It's a portico too!!!!

 

pitched

It looks as though we are going to have the roof timber finished by christmas!

 

its a timber extravaganza

I know the photos were a bit light on yesterday... there really wasn't that much to show other than horizontal beams!

Luckily today's post is action packed and full of oooohs and ahhhhs.

First off the rank I'll start with what is my favourite view in our place. I love the feel of the space here. Scarily it's the kitchen. I never thought I'd be that person!!!! But there's no use fighting it now... this view is just heaven to me.

Here from the dining / kitchen area looking over to the lounge and front verandah. If you look carefully you can make out the recess in the lounge room ceiling.

Our first bit of actual roof cover!!!!! The front verandah is going to be such an enjoyable space, we love it already!

Here's the view from the dining room. You can see out over the verandah... joy

From the outside looking in

A bit closer

And here's our bedroom


And that's about it!!!!!

We're going to head down this morning to see if anything else is happening. The guys were supposed to finish up yesterday but they've left a lot of stuff lying around etc and it didn't look as though that's how you'd leave it for the holiday period..? We could be totally wrong though and to be honest we're absolutely thrilled with where we've got to, particularly after all the drama earlier this week.

I'm just so happy with it all and am feeling much more positive going into the chrissy holiday break.

Indy is feeling a lot more relaxed with it all too :)

The roof, the roof

Check it out!!! The roof timber is going up!!!


I LOVE the front, how the front pillars are now connected to the house, it gives it the sense of space that I've been imagining for so long!

Mum and Dad came to check out the progress of the much anticipated roof timber which was great.

I can't begin to explain how much I appreciate Goodlife doing the right thing by us on this one. It's made such a difference to my confidence towards the build.

Hopefully by tonight we'll have the full frame up.... can't wait for work to finish already!

Sneaky sneaky - and some BRILLIANT news!!!

Michael has officially morphed into none other than the sneaky sneaky Mr Burns.



He took a phone call from our construction manager today who apparently said we were going to be all systems go after the break. Turns out Michael heard the good news and decided to be cheeky with it instead... plotting and scheming to tell me something else!!!

He surprised me (not toooo dissimilar to the pic below) by taking me past our house to show me the progress. At first sight you could hardly tell, although Michael was sure to mention that it looked like someone had 'lifted' our wood!

Cheeky cheeky bugger, I love his work.



Tonight was mum's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!) and it was such a great night, I absolutely loved it. It feels like our family has found its mojo again and all our cards are falling into place. I hope it stays that way x

Bah humbug

After chasing up the lack of progress yesterday I recieved advice that the roof carpenter has been delayed on another job.

On the upside aparently once the tradesmen and supervisor return from the Christmas break progress moves very quickly. Wonderful, just wonderful. We look forward to late Jan 2010.

We're so sick of them telling us something is going to happen, then it doesn't happen, nor are we told it hasn't happened. Even more annoying than the delay after delay is having to chase it up time after time only to receive a rubbish excuse and to be told that it's still within schedule.

It really isn't good enough. Just give us our roof like we were promised.

Oh, we were wished a happy Christmas and new year though.

cranky

The roof contractors didn't show yesterday.

Nobody was onsite this morning.

Maybe they slept in (or of course, are somewhere else)

Here's hoping the roof has started before we go past this arvo, the long summer break is coming all too fast.

I've emailed the builder for an update - lets see what they have to say.

no surprises

I guess our builder didn't cotton on to my surprise theory :(

No roof started, no nothing today. Expected? Yes.

Was I holding on to that glimmer of hope that they would start the roof just to get us through that bit quicker before the christmas break? Yes.

Do I want something interesting for my Dad to see? Yes!!!!!!

The goodlife house that are building down the bottom end of my parents' estate were way behind us in their bricking, starting after us and looking far, far behind - well they had their timber roof frame finished yesterday. I'm guessing they didn't bring anything up at their bricking meeting with the supervisor.

Ahh well, I know it will be here soon enough but I can't help but want it sooner!

Oh, and for the record - it's not a race, there is no race!!!!

brickies are finished!!

We're pretty excited....our brickies are finished and have cleaned our site up. The front windows are going to look so good!!!!!!

It looks just as we imagined and is really effective from both inside and out. Love it!



Hey roof guys - we're ready for YOU now!!!!

tradition

What a day!!!! Phyl... I can't thank you enough for the chrissy wreath you surprised us (well, me) with today... I can't express how much it means!!!! Michael attached it to the fence and all of a sudden it transformed our house into our home. I was telling my mum about it this evening and how special it was to me.... she said that it really was amazing and that something like that needs to become a tradition. She is so right (as mums always are) and every year from now, the wreath you made us will sit in that spot at christmas time.

So our home seems to be in good shape according to our building inspector (Andrew) who helped us immensley with our meeting with our supervisor today, who seems like a pretty decent guy.

There are a few bits and pieces that need fixing up and looking into but really our brickies have been just fantastic. We are looking forward to the front being completed tomorrow so the roof can begin really soon! Early next week we've been told.. why is it that we (I) hold on to the element of surprise though!? Imagine driving by on Friday and it being started - oohhh the excitement.

I wonder if builders understand the psychology behind it all. Excitement is good, delays are frustrating and not knowing nearly kills us. Dramatic yes, but it all describes the rollercoaster when you're riding in the front seat... and loving it.

Here is our gorgeous wreath on our front fence - thank you Phyl!!!!

A bit closer...
River loves it too - believe it or not he did this all himself!!!! Our little family can all tell the moment a tradition is born xx

got wood

That's right folks!! The wood for our roof frame was delivered yesterday.


The roof was actually scheduled to start yesterday but clearly that didn't happen... we have a meeting with our site supervisor this afternoon to go through the brickwork etc. Not sure how you have a brickwork completion meeting when the bricking STILL hasn't been completed?? It's just the row next to the front door as well as the row above the dining room - but still - it's not finished.

I wish they'd just understand that if there's a problem or delay all they have to do is let us know.. it's really not that hard to fire off a 1 line email "just letting you know...."

Anyway, we'll post an update after our meeting today!

See what happens on a slow build week

It's been a slow build week to say the least.... Our brickies are 99.9% done, they just need to finish the bricking next to our front door, which is literally 1 row of bricks as well as the top row along the dining room. Hopefully they will do it today so our roof can start as scheduled on Monday - soooo looking forward to that!!

Michael came home on Monday which has been so good, and such a relief for me. With our poor River hurting his paw it put a lot of pressure on me - lifting a 35kg sedated and sooky dog is hard!!!! And tiring! I was constantly looking after him which included several trips to the vets, trying to keep him relaxed after he came out of his overly reactive sedation, constant cleaning and putting betadine on his wound (which was a challenge in itself!!) as well as the medication rounds and trying to do everything I could to stop him having to wear the cone of shame (as worn by dug the dog in UP)!


I'm happy to say that River is on the mend and with Michael home things are feeling like they are coming back to some sense of normality. Indy is loving having him home too :)

We both booked yesterday off to spend some time together. Originally it was planned as a hot date, but we decided to save our $$$ and do some house research instead.

Well one thing led to another and the research turned into shopping! We bought a dishwasher!! It's my very first dishwashwer, actually I'm the first in my family to own one - I feel like a pioneer haha

So, here it is...... isn't it pretty!!!


It matches our fridge nicely, gets great reviews and of course we got it for an absolute steal, saving just over $1000 on it and coming in under budget.

Portico!!!

What a nice surprise!!!! Our portico was bricked yesterday!! It looks quite funny and 'detached' but it's a good size. Our garage was also finished off.

We've been told that the roof is scheduled to begin on the 7th December... looks like we are on track for that!

More brickie action

And they're still at it! The guys were working on Saturday and again yesterday so we've had a fair bit of progress again.

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday. I can't wait to enjoy days like these living here.

They've done the brickwork along the top of the recess, and next to the front door. Just waiting for the correct window in the dining room.

You'd better get home soon before the magpies claim our cinema Michael !!!!

The guys have finished off our ensuite - the mirror goes between these two windows. Natural, even light - bring it on!!

Brickwork in the ensuite... toilet to the left, shower to the right.

Our guest bedroom, complete with wardrobe.

The bathroom is to the left, storage cupboard in the middle and laundry to the right. The other toilet is directly behind the storage cupboard.


And now from yesterday.... behold!!! The cinema is complete!!!!!!!!!!


Just in case you were wondering why our building inspector hasn't been visiting the site... our poor River hurt his dewclaw playing on the weekend. He had surgery on Sunday and I'm thrilled to announce that he should be okay. He's on antibiotics and will be sporting a bright blue bandage until we go back to the vet on Wednesday - what a tuffy!!!

Another busy brickie day!!

I was pleasantly surprised again yesterday! Our brickies have completed our kitchen wall, so you can see the front living space in its entirety now.


It also means that my study which backs onto it is complete!

The hallway leading to the rest of the house...


Here is our bedroom, awaiting sliding door. The ensuite door frames are in.

And this, although it looks like a jumble is actually our ensuite with separate toilet. The storeroom is still to be completed (to the left)

Here is the view looking forward from the back. Michael your studio is all done except for the exterior wall :)


The bowling alley hasn't started yet though... maybe they were daunted by such a big room hahaha just playing!!!

Speaking of other things that haven't been done. That footing, and hence the two front pillars, still haven't been fixed, nor has the front window. I'm really looking forward to the front coming together and seeing the effect.... so much so that in my warped dream last night (yes I finally had a good night sleep!!!!) the portico posts were joined and sort of mashed into one. I wasn't happy... lets hope it's not a sign!

In other news, with a firm nudge from Michael I ordered our dining room feature light this week!!!! It should be in by the end of November. Soooo excited, the photo doesn't really do it justice... the crystals twinkle in the light and it's just so delicate and magical and oh so pretty. Its perfect and we love it!

Photos from this week

With all that is going on I have been insanely time poor this week. Below are the photos of all the action!!

Nothing was done yesterday... not surprising with the weather. Here's hoping more progress has happened today.

If you click on the pic it should open large so you can actually see all the images - it takes FOREVER to upload the pics individually. Let me know if you can't see it and I'll work something else out!