Master Bedroom Finished

Wallpaper is up, wall art up, feature wall painted, bed re-assembled with better pads under the legs and that about finishes the master bedroom in time for the move in.

Recent Bush Fires

It's a bit of a worry seeing this kind of thing within a couple kilometres of your house but a rapid and solid response from both the fire brigade and bush fire brigade volunteers had it sorted.

Purple Passion

One of the spare bedrooms and the second last of the wallpaper features to be completed. The furniture needs arranging but was thrown aside to make room for the wallpaper hanger.

What To Call It ?

The wooden feature thingy....no there wasn't a Stonehenge influence ! There is more work to be done with something to link the uprights....I'm working it. Once again a big thanks to Eden Earthworks for helping to make this happen with absolute precision.

The Next Project

This is what $1500 worth of Merbau looks like....solid 145mm posts. You can see I've started to sand the posts and stain with a water based Jarrah stain.

Master Bedroom Progress

Bed is in, wall art is up, just the wallpaper and feature wall paint to go.

Dare Gallery Delivers

I lost track of time working on the driveway and to my surprise the long awaited office chair arrived. Swapping the white vase and chair to these locations worked better for me then their original locations which was the reverse of what you see. Moral of the story don't be afraid to swap things around and see how the look.

The Driveway...It's Done!

Here it is after 10 days of solid work put in by myself and the guys from Eden Earthworks. It's over budget by at least 50% and nearly killed me...I selected and trimmed every piece of slate that you see. Would I do it again? Short answer...NO. Why? Cost as mentioned, freaked out council inspectors and the worry is it strong enough? It does have advantages....it looks great, lot's of very positive comments and it can be repaired if a part becomes damaged.

Office Wallpaper Hung

I'm still getting used to this! My first thought was I has pushed the envelope too much. When I get the furniture back in and our chair arrives from Dare Gallery I'm sure it will all come together. As a side note Dare Gallery rang to tell me the chair won't be here until early October...grrrr...doesn't anybody keep stock these days?

Designer Cat Bowl

Once again proof we are getting ripped off by greedy importers....I did a price search in Australia on this bowl, well the grey one anyhow as the black one pictured isn't imported into Australia...the price $129 everywhere. No one was breaking ranks and discounting. Google time! Result $83 landed to my door from the UK.

Dining Room Nears Completion

We made some good progress today with the Zebra picture finally making it on the wall, the Innermost Tie pendant light also getting fitted. Now that the master bedroom floor is complete I was able to extradite the bedroom Tallboy out of the dining room giving me access to doing the work above and finishing the lighting for the niche. We may paint the wall behind the picture somewhere down the track but this will do for now. I'm really liking what we have achieved with this room and hopefully all the other rooms will come together as well.

Master Bedroom Floor Completed

This was a long time coming due to various reasons but it's done now and we can move on to completing the master bedroom now. The wall art sitting on the rug is to go behind the bedhead after the wall paper has been applied.

Today's Surprise Reveal

What was under the tarp???? This shingle roof 4m x 3m gazebo in kit form. A team of 3 installers put it together in one and half days... I was amazed! I'm glad I didn't try and do it myself it would have been one and half months if I was lucky...lol. Still to be constructed is a wooden and stainless steel balustrade and a single step up at the front.

Granite Steps Sealed

Here they are clean and sealed. I'm so glad I spent the extra money on the granite over tiles.

Random Accessory Pictures

What's Under The Tarp?

The un-covered pallet in the foreground of the photo is a clue. Stay tuned and all will be revealed Tuesday if the weather holds.

Eco Fire In Action

Here it is the Mini T Eco fire in action. These are more about looks then actually being a heater. But having said that it does generate a fair amount of heat. Economical....no....Ethanol at $12 for 3 litres which I'm told might last about 3-4 hours.

The fire was purchased from EcoSmart Fire. Website located at http://www.ecosmartfire.com

Catch Of The Day?

Snapped this up off catchoftheday.com.au. Maybe not to every ones taste but something different I thought....It reminds me of a scene from one of the Alien movies.

Master Bedroom

Here we have the master bed and wallpaper for the master bedroom.

Credit Card Meltdown Time

Shopping again! This time Dare Gallery where we purchased this Amazon Trunk and the Coco Chair as posted previously. The chair won't arrive until sometime in September which is a little disappointing. I'm also expecting some wallpaper to arrive from Europe any day now.

New Addition To Lounge

I've had my eye on one of these for over a year and finally I was offered one at half price....so deal done. It was delivered yesterday in it's own wooden crate and after few choice words to get the crate open (Hammer goes a long way), some self assembly this is what we have. There are cheaper options but this thing is built like a tank from heavy gauge stainless steel and weighs about 50kg so no knocking it over.

Front Path Tiles Laid

Front path tiles have been laid and are waiting to be grouted when I get a chance over the next few days. Garden lighting low voltage wiring is a work in progress as you can see and step lights yet to be installed.

Off Topic Picture

Just having a wow moment with the new camera...lol

Front Progress Picture

This photo gives an idea of how all the elements of the hardscaping and landscaping are starting to come together. Once the front path is tiled I'll move on to getting the driveway sorted.

Granite Laid

It took Andy and me 2 days to lay the granite and tiles on the front steps but the result is well worth the effort. They still need a final coat of sealer and silicone applied along the edges. Some good progress this last week or 2.

New Camera

After not having done any serious photography since the late 90's I decided it was time to upgrade to a digital SLR. Hopefully this won't come back and bite me as impulse buys don't usually work out for me though I'm loving this already....the manual looks like some heavy reading but here we go.

What To Do?

I've always liked this chair for it's wow factor...now I have selected the wallpaper for the office I'm thinking this will mesh very nicely except it's size could be an issue.

Office Wallpaper Ordered

I've trawled the Internet to find the best deal on some of the wallpaper required for the house. This paper was quoted at $400 per roll minimum here in Australia and we need 5 rolls for the office...$2000 at least...ouch...imported price including freight is $740.

Developers Fence Revamp

In the interests of making the Stockland built fence a better thing I'm adding sleepers along the bottom to retain gravel and give the fence a more finished look. Trying to find straight...ish sleepers is fun....forget Bunnings they sell Bananas for sleepers...lol.

Granite Steps

I went a little over the top with the top face of the stairs by choosing Rebated Black Flamed Granite (Not cheap) but I think it looks stunning along side everything else.

But Wait There's More!

The first picture shows the area which will contain the Bali Hut, the rock on the ground is crushed Sandstone. All going well we will order the Bali Hut sometime today and hopefully the installation won't take long as things in the building trade are very slow around here at the moment. Moving to the second picture this is the cobble stone feature turned into a path.....the jury is still out for me on this one.

The Great Wallpaper Rip-off

After a few weeks of looking around for wallpaper and comparing prices of buying local or importing the same wallpaper it's become obvious we are getting ripped off by greedy importers. Don't blame the average retailer as I'm sure they aren't getting rich...it's the middle man that's making the big dollars. We are talking mark ups of several 100%....I've already purchased from overseas and saved $800 on 2 rolls of wallpaper without problem. So my advice is look around overseas first and if you feel comfortable try importing.

What The?

Hmmm.....Microdot....UV dye...Radioactive isotope...smells like bullshit but nice try!

Step Light

These are made by HPM, reasonable price at $22 but 10W Halogen bulb which I'll convert to LED. There are heaps of funky looking step lights around but apart from the price they usually require the wall to be chased which I wasn't prepared to do 10 times over.

Back Yard Taking Shape

Turf was laid yesterday along with more cobblestones. Spent today cleaning, painting and adding more electrical wiring for the outside garden lighting. We have run out of cobblestones so the path is only an outside edge until I can order more on Monday. My right elbow is killing me after painting non-stop for a week.....ouch.

Landscaping Again!

Progress picture showing rear planter box painted and cobblestones added as border around outdoor area tiling and planter box itself. If the paint shade looks off it is, it's supposed to be the same as the main house and is close but the picture makes it look more off than it really is. I'm going to have to work with the paint people to try and get the paint colour match spot on for the final coat.

Top soil is being added and all going well will be turfed by the weekend.

Downpipe Relocation

This a another job I've been putting off for a while. Actually it's fallen back to me as no one wants to do small guttering jobs last time I checked. Anyway this ugly non-centred, sticks out like *#@ is getting relocated to where all Grandview Vogues have it. Tucked away around the corner.

Someone must have had a brain snap the day they drew the plans for the down pipes as it conflicted with a light fitting and really doesn't drain much roof area compared to where it's going to be relocated to.