shopping with our eyes

It is the hardest shopping to do, but the most purse friendly.
We went out on the weekend to buy a light bulb (which is ironic as we did venture into homeware stores to get some "ideas" on our home furnishings).

 First stop...IKEA which I am pretty sure is Swedish for "female heaven".

Over our kitchen island bench (the plans can be seen here) I want two large industrial style pendant lights. I think these will be perfect and at $59 each they are very affordable. Especially when I have seen others sell for upwards of $300.

 

Next was our caesarstone bench tops. Below is a close up of what it will look like. We plan on having white cabinets and it creates a really nice and light feel which is what we are all about.

 

 

After our IKEA perve we went into Freedom Furniture to try out some of their couches. 

our couch. Perfect for the size of our current home

 Just to set the record straight, our current couch is wonderful. It was a wedding gift from all our amazing friends and family and it is so comfortable that we can often be found having a snooze on it at least once or twice a week. But for the area will be moving to it will be too small. We need to speak to Freedom (where it was from) to see if they still make it and see if we can get one or two more modules for the couch. If not, we have a perfect spot just for it in another room. We also have visions of having a lazy-boy each (yeah we are those kind of people).
Where was I?? Oh that's right, we had entered Freedom Furniture.
The first couch was sensational. I think although new, it may have been the reason behind the creation of the word comfort. This couch was devine. I instantly felt relaxed the moment I sunk into it. I could feel the excitement rushing as I almost shouted "we'll take it". Then we saw the price. Well technically it went in this order. I saw it, Matt saw my face, I told him to guess how much, he came up with $5000 and I laughed because he was spot on. Then almost cried as the price registered in my head. Moral of this story? Can you put a price on comfort? Why yes you can.
After this we sat on too hard, too soft, too low, too high. But then we sat on this bad boy and it felt amazing. Forget the colour as it comes in many different shades but for comfort it was perfect. And one of the features we loved was the armrest and how you can lay with your head against it which we currently cannot do. The photo is quite deceiving as it doesn't look much bigger than our couch but it was. Matt is fake relaxing (falaxing??) to show the length. It is over 6ft either way which is plenty big enough for us to both lay and have a joint snooze. (those snoozes will only become more frequent as we get older) This one was $3000 but they have 20% off so at $2400 it was starting to fall into our price range.



























Now I don't know if it is just us but standing up and sitting down trying out couches was extremely tiring for us and we realised we had worked up an appetite. I mean, to justify our Philly cheese steak and custard pastry we were pretty much doing lunges but in a very relaxing and slow way.
Before I go I will leave you with this photo. Just for fun. I picture us with one each, asleep with the television blaring only to be woken up at 3am by our cat Ralph attacking us. Not so happy on the price $1620 after discount, but it has given us some ideas that is for sure.  I hope to have more news on our next stage of the build shortly.

all done? all finished? SOLD

We have a sold sticker!!! Even though it was already official, somehow seeing this made it all the more real.
On our way home from window shopping (there will be a post on that soon), we took a detour in the hopes of snapping a picture of a sold sign should there be one. And low and behold as we turned the bend there it was. In all its blue and white glory. I may be biased but is that not the best looking sold sign you have ever seen?

 Please excuse my poor erasing skills. Thought it would be best to remove the real estate agents contact details and address 

After we saw the sign and took some shifty photos, (I wonder if the neighbours are suss on us yet?) we seized the opportunity to cruise the neighborhood and gather some information on what the other house styles were.
We drove around til Matt spotted one that looked the most similar to what ours will look like. There are slight differences with the rendering and roofing but you get the idea. See our original plans here

Even though this looks like a basic standard home, there are some upgrades. The first one being the eaves. That's the extension of the roof which creates cooling in summer and warmth in winter. Below is a graphic picture of a house without it. Not only is it more energy efficient but we think it has a big impact on the whole look of the house.

 And the last upgrade to note is subtle but if you are anything like me, once you see it you will probably notice it all the time. That is the brick infill. If you refer back to that original photo, you will see bricks above the garage. But in the below picture there is an alternative which is some sort of boarded material. I am not saying the below style looks bad but for us and the style we want, we are going with the brick. Builders use the below method as a way of cost cutting and difficulty in placing the bricks, hence why it is an upgrade. So I understand why people don't go ahead with such a subtle change



It will be interesting to see, as we go along this process as I am sure that we will have features to our house that people will think we a crazy for doing/leaving out, but to us they are perfect. It is such a personal thing. Almost like your own baby. And I just know I am going to be one of "those" mums with this house. I just hope we don't have these kind of reactions.

"wood" you look at this

Remember our previous post that contained the list of items we wanted? Here is a reminder should you wish to read that novel. Everything in black from the list we are getting. Item's in blue we have  now been advised of the individual prices and we are deciding what path to go down with them.
But one thing I thought I had decided on was the flooring. I really wanted floor boards. I had it in my mind that this is something we would get.
BUT...then we got the quote. It almost took my breathe away when I saw the price. And not in a good way. $8600.00 to cover the hall, kitchen, dining and lounge. A total of 74 square meters. Just a smidgen over our budget. Only by $5000.00. GULP
Matt is wonderful and has let me decide on what we choose to do. He knows how much I love to decorate and knows how much it makes me happy so if I did still want them we could get them.
I was screaming internally saying "no way, you are nuts, that is an over seas holiday, stop thinking of them, it's over, stop it, stop it, stop it"
But for some reason, my brain ignored that and I said I want to go speak to a professional to get their opinion. Was I seriously still contemplating getting them? Unbelievably, yes. So today after watching the opening ceremony in our pj's, we went to a local supplier that specializes in timber flooring and floor tiles to discuss the in's and outs.
I rattled off a list of my concerns (or the con list as it is lovingly known) which consisted of not being able to hear the echo that comes with houses on stumps (which is what I love about the boards), the maintenance of them, the wear and tear, and the overall cost, what if we spill water on them etc. The alarm bell for me (or the aha moment as my beloved Oprah calls it) was when he said if I maintain the upkeep of them by cleaning them every two days then they will be fine. Every two days???? There is no way I will be doing that. Once a week is my floor cleaning capacity and even then I whinge and moan about the whole process.
This was going all wrong (or right-as my sarcastic purse would say). But before I admitted defeat I thought we needed to at least walk on them.
They had an area where you could try them out. So we gave it a go.

These were my favourite, but Matt didn't like them.

We both liked these

After walking on them, the man told us that the grade of the ones we liked were 5.3 which meant they were a "soft" wood. It meant, high heels and other pointed objects would create dints easily. After he said this I saw them in a different light. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love them in houses that have stumps. The noise they make, the grooves that the constant walking creates. If we ever sell and buy a house on stumps it will be floor boards all the way. But for this house it felt all wrong. The cost, the cleaning, the wear and tear all added up to a big fat no.
Just like that. The vision I always had in my mind for our new house was gone. But I was fine, because as we were leaving I saw these tiles. I know I am crazy because I walked in wanting floor boards and I have done a complete 180 I know but don't you think a nice large neutral tile with a matt finish like below would look great. The more I think about it, the more certain I am. We have a lot of wooden furniture and I now feel if we had floor boards they may clash.So it is tiles full steam ahead.

porcelain tiles 600mm by 600mm

 So that is what we did today. What did everyone else do? Anyone else have the flooring dilemma that we had?

well isn't that a treat

I found out some rather exciting news today. No, we still don't have a quote. But I know it won't be too far away. Fingers crossed I can come back to you by Friday.

But in the meantime I wanted to share this with you.

We found out a little while ago that because we are moving into an estate there will be body corporate fees. It was unfortunate to hear but over 12 months, for the two of us it totals $500. If my calculations are correct, that equates to $12.80 per person per month. The small amount covers what I thought was maintaining the parkland, wetlands, streets etc. It does, but it also covers more. Much more.
There is a leisure centre which is about a 5 minute stroll away from us and I have been told that we will have unlimited access to it. UNLIMITED from 5am til 10pm 7 days a week.
It has a gym, a heated swimming pool and even a tennis court. There are rooms you can hire out for free for an event. For example, say we want to celebrate Australia winning a record number of gold medals at the Olympic Games I could gather my friends in the common room and have a good time. We could wear Green and Gold and chant Aussie Aussie Aussie... I am getting off track I know. But this brings such a wave of excitement over me which I cannot contain. But wait, that's not all.
Can I get a drum roll please...........
There is a sauna!!!! I am sorry but that is just fan-friggen-tastic. Can't you just picture Swedish Emily with a white towel draped around myself and one on my head talking about fjords and IKEA with Swedish Matt.

Well I could leave you with that image but I thought I might leave you with this. It is another view from our area. This time of the wetlands facing the other side. There is a trail that takes you all the way along so you can ride your bike or go for a nice walk.
Well that's it from me. I really hope to have some exciting quote news for you real soon.

"euro"va it yet?

This is a short post as there is no news on the quote.
But I thought I would share with you all the actual layout of the land and how our house will fit.
The street is curved. Almost like the letter "C" and our block of land is positioned right on the tip of the curve. So I guess you could say that our land is what completes the euro sign. No biggy! Just an incredible symbol that is world famous. 

photo from our trip to Germany one year. This was in Frankfurt.

I love the layout of the street. It is one of the things that drew me to the land in the first place. 

Above is how our house will be positioned. It doesn't look like a big backyard, but the alfresco is all open so there will be ten meters of length. Nice enough to maintain for me as I will be the one looking after the garden.

So what do you think? Is it all you imagined and more? Perhaps that's just me. But I love how Matt has been able to create a wonderful design and future home on a difficult piece of land. 

Above shows you the size of the land he had to deal with. See the difference in sizes with the front and back? 

Well that's it from me. I hope to be back tomorrow with some more details on the quote.

our inclusions list brings all the quoters to the yard

And they're like..we're gonna have to charge.

With this build, there are features to a house that are included. For example: tiling. But, what has surprised me is that there are odd little things that are not included. Basic things.
We visited friends a few weeks ago and not to get into too much detail, we noticed that they didn't have a toilet roll holder. When I asked them where it was (perhaps it had jumped off the wall and was hiding under the bed) they said "oh that's an extra you have to pay for". I was shocked. How can that be an extra feature to a house? If that is a feature, then is the standard no holder? Surely not!
Turns out it is.... (but rest assured, we will be splurging for that all important holder)
Anyway, when we sent the plans off to be quoted, we also included the below list. It covers everything we want. From this we will downgrade things to what we can afford.  For example, double glazing will reduce our energy consumption, but the cost of it is expected to be thousands more than standard so I believe it will be removed from our list. 
The items in blue we want individuals prices for and we will decide which way to go once we have seen the quote.
The items in black will be priced as a total value as we are definitely getting them.
We know that the majority of the items listed are clearly an upgrade. But there are some items that were a surprise to me.
Do other people think this? Or am I the only one?

Apologies for any confusing lingo used. This is builder terms so some of it doesn't make sense, but luckily Matt is in the building industry to break it down for me.

LIST ON INCLUSIONS:
· QUOTE AS PER PLAN WITHOUT ALFRESCO, 24SQ
· QUOTE AS PER PLAN WITH ALFRESCO, 25.93SQ
· BAL 12.5 REQUIREMENTS
· SITE COSTS
· SLAB DESIGN TO NEW STANDARD (MORE REO)
· 2590mm CEILING HEIGHT
· 450mm EAVE TO WHOLE HOUSE
· COLOURBOND ROOF
· RENDERED PIERS TO PORTICO
· PANEL LIFT GARAGE DOOR WITH 2x REMOTE CONTROLS
· HUME XN5 STANDARD ENTRY DOOR
· HUME XN5 DOUBLE ENTRY DOOR
· SECURITY DOOR TO ENTRY DOOR/ALL SLIDING DOORS
· INSULATION R5.0 CEILINGS, R2.0 WALLS
· INSULATION R2.0 TO INTERNAL WALLS BETWEEN HOUSE/GARAGE
· MIRRORED SLIDING DOORS TO ALL ROBES
· FLOOR TILES TO WET AREAS AND ENTRY/KITCHEN/MEALS/FAMILY, CARPET TO
REMAINDER
· LAMINATE FLOORING ENTRY/KITCHEN/MEALS/FAMILY
· TIMBER FLOORING ENTRY/KITCHEN/MEALS/FAMILY
· DOUBLE GLAZING TO ALL WINDOWS/DOORS
· BRICKWORK OVER ALL WINDOWS/DOORS
· PLANTATION LOUVRE BLINDS TO ALL WINDOWS
· PLANTATION LOUVRE BLINDS TO BED 1 WINDOWS, HOLLAND BLINDS TO ALL
OTHER WINDOWS
· HOLLAND BLINDS TO MEALS SLIDING DOOR
· FLY SCREENS AND KEY LOCK TO ALL WINDOWS
· 2670mm ALUMINIUM SLIDING STACKER DOOR TO MEALS
· 4295mm ALUMINIUM BI-PARTING SLIDING DOOR TO MEALS
· LEVER DOOR HANDLES THROUGHOUT
· HUME LIN1 TRANSLUCENT GLAZED DOORS TO BETWEEN ENTRY AND
FAMILY/LANDRY/W.I.P.
· SQUARE ABOVE COUNTER VANITY BASINS
· MIXERS THROUGH OUT
· DOUBLE VANITY TO ENSUITE
· 1200x900mm SHOWER BASE TO ENSUITE
· TOILET ROLL HOLDERS THROUGHOUT.
· TOWEL RAILS THROUGHOUT
· PRIVACY LOCKS TO BATH/W.C.
· SHOWER ON RAILS THROUGHOUT
· TRANSLUCENT I.L.O. OBSCURED GLAZING TO ENS/BATH/W.C.
· 20mm CAESARSTONE BENCHTOPS TO KITCHEN/L'DRY/ENS/BATH
· INSET TROUGH TO LAUNDRY AND BENCH OVER WM/DRYER
· OVERHEAD CABINETS TO LAUNDRY
· OVERHEAD CABINETS TO KITCHEN AND OVER FRIDGE
· 2x900mm WIDE POT DRAWERS
· 900mm APPLIANCES
· 900mm UPGRADE APPLIANCES
· SUPPLY AND INSTALL DISHWASHER
· DRAWERS AND 2 HANGING RAILS TO W.I.R. AS PER PLAN
· SPLIT SYSTEMS TO BED 1/FAMILY
· TIME PROGRAMMABLE DUCTED HEATING CONTROL
· HEATING DUCT POINT IN BATH
· 3xTV POINTS TO BED 1/BED 2/ FAMILY
· 3xTEL POINTS TO BED 1/BED 2/KITCHEN
· 2xDPP TO ALL BEDROOMS/MEALS/FAMILY/KITCHEN/ENS
· 2xNETWORK POINT TO ALL ROOMS
· 1xDPP TO W.I.P./W.I.R./KITCHEN ISLAND BENCH
· CFL DOWNLIGHTS THROUGHOUT
· LED DOWNLIGHTS THROUGHOUT
· 2xPENDANT LIGHTS OVER KITCHEN ISLAND BENCH
· CEILING FANS TO ALL BEDROOMS/FAMILY/MEALS
· SOLAR H.W.S.
· HILLS HOIST REMOVABLE CLOTHES LINE
· CONCRETE PATH TO CLOTHESLINE
· LETTERBOX
· COLOURED CONCRETE DRIVEWAY/PATH TO PORCH
· EXPOSED AGGREGATE DRIVEWAY/PATH TO PORCH
· REAR FENCING WITH 2x 1 METER GATES TIMBER PAILING WITH CAPPING

here is the plan stan

I finally have my grubby hands on the plan. It is a great feeling to see it on paper (well technically computer screen). We changed it a few times and might change it a few more but at this stage we are really happy with it. One of the features we love is the en-suite. While this might be the norm for some, it is something neither of us have ever had before and are really looking forward to it. I hope to make the whole master bedroom feel like an exclusive hotel. I am channeling L'Ermitage in Beverly Hills and their light and airy approach. See the pic below courtesy of their website. When we stayed there I felt like I was in paradise. And I want that feeling again.

  

We have sent away for a quote for this plan and also to see how much it will cost to have two big glass doors in the kitchen and dining area to really open the place up. We are expecting it to cost a lot of money so I am not getting my hopes up on that. But hopefully everything else is affordable.

So there you have it. What does everyone think? Any tips or suggestions that you think could improve the flow of the house?

our current abode

We have a plan Stan. A floor plan that is. I would love to share it with you but we are currently getting quotes on it so the plans may change. But in the meantime I thought I would share some pictures of our current home with you.
Boy oh boy we have come a long way in this house. We started off without any renovation experience and now we speak the lingo. Pass me the wrench- I say never...but I still know what it is now. And that in itself is a milestone. 
To give you a bit of background, we decided we wanted to buy our first home towards the end of 2008. We were married in January that same year and knew it was something that would happen relatively soon enough but we really knuckled down and saved from June 2008 to when we signed the contract on Valentine's Day 2009 of all days. It was relatively simple and stress free. We looked at the house twice and the second visit we had signed on the dotted line. It wasn't the most amazing house. It needed work, but it was affordable and we bought in a suburb that we knew was on the verge of booming. We bought at a very good time because our house has since seen a 30% rise in value because of that and our renovations.
Once we got the keys - two months later on our 7 year anniversary (yes we celebrate both our wedding date and the day we first started dating) and before we moved anything in, we painted the house.
There were four rooms in total that we painted. The others were left either because the colour was ok or we had plans to completely renovate anyway. The lounge and dining rooms were PINK!!! With matching pink blinds!!! The hallway was AQUA!!! The 3rd bedroom was MINT GREEN!!! Yes, all those exclamation marks are valid. They all got a fresh coat or two or three of antique white USA. My wonderful mother-in-law helped. Thanks Jane. We chose this colour as it was simple and would appeal to more people when the time came to sell it.
We left it at that for a few months till we noticed the bathroom had a bit of water damage. We used that as the driving force to gut it completely and start from scratch.
After this we saved up enough money to have all the windows replaced. Then to avoid living through another harsh winter with only one form of heating in the lounge room we saved to have central heating put in. Let me tell you, that has been the best thing we have ever bought and it is a luxury I will never live without again.

After this, we renovated the kitchen in November 2011 and we haven't done anything else since.
However there is a to-do list.
But enough about that, lets see some pictures.

Our bedroom was left unpainted as the colour was nice enough. We just added some IKEA block out curtains and had an IKEA hand me down bed. That was all that was in there apart from some cheap clothes storage and clothes all over the floor.

How it looks now. We kept the curtains, bought new bedside tables and drawers from IKEA and invested in a new bed from Snooze.

The view of our hideous kitchen from the end of the lounge room. By this stage we had already removed the fake brick arch that was dividing the dining to kitchen. It was just terrible and there was years of dust and grime build up that you could see and if you touched it you felt like you needed a shower and if you accidentally grazed past it like i did one time you almost needed a tetanus shot to avoid catching something and also a band-aid as it was sure to draw blood. I must hunt down a picture of it for you one day.

This is what it currently looks like.The floor tiles continue on and I love the openness this creates.  It is much more inviting wouldn't you agree?

 

 

around our hood 'yo

In the not too distant future we will have to get off our butts and finish the renovations to our current house. But it is just so hard when our land is whispering our name on a cool winters day. Begging us to come for another visit. So without disappointing Landy (his new name) we went back for another look. It is also a great indicator on what the area will be like at different times. Once again, it was lovely and quiet. We passed a family going for a stroll, a man heading to his car, a family moving in  and the bird in the below picture. Other than that, there was silence. I decided to take the opportunity and take some pictures of our soon to be new neighbourhood for you all.

The front view of Landy.

The poop throwers. More on that here. This is also a great view of the nature strip.
It is all native grass with the water pipe in the centre, which allows for no guttering and a flat level from road to house.
It looks great in person.

The view we will have once we are in our house. See the moving truck on the right?

Our wetlands, with friendly wildlife.

the new park being built. Children are going to lurve it.

So that was our day.
What did everyone else get up to? Has anyone else stalked out their soon to be new neighbourhood?
Please tell me we aren't alone.

Getting you up to Speed

Due to nobody's request popular demand, I have decided to create a blog so family and friends can join Matt and I (and Ralph too) as we embark on building our first home.Cue me pulling my collar away from my neck in a nervous way.

So let's get you up to speed.

We had always planned on building a home. But we had planned to do it after living in our current home for 5 years. But after spending time in our friends new homes then coming back to our squeaky clean house we felt the time had arrived. 2 years Early.
Our first step was deciding where to buy.
That came relatively easy as our options were limited HA! We contacted an estate we had been eyeing off in a seductive-come-hither kind of way and enquired about land. We were thrilled to hear they had some in our price range. So we arranged a meeting. We had discussions, but unfortunately none of the land was the size we wanted. It was either too small or already sold. But there was hope. The second stage land release was going to be the following week he informed us. True to salesmen form, this turned out to be a lie. We called the following week to be told it will be another two weeks. When those two weeks had past he called us to say it would be another two weeks. But eventually after seasons changed, he finally called to say there was some land available. We had our appointment booked first thing on the Saturday morning. We arrived nice and early and easily picked the perfect block. The lady made a call to her manager for the best price only to come back to us and say it was $19k over our land budget. This instantly made my eyes go red and I could feel the tears approaching, the poor lady (who is clearly in the wrong industry) started to get tears too as she realised she was the dream killer. MURDERER!!! j/k she was a really lovely lady. So we left there heartbroken.
After the initial shock wore off  and I had been consoled by Matt and chocolate, we were back on our search. Our next plan was to search for land in existing estates. There were 2 that we liked. One was on budget and a massive piece of land. It was the piece of land that screamed "it's too good to be true". Turns out it was. The land had an easement of ten meters. TEN FRIGGEN METERS!!!! Which was a worry as it was only 17 meters wide. Good luck to whoever builds that skinny skyscraper. The last piece was a touch over our budget and in an awesome street close to a park and close to the new train station and shopping centre that is being built. We put in an offer 11k under our budget (25k under their sale price) and wasn't surprised when they rejected the offer. We then offered another 6k more which meant it was still 5k under our budget and we were shocked when they came back and said yes. Shocked as we thought this shit is about to get cray cray. A few hip thrusts and fist pumps later, we signed all the paperwork.
It was as simple and relatively stress free as that.
That is if you do not include our panic due to the estate we bought in not having any internet ports free and us making the hard decision to contact the bank and call off the purchase of the land, only to find out there were now ports available and us calling our bank back in the nick of time and saying we are a yes again so please continue with the paperwork.

Here is a peak at our land.
Right where they are standing is where our soon to be neighbours have been throwing their dogs poop over the fence. I have faith that this wont continue once we have moved in. But I shall keep you poopsted. But isn't it beautiful? Doesn't it just look like us? 

Peter (Matt's dad) and Matt. This is the view from the back of the land