Now that's a cubby.....

Well, we are 12 months in and with summer around the corner we thought it was time we got cracking and organised something special - cubby / fort style.

They say a picture says a thousand words so here we go,

The 'no-fort' pic's

The 'with-fort' pic's

Awesome fort that the boys just love.  Build complete with ground level sand pit and upper level fort with a side platform to support the 3m slide.  We decided to fill in the back wall and insert a blackboard for the boys to be creative. Its been up for two months now and the boys have spent hours in / on / under / around / up and down it already.  The flag was just a boys thing !!  Years of fun to come.

The fort came as a 'flat pack' type of thing from DFR Cubbys in Pakenham.  A small family business run by honest hardworking couple and they make to order.  No wonder Nic has orders all other the country (which he delivers and will construct for you personally if needed).  We try not to plug too much but well worth checking out if in the market for something special for the kids - dfrcubby.com

Until next time.

Cam

Where the bloody hell are ya? ONE YEAR ON...

Yes peeps, we are still here!

Its has been 12 months since we moved in and it seems like so long ago that we were a midst the final tortuous stages of the build.

We have not yet signed off all of the issues from our 90 day service. We are still waiting on one thing...Anyone want to hazard a guess? Its the lowering of the dreaded gas meter, which has been a pain in our proverbial since about half way through the build itself (in excess of 18 months, I'd say). Ill post more about the 90 day service soon. There have also been a few things pop up in the past few weeks that also now need attention and fall within the warranty period.

The house is a work in progress... but from the moment we moved in, it has felt very much like we always have been here; like HOME!

Here are some of the latest pics of the front landscaping. There is still a fence and gate to come and something decorative on the front deck, and a nicer letterbox, but you get the drift.

Along each side of the driveway are Liriope Muscari with purple flowers.They are hardy little plants so ideal for the driveway.

A pretty row of Little Gem Magnolias, Gardenias, Azaleas and Christmas Bushes.

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Fences have all been painted in the Colorbond match colour "Monument" to match the gutters and pipes. The backyard has also been totally painted, what a massive undertaking that was!

A gorgeous Port Wine magnolia in the centre, surrounded by 4 Gardenia Augusta low growing bushes. Cant wait for the scent of the magnolia!

A big thanks to my Dad for he;ping me with plant selection and taking me to Plantmark Wholesale Nursery (twice) to get the plants on a commercial account he has there!!!!

Hopefully there will be more posts to come soon :)

Kirst xxx

Deck the Halls...?

This post was scheduled to be completed prior to Christmas, hence the gratuitous Christmas reference in the title. But alas, life gets in the way and Cam only finished oiling the deck in early January.

Here tis'

Stumps and beams

Our nephew Patrick inspecting the stumps!

All ready for boards

Our friend Clinton, the talented chippy who together with his chippy brother Anthony built our deck.

The finished product, all oiled.
The timber is beautiful spotted gum from our local timber yard, Tait Timber and Hardware in Tooronga.

Our gorgeous front portico!

The deck was built using concealed screws called camo that are screwed in using a guide tool into the sides of each board and therefore are not visible on the boards themselves.

The edges are all picture edges to give a more polished finish.

There's some serious love here for our finished deck. It really softens the front landscaping and I am so happy that we used it!

Kirst and Cam!

Getting us some grass..man,,, PART ONE!

After many days of soil carting. rolling, levelling, more carting, more rolling and more levelling we finally got some grass down in the back and front yards.We cut it fine in terms of getting it in before summer really hit.

We decided to go ahead and excavate/prepare the soil ourselves and lay the turf ourselves too. It was backbreaking work (so I'm told as I didn't actually do any labour other than provision or food and drinks!) but the results were well worth it both aesthetically and on the budget.

It was slow going for the first 15 mins, but once Cam got the hang of it, boy did that little Bobcat move quickly! Helpers for the day include our Turf Advisor aka my brother Cam who has experience with turf from working on a golf course in horticulture and Cam's Dad Hugh who is a jack of all trades.

One excited little boy watching the digger!!!

Our extra special helper was our nephew Brant who was staying with us for the weekend. He is only 15 but his muscle was much needed! And he loved it too!

Hang on a minute.... is that Spiderman driving the Bobcat?

All the excess soil was taken from the front around the back. In addition to this Cam and Cam (Cam squared he he he) moved another twelve cubic metres of topsoil into the backyard by bobcat and wheel barrow.

All filled, levelled and rolled!

The front yard all ready for turf!

Wait for the next post to see how it all turned out!

Kirst xxx

Dining room REVEAL...duh duh duhhhhhhh

Its been a long time coming hasn't it? I finally decided that the dining area of our house is an ever changing beast and I would never be completed settled with how it looks. I change the centrepiece weekly and the number of chairs alters depending on our entertaining needs.

So anyway here is an assortment of photos from straight after we moved in, pre and post pendant lights, all set for Christmas lunch...

Enjoy the visual feast :)

The kitchen. I absolutely love the coloured stools and the bright pops of colour from my toast/kettle combination. They are KMIX by Kenwood, you've probably seen them in the shops. Orange is supposed to be a colour that promotes digestion... how appropriate for the kitchen/dining.

Lovely ranuncula centrepiece.

The view from the rumpus

Looking down whilst standing on the kids table. Have a look at our stunning dining table made of reclaimed timber from old Melbourne houses. It was custom made by Glory Days Furniture.  It measures 2.4m x 1.2m. You might remember we talked about this table HERE.

We love the chairs we got online. They are easy to clean and look great. They are a replica DSW Eames dining chair and are in gloss white with timber legs.

Cam's lovely Dad is a sparky and installed the pendant lights here. They are a 500mm drm pendant called "Yvette" from Beacon Lighting. I lurvvvvve them so much. They throw out great light even with the gold diffusers on the bottom.

Oh, and you can see we have blinds in this photo too...

Our table set for Chrismas Lunch

A simple setting using out Gordon Ramsay for Royal Doulton dinnerware and fabulous Royal Doulton cutlery set.

No Christmas is complete without the obligatory poinsetta (oh.. and obligatory Ikea high chair in the back too...lol!)

Until next time (hopefully we can finally reveal the finished product out the front of the house soon. 

I know its like waiting for the paint to dry... which is actually what we are waiting for before taking photos!!!!

Kirst xxx

90 day Service Inspection

It's come around very quickly but our 90 day service inspection has arrived.

So, we met with Paul from M re the items we had listed and supplied to the office previously - plus one or two more we omitted by mistake.

Not an exhaustive list at all, with plumbing being the main focus. The stormwater at the front of our house has been problematic from day one and again doesn't flow. From crushed pipes, inclining 'run off' pipes to 90 degree joins secured by silicone rather than an elbow joint, the plumbing has been below par. If we do get any real rain it will flood our garage. Ideally, a pit is installed in that area to assist with future access but it will be interesting to see how they fix it......

Paul arrived at 7am, as agreed. We went through each and every item. He was a supervisor previously but now focuses on the service side of things. I suspect he would have been a great supervisor. He was very interested in hearing about our overall build experience and also gave us a tip here and there re ongoing maintenance. Very knowledgable, informative and a pleasure to deal with.

We agreed on all the items, signed it off and it was all done in around an hour and a half (incl. chat time).

As soon as suppliers trades are back from the break he is keen to get things done asap. All we need now is for the trades to play their part.

Until next post, which will be soon we promise!

Cam

Building a man cave...

THe back corner of our block falls away quite a bit and instead of filling it up with loads of dirt, we decided to put Cam's shed AKA the Man Cave there. It will be stepped down from the rest of the backyard.

Cam built these retaining walls a few weeks ago and then with the help of my lil bro (also called Cam!) they have brought in some sand and will be paving it this weekend before putting the shed on it soon.

Around the edge they have put black plastic and stones into slotted pipe to improve drainage

Here is the Site Manager, Hamish

THe lackey boy, my brother Cam 

Supervisor Lachie, who barked orders and shovelled stones.

More pics soon...

Kirst