Good Fences, Good Neighbours……..??

They do say that good fences make for good neighbours. But for something so seemingly simple the fences are sure causing issues.

How can it be so hard to run a straight line between two fixed points?

I must say that it is not actually the neighbours that have cause the issues, just the contractors that have been hired to put up the fences. We have three fences around our property, two of which have been installed on a slight diagonal which run over the property line and encroach onto our site, 10 cms on one side and 40cm at the rear boundary. WTF.

The fence on the side has now been relocated after a two hour consult with all neighbours involved and the contractor responsible, involving multiple sets of plans and tape measures. All resulting in the realisation that the contractor instead of installing the fence over the survey peg which marked the boundary he went around it, on our side of course (he couldn't go wrong the other way as the neighbours pool was already installed, the fence now runs almost over the concrete slab for the pool, talk about close!).

Luckily is is on the side we will hardly see as although it now runs along the boundary I think it is a little wonky along the top.


The rear fence has yet to be moved that one may take a little longer to move as that one belongs to the developer who already has tenants living there and it will involve moving the clothes line and digging up the landscaping.

Deep breaths and wine, lots of wine!

But the garage door is looking great, ties the house into the rest of the neighbourhood who have gone with mostly mocha-ish bricks.

AA xx

Property Update….

Taking advantage to another gorgeous Sydney winters day we took the pups out to the land to have a look at the progress made on the neighbouring lots.

Tried and tested, Hard to kill houseplants, Part 2

Last time we looked at how to choose house plants this time we will look at some tips and tricks on how to keep them once you have them.

talesofendearment.com

What to look for when buying them and what to do with them once you have brought them home.

The Heart of a Home

They do say that kitchens and bathrooms sell houses. This means that these two areas have the potential to completely blow out budgets. But the same as the rest of the house we had quite strong ideas of what  we wanted before meeting with the builder.

design-crisis.com house tour -jeff and jasons 

decorpad.com

ninawilliamsinteriors.com

stevesblindsandwallpaper.com

We wanted  clean white spaces with charcoal for depth and contrast, Caesar stone bench tops, pendant lights over the kitchen bench, glass splash back in the kitchen; so much easier to clean than tiles! Super functional sink, lots of storage. Subway tiles in the ensuite bathroom, but we weren't sure if we wanted the same tiles in both the bathroom as the laundry.

Decisions, decisions

The first lot of decisions we had to make were about the external house colours.
Luckily these decisions  were reasonably easy. We had a clear vision in mind before we went trekking, and I mean trekking, 7 hours, all the freeways, I lost track of the of the number of toll points (or went into denial about, ker-ching!) we went through, all on a beautiful, hot, Sydney Saturday to view roof tiles, brick suppliers, garage doors, and more brick suppliers.

Green.......

Frangipani Tree

One of the things about building a new home is that  although you start with a block of dirt and you end up with a home.
To make it feel like a home, and as a requirement of council so that new developments become more established, you have to landscape the site, and for better or worse Liverpool council has a strong preference for native vegetation.

How do you choose?

After making the purchase, unlike buying a house, the fun really starts, you need to start making big decisions and relatively quickly. Who are you going to build with? Single storey, double story, or split level? Where on the land? Do you want to have room for a pool?

Finally.......

We have been looking at getting on to the property rollacoster for a while now, but with the moving and the holidays and the everything else it was taking longer that expected.

When we finally started looking seriously in Sydney it was just as the market took off. A property in Erko which we thought went for too much at auction looked a real bargin when a similar property went for $200,000 more a couple of weeks later.

I really didn't want to look this far out, or build, but with the crazy prices we needed to look at other options and this kind of made sense. More space, for the dogs, for my shoes, for us.

A collegue of my partner suggested we look at the development they has just purchased in. Even thought that didn't work out we found a suitable little block in a nearby development. 

http://voyagerpointlandforsale.com.au 

It still doesn't quite feel real yet, I can't believe we got it, it only was a few weeks between spotting it and the land release date. Somehow we received a phone call to put down the deposit when the other purchasers had been on the wait list for up to six months.

What really sold me on the site was the protected nature reserve across the road which runs down to the river about a kilometer away, beautiful bush views that can't be built out.

So now beings the great adventure, the first steps towards the great Aussie dream, our own home.

AA x