Mini has Arrived

On Thursday the 20th at 6:18am, Lucy Isabel was born. She weighed in at 6lbs 11oz. Mum, Dad and Lucy are doing well and arrived home on Monday. So I guess we are now M&M&L...

Proud Grandma with her sixth grandchild. Grandpa is not too far away.

Lucy's big sister.

Aunty Kathleen and cousin Sally having a cuddle.

As far as the house goes there is lots to do. We are following everyones blogs and when time permits we will post some comments. Right now we are trying to get as much sleep as possible.

Front Deck

Time for an update. We have had quite a number of people comment on our driveway. The concrete was done by Mark from Montrose Concreting. It is a Random pattern for all of those that wanted to know. The color is charcoal. We will seal it with a bluestone color in about 6 months when all the rough areas are worn.

I think we will need to do some landscaping...


This weekend I started to dig out the front area as this was bringing lots of dirt into the house. This was Friday - I took a day off work.

A trip down to Bunnings to buy the material and the making of the frame started.
Saturday was a great day weather wise. It looks a bit messy and was a bit tricky getting everything lined up but I got there eventually.
Sunday morning and I had the frame all bolted together. Some of the ground is concrete and the rest dirt so I needed different foundations for each area. I bought steel brackets and also concreted some posts into the ground.
The porch above is open deck so the area gets wet. I have added some water protection to the joists and bearers. We plan on changing the porch to stop water coming through later on.
Finally starting to lay the deck late Sunday afternoon.

Its not all nailed yet. I will try and finish off during the week. It makes a huge difference walking out the front door.
A little extra added to the Pantry. I've also added the door handles to the old cupboards we put in.
I cut down the blinds to fit the windows. It wasn't too hard. Just use a hack saw and take it slow. It's a lot cheaper than having them made to fit.
We've also put up the towel rails.

Just like a hotel.
Marita has also been busy assembling the cot and change table.

We just need to buy a mattress to fit.

Where did August Go?

Hi All, I think we missed a month or so. We'll have to include a few blogs on what we have been doing over the past weeks. To sum it all up - Lots of work. Here's a few photos we took where the kitchen is reasonably clean. This weekend I will run around the house with the camera and provide a big update. We only just had the internet installed and today I am posting this while at work.


We need to buy a couple of couches
I need to cut down the small window blinds over the cooktop before I can put them up.
The table is actually for the Alfresco but is just fine for now in the house.
The upstand servery works well. The corner cabinet is a pain. It would be great to change it to be like Andy's...

The phone has been connected - just need something to put it on.
We have fitted the old kitchen cabinets into the pantry. Fit perfectly. We just need to buy some handles.
The carpet is great. We had no problems with Carpet Court installers.
I also added some drawers and shelves to our WIR which we kept from the old house.
Yes we have power too. This is another story which I'll go into detail later. Promise to update again soon.

MM

Timber Carpet Driveway

Today is Day 168 but who's counting... It's also our 60th post. We missed the 50th so I thought I would mention it now. It has been another busy, interesting and expensive week. I think the pictures explain most of what has been happening.

Below is our wood heater which we kept from the old house. We had the plumber out to install last week, but typically had a problem with the roof trusses. He will be back tomorrow as I have reinforced the roof and cut out the support.

The redgum is coming along beautifully.


Neally made it to the wall.

Made it and the last plank fit perfectly.

Carpet has been installed. The house seems so much more livable. We have a bit of vacuuming to do.

The driveway made a start yersterday.
I love all the big toys these guys have...
I'm sure the concreter wont mind this picture. The drive sweeps down really well and is not as steep as we expected.



The concrete was poured today. Due to the expected weather over the next few days the rest will be done next week hopefully.

The stamping patterns.
The curve in the drive was tricky so I have been told. It has come up really well.

Final touches.

Flooring

Well I'm now on holiday sitting back and relaxing in our new house. Hardly - too much to do. I think this is a record number of photos in this post. There's still a few items which need attention and a few new ones which we found on the weekend. All small and easy to fix\touch up.

Below a beautiful Congratulations from the 'Childs' and matching photo. Also a bunch of flowers from close friends.

The stereo - the single most important item to bring into the house first.

The first job on Monday morning was to scrap the rubbish off the floor where the flooring is going to be. I had kneepads on and still have sore knees. Lots of vacuuming. Dust everywhere. The timber flooring was delivered on Friday. This stuff is heavy. We are installing solid 125 x 19mm Redgum Multi-Plank flooring.
Next step was to lay plastic over the area that will have timber flooring. This acts is a moisture barrier.

More up the hall way. Attractive don't you think.
The next day I finished laying the plastic and started on the 3mm underlay which is even heavier than the wood.
Covering the living room was quick. You can see the feature wall all finished. Took the painters heaps of coats to get it right.
Progressing through the hallway. I have skipped the pantry and under the stairs.
Made it to the front door.

After a long day I just started to seal the underlay with sealing tape to further protect the timber from moisture. So far so good. I am enjoying actually doing the work rather than watching someone else do the work.
Wednesday morning, finishing off the underlay and sealing it together.
Now where to start. We have the carpet guys coming on Monday so I need to make sure that they can butt the carpet upto the wood. So I need to have the timber layed to the lounge below, study door and rumpus doors.
Working out the spacing and measurements.

More spacing and getting the first few planks nice and straight.

Making more progress.
Study doors. I have cutout the bottom of the doorjams so the timber will slide under.
Time to go home. Today was shorter than the first two.
I really love opening the packets of wood to discover the different patterns. The ones I like the best are being set aside . A few nice pieces will be placed in areas as a feature.

Monday

Hi Everyone,
Sorry, there are no photos to show you today. Nothing much has changed over the weekend. We have some Canadians visiting at the moment so we have not spent a lot of time at the house.
I did manage to finish cleaning the kitchen cupboards last night and emptied the boxes that Mike brought back from storage but there are so many boxes with kitchen things still in storage that it was difficult to know where to put anything, so I have left most of it out on the benches :-)
Mike left very early this morning to continue cleaning the concrete floor so that he can start the underlay for the timber floor. I am hoping he gets a lot done before next Monday as we have booked the carpet people for Monday-Tuesday next week.