Thursday, January 26, 2012

Australia Day

Two weeks before Christmas, the builder offered me the keys.  No, the house wouldn't be quite finished but he knew how desperate I was to get in.  But apparently, you can't have the keys unless you pay the final bill.  And, that wasn't going to happen either.  So when I asked the builder then, "when might be the day for handover?", I was told, "Australia Day".

Today.

No keys.

House, still not even finished. 

Nevermind. 

We still went out to the land (for some reason, I still refer to it as that!) with the intent to start planting some of the garden.  We found the ground to be very soft as Brisbane has had some intense weather again this January.  And we discovered 2 large spots of subsidence (one possibly bordering on an erosion/landslide).  So our day quickly went from doing to dreaming. 

Talking positively of these dreams of ours, turned out to be quite cathartic.
So .. the plan:

Out the front of the house, here, we plan to run 2 conifers up the front posts of the porch (there's actually downpipes in front of the posts, carefully aligned and colour coordinated with the house, but...)


Then, in front of the butterfly stairs, at either end, I was thinking of a shaped/topiary conifer like buxus. 

We're hoping to run a rather plain picket fence along the front and have a lilly pilly hedge sitting behind (house-side).  I'd also like either lavender or agapanthus running street-side of the fence.  I like some formality in small front gardens.  It won't be a spot for us to spend much time in, so has to be quite low maintenance.  Dear Husband is most worried about my talk of conifers and planting out a mower-patch though!

So, to the back of the house.

It's a blank canvas.  Really blank if you exclude the lantana and singapore daisy which is madly creeping out of the creek.  This pic here, is from our back deck (and don't mind the race track that the neighbours' kids carved out!)




In the foreground, mid-right hand side, dear Husband is planning a pool.  Beyond that, along the right hand side I want a vegetable patch.  A gorgeous, wonderful self-sustaining old fashioned vege patch.  Then further down that side, a fruit orchard, with the top corner finished in a Jacaranda tree.

Can you picture that?  I might even run a series of Jacarandas along the back there.  Come November each year, I'd be looking out onto a purple carpet of flowers *swoon*, my attempts to be distracted of the impending exam period!

Dear Husband fancies a shed on the left hand side, some kind of man-cave thing.  So I plan to put the chicken coup over there too.

Obviously there may be spots of plants, flowers, swings or play equipment, possibly even a garden bench, perhaps a structure covered in vine. I'm not sure what else to be honest, I haven't even mapped out how much room that is likely to take up, not to mention the time its upkeep will consume! That may involve a reality check!  

But I'm going to love every minute of it - my quasi country life!

Happy Australia Day to all. I hope you had a great day, whether it be dreaming or doing :)


Suz x

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The start of almost being there ...

Yes, I suppose you may be right.  It is most unusual for someone to create a blog, particularly a blog about building a future for one's family, post build.  I had every intention to create this blog, over a year ago when dear Husband and I signed the contract.

And in our haste (I should have known better) we madly signed on this dotted line; handing over the plans of our dreams and hoping for this builder to turn those into reality.

Did I mention that we signed that contract over a year ago? Actually, 1 year, 1 month and 10 days ago.

So now, as I stare at my house almost completed but not quite yet, I look again at that contract I signed, then at the mounting variations .. and wonder, how much am I prepared to fight.   It's not a disaster - in fact, quite the opposite.  The workmanship is faultless, but .... I don't know.  The lustre has gone, the excitement of seeing years of dreams eventuate ... all fading.  And the frustrations have set in.

So now, this blog will capture my musings; of life, love and all things encompassing.  It will hopefully help me reconnect with those dreams.  I'm focussing on the positive; let's work with these beautiful bones and turn her into my dreams -- our home.


At frame stage





Suz x