first coat on (80% of the house). I'm seeing the end of painting ... I can see the horizon!!! Oh and then I remembered the doors. Doors need painting, whoops! It's amazing the things you 'don't' see after you move in. Like the blue painting tape around the windows for instance. Some of the windows have been finished already but still the blue tape remains. Almost like part of the window now! Best get cracking and remove it actually, as the window furnishings have been ordered and should be turning up in the next week or so. Will be glad to have my quilt covers back and off the kids windows!! Thanks to all the lovely visitors we have had and the kind comments. We've had a blast, really, during this whole process. There have been a few ups and downs but for the most part it has been great. And we are soooooo lucky to have so many great family members and friends who put in time to help us - thanks to you all. We love you heaps and couldn't have done it without the help from you guys. x That's it for now... photos to come soon.

Cats and Couches are in .... we are officially living at 'The Block'!

2010-01-21T23:33:00.002+11:00

Except that now calling it home feels a little odd. The kids still refer to it as the block even though we don't have much stuff at the old house (although admittedly a lot of their toys are still at the old house - need to have a massive 'cull' before packing them into boxes!). And we had our first official visitors since moving in - the Rizzos. Plus the smaller two from the Sandhurst Clan came to stay a couple of nights, so we really have had a full house! Has been lovely though to put all those rooms to good use. So now we have couches to sit on and all of our clothes... yippeeee! And the washing machine, although that only lasted one wash before a leak in the waste pipe put a stop to all that. Bikeman has to get a plumbing part to fix it and then it will be up and running again. And the cats are here - Tiger is now roaming the house quite comfortably (and would like to go outside, thankyou very much) but Purple rarely leaves the safety of the laundry. Every now and then she sticks her head out, may even venture to the room across the hall, hears any little noise and runs back into the laundry behind the dryer. She's not quite ready for the big outside world yet! So we're here - and now have a bit of a role reversal with the houses - now at the old house we don't have a fridge, and had to take the 'building' kettle back there - but have had to stock up on UHT milk so we can have a coffee when we go there! And the cleaning has begun .... oh my god 11 years worth of dust behind things is not a pretty sight. Especially after being in such a sparkling clean new home. Time to roll up those sleeves and get it on the market....

The pool is open for business!

2010-01-13T23:08:00.005+11:00

After many hours spent by the Sandhurst Crew and Stevie B, we had a beautiful setting for our very first swim in our fantastic new pool. Hard to believe that only a week earlier it was so murky and green... amazing what some great advice from Ze Pool Man can do (oh and a lot of chemicals and some elbow grease from Bikeman!). We swam and it was GREAT! It was a little chilly to begin with but Pink was in there, straight out no hesitation. It could have had ice floating in it and she would have been in there regardless. Blue had a wonderful time, he has been waiting sooooo long for this pool to be up and ready. And just in time, with a few 35+ days in a row it was the perfect antidote to a hot day (or days)! In the days following we have had lots of visitors which we are really pleased about - why have a pool if you can't share it with friends? Not enough words to describe how much fun it has been. Amazing. Cooling. Delightful. Friends. Perfect.

I think we may have moved in...

2010-01-13T22:10:00.002+11:00

I said to Bikeman the other night: "Do you know what? I think we may have moved in without realising". He laughed at me and agreed that perhaps we have. It started with sleeping over a few nights. Bikeman has been here for weeks now, keeping an eye on things and making sure stuff didn't get nicked (as is apparently common at this stage of building). The kids and I stayed every now and then, until the start of last week. We intended to stay for 2 nights, then the kids friends were going to have a sleepover (which didn't eventuate) so that meant another night, then my family came over for dinner the next night (we're up to 4 nights now) and then we stayed Friday night (just because it was Friday). Then it made sense to stay the weekend and now we're at Wednesday and haven't been 'home' yet. Of course we have been 'home', to feed the cats and do washing, but we haven't stayed there. And I'm not sure that we will again. So.... officially moving day is looking like Sunday, possibly... Doo Bah is going to return a favour (or 3) and help move some big furniture into the house. We're nearly ready - only a few arcs and skirts to finish off and we can get that done around the furniture. Enough already! We need to be in, and now. I've had enough of waiting!

What's been happening at 'The Block'

2010-01-04T23:55:00.003+11:00

Firstly Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope that 201o finds you healthy and happy. A lot has happened at 'The Block' over the last few weeks. Firstly I have reverted to calling it 'The Block'. Firstly it is helping me mentally get back into work mode and secondly it requires further explanation when I say 'home' so that way it is clear! Anyway, we and a variety of our wonderful friends and family have been very busy. Carpets went in thanks to Steve J (they look great) and the pool has the filter and pump attached so would be swimmable if it wasn't so murky. Nothing that a bit of attention from the pool vaccuum and some big time chemicals won't fix! Big thanks to the Sandhurst Crew for fronting up New Years Day after a big night the night before to work their butts off all day to get the fancy plumbing work done. Then came the storm, just minutes after the Sandhurst Crew had downed tools for the day (at 7.20pm I might add) and we were able to watch the most spectacular lightning show that I have seen in some time. Fantastic! Stevie B and his myriad of beasts (machinery, not children!) arrived a couple of days later after the soil had dried out to move around a whole heap of crushed rock. The result: around the pool is now flat and even, able to be walked on without the fear of being held hostage by mud as you walk around. The outside is pretty much now ready for paving/concrete and around the pool is nearly ready for the concrete beam required. Looks FANTASTIC! And not to mention that the Sparkies were back in on Christmas Eve to add in another light at the front (drilling through the wall at 7.30am - not good while suffering from a hangover from the street Xmas Party from the night before!) and powerpoint to the front and the back area (for the pool). And the roofers were back in to finish the downpipes. I've had a heap of 'spakfilla' helpers - Nana P and Jordan B, thanks to you both for your sanding/spakfilla efforts. And unmentioned previously was Orange (cousin of Pink and Blue) who helped me paint the front entrance way and did a GREAT job! Oh and in between all that I finally painted my last wall - our bedroom. Hurrah! Not content with all that walls had to offer, I have moved on to skirting boards and architraves and eventually will finish the doors as well. I must say the rooms look much more finished now with the skirts/arcs painted. All the carpeted areas are now done, apart from doors, so as a result we moved our bed and Blue's bed in over the weekend. And a heap of toys, to keep the billy lids happy while we frantically try and finish it all. Oh ...... and last but definitely not least : we have CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY!!! Meaning that officially we can move in - which we had planned to do before now but we're just not quite ready. So hopefully now we will be in over the next 2 weeks - probably gradually, each time we go up we'll take another load. And in between all that we had Xmas in the Mount and New Years at home. Is it any wonder we're looking a bit weary? Looking forward to being able to lay my hat at the new house and call it 'home'. Fancy Plumbing by the Sandhurst Crew, designed by Mrs B Skirting, Architraves, Carpet and a bed! Starting to look like a real room - Blue's Room. Even sheets as curtains!

Our bedroom - pink post it hearts courtesy of Pink. 'Up high so the babies can't get them' - not sure what babies but a cute thought. Very nice to have carpet underfoot and a real bed to sleep on!

Stevie B in the midst of moving around crushed rock. By the end of the day was all level around the pool.

Thanks to all our helpers we are soooooo lucky to have such wonderful people around to help us. Happy New Year to you all and my New Years Resolution for this year: To spend more time with my family and friends. And not so much on the bloomin' house!

Current pics

2009-12-15T23:34:00.003+11:00

Excavation around the pool and rock placement View from the back (the new 'hill' - the water tank!)

Driveway ... love the shape!

Bikeman and the kids getting their feet wet. Looks so much better down that side with the excess dirt removed, a much more usable area.

So close but yet so far.....

2009-12-15T23:12:00.004+11:00

Everything seems to have ground to a halt. Mentally that is. It all started when we had a sleepover (which was great fun, I might add!) but ever since that day I no longer see this place as a construction site that has work to be done but instead I see it as a home. And I want to clean it and live in it! 'Who cares if we don't have skirting boards anyway' I find myself thinking. I see now why everyone says 'finish it before you move in or you never will' - it's that mental step that you take from giving you the drive to finish and just wanting it all to be over. Although the interior has stalled a little (yes I'm STILL painting... egads!) the exterior is looking absolutely brilliant! Dean the Digger has been here many days now shaping the driveway and the back yard around the pool with some granite rocks sourced from another building site and they look fantastic! How that man can make that huge machine carry and place those massive boulders like they are light as a feather I will never know. He is brilliant at his job (and a great guy to boot)! Photos to follow soon - to top it all off both my computer and Bikemans computers died within a week of each other so I'm using a borrowed laptop and I'm missing my Photoshop for minimising those photos! Oh the timber floor is finished and it looks fabulous. Not too red at all, it's just perfect. And the timber floor layer was excellent, a 'devilishly handsome irishman' (self proclaimed) who was quite cute, I might add, although I could only understand about half of what he said his accent was so thick. Gorgeous, but who knows what I could have agreed to??? We all stayed over again at the 'block' tonight as Blue has his new school orientation tomorrow morning, and Pink has her last day of kinder (and I've volunteered for Kinder Duty - she's been bugging me all term to do it!). So as we were here for basketball tonight anyway thought it was just as easy to stay. This really is a lovely house and I'm so looking forward to moving in here. At night in particular it is just so lovely to sit and look at the view, the lighting inside is just perfect and it feels like HOME. Mind you a real bed and some more furniture would just be the icing on the cake! So when are we moving in .... well moving date has been pushed out a little to be the week between Christmas and New Year due to a few 'hiccups' and also that we are having the carpet laid on the 23rd Dec. Nothing like leaving it til the last minute! And we need time to get motivated again.

Let there be light :)

2009-12-01T23:03:00.004+11:00

It finally happened ... we have electricity. No more plugging in 3 extension cords and having to turn off the floodlights when we want a coffee. No more having to go home when it is dark. No more going to the toilet with a torch. Let there be light!! And yes that shadowy figure is me, working working working .... sweeping at 9pm ready for the flooring to be laid the next day. Rumpus room looking back toward the front entry way - can just see the bottom of the beautiful chandelier KQ suggested ... love it! Don't have a very good picture of it yet, bit hard to photograph with a camera phone. Best to come visit and see it in all its glory!

I LOVE the way the house looks from the front. The front lights that Bikeman suggested look just perfect with the front of the house. And with the chandelier on it lights up the little triangular window above the door. Fantastic!!

When are we moving in again? Seems like a real house now.... click! Lights off, goodnight...

Flooring, Tank and Verandah

2009-12-01T22:39:00.002+11:00

Well we have flooring! Delivered on one of the wettest days I've seen in a long time. The poor delivery guys, it poured for 5 mins before they arrived then the whole way through the delivery, and then promptly stopped about 5 mins after they finished. I helped them to avoid too much mud being transferred into the house and got saturated in the process. They attempted a few runs with their normal shoes - anyone who has been the Block on a rainy day will know that is not a good idea - and finally accepted my offer of gumboots. All good fun! Our lovely tank... just waiting to be hooked up and filled with water!

The roof is now on the verandah, and it really finishes the house off nicely. Gives a lovely bit of shade to the front area of the house, I can just imagine sitting on the deck sipping a nice cuppa and looking at the beautiful view.

Splashback!

2009-11-23T22:01:00.003+11:00

It's in! After much deliberating and thinking about it, it was installed today. I can't say it's instant love but I'm sure it will grow on me... It is supposed to be 'superclear' glass (without the green tinge) but it does appear to have a bit of a green tinge ... but anyway, the glass provides a beautiful reflection of the external area and you can see the pool reflected in it. So I do like it! Really, I do :)

Tropical Cyclone Romsey

2009-11-22T23:31:00.008+11:00

Ok well it wasn't quite a cyclone. But there was one helluva lot of water!! And unfortunately our downpipes aren't quite connected yet so the water coming off the roof near the pool was spewing straight into the pool hole, and thus the pool. And although Blue exclaimed 'Oh there's water in the pool we should have bought our bathers' it wasn't really swimming weather or clear water for swimming! The first photo was taken when we first arrived at the house this morning, after heavy downfall of rain most of the night: And then approx 4 hours later, the water was continuing to rise. I thought Bikeman might actually have a conniption.

Thankfully our new friends the 5D's down the road had a pump that they very kindly offered for us to use. So off Bikeman went to collect....

...and as we had to get it into the deep part into the water he went. And it was c-c-c-cold! First swim in the pool, not quite as he expected. I had the camera trained on him in the hope he would go a-over-t and I would get some great 'falling in the water' shots. But alas, not this time.

This was taken right when it was absolutely pouring down. Everything was absolutely saturated and there was a river flowing outside in the street. You can see the water pouring into the pool hole on the LHS of the photo.

This shows how much water there was on the other side of the house - out the laundry door. Drainage not in properly yet, but even so I didn't see it get that high even during winter. Why did we spend all that money on a swimming pool when we could have just used this side of the house???

Wet old Romsey. Rain is good but not in such titanic proportions and not when we're waiting to finish our pool! Oh and having our tanks in would have been great .... never mind... at least our tank at home is full now.

Another busy week on the cards - electrical, more plumbing (outdoors) and flooring towards end of week. It's actually starting to look like a real house!

We have a real, working toilet!!!

2009-11-22T23:16:00.007+11:00

Ok, so perhaps toilets aren't all that exciting for everyone else. But if you'd been using a portable toilet for the last 6 months you'd be excited too! The plumber was in last week, doing all the internal fitoff. We now have: working toilets, showers, basins, sinks! Very exciting to have running water and not have to leave the house to take the kids to the loo. Showers are in but were still waiting on showerheads (have since arrived). Shower screens not up yet. Basin in our ensuite

Toilet

I also finished painting the main living area. Love love love the colour. Not too much longer now.... hopefully....

And while the plumber (Jnr) was busy doing his thing, Dean the Digger made an encore appearance on a hot 36 degree day and set to work flattening the big pile of soil up the back of the house, and moving the soil from the pool dig to the driveway. So we now have (kindof) a driveway - bit more soil needs to go in to make it a bit wider, then concrete, then we'll have a real working driveway. Didn't stop bikeman from driving his car up into the garage the other night though!!!

On the neighbours block looking back towards the back of our block...

The back where the pile of dirt used to reside ... now nice and flat ready for our big 22500 lt tank to be delivered sometime this week.

Pink was creating her very own 'Where's Wally' - every photo I took this little blonde head popped up in and more often than not struck a pose. You can just imagine how dirty her legs were from all the dust at the end of the day!!!

The pool is a-happening!

2009-11-16T22:07:00.004+11:00

In the stinking heat of last week we had two very important visitors to our little patch of dirt - Dean the digger and Ze Pool Man (aka Mr Baird from the Sandhurst Crew). Dean worked like a navvy, removing a whole heap of dirt from the hole and creating just the perfect size to fit the pool. There were a few rocks along the way, but nothing that needed the rock breaker, but enough that he sheared through two of the bolts holding on the arm at the end of the loader - not good! So he was hampered a little while waiting for replacement bolts. Meanwhile our good friend Ze Pool Man was busy plumbing the in-floor cleaning system ready for it to be dropped in the ground. I, having suffered my little fall just a few short days before, wagged painting and just ran to hardware store as required, made some followup phone calls and made sure the boys were fed and watered.

So, in the end ... the pool was placed in the ground the next day with a minimum of fuss (well apart from the big tipper truck nearly ending up in the hole - but that's another story)... ready for some more plumbing this week and then some water! Woo hoo!! Photos to come soon....

Chocolate, anyone? Mmmmm I just want to EAT it!

2009-11-16T21:49:00.003+11:00

Well last week I finished the feature walls in both the theatre room and the rumpus room and I LOVE the colour! It looked just like chocolate in the can, and although I admit when I first rolled it on the wall I had an 'eeeek what have I done moment' .... the finished product I just adore. Both walls need a second coat, but don't look too bad to start with.

And of course our Laundry was installed last week, which looks fantastic. Really happy with the look and the massive number of cupboards - now for the fun part, filling them!

Decking: check! Stairs: check!

2009-11-09T09:42:00.003+11:00

Bikeman has been working hard this weekend gone, while the kids and I travelled interstate for our gorgeous nieces' dancing concert. He was able to finish the decking ... nearly... just two pieces short! Never mind, we had to get more anyway to do the edges and down the front. It's enough to be usable and to get us C of O! And he finished the small stairs, from the dining to the rumpus room (near the sliding door)

... and the big stairs, in the entrance way. All ready for timber flooring at the end of the month!

Another big C of O tick! He also did the stairs in the garage but I forgot to take a photo of them. So he worked very hard, and I'm very proud of him. Back to the real world today - subcontractors to harass and painting awaits!

Tiling, cabinetry and decking in!

2009-11-05T23:18:00.004+11:00

Well the tiler has been slaving away, even over the long weekend, and we really appreciate the time he has taken to do such a wonderful job. And he was such a nice guy! Bathroom: (mirror to go above vanity basin hence there is no white tile on top) Butlers Pantry

Kitchen (love it!) - going with a cream splashback (Buff It 1/2 strength)

The front decking which looks FABULOUS! Bikeman had a few days off and worked his fingers to the bone doing this and starting on the fixout (doors/architraves) and stairs.

Someone please remind me WHY we're getting a pool again .... this was taken yesterday, on Wednesday 4th Nov in the morning. Brrrrrr!

So still more painting to come .... up to the top colour in most places though, which is great. And Bikeman worked out (not a moment too soon) that it would not be a good idea to do the final coat of paint just yet as when they put up the doors/arcs etc there are grubby little finger prints all over the place. So that suits me just fine and dandy! Better to know now rather than later.

Current update - where are we up to?

2009-10-25T23:52:00.004+11:00

Well I've been painting now for what seems like an ETERNITY and it's getting closer (albeit slowly!) At least one coat is on all rooms except study and spare rooms (they'll be last - they're housing all the doors at the moment!), and I'm going to finish the final ceiling coat in the kids room, hallway and theatre room tomorrow. Then I will be able to paint the kids walls (they are really excited!) and the hallway, as well as the family/dining room walls. Bikeman has finished painting the verandah out the front ready for the roofer to come in next week and finish the roofing as well as all the guttering (yay! no more puddles on the ground when it rains). Verandah painting (now finished)

Painting the bulkhead above the cabinetry

Tiler has been in today to do the waterproofing, ready for tiling next week.

Painted hallway (undercoat)

So what's to come.....

Tiling - tiler (Daniel & son) to be back on the weekend (he's a good man, working weekends to get the job done!)

Electrical - Sparky will be back in tomorrow to pretty much finish the rest of the electrical. I don't even care at this point that the painting isn't finished. Just need to get things moving!

Plumbing - Hopefully Snr and Jnr will be back in over the next 2-3 weeks to finish off the plumbing fit off and installing the rainwater tank and associated plumbing. Will all depend on other subbies and when they are able to finish their bits and pieces

Pool - yes, where is the pool? Pool shell manufacturer not very forthcoming as to when shell will actually be delivered (was supposed to be this week). Hole will most likely be started next weekend, so hopefully it will arrive sometime around then! Driveway will also be started when the pool hole is dug (soil to be transferred) and big pile of dirt up the back to be spread out ready for the tank to be installed.

Timber flooring - mid-end November, once all the other trades have finished (and we have Certificate of Occupancy - $$$$!!)

Laundry Cabinetry - mid November

Farewell Dad

2009-10-25T23:47:00.003+11:00

I haven't posted for a few weeks as we went to Lorne to farewell my dad one last time, and to celebrate what would have been his birthday with our extended family. We had a wonderful weekend, doing what Dad would have enjoyed (drinking wine, eating mum's slices and walking around Lorne). We then scattered Dad's ashes together, it was an absolutely perfect day and it was so lovely to spend the weekend with everyone. So thanks to our wonderful family and friends for making it just perfect, and bye to Dad - enjoy your final resting place where I'm sure you are at peace. x

Kitchen and cabinetry is officially in!

2009-10-25T22:39:00.005+11:00

Well the kitchen is in and it looks absolutely wonderful! Just as I'd imagined, (luckily! :)). Colours are great, go really well with the wall colour. Wasn't without some little dramas - had to move the L shaped bench over a little as it was just too close to the sliding door to be comfortable, and also decided not to have the 300m overhang on the same side - just a little too much pinch! Jim the cabinet installer was a great bloke, with good suggestions as required and he did a fantastic job of the installation. Some of the handles weren't quite right but they're being fixed, and the microwave space ended up being a white carcass rather than the brown colour I was expecting. So we're thinking of getting a door put on, or a surround for the microwave. Probably won't even notice once the microwave is in there! Anyway enough chatter here are the pics: Ensuite Kids Bathroom

Butlers Pantry

Kitchen!

Kitchen

Obviously the lovely chipboard on top of the benches is not the final benchtop .... the template was created and picked up a couple of weeks ago, and so the stone should be arriving any time in the next couple of weeks. Can't wait!

Kitchen - check!

2009-10-12T23:55:00.005+11:00

Today our kitchen was delivered... WOO HOO! At 7.30 in the morning no less, so that meant getting the kids up early, getting me up early (always a struggle) and getting there on time (leaving at 7am). Amazingly enough I was able to get there (with a little help from Bikeman and Nana C). As you can see from the pic, there are lots of cabinets! Bear in mind though that there are the cabinets for the ensuite, bathroom and toilet as well, and the kitchen and butlers pantry. The chocolate brown colour will be for the base cupboards (and in the bathrooms) and the lighter colour (you can just see the lovely wine rack peeking out at the back on the left) is for the higher cupboards. The freshly painted walls - big big big thanks for Mr Reichy and Bikeman who pitched in and helped on Sunday to finish it all off (nearly). Ignore the fact it looks a little pink in these photos, it's actually not in real life - it's a bit darker actually. (Dodgy mobile phone camera!)

The benchtops on the right hand side and not sure what the dark brown ones are for - that's for the Jigsaw Man (aka Cabinet Maker) to figure out!

Told Blue today that it was all one big jigsaw puzzle that had to be put together and that the 'Jigsaw Man' would be there tomorrow to put it all together. He thought that was pretty funny!

And we're putting in a pool?!?!?!?!

2009-10-12T23:37:00.002+11:00

This is how cold it gets in Romsey. This was last Tuesday at 3:45, when I was picking up Pink from kinder. Plan was - pick up Pink, take Blue to basketball, go back to the house and do another hour of painting. Scrapped that when I saw the temp - 2.5 degrees (and even the little snowflake which means it is cold enough to snow) and hail and freezing cold winds.

Take 2 overtired kids back to a freezing cold house with no heating - and then paint? No thanks. We went home instead to our other nice warm house which doesn't require as much maintenance!

In the Buff!

2009-10-08T23:00:00.003+11:00

I'm excited to report that we now have 2 whole rooms painted with a coat of the topcoat colour, 'Buff It' by Dulux. I was sooooo excited to be finally putting that paint on the walls and I'm really really happy with the final result. Although I think we'll need 2 coats, but regardless it really warms up the house (mentally anyway!) and looks just beautiful. Perfect! Can't wait to see it against the cabinets next week when they go in. Ok so the rooms are the toilet and the ensuite, but hey a room's a room right? Photos to come when I have a more exciting room to show!

A house with a view

2009-10-05T00:48:00.003+11:00

We made some excellent progress this weekend! We managed to put up this custom made triangular window above the front entry door with a minimum of fuss (well the first attempt didn't quite fit so a little adjusting and it was in!) It is verrrrry high up and that makes me a little nervy, not to mention trying to lift up a very heavy window and nail it in place LEVEL - amazing! Bikeman then set to work today (while the ferrets and I scoffed our faces with cake and fizzy drink) finishing some major milestones. He finished the verandah beams off, ready for painting (adding more work for me this week - can i put in for overtime??) and then the roofer to put on the verandah roof. He also bricked up the bits around the triangular window (yes he's multi-talented - brickie now as well) effectively saving us heaps of $ in saving us from getting the brickie out again, with scaffolding as it was at heights, to muck around with the bricks. And it looked very professional. He's so clever at this stuff! As for me, yesterday I finished the second undercoat in all the rooms that need cabinetry (don't get too excited - still have the bedrooms to start on!). But it means i can start on the real stuff this week - the final ceiling colour and then the walls. I'm so excited! A little dampened by the fact that the sparky came in and installed powerpoints, light switches (and even a light baton in Pink's room) to about 1/2 the house - nooooooo, cutting in! Not happy Jan. Luckily we can just unscrew them and then paint around them so it's not really that bad. So another mammoth painting effort this week. But I am looking forward to finishing off each room, one by one and being able to cross them off the list! And I'm also off to buy tap fittings, waste points, shower heads etc so that will be fun, I love spending money!

Splashback - HELP!

2009-10-02T22:57:00.003+10:00

I need help - with the splashback, and the wall for that matter. I'm stuck on how to treat the wall to the left in the picture, with the underbench cabinets and the rangehood. Before you laugh at my horrendous Photoshop effort please bear in mind I am a visual person and need to SEE things to be able to get me through decision making! Bikeman says I'm thinking too much about it, just to paint the wall in one of the feature wall colours I've picked our (say a dark brown), pop the splashback over the top and there you go... but I'm not sure! Please tell me what you think...... Existing colours: Underbench cabinets: Laminex 'Mocha' (dark choc brown) Overhead cabinets: Laminex 'Angora' (lighter mid brown colour) Benchtop: Caesar Stone 'Ice Snow' (white with brown flecks through it) Walls: Dulux 'Buff It' (light brown 'latte' type colour)

Doors and dramas

2009-09-29T00:23:00.006+10:00

Yay we finally have a front door! And don't be put off by the fact it is green... that's just the primer ready for painting. The kids thought it was pretty cool, we had lots of games of 'knock knock' ... 'oh who's visiting?' and so on and so on... it was a lot of fun. We don't have our glazing done on the sides yet so they are just boarded back up again until we can get that done (hopefully soon!). Note the cheeky little face peeking through the glass...

Cheeky Monkey #1!

Painting is going really well, both undercoats on walls/ceiling/cornice are finished in the following rooms: kitchen, dining, family, butlers pantry, main bedroom, ensuite, toilet and first coat finished in bathroom. Only laundry and second coat in bathroom to go and we'll be ready to start on some top coats ... can't wait to see some colour on the walls!! And oh yes the dramas - well right at the end of the day (this should have been a huge big red sign DON'T DO WHATEVER IT IS YOU'RE ABOUT TO DO!) I decided that we should undercoat our beautiful new front door (why: cos the Bunnings Lady told me I should -hrmph!). Anyway I got out the gloss small nap roller and happily started applying the normal primer/undercoat ready for the gloss door paint (why: cos the Bunnings Lady told me I should - grrrrrr!). Reason for doing it at the end of the day: so it would be protected until I was able to get back and continue painting (probably a week). Anyway, if anyone has ever tried to apply normal water-based paint to a shiny primed door you will know my pain - crappy crappy crappy application of paint. Not sure if it was the roller, or the paint, but whatever the reason it looked awful. And I was all of a sudden in a super bad mood looking at my shiny (albeit green door) that now looked terrible. No photos of that I was waaaaay too grumpy. The front door!!!! Why didn't I practice on an internal door first??

Luckily Bikeman is the voice of reason (we'll just sand it back, it will be right don't worry, it's probably just the paint on the shiny primer) and I eventually eased back out of my slump. But needless to day I'm now packing my dacks about painting the rest of the door.

Decisions re flooring ... help!

2009-09-24T01:05:00.004+10:00

We've nutted down the flooring to one supplier and now are just trying to decide on the type of wood for the flooring. The others colours below are as follows: Walls: Dulux 'Buff It' (background same as paint chip top RHS) Ceiling and Cornice: Dulux 'Antique White USA' 1/2 strength Doors, Arcs and Skirts: Dulux 'Antique White USA' (under 'Buff It' paint chip) Bathrooms and Kitchen Lower Cabinets: Laminex 'Mocha' Kitchen Upper Cabinets: Laminex 'Angora' Kitchen Bench: Caesar Stone 'Ice Snow' Bathroom benches: Laminex 'Pure Mineralstone' in Diamond Gloss finish Tiles: As pictured, 400x400 for floors and on walls in showers and around bath Feature Tiles: white rectangular with pebble feature - between vanity and mirrors There will be some feature walls as well, a dusty rose colour in pink's room and a burnt orange in blue's. And various others throughout the house, to be decided when I finally make a decision! So now the next decision - floors. The above flooring is called Kempas, and the below is an example of Spotted Gum (showing the variations). Above: much much cheaper (about 30% cheaper) but my gut says 'too red!'. Bikeman quite likes it though. I'm a little more partial to the Spotted Gum but is it worth the extra $$? Hmmmmm.... help me!

More photos...

2009-09-24T00:48:00.005+10:00

Well I have finished the two undercoats and the ceiling in the dining, kitchen, family room and butlers pantry. It looks so great, I keep looking at it every time I enter the room to admire my handywork! Hahaha. Can't wait for the final coat to be done, then it will look like a REAL house.

We have had lots of rain over the last few weeks. Hasn't hampered the painting too much, I've just cranked up the little fan heater to keep it warm enough to keep the paint flowing! There was a spectactular rainbow today following all the rain and sun, it was just lovely. This is the view from our front rumpus room... beautiful!

Progress! Kitchen, floor, tiling, laundry and POOL update!

2009-09-22T01:03:00.004+10:00

Wow we've had a lot of progression over the last couple of weeks. Kitchen: ordered and will be delivered mid-October Flooring: very close to ordering flooring - definitely timber floors in a mid-brown colour, just deciding on supplier and whether to get them to install or Bikeman..... will all come down to $!! Will either be installed just before the kitchen or just after. Tiling: Met the tiler onsite to go through where tiles will go etc. Have decided on a chocolate coloured 400 x 400 tile for all wet areas on the floor, and also on the walls in the showers and around the bath. Will have a smaller 300 x 100 white tile as a feature tile between the vanities and the mirror, and around the bath. Also a small rock pebble strip between the white tiles as a feature. Tiling will be done just after kitchen/cabinetry.

Laundry: prices have come in a little higher than budget for the laundry, so working on different ideas for finishes to bring the price down a little. Very close though... Pool: We ordered our pool! It's very exciting, should be with us mid-Oct as well. My that's going to be a busy couple of weeks! Now, if only we can get the sun to shine :)

Painting Pics

2009-09-22T00:38:00.009+10:00

Some painting pics - more has been done since these photos were taken, however the whole family were struck down with the lergy over the weekend so we all chucked a sickie from the house - Bikeman included (that just shows you how sick we really were!). First photo is of my new best friend - the electric roller. Brilliant little beast, stick the tube in the paint and switch it on and away you go - no more stopping to cover the roller in paint. Saves stacks of time, especially when doing the roof. Roof not done yet in these pics, and the back part of the house hasn't been touched at all yet (that part's still the same!).

The entrance way

From the theatre toom looking back towards family/kitchen/dining. Nice and light now!

Rumpus Room

Master bedroom

Will keep updating as we move through ... I'm working room by room as it gives me more of a sense of 'completion' - so far both coats of undercoat on both the walls and the roof have been completed in the butlers pantry and the dining room ... looks great, can't wait to start on that final topcoat! More painting tomorrow if the weather is warm enough - it just has to be warmer than 10 degrees, surely it could be that (although it is Romsey .... brrrrr!).

Painting Party!

2009-09-15T00:26:00.015+10:00

We were lucky enough to have a wonderful group of friends to help us out last weekend with some painting and verandah building (cleverly disguised as a 'painting party' hehe). Bikeman co-ordinated the 'Testosterone Team' outside, who concentrated on putting together the verandah which is now nearly complete. The 'Persistent Painters' worked really hard inside getting through as many walls as we could. By the end of the day we'd been able to put the first coat of paint on all of the walls in the front section of the house, so it was a great result! Huge thanks to the following helpers: Boyle Clan, The Sandhurst Crew, The Evans duo, Mr & Mrs Reichy and Doo-Bah for their hard work all day. Also big thanks to Nanny C for outstanding babysitting duties, and also to Bish (aka Mrs Reichy) for providing the most mouth-watering lunch you've ever seen provided on a worksite. We are very lucky to have such wonderful people who are willing to give up their time to help us out, so thanks to you all. Also a big thanks to Pops, he's been up helping Bikeman nearly every weekend for the last 3 or 4 and we really appreciate your help - x. No 'finished' photos yet - it was too dark by the time we finished (6.30pm) and we just wanted to get home, cleaned up and get the kids to bed! We were absolutely exhausted after such a busy day. Here are the progress pics and I'll post some finished ones tomorrow. Putting up the REALLY heavy steel lintel that sits on the verandah posts outside the garage. That was a work of art in itself really - executed beautifully by the boys with much thought into ladder placement, ballasting (the girls!) and how it was all going to work. If that beam was going down there was no way anyone should be in it's path. The idea was to lift the beam then put the bolt through the holes in the wood and the steel - fingers crossed they lined up ok. After a couple of little hiccups the job was done and the lintel was safely in place. Whew! Mrs B doing a beautiful job of painting the walls in the rumpus room...

Evans 1 doing the high bits in the theatre room ... the first room to be painted, very exciting!

Evans 2 doing the low bits in the theatre room...

Doo-Bah and myself moving the split jamb doors - wonderful invention, the architrave comes pre-prepared around the door frame and the door is supplied, hung and with the strike in place - takes about 1/2 an hour to install instead of many hours of chiselling, measuring, cutting - brilliant! Made specifically with owner builders in mind, I might add. Thank god!

The 'Ballasts'!! Holding the ladders down so that when the boys lift up that super heavy lintel the ladders don't tip over down the hill. Scared? Yes we were. Specially when Doo-Bah's head got stuck on the wrong side of the lintel. I was glad when this bit was over!!

The 'lifting of the lintel'. Took 5 super strong blokes and still it looked bloody heavy. Did a great job of getting it in place without a) dropping it or b)taking off any fingers or heads. Well done guys!

The verandah is starting to take shape....

Miss B enjoying a cupcake!

Everyone sitting down to the scrumptious lunch organised by Bish (aka Mrs Reichy). Roast meat on the weber, roasted chat potatoes, salad, gravy and bread rolls. Followed by scrummy chocolate cake, strawberries and cream and banana cake. Mouth watering yet? It was DELICIOUS!

More photos to come soon, of the walls with paint on them. It's so lovely to see the walls with paint, seems even more real each step we get closer. Thanks to all who helped we certainly had an enjoyable time, and we hope you all did too. xxxx

Organising and Decision Making

2009-09-07T23:16:00.002+10:00

Now we've come to the 'pointy' end of our building project. Plaster is finished, and we're trying to work through the timber floors, kitchen, paint colour (and undercoat), ordering doors, cabinetry, skirting boards and architraves. All at once! Eeeep. Thank god for being able to make decisions pretty quickly, and for good friends offering to help at our painting 'party'! Colours are pretty much decided, now just to buy a couple of sample pots and paint up some of the left over plasterboard to see how the colours look in the house. Fantastic! The hole in the floor is filled in now, and the verandah post holes at the front of the house also are full of concrete and ready for posts. No photos yet, sorry... will take the camera tomorrow for some pics. And not forgetting that at some point we have to sell our current house... so tomorrow morning will be dedicated to 'de-cluttering' and preparing for a bit of painting, and getting it ready for sale. Hopefully will have this house on the market in the next month. Afternoon will be more painting at the new house. Photos to follow sooooon!

So much going on!

2009-09-01T00:40:00.010+10:00

Where do I start ..... we have a lot going on at the moment! So may as well start at the 'fixups'... We now have an interesting rectangular hole in the middle of our kitchen. Bikeman was able to borrow a 'demo' saw (figured out later that stands for 'demolition' not 'demonstration' as I initially thought ... hahaha) and cut this area out of the concrete to allow the pipes to be redirected to their correct location. Should have seen the kids face (Pink in particular) when I said that it was a dungeon where naughty kids have to go ... she stopped dead in her tracks and said 'it's a bit small, isn't it?'. Ahahahaha poor thing I really shouldn't torment her like that. Bikeman also took to the pit out the front with his new big boys toy. Seriously this thing cut through concrete like it was cheese. Not something you want to accidently catch your leg or arm on, or you'd be one less before you could blink. The pit is to house the sump pump which will pump the stormwater back up to the back of the block into the rainwater tank. Ended up sticking up a bit too much out of the ground so had to cut it down a bit. Very happy with the end result, should be hidden mostly by the garden.

We have holes! All ready to be inspected and then filled with concrete, ready for the verandah.

The plasterers are finished, and they did a fine job. We ended up getting them to plaster the alfresco area as well, which was great - rather than us doing it they have all the right tools and the time to do it. All ready for painting now, soooooo exciting!

And the most exciting part .... we have a roller garage door! Looks lovely, we're really happy with the colour and how it looks. Lets plenty of light in and although the controller is lower than we would have initially liked (bit of misunderstanding with the sales rep) it will work out for the best as some of Bikemans 'toys' can probably be stored up there with some fancy rigging (ie the windsurfer).

View from the front - doesn't it look lovely!

We also had Mr Split Jambs come to visit today to measure up for doors, arcs and skirts. They should be with us in a week or two so that's pretty cool too. They have a cool system where the door comes pre-hinged and with the arcs already fixed so it's just installed as two pieces and saves HEAPS of time and cutting. Great for owner builders who are time poor!

Kitchen is well underway and is moving along well considering our little L-bench mixup. Mr Kitchen is also providing a quote for my laundry and Bikemans study cuboards, so that is good. Tried to get quotes from other cabinet makers for them but they are all either a) too busy or b) we don't go that far. Geeeeez! Although had a brainwave today (courtesy of a PD display home) - why spend all this money on a fancy drawer for sorting washing when all I really need is some underbench space and to spend a couple of bucks on some nice washing baskets. More flexible and much much cheaper! Man I love display homes... if only ours looked like that NOW! I'm so impatient.... Not too long now though!

Looking forward to the painting weekend - although I have a lot of prep work to do between now and then. Hopefully most of the undercoats, if i can manage it. Wish me luck!!!

Kitchen Bench update

2009-08-27T00:02:00.004+10:00

Well after much deliberation we've decided that we actually can't move/change the bench configuration as it changes the kitchen too much and will make it very uncomfortable to work in. So we're having to go with option 2 (the 'not an option' option) - grinding out the concrete and putting a bend in the pipes. Met with Jnr on site today and Bikeman is going to do the grinding, Jnr will take care of plumbing. Grrr painful! Never mind it will be worth it in the end.... On a positive note, the cornices are nearly completed (just the sanding to go), and the bricks have been cleaned. Blast dude (Brick cleaner) was very complimentary regarding the job JM (Brickie) did, which was nice to hear. Of course he said how BIG the house was so had to do it over 2 days. Pffft! Garage Roller Door definitely coming Friday (woo hoo!). Keep em coming....

Kitchen Site Measure

2009-08-25T00:40:00.003+10:00

Today, I met Mr Kitchen out on site to talk about our plans. All went pretty well, apart from a few cupboards needed to be bigger/smaller/different size compared to original quote (to be expected). Some of the spaces for the cupboards weren't a minimum 600mm, eeeep but oh well they can be 'trimmed down' to fit according to Mr Kitchen. Costs a little extra but not too bad. Better than hanging over a door or a window! Then the bombshell.... waste and power are in totally the wrong place for the L-shaped bench. OH MY GOD (freak out .... stay calm.....) and it is going to mean that we can't have the full bottom of the L (in the below picture would go from right to left) as there wouldn't be room to move around in the kitchen. OH MY GOD. Not sure how it happened, but it did. Option 1: smaller cupboard (400mm instead of 800mm L), waste has to be cut down to kicker level and run to back of cupboard (currently sitting at front of cupboard). Option 2: Grind out concrete to move waste pipes back to correct position (not an option - waffle slab - and too costly!) Option 3: no L, just a normal bench. This might be the option we take up. Ok not a disaster but disappointing!!! It could have been worse... it could have been right in the middle of the floor with no hope of hiding. Thank goodness for small mercies eh. Yeah.

Anyway everything else went ok and we are able to get the laminex colours we want - mocha for base cupboards and angora for overhead. It will look beautiful in the end, no matter what happens with the bench. It's just a bench!!!

We're now waiting for the plumber to fit the bath, then the chippie will lay the timbers to hold it up ready for tiling. Have to choose tiles soon - we pretty much know what we want, what size etc, just have to find them. Plasterers should be finished this week, I would think. Bricks are being blasted tomorrow and then garage door being installed Friday. Can't wait for that! Although we need a driveway to be able to get into it first.... that will happen when the weather settles down a bit. Moving along at a nice, steady pace now....

Movin Right Along (doog-a-doog doog-a-doog).... Footloose and Fancy Free....

2009-08-24T23:46:00.009+10:00

Bonus points for those who can pick the song... for some reason it seemed fitting for this post! Well we are moving along - little jobs are getting done and are all part of the big picture! Over the last couple of weekends Bikeman and I finished the eaves (and we worked together nicely, I might add...) and they look very professional, if I do say so myself! We also did the following: Bikeman constructed this little gem for above the laundry door. Don't be scared now, that's not the colour or even the finish for that matter that it will end up - it will have cement sheeting (which will then be painted) over the top, to stop any moisture getting in above the door. Clever, huh?? Here you can see our lovely, straight, eaves. Noice! Erected with a minimum of fuss following Bikeman's expert nogginy things to attach them to. He worked out that using the bundle of joy again (aka nail gun) made the job easier, so that always keeps him happy! Voids in showers - kids bathroom and ensuite. Unfortunately we remembered just after they'd plastered the rooms but Plaster Bossman was happy for us to rip into the plaster and create them. Another 'Bikeman creation' - do you know how hard it is to place a box into a hole without dropping it down into the cavity?? Not to mention it has to be square... got there eventually with some careful engineering!

So next on the agenda: kitchen site measure, brick cleaning, garage roller door installation, painting!! We'll be painting the weekend of 12/13 September so if you are prepared to don your painting pants and come along and have a bit of fun we'd love to see you and would appreciate any help you might be able to give.

Isn't the water supposed to be OUTSIDE the house??

2009-08-16T21:25:00.011+10:00

Following the fierce winds and spectacular storm overnight and during the morning today, we thought it best to inspect the house to make sure it hadn't slid down the hill (you should have seen the kids faces when I said that - they nearly died! Had to explain it couldn't really)... Anyway, I had been suspicious that a couple of window sills had been leaking a little so wanted to check them out. One of the ones I was worried about was fine, but there were several others not so good and one leak that appeared to be coming from the roof, in Pink's room. So we'll get Mr Roofer and the window people out this week to have a look and see what is going on. Pinks room: a small but significant line of water running from the ceiling somewhere (Bikeman climbed up for a look but was unable to find anything else wet or where it might be coming from), resulting in a small puddle of water at the base of the wall.

Our bedroom - this one has been leaking for a while but I thought perhaps it was because the bricks weren't on - but no, still quite a severe leak.

In the Dining Room, small leak in the RHS corner.

Front window (Rumpus) - small leak in corner

Rumpus sliding door - quite a significant leak in the corner and along the sliding door internal ledge

What do kids do to keep themselves amused at the house?

2009-08-15T23:17:00.003+10:00

They create. In this instance, Blue found a box of clouts on the alfresco concreted area and decided that he'd try his hand at some art. And it ended up this amazingly wonderfully creative scene of an elephant with a banana in its mouth, and Blue standing on top of the elephant saying 'Yahoo'. And Pink standing to the right (and these are Blue's words) saying "(Blue), get down off that elephant!" (Hmm yes I can imagine both of those things happening in real life, too!) Oh, and the pile of clouts to the left is actually a pile of bananas for the elephant. Amazing imagination! Who said you need to spend money on expensive toys anyway??

More plastering photos....

2009-08-15T23:00:00.008+10:00

Hallway entrance, looking from the front door back towards the theatre room at the back... Dining Room

Kitchen

Hallway to the bedrooms

Theatre Room (walls are yellow as they are soundboard ... to keep out the 'doof doof' from the rest of the house!)

Rumpus Room (front of house)

We have walls!!!

2009-08-13T23:30:00.009+10:00

The plasterers have been working hard again and we have most of our walls in place. As you can see from the below picture, only 1/2 of the garage roof is on, and 1/2 way up the entrance hallway has been put up. But the rest of the house mostly has the ceiling and wall boards in (still plenty to go - the taping and the cornices for a start!). From the rumpus room looking back towards the dining room:

Pink's room Blue's room

Laundry (note the door now has door handles :))

The loooooong hallway, which looks quite dark now without all the extra light. Love the window at the end though, we saw that in a display home and thought that was a great idea and built it into our design.

In the family area looking out towards the alfresco area.

The theatre room (surrounded by 'soundboard' to stop all that excess booming!)

And so it continues.... I can tell you we're very glad to not be undertaking this bit of the journey! Best left to the professionals (of whom there are more than 2 and I haven't heard them have an argument yet!).

Next on the agenda, once the plastering is finished: kitchen measure, brick cleaning, garage roller door installation, painting (look out all you volunteers .... and no ignoring my calls when i ring you!!!) and door frames. We've decided to go with a split jamb system which looks much simpler to install than doing it all from scratch (thanks BMU for the tip!). Ma & I drove to Dandenong the other day to check them out, Bikeman will be very pleased with the minimal fuss required to put together. Not that he can't do it, of course. It will save HEAPS of time.

Next choices to make: colours for painting and then the type of doors. I had chosen a door that I liked but it only comes in a woodgrain finish, which I think won't work as well in our house. Will keep looking....

A ceiling (or is it a roof....???)

2009-08-11T22:16:00.008+10:00

We have a ceiling! The 'plasterers who don't like to talk much' have done a great job and the massive ceiling we now own is nearly complete. The rumpus room still has to be done, as does the cathedral ceiling and the garage. And the most exciting part... one of the rooms has been plastered! Which one I hear you ask.... the main boudoir! It was so cool to go in there with all the walls done. Gave a real sense of what the room will be like. I admit it, I did the excited dance. The kids thought it was hilarious! There was a big stack of plaster just waiting to be put up on the walls in the next couple of days. And some more insulation, this time in the butlers pantry (for the walls). Some photos (a little 'flashed' out, it was starting to get dark so had to use the flash).... The hallway, looking toward Pink's room In the study, looking back towards the theatre room.

Our bedroom ... looking towards the ensuite door

Again main bedroom, looking at the wall at the back as you walk in (bed will go in between the 2 windows)

Main bedroom, looking back from the windows towards the 2 walk in robes

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

More plastering

2009-08-10T23:05:00.002+10:00

Well the plasterers were there today ... when I popped in to check and see if there were any questions at 1 they were finished the roof from the back of the house to the theatre room/toilet. The three young lads doing the plastering weren't all that talkative, but hey looked like they were doing a good job so probably talking is overrated. Ha! The stilt man was there again so probably he was afraid I'd snap some more papparazzi shots so he was avoiding all eye contact. Will post more photos in a couple of days when you can see real progress.

We have clouds in our ceiling!

2009-08-07T17:58:00.006+10:00

Bikeman came home after visiting the house yesterday, very excited that we have 'clouds in our ceiling'. They had finished all of the roof insulation of the back half of the house by last night, and this morning when I was there they were finishing the bracing. Had hit a minor snag though, in that they thought the ceilings were only 3m but they were 3.2 or 3.6 or something and as a result they needed to wait until next week until they had scaffolding for the higher area. Here is the view down the hallway to Zali's room (excuse the dodgy pics, taken from my mobile. Will take proper camera up tomorrow so will have some better ones by the end of the weekend). The plasterers were wobbling around on these cool stilt things to put up the insulation and metal battens. Bikeman was a little sad that he wasn't doing the plastering, I think for this reason alone. He would have liked to have a go on the stilts!!! Plastering man begrudgingly posed for the photo. I think he thought I was a nutter. Tomorrow we're going to be finishing the external doors (laundry and garage) and putting on all the door fittings for them. If time we'll also start on the eaves, putting up noggins and getting them ready for plaster. And then having a break in the evening, the boys are off to the footy and I'm off to Mrs R's for a quiet wine or three. Can't wait!

Plastering underway, check!

2009-08-06T23:44:00.005+10:00

The plasterers arrived today .... woooooo hooooo! As you can see from the photos, there was a whole lotta insulation and plaster being delivered. Look carefully in the rumpus room windows, you'll see it goes right to the top of the rumpus room. I think that is for the whole house, but the plaster you'll see is only for the roof. By the end of the day they had most of the metal roof battens on, and insulation to the back half of the house. Bikeman thinks it's warmer already!

The Mad Rush

2009-08-05T00:32:00.009+10:00

Look out house, here we come... Pink the professional cleaner .... all ready to blow that dust right out of the house! I spent 3 hours blowing the dust out while she was at kindy, then picked her up and did another couple of hours with her assistance .... great little helper she is.

Pink and I having a bite to eat before starting the hard work. Pink's favourite at the moment is 3 party pies from the local bakery. Oh, and a shortbread man with smartie buttons. She was most impressed with my ability to build an inpromtu seat for her to sit on! If only everyone was as easy to impress as a 4 year old.

Our bath has a hob! Not quite ready to be in for good, still needs to have the plumbing finished then we will pack with insulation so that it stays nice and warm when the kiddies are having their bath. It also needs Villawood (waterproof cement sheeting) to be installed on the sides, that will be done sometime soon. Bath just fits (phew!).

Bikeman's latest brainwave... a cupboard between the theatre room and the study, so that the DVD player, playstation, etc etc can be closed away in the cupboard when not in use. Will have a cabinet custom made that is accessible from the study as well and can allow good ventilation. Cables all in - speaker, coaxial, HDMI, telephone.

Well the last week have been a bit of a blur - plasterer confirmed for Tuesday so it was go, go, go to get things finished before he arrived. We still had to put all the cabling in the walls/roof for TV, HDMI, speakers, telephone etc, and Bikeman had some more noggins to put in as well as finishing cavity sliders (and probably other stuff that I didn't even know about/remember). And BMU was having trouble getting onsite. And to make matters worse when BMU did arrive he advised Bikeman that there were all these noggin-type things that had to go in the roof ready for the plasterers, for their ceiling battens to affix to. Something to do with making the lines run the same way in the roof. So he set to it and because it's such a bloody big house it took AGES! Plus he had to run noggins on the floor for the plaster to affix to, where there was the drop to the lower level. So plenty of opportunity to use his nail gun.

So that was all finished and then last night BMU came to help with the last little bit. Which took til 7.30pm, with the kids in the car playing (they were sooooo good) and BMU and Bikeman working like madman (Bikeman was literally RUNNING from room to room) and the light of one measly spotlight, I swept all the sawdust up for about 3 hours. In the partial light, hoping that we got most of it and trying to stay out of the boys way when they were shooting and cutting.

Bikeman then headed back up there this morning to finish a couple of last minute things and meet the plasterer. He arrived at 7am, and put some sisalation over the triangle shaped window above the front entrance door to stop the rain from getting in, put up the 12volt cable we didn't get to on the weekend (for the sensor in the pump to tell it to stop pumping to the rainwater tank when it is full) and some more nogginy things. And he dropped his gun (eeep! - think it's ok though). And did the plasterer show? Noooooooo.

Phoned the plasterer and he advised he was still waiting on insulation batts, there had been a backlog. Hoped to have them delivered Wed, and should be onsite by end of week. Grrrr! So all that rushing and stressing for nothing. Ah well, at least it is done now.

Huge big thanks to Pops and Stevie B for all their help over the weekend. We absolutely couldn't have done it without you and we appreciate the time you gave up to help us out.

Over and out for now. Hopefully the next photos will be plaster photos ...... how beciting!

Sliding door cavities

2009-07-27T00:33:00.003+10:00

Bikeman started installing the sliding door cavities over the weekend, and they look great! He got to try out his new nail gun (which even BMU (the chippy) was pretty impressed about) and although it was cold, and he was knackered at the end of the day, he was rightfully proud about how well he was doing installing them himself. As for me ... well Pink had a birthday party to go to so Blue went and 'helped' (in other words sat in the car playing DS) Bikeman at the house. BM has installed 7 of the 11 sliding door cavities in total, not bad for a days work! Have decided to have the plastering done by a professional, we simply don't have the time to be able to committ to getting it done in a timely manner. Plus we might very well kill each other working in such close proximity on a very important project! So best it be taken out of our hands and finished with quickly. So hopefully they'll be in in the next couple of weeks. BMU will be in ensuring the walls are all square in the next weeks and hopefully so will the brick cleaners. It's all happening! Next goal: Plaster. Oh and $$ from the bank, that would be nice.... soooooon!

Comments not working?

2009-07-27T00:31:00.003+10:00

I've been suspicious that perhaps the comments function is not working, confirmed last week by Indecisive who has tried to post a couple of times unsuccessfully. I've played around with the settings a little - please try and comment to see if it works? If not please send me an email to let me know... ta muchly!

The house made of bricks

2009-07-20T00:21:00.010+10:00

It's done! We have bricks :) ... and they look great. The brickies finished last Thursday and we are really happy with the result. The front of the house ... from left to right, garage opening, front door and 2 front windows.

View from standing at the alfresco, looking back towards the street. The window is the main dining room window to the side.

Standing at the front of the block, looking back towards the dining room. Sliding door to rumpus on left.

The kids and cousins playing in the 'pool'! Gumboots are a wonderful invention... Looking at the study and Blue's windows.

Looking at the alfresco area and sliding door to the living room. I don't think I've ever taken so much notice of window sills in my life!

Next... Chippy 'Beam me up' and Bikeman will be squaring up the frame on Friday (well actually BMU will be and Bikeman will be installing the sliding door furniture) for all the sliding doors in the place. Bank should be out sometime this week to do the lockup valuation, we spent the weekend nailing up masonry board on the front door (so our beautiful front door doesn't get damaged or pinched) - thanks to Bikemans new toy (the golden nail gun ... is it really gold plated??).

Completed .... We installed the laundry door which looks fabulous. Garage entry door painted up and ready to be screwed on. (Pictures to follow later). Had to plane the laundry door a little as it didn't quite fit, borrowed Pop's electric planer wooo hoooo if I was a carpenter I'd want me one of those babies. Did a great job of planing it without looking like a hack job - very professional. I can tell you I was pleased that we ran out of time to stain the door before installing it - that would have been a waste as we needed to plane it! Also the electrician was in last week doing the roughing in. They got up to 1.4km of electrical wire then stopped counting (but kept installing). Geeeeeez! Yes we know everyone, it's a bloody big house!!

Stay tuned for 'Days of the House' for more stories..... real live reality blogging!

Oh and please.... if anyone would like to become a follower of my blog please do so. There's a little section over to the right. I added this 'gadget' the other day and I'm feeling a little unloved as it looks like we don't have any friends!

Actual bricking pics!

2009-07-13T22:27:00.011+10:00

Well the bricks are well on the way and looking great! We're probably about 3/4 the way through the bricks now, however have been hampered by wet weather over the weekend and today. So will have to be patient!!! Sparky was in today, roughing in, looks like he has nearly completed that part which is great. Moving along nicely..... now to get to lock up! Not that far away now... Bricks looking good.... from the soil heap at the back.

Down the side with the laundry door, you can see our ensuite bathroom window on the RHS.

It rained all day in Romsey today... so the brickies were only able to do the first course the whole way around. Forecast for more rain the rest of the week so might be some delay in finishing it off. Damn!

Study window on LHS, Blue's bedroom on RHS.

Pinks windows on RHS, then Blue to the left, then Study and Theatre Room double doors. Window sill bricks to hopefully be installed later in week (if weather holds out!).

Alfresco has a beautiful view through the dining room and out the front ... fantastic!

Updated Bricking Pics....

2009-07-11T21:13:00.003+10:00

Sorry, that was a trick. There aren't any at the moment! As in, I left my phone at my mum's place which has current photos on it. So tomorrow! But rest assured, the bricks look BRILLIANT! The brickies have finised down to the alfresco area, with just the wrap around the dining room and the front to go. Luckily for us we had excellent weather last week so they were able to work solidly for most of the week, which was great. Today Bikeman and I played site cleaner. We dug into the pile of rubbish and cleared out all the tin from the other stuff, and took a load to the transfer station (these are free - learn something every day!). We also took most of the rubbish as well, it took ages to bag it up but it is so worth it in the end, the site looks much cleaner. And it was sooooo windy today - best to get rid of all that rubbish before it all blew around all over the place. It was raining a lot too, so by the time we finished we were muddy and wet and altogether homeless-looking, but it was actually fun (I think I'm going slightly mad!!). We are nearly at lockup - have decided to board up the front area where the door will go, as we still have some prep work to do before the front door is ready, and we don't want it stolen/damaged either. Also Bikeman and Beam Me Up (the chippy) have some work to do creating a frame for the triangle above the front door so we can order the glass for that too. Other than that, (and of course the bricking being finished!) we just have to install the garage side door and the laundry door and we're at lockup! So a couple of weeks, methinks. Woohoo! Sparky is in next week to rough in, so we've been looking at the electrical plan and making sure we have enough power points etc. Fun fun fun! Oh and we've pretty much decided on colours - will upload in another post. Kitchen colours that is, then the rest of the house follows from there. Stay tuned, photos to follow in next couple of days....

Bricking progress pics

2009-07-09T00:32:00.005+10:00

We have one full wall bricked - down the side to the right hand of this photo - along the garage, our bedroom, the laundry and spare bedroom. The brickies were great, really wanted to finish the last course tonight before they went home. Have done half way up the back wall, and partially around the other side. Wow - it will be up before we know it!

Took the kids out for a look today, they were very interested in what the brickies were doing. They thought the cement mixer was particularly cool! Apparently the weather is going to go downhill by the end of the week, so they are keen to get through as much as they can while the sun is shining (which it has been the last 2 days!). It has been freezing cold in the mornings though, I don't know how they do it! I like my nice warm bed first thing in the morning, I'm soooo not a morning person.

Build it up, up up, build it higher, build it up up up up up up to the sky.......

2009-07-05T23:57:00.005+10:00

We have bricks! Beautiful, double height bricks that just look perfect. Can't wait til they are all the way around the house. So far the brickies have started on the dead side of the house, down past the garage and our bedroom and laundry. But it still look sooooo good! Brickies should be back on site Monday so I guess over the next week or so it will be complete - and then we'll be at lockup!

Oh and I just love the roof. I feel like I'm starring in a Colourbond Roof ad, I keep standing and staring at it will such admiration... it looks perfect.

All systems go for this week, after so long waiting now it seems like it is going really fast! Doo Bah, you'd better get your cleaning gloves ready I don't think there's any way you're going to beat us in the house building race - and it's going to be one hell of a housewarming party!!

The mess that winter causes...

2009-07-02T22:12:00.002+10:00

We had the bricks delivered yesterday (Wed) and boy did his little forklift thingy make a mess! Driving from the back of the block down to where the land falls away a little bit and placing the bricks where the pool will be - mud EVERYWHERE! And I literally couldn't watch - I was sure the whole thing was going to tip over OR get bogged OR he was going to run into the alfresco bricked up post - it was giving me heart failure so I decided to clean up instead. In my cleaning up it looked like there was water coming from the pipes in the kids toilet, the bathroom and the laundry (it was kind of pooled around the pipes -wanted to make sure it wasn't the roof!). Bikeman confirmed with the plumber that they were doing a pressure test and did an o-ring. So all ok. Anyway, brick delivery all done, no crashes/bogging but mud and chopped up ground everywhere. And someone had taken it upon themselves the day prior to wire tie the back gate - hmph how rude! And not just a single piece of wire bent around the top a little bit, 3 strong well-tied bits of wire that I couldn't have opened without pliers. Not sure it is in the neighbours of the empty block or someone else. If it is the neighbours, they must think that the gate is on their property due to where our temporary fence is - but no, our property goes to about 2/3 across the gate face, so most of the gate is actually ours. Anyway, no doubt the chopping up done by the brick delivery isn't filling whomever it may be with joy. Tough! That's building. Will just have to wait and see what happens, in 'Days of the Block'..... stay tuned for next time. Oh yes and the brickie was onsite starting the bricking up today. Yee-har!

a.k.a The Green House

2009-06-29T23:35:00.008+10:00

We have a fully wrapped, green abode! Roof is finished and wrapping completed on Sunday, which was fantastic.

The wrapped house from the inside ... all silvery and much darker than it had been. Gave us a great insight into how much light will be coming in once the bricking is complete. This photo was taken from the dining room looking towards the rumpus (front) room.

Top windows have now been squared up with lower windows rather than sticking out 3cm or so ... looks much better! And it was much easier second time around. And yes I was very high up on that ladder balancing and holding the phone to take a photo at the same time... I was scared for me!!

Site Foreman Blue.... doing a bit of hammering and stuff. Real hammer and all!

We have a roof!! And sisalation (foil wrap around the outside of the house). All in the matter of a couple of days. The roof was finished Friday, which was absolutely fantastic, which meant we were able to start the wrapping on Saturday (thanks to Mr Reichy for his help (and also the a.k.a The Green House suggestion)) and finish just after lunch on Sunday.

And don't be fooled, no we don't have any of those builders helping us out on our project as per the sisalation... remember that bargain we got from ebay.... well must be some left over from other projects, (we hope!).

Even one of the brickies was out Saturday morning, setting the bricks up ready for the brickies to arrive with gusto on Wednesday. He was probably a bit bummed that the Griswalds turned up, kids in tow, while he was trying to get a bit of quiet work done. Then they started yelling at each other about where to nail the sisalation first... tsk tsk!

So, bricks should be started Wed (weather permitting - looking at those cyclone force storms in perth today and thinking .... err maybe not!!) and will probably take a good week or so. And then we shall be nearly at lockup. Who'd have thought!

One step forward, two steps back

2009-06-24T22:57:00.003+10:00

We are soooooooooo close with the roof .... but yet so far. Everything is on except the ridge capping (those pointy bits in between the different angles of the roof) BUT (and it's a big but) some of the roof iron has to be removed and replaced. The manufacturer came out and looked at some of the sheets and apparently agreed with the roofer that they were faulty and bent, so some of them will be removed and replaced. Hopefully (and it's a bit hopefully) by the end of the week. So close!!!! The plumbers were out yesterday and today, so that was pretty exciting. Lots of 'where do you want these taps' and 'how big will the surround around your bath be'. It seems a bit of a shock to be thinking of such things so soon! I'm not imagining where the taps will be in the bathroom just yet, although we have to so they are placed in the right spot. We have an enormous mother of a gas line coming in, it's huge (photos to come..). As we will hopefully (Bikeman says WILL DEFINITELY) have a pool in the near future we needed to have the larger size pipe into the house so that it can feed the gas required for the pool heater in. I hate to see the gas bill once we get that sucker up and running! So now we have a water point in the fridge space, and a gas point outside for the built in BBQ on natural gas (both of which we don't physically own yet but one has to plan for the future!). And taps and outlets for shower heads (which the lovely plumber, Jnr, made a little higher for my Amazon Woman height - isn't that nice!). Snr was also on site today asking me all sorts of questions that I'm really not qualified to answer (have had many a phonecall from them saying) Jnr/Snr ... oh sorry I meant to call *Bikeman* ... but while I have you are you happy for the do-hickey to be placed in the front of the whatsamacallit instead of it being through the thingamejig as I think it would be better. Me: Ahhhh sure but maybe you should run it by *Bikeman* first - I'll get him to call you. Stuff womens lib! I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about!!! And unfortunately can only remember every second word when reciting to Bikeman, so very easy for Chinese Whispers to be played. Yes, best you call Bikeman, if you want a REAL answer. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Upshot of all that: Roof will (fingers crossed) be finished by the end of the week. Plumbing will be finished by end of the week. Brickie will be in next week to start bricking up and if all goes to plan we will spend the weekend wrapping our house with insulation and fixing up the windows that stick out just a little too far! (Our problem - checked the window plans tonight and they had stated the larger reveal depth - we just didn't pick it up, darn it!). Work work work work work... at least I have a clean study, sorted out all "The House" stuff (formerly known as "The Block") so I can find everything quickly. Oh, the joys...

Bikeman the chippie

2009-06-20T16:41:00.004+10:00

Ok granted, these windows may be a little hard to see but my clever apprentice chippie Bikeman installed them today. In between the normal four panel window, and the very top stripy bit of wood (how technical am I .... not) - are actually windows! One above the front door, and the other two above the rumpus room windows. The story of the rumpus room windows.....

Installed them where they were designed on the plan (where they are now). Looked a bit strange as there are 11 foot ceilings in the rumpus room so there was a lot of room above the windows which will end up being wall. So Bikeman and Beam me Up (the chippie) went through a lot of grief moving them up so the windows were up higher. I'm trying to upload a past photo but it keeps putting it in the wrong spot so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Anyway, we left it like that for a while to try and get used to it but it really looked wrong. The windows were just in the wrong spot and were way too high. So much to Bikeman's charign... we decided to move it back down again. This time he didn't have the assistance of Beam me Up so he did it all by himself. Pops suggested that perhaps we could put a window just above the windows and the door - to balance it out a little. So that's what we have done. Ordered these lovely, double glazed, little pieces of glass (and paid $1.2k for the privilege) but they do make the facade look much better. So Bikeman and I (well all I did was hold them up due to my super human size) put them in today, with much banging and swearing they were finally in and level and in line with the inside windows. Until we went outside to check how they looked and discovered that the reveal (wooden frame around the windows) was a different depth to the other windows... so they are sticking out the front. Crap! So (another day) we will have to fix it, bring them back in line from the front and then plane them down so they are the same width as the others. Damn!

Next handyman project: Installing the sisalation (foil wrap) around the house. I'm off now to search the internet for some 'how to' tips .... amazing! PS don't stop reading now.... photos of the roof are in the next post....)

The beginning of less water inside the house....

2009-06-20T16:16:00.007+10:00

Well we're nearly there with the roof.... doesn't it look magnificent?? I'm soooo happy with the colour - i'm very glad we decided to go with the monument on the roof and the woodland grey fascias and window surrounds (and garage door - mmm not sure how that will look but ce la vie!). Anyhoo the roof colour is great. It's hard to tell from a photo as it actually looks more steel grey - it is in fact the same colour as the guttering. It's just the reflection of the light that makes it looks lighter. Come and see it in real life and you'll see just what I mean!!!

Nearly finished, hopefully only one more day for the roof on site and then it will be done. Tell you what, you really notice the difference being inside now - hardly any rain! And of course it was raining in Romsey today. And for the most part we were nice and dry. Not as windy either, although that could just be my imagination :).

Those silver rolls of insulation are called 'roof blanket' and they go right up against the roof. I think it's also called sarking. Anyway, that is to make sure the roof is well insulated and doesn't collect too much heat (or cold, for that matter) in the roof space.

Jobs for today: Installing the fixed windows above the rumpus room windows (see earlier post) and the same window above the front door. We've had to put down some plastic over the door entrance sills, it is so damn muddy in Romsey (and believe me that red mud just does not come out) to stop muddy feet from wrecking the beautiful timber. We also played cleaners today, going around and picking up all the left over rubbish from site. It looks much nicer, although our 'bin' is now overflowing.

Had to leave early as Pink is not well today - think she has the flu her brother had earlier in the week (not swine) - high temp and a cough. Off home for some movies, drugs, and a rest on the couch, that'll fix her right up.

The sun is shining.... perhaps a roof will be in by the end of the week???

2009-06-17T17:31:00.004+10:00

Nearly there... the bracing is all on, and the scaffolding has been put up to the back part of the house. Apparently according to Mr Roofman the people putting up the scaffolding were supposed to be there today so fingers crossed. We have fascia and guttering all around the house now, which is SO COOL! Hopefully the roof will be in by the end of the week... fingers crossed. If so that means a busy week of putting the sisalation around the house. Should be fun though, I'm looking forward to doing a bit of hard labour. Just have to make sure to keep my fingers clear of any sharp bits... or mallets... Oh yes... we had a great ebay bargain the other day. $20 bucks per roll for sisalation (the foil wrap that goes on the outside of the frame, before the bricking happens), instead of somewhere between $60 and $100 as per hardware store prices. Bargain! Good old Homeone forum, someone else had been able to get the same sort of bargain so we thought we'd give it a go.

It's cold in Romsey!!!

2009-06-08T22:35:00.002+10:00

A message from Mr Lewis today prompted me to think about heating. His comment on the previous post "it looks cold cold cold there" is very true (mind you when you live in Queensland then anything is cold in comparison!). So I started to consider our options. And lo and behold, when I purchased the latest version of Real Living Magazine there was a competition to win one of these beautiful warm Heatmaster gas log heaters. Doesn't that look warm! So I'm hoping to win ... 'The secret of success is enthusiasm!!!'....

Brace yourself!

2009-06-06T18:26:00.004+10:00

Well, we didn't expect it to happen this week but we have the roof bracing on the back half of the roof. The roofers were out on Tuesday putting up the guttering (which you can see in the picture) and then Wednesday we expected all the hard work to begin... only to receive a message from the roofer saying his wife had had her baby! Congratulations to them, it is great news and we are very happy for them. So we thought nothing would happen this week.... until Bikeman went up to the block today to do some work and voila, some lovely blue bracing has appeared at the back of the house. Ready to attach a roof to! Wow....

Frame Inspection .... check!

2009-06-02T23:24:00.003+10:00

We have a frame! And it even passed inspection. Cool! Bikeman spent many, many hours of his life (big thanks to Pops for helping out) hammering in nail after nail after nail. The chippie showed Pete how to hammer on the bracing so it would save us money (and him time), which was great. So now all we need is a roof .... and for somewhere that is in drought it has been raining a LOT! Roofer was out there today, which is great, putting up the fascia. By the way, we have chosen the following Colorbond roof colours: Monument for the main roof, and guttering , and Woodland Grey for the fascia and downpipes, and also the windows and roller garage door. It's very hard to choose colour based on those little chips of steel and some photos in bad light! But we got there. And up until the day we decided we were always having Woodland Grey on the roof. But there was a new colour, and in actual fact the Woodland Grey looked a little too green for the whole roof... I think the Monument colour will be just perfect. A slate - dark grey colour. We're having some bank issues. As in not enough cash. Thank god for credit cards to give us that little bit extra until we get to lockup... just have to hope it will be enough! We haven't gone over, just a matter of timing for payments. It's all good, though, we've got it sorted. Stay posted for some more photos of the roof going on... maybe even some action shots, we'll see....

Bye Dad....

2009-05-31T22:12:00.002+10:00

Most of you will be aware that my wonderful Dad passed away on Friday 22nd May, 2009. May you rest in peace, Dad, we miss you already. x

Thanks to all our wonderful family and friends for being our strength during this difficult time. The phone calls, messages of support and flowers, food and cheering up are greatly appreciated and we are lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people. xxx

Roof Trusses are in, partially completed...

2009-05-11T00:55:00.003+10:00

Well the roof trusses are partially in, we've received many comments from the carpenter, the truss dude and anyone anywhere near the house - the roof trusses are huge! To match the rest of the house, I guess.

The chippie and Bikeman had some issues surrounding the delivery of the trusses, they missed a large beam which held them up from finishing one part of the house toward the back. This was delivered the next day but this didn't help in the meantime!

It looks really cool to have a roof over the alfresco area, really boxes it in more. The rooms are starting to take shape and the roof trusses should be finished next week. Unfortunately Bikeman is at the end of his labouring effort, he has to be back at work next week. I think he's quite enjoyed it, although he has been rather tired at the end of the day. They've been working pretty hard though.

Next we need to give the site a bit of a cleanup - have to hope a workcover inspector doesn't come out in the next day or so! There are bits of wood all over the place and bits of roof trusses waiting to be installed. Ah the joys of owner building! It has been really great to go and walk through whenever we want to, and to do 'stuff' - like adding extra noggins in the walls, and priming the window sills - it all saves money and gives us exactly what we want.

Oh I nearly forgot! We signed up for a kitchen last week. It's great to know we're moving along nicely. Just have to make time to get to the auctions to buy ourselves and oven and rangehood!!

Are butterflies good luck?

2009-05-11T00:40:00.003+10:00

This beautiful butterfly paid us a visit today. I'm hoping that perhaps it might bring us luck, in particular to those around us who need it most. The kids were so excited!! It had such lovely colours, I couldn't resist.... this was taken through the theatre room sliding doors (from the outside looking in).

View from the back of the block

2009-05-03T23:03:00.004+10:00

This is the standard photo I've been posting on facebook - from the same spot, whenever we have any new stuff appearing on the block. For some reason facebook doesn't like this photo so I'm going to try and post it here....

Well we finally made it to bricking up time! Had a few false starts, with the wall trusses arriving later than expected. And the windows arriving earlier than we wanted them to. And the following:

- Had issues with the lintels, in particular the one above the garage door. The engineer (read: Bikeman) ordered the wrong size so it was too small - and only realised once the brickie was onsite and called us. He also had issues with the garage door we had ordered - turned out the frame which came with it should have been installed by a chippie so that caused further panic where we had to go and find a steel garage door so that the bricking could continue.

- So we ordered a new lintel, which arrived onsite the next day... only to find that the manufacturer had put two of the bits (sorry for the non-technical information) the wrong way. So it was too short one side and too long the other. So back we went again, new lintels required.... eeep! More delays.

The brickie was brilliant, in the end he and his guys ended up onsite on Saturday to finish the job which was great of him, especially considering none of the issues had been his! A slab of beer went his way and hopefully he enjoyed it after a long week!

In the week to come: Bikeman has some time off to finish the roof trusses and do some general work around the house. We have to do things like stain and varnish the window sills, paint the wooden lintels for the alfresco, and clean the sticky residue on the windows left from the stickers on them. Plus adding a few extra noggins in the walls for things like the TV, toilet roll holders, shelving, etc etc. No doubt will keep him busy! I believe we may be at lockup in about a month, which would be great - get it out of the way before the cold weather hits. Will keep y'all posted...

We have bricks!

2009-05-03T22:53:00.004+10:00

Looking back up toward the front of the house and the garage. Even the garage has a great view! Wow the bricks look great! Thought they looked a little red when they were delivered, but they look really good (and more like I imagined). Loooove the double brick look.

Photos around the house

2009-04-28T21:48:00.010+10:00

Standing in the front doorway looking down the hallway. The kids thought this was HILARIOUS! (and of course wanted to look at themselves in the camera afterwards). Standing in the doorway of the theatre room looking back at the lounge (Pink and Blue are surfing about where the couch will be), which goes out to the alfresco. Back past the bracing frame (which won't stay there!) is the dining room and more towards the right is the kitchen. Blue's room... will have a great view over the pool! Pink's bedroom windows... can't you just imagine a little corner seat there?? Pete washing the dishes in the sink in the butlers pantry ... what a well trained husband! The bricks (well half of them anyway, more to come...)

Frame and windows ... it seems REAL!!

2009-04-28T21:11:00.005+10:00

How exciting to see something that was in 2D lifted out of the ground and brought to life... amazing! What surprised me most was how excited I was about Pink's windows... they looked even better than I'd imagined! The only issues we had were:

- the dwarf door into the garage

- we thought the bathroom window was too low, but it was just trickery of the eyes

- front windows ... not quite right. Were too low, so we hoisted them up further. Looks better from the outside but now the windows don't suit the front. Back to the drawing board - may need to buy 2 new front windows. Will see how we go... Other than that, looks fantastic!!!

Quick update

2009-04-24T00:25:00.003+10:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've had a pretty full-on couple of days. Dad suffered a stroke a couple of days ago, on the same day that Max broke his arm. Both are well, Dad is progressing day by day so it's just a waiting game at the moment but it looks quite positive. Amid all the sadness, somehow, we magically have a frame up on the slab (courtesy of the bikeman fairy and his cronies)! Real walls, and rooms you can walk through. It's very exciting seeing something that you have created on paper all of a sudden in 3D. It is really, really cool. I have photos but I'm too tired tonight to upload, sorry!!! I'll try to get to it over the weekend. It looks great, the frame went up really quickly, in 2 days so the boys worked really hard. Pink has already fallen out of her room, backwards through the hole in between the fram trusses. Apparently forgot that there wasn't actually a wall there. Blue is most impressed with the house, being able to wander through the middle of walls is very appealing! The only issues were the door into the garage, they measured it from the bottom of the garage floor rather than the elevated level of the second section. So it appears to be a door for the seven dwarfs. Luckily the chippie can fix it! And the windows at the front don't look quite right, we requested them a bit low so they are going to be moved up a little as well (again courtesy of chippie). Windows have been delivered, and are being installed tomorrow. All systems go!

Current Photos....

2009-04-20T21:54:00.002+10:00

Well, the first load of trusses were delivered today (you can see them to the left of the photo, where the pool will eventually be). Stacked up neatly, ready to go.

The orange around the perimeter is termite protection. Seems we had a bit of overkill, termite protection of the slab as well as termite protecting the truss, well at least we know we won't get termites!

All ready for Bikeman and the chippy to get to it nice and early tomorrow morning.... how exciting!

And then there were 'sticks'

2009-04-20T14:52:00.003+10:00

I had a funny discussion with the blue one yesterday. I was explaining that the frame would be delivered tomorrow (Tuesday) - **as an aside, it is actually being delivered today !yay!** and he was very excited about being able to walk into his room and have a look. Do you know how hard it is to explain to a 6 year old what plaster is? And what it will look like when it isn't there? Me: "Well yes the frame will be up, part of the walls, but there won't actually be a wall" Blue: "I thought you said the walls were being delivered" Me: "Yes well they are but you'll be able to see through the walls as there won't be any plaster yet" Blue: "What's plaster" Me: "Well it's these boards that go on after the frame has gone up and all the electrical and plumbing .... (now I'm confusing myself) Blue: "So I'll be able to see through the walls like a super hero" Me: "Yes well kind of." Blue: "Oh, I understand now. I'll only be able to see the sticks. The rest I will be able to see through" Me: "Yes! (thank god for 6 year old logic) So we have sticks. Bikeman has headed up to the block right now to welcome the delivery of the frame, now all we need is for the chippy to arrive tomorrow and we'll be set. How exciting! Oh and we also have termite protection. Not so exciting (and also the invoice was more expensive than quoted - grrr - waiting for a call back with an explanation) but gives a lovely orange border around the edge of the slab. I will post photos soon!

Did somebody just apply the brakes???

2009-04-09T14:16:00.002+10:00

Yes they did. The truss manufacturer has just advised that there will be a delay of a week before the truss will be delivered. So that list I had before..... now all those people have to be advised that we have to push their products/services back a week...... and it was all looking so promising up til a mere hour ago!!! Ah well, hopefully they won't mind. Not the end of the world, it's only a delay. We can cope with that! Although now Bikeman has to go back to work straight after Easter instead of having holidays.... poor guy!

The calm before the storm

2009-04-06T21:44:00.003+10:00

While it doesn't feel like anything is moving to quickly at the moment, in about a week all hell is going to break loose (I'm big on the cliches recently, will have to get myself some new material :)).... The frame is due to arrive the week after Easter, along with: - Windows - Bricks - Pest Control - Lintels (metal bars to hold the bricks above the windows) - Front door, garage door and frame (not roller door, other door) and laundry door Not to mention that the chippie, sparky, plumber, brickie and Mr Termite will all be paying us a visit within the next couple of weeks. And of course the famous Bikeman will be flexing his muscles moving about some shiver me timbers. Now as long as they all arrive in the RIGHT order we'll be fine..... hmmmm! At least now we have a meter box for our electricity and real, working electricity for the chippie! And we have running water - nearly enough to just put up a tent and start living there now! Apart from the fact that with the huge downpours in the last few weeks there has been a bit of scouring out of dirt around the slab, which we need to fix pronto - our next job for this weekend! Some 'boxing out' apparently. Whatever that means, although I have been assured it doesn't involve boxes. Or even bits of wood. Just dirt. I learn something new every day!

There was movement at the station

2009-04-01T22:18:00.002+11:00

After a long couple of weeks, we had some movement today! The truss manufacturer has confirmed that the frame will be delivered just after Easter, so the wheels are in motion and the chippie has been notified, as well as the brickie and the brick company (thanks to the fabulous Aunty Annie!), and the windows are set to be delivered around the same time. So bikeman will have a couple of weeks off work hopefully to help put up the frame and roof, which nicely co-incide with the school hols so the kids will be able to watch some of the hard work. Blue, in particular, will be most impressed.

New stuff - forgot!

2009-03-28T22:37:00.002+11:00

Sorry there were a couple of new things I forgot to post about! 1. We have a fence down the neighbours side. Looks very snazzy! 2. We have water!!! 3. We have an electricity box (but as far as we know no electricity connection yet). 4. We have a portaloo. The kids love it (bleergh!) and insist on going to the toilet every time we visit the block. That's it! Til next time.....

Waiting for some wood..

2009-03-28T22:31:00.002+11:00

We have a lovely concrete slab just waiting for some wood to be attached to it.... and now just waiting on the trusses! Our truss manufacturer is playing the daily phone call game with me now, 'Hi it's me again, just wondering if you could give us a date of delivery for the truss... ok you'll call me back, great' ..... 'Hi, me again....yes you were supposed to call yesterday but that's ok... well could you at least give us an approximate timeframe.... 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks?... Ok I'll call back Monday' etc etc etc! Our original 3 weeks has just passed and it looks like we have another at least 2-3 weeks before it will actually be delivered. So have phoned the window manufacturer to push out the delivery of the windows another couple of weeks. Bikeman is going to take a week off when the truss arrives to help the chippy, I think he's quite looking forward to it actually! Will post again when there is more to post... hopefully in a couple of weeks!

Show me the money!

2009-03-16T01:06:00.002+11:00

Well we've come to my first milestone... the slab. And of course, that also means paying out the big bickies! The bank finally came to the party, after many an annoying phone call by myself "hi, it's me.... calling for our daily chat.... do we have any money yet PLEASE??? No? Ok, I'll talk to you again tomorrow, then...". So finally it came through, we could pay the concreter and pay for the windows and so on and so on. We've ordered the frame and roof trusses, they should be here in approx 3 weeks. The bricks have been ordered. The roof and window frame colour has been chosen (Woodland Grey, in case you were wondering). The chippie and his trusty labourer (none other than bikeman) will then work their guts out to put the frame and roof up in a matter of about a week once the trusses arrive. The brickie will work alongside them to put up the garage, and the roofer will work somewhere in there also. And before you know it .... voila! We're at lockup. Wow. Another milestone! I wonder if it will look so *big* once the walls are up... surely not!

We have a slab!!!!

2009-03-03T21:39:00.002+11:00

Well we now officially have a slab. It looks a little brown due to the crazy winds and dust about today, but some would think that is a feature! It will be hidden under other things like carpet and floorboards anyway, so no problemo. Wow we have a slab. It looks HUGE! But yet so small all at the same time, if that makes sense. Like the proximity of the island bench waste pipe to the outdoor area. Looks way too small. Bikeman assures me it is as per plan. Weird, how the eye can deceive. It's there - its going up, up, up and the bank balance is going down, down, down. Now if the bank would only come through with the dosh already I'd be happy!!! PS If you look closely you can see pink and blue making some kind of a rock playhouse, which has been their thing to do the last few times we went up there. Who says kids need expensive toys??

Good day for ducks!

2009-03-03T09:13:00.003+11:00

Well today is the day - the final slab pour. I had my doubts as to whether it would go ahead today, what with us all receiving text messages from Victoria Police warning of 'extreme conditions' predicted for today - 100km hr winds, 34 degrees and a worry that fires could flare up, and then when we woke up today pouring rain!!! It's actually quite cold, for the moment anyway - 15 degrees right now. But they're still running the terrible conditions line. Pink one's kinder has been cancelled today because of it! So this morning when I heard the rain, I thought for sure it was all off. Only Pete rang at 8am to tell me it's all systems go on the block - there's about 9 guys there and they were already up to the second truck load. So we should have a completed slab by the middle of the day! I tell you what, these guys work hard - you wouldn't see me getting up at some ungodly hour to be pouring a slab!! Photos to come later once complete :)

We have a garage and front room floor!

2009-02-26T21:57:00.003+11:00

We have concrete! The front part of the slab has been poured, which is pretty damn good. It has to be poured in two sections as we have a split level - front section and then the rest of the house. You can see where the waffle pods sit, at the moment, but that will fade as the concrete sets - the 'beams' have more concrete and therefore hold more moisture.

Woo hoo!

Waffles, anyone?

2009-02-25T23:14:00.003+11:00

I was a little hasty in my last post. I thought concrete was going in today, but no - the waffle pods were put in place ready for thr first pour tomorrow (Thurs). So it begins, tomorrow. We will have concrete. And this time next week, we will have the whole slab!! My god this house looks massive already! The kids were quite impressed though, that they could 'see' where their rooms will be .. Zali's is the jutting out bit at the bottom of the photo, on the LHS. And Max's room is further to the left and up a little. No progress yet on the water tapping, from what I can tell. The Water co still have to come and fix it. We have movement on power though, there are some conduits moving through the slab/boxing up. Next we have to dig a trench!

Boxed and ready for concrete..

2009-02-23T20:45:00.005+11:00

The concreter (El Guapo) and crew have been working hard today boxing up the front lower area ready to pour the concrete. The piers have magically shrunk into little circles of concrete, just peeping above the crushed rock placed to make a beautiful flat surface. About half is boxed with the rocks down ready to pour the concrete. El Guapo will be back on site tomorrow to box out the rest of the slab, ready for the first pour of concrete on Thursday! We had another win today - with Bikeman and the blue one bidding successfully via Grays Online on a frameless shower screen. $373, which is $227 under budget. Bring on more savings! Blue was particularly excited, telling his sister that 'we won a shower, we won a shower!' which was very cute. We have another bid out now on the other shower, so fingers crossed! On a more sour note, the plumber has had a problem tapping our water out the front. He's dug out where the water co told him to, no luck. Water co came out to mark exactly where tapping was located, so he dug directly down from there, no luck. So now it is up to the water co to come out and find it and fix it - goodness knows how long that might take! Thankfully our lovely neighbours have allowed us to use some more of their water, until it is all sorted. The neighbours also remember having a similar problem with their tapping, it was going to end up right in the middle of the driveway - so they had theirs moved. I'm thinking we'll probably end up in the same predicament! Anyway time will tell... And if you squint into the background you can see that the retaining wall is all but completed! Capping stones just have to be bon-creted on, which will happen later. Plans are to put a tarp or some other plastic over the retaining wall to protect it during the building process. Moving up, up, up, up.....

Plumbing to match the fixtures...

2009-02-16T22:28:00.001+11:00

Inch by inch.... we have plumbing! The plumbers were hard at it early this morning, digging trenches and laying pipes and measuring this and that. In the end we have these pipes just waiting for some concrete to be poured over them and then to be connected up to our newly purchased fixtures. I think we even have water, if not now then we will tomorrow.

Boxing out for the slab should be happening later on this week. Oh my god the slab!!!! How exciting... Come on there must be some of you out there just as excited as me????

(Note the beautiful retaining wall in the background... all finished bar the capping pavers! And if you squint really hard, you can see the fence posts between our place and our lovely neighbours, it will be a shame not to see them as often when the fence goes up! Will just have to have them over for a BBQ and drinks instead...)

Completion and War Wounds

2009-02-15T20:52:00.000+11:00

We had a big day Saturday. After a number of false starts, due to hot weather, fires, and other commitments, we were able to get a whole lot done. A big big thanks to our helpers for the day, Pops, Stevie B, Lee-Lee, AOB next door and our chippie Scotty without whom it would have been a much longer day! The aims for the day were as follows: 1. Concrete in fence posts for side fence 2. Complete set out ready for plumber on Monday 3. Finish concrete and blocks on retaining wall 4. Talk to concreter We were able to finish all but 3 of the fence posts, completed most of the setout (enough for the plumber) and finished all but the capping stones on the retaining wall. Our concreter, El Guapo, appeared to have a chat, which was great and looks like we're still on schedule. Stevie B brought with him his fantastic machine which made every job so much quicker! Scoria behind the retaining wall, check. Dirt behind the retaining wall, check. Crushed rock around the concrete piers, check. Wow!!! Sorry there are no photos but a little disagreement with a mallet meant a rushed trip to the doctors and seven stitches in my left index finger. What a lovely way (not) to end the day! I will take some photos tomorrow and post soon...

We have fixtures!

2009-02-13T16:59:00.000+11:00

The search for the perfect (cost-effective) toilet is over as quickly as it began. I found 2 very reasonably priced toilets today at E & S Trading. Great!!! And I figured while I was there I may as well buy the bath, and the sinks for the vanities. God I love spending money! Not too bad, went a little over on the toilets and ensuite/bathroom basins but was able to rake that back by the basin in the toilet and the bath. So an end deficit of only $130, that's not too bad - surely we can eat beans for a week or two to make that one up (and then make thoroughly good use of the toilet!!!!).

Auctions and the search for a porcelain bus

2009-02-12T23:06:00.000+11:00

Last weekend we decided to go to Grays Auction house to see if we couldn't bag ourselves a couple of great deals. It was going to be a stinking hot day (and in hindsight one of the most disastrous days in Australia's history) so we went early and took the kids with us. The kids were great (even though they were hot and BORED), and we learned a lot about how the auction system works. There were some fantastic bargains to be had, if you knew your prices and could get in and be the highest bidder. We went with the hope of buying a toilet, and also had our eyes on some frameless shower screens. There were 3 auctions being run at the same time, one for furniture, one for whitegoods, ovens and electrical, and another for everything else (tiles, kitchens, bathroom stuff, etc etc). Toilets weren't what we hoped for, weren't that many available and went for way higher than we were willing to pay. Turns out, from further investigation today that they are a little more expensive than we thought so perhaps they weren't such a high price after all! Frameless shower screen we missed out on, they went for $500 which was what we were willing to pay (and a bargain!) but we were busy watching an auction in another area and missed out. So we'll be back again in a few weeks, once we know what number of tiles and floorboards we need, to have another crack. Unfortunately it will be too late for the porcelain bus, we have to have one bought (or at least decided upon) by Monday for the plumber to do the roughing in. So the search is on!!!

Bushfires in Victoria

2009-02-12T22:47:00.001+11:00

I would like to express my sincere, heartfelt condolences to all the victims of the recent Victorian bushfires. To those who lost their house, their friends, their family or their faith in humankind I wish you all the luck in the world and a speedy recovery, both physical and mental. With such sorrow and sadness comes the amazing discovery that our there are so many beautiful people out there who are willing to help others, I am so proud to be part of this great nation! May your rebuilding (house and or lives) be swift, those lost will be etched in the minds of all Victorians for many years to come. x

Retaining Wall Photo

2009-02-04T00:39:00.001+11:00

Crack of Dawn stuff

2009-02-04T00:18:00.000+11:00

Ok well maybe it wasn't the crack of dawn. But it was early and I was there, ready to work! We were under time constraints as we were going to a surprise birthday party for Quinny (those parties you just can't be late for!) so Bikeman, Pops, The Friendly Prussian and my good self worked at a cracking pace. Was going quite well til one of the blocks decided it couldn't hold it's concrete at the back and as fast as we filled it up it was pouring out. Bit of scoria behind the wall was able to stop the leak and we could continue on our merry way. We're getting there! Nearly finished, probably another 1/2 day of work and we'll be done. It's forecast again for 38 on Sat so that's not ideal, we are supposed to be doing the post uprights this weekend with our lovely new neighbours so I guess we'll just keep an eye on the weather. Plumber has been booked in for Monday 16th Feb, so once he has been the concreter can come in .... da da da da! The slab!!!

Too hot to build!

2009-01-29T19:11:00.000+11:00

Well we're into our 3rd day straight of a massive heatwave in Melbourne .... and it looks like going into the weekend. Our plans to finish the retaining wall this weekend look doomed! But we are still going to go and pick up the additional blocks Saturday morning, with the hope that we could go out at the crack of dawn Sunday and work for a couple of hours in the morning. What is happening to me - the crack of dawn! Oh my god before you know it I'll be in bed by 9pm, what will the world come to.

More photos of retaining wall...

2009-01-26T18:39:00.000+11:00

2009-01-24T23:12:00.000+11:00

Pink and Blue helping build the wall!

2009-01-24T23:04:00.000+11:00

Kimberlee in Retaining Wall 'Jail'

2009-01-24T22:52:00.000+11:00

Retaining Wall Creation....

Retaining Wall Success!

2009-01-24T22:23:00.000+11:00

Well we're about 2/3 of the way through the retaining wall. How exciting! Looks great, just waiting on photos to come through from Pete's mobile (sorry Prussian). Will update soon, I promise. Right now I have to go and continue drinking many glasses of white wine to celebrate the retaining wall....

On the way up!

2009-01-18T23:00:00.000+11:00

Pouring piers, the Friendly Prussian on the level View of site from top of dirt mound

The hard workers, after pouring the trench. Ricky Doo Bah, Pop and The Friendly Prussian all chipping in to help Bikeman.

It's official: we're no longer digging down, we're going up. The piers were poured on Saturday, filling in the 42 massive holes in the ground and the trench for the retaining wall with a huge 10m of concrete (5 truckloads worth!!).

The piers now have neat little mounds of concrete sticking out of them, the kids thought that was great as they were like stepping stones. In fact the blue one thought that one of them was placed there specifically for him to be able to step up from the recessed level at the front to the main area. Cute!

The trench footings look great, Bikeman has outdone himself in this creation. Beautifully flat and ready for some blocks to be placed on top of them. The next project, for next weekend: building the retaining wall. From now on, things only go up!

Bikeman taught the kids today to slide down the dirt pile - actually he was trying to teach them to jump but the pink one decided it would be safer to slide - they thought that was fantastic! The kids were super helpers today, we took down the formwork and they busied themselves moving string and wire and wooden posts, they all in all had a wonderful time. Man they love getting dirty! The washing machine is working overtime :)

2009-01-13T18:24:00.000+11:00

Wow, photos! I'm amazed at myself. This is the trench that bikeman created (with some help from Pop from the farm, and of course the excavator driver) ... it is all ready for some reo and concrete, then there will be a blockwork retaining wall built there. Isn't he clever??

Electrical Appointment

2009-01-13T18:11:00.000+11:00

We met with the Electrician on Saturday, very nice guy! He seems quite practical and very down to earth, which is great. He gave us some really good suggestions regarding our fittings (most of which will save us money) and is going to redo our quote for us on the changes we are going to make. I'm sure we're going to work well together. He has agreed to do the fitout once the bricks are on, to save slippery fingers pinching our cables etc if fitout was to be done prior to lockup. I think he said probably 4 times 'it's just so big' .... I know it's big but geez it's starting to alarm me the number of people commenting on the size! I can see from the quotes what the 'bigness' is doing to the prices. Hmmm perhaps next time we'd only be looking at a small 3 bedder???? Hahaha yeah right! Although the pink and the blue one will be sharing a room for the next 6 months, so that we can use the pink ones room for a proper study. Should make life easier for organisation, theoretically. She's stoked to be sharing the room with her brother and even the blue one is quite excited. Winners all round! Site update: Bikeman has finished digging the trench and boxing it out (he's so clever) and the reinforcing mesh etc will be delivered this week. Once the reo is in we get to a very important (and expensive!) step - the building inspector will inspect the trench footings, and the remaining piers, and we can order a shite load of concrete to be poured into both. This is very exciting as it will mean we are two steps away from our/my first goal.... the slab! Once the piers and trench are poured, we can finish building the retaining wall, and then the roughing in will be done by the electrician and the plumber, and the concreter does his thing and the slab will be poured. Meeting with the concreter next week, which will be interesting ... have been told he is the best of the best so will be nice to meet him and it will start to feel like it is beginning to happen. On a personal note, the kids are visiting the Rizzos this week and it has been amazing how much I've been able to get done while they were away, even with working as well! Diz - I'll be sending them there every week for a couple of days, if that's ok. Hahahaha!

Decisions, decisions....

2009-01-10T23:32:00.000+11:00

We're coming to crunch time now with decisions. Do we go with the floor boards, or go back to the cheaper, not as nice looking but waaaay more durable (and heaps cheaper), tiles? All the other prices seem to be on the increase so the search is on to save money. I think tiles will be the way... but there's no way we're moving on the double glazed windows, they are here to stay! We might be eating baked beans every night a year from now but we'll be comfortably warm while we are doing it!!!