Just a few family pictures.

Here's Jake, Ben and friends camping at the block.
Our gorgeous kids. From left at back: Jake and Amber, front: Nicky, Ben, Matt and Tim.

Pics at last!

At last I have uploaded photos from my camera. The ground floor frame is now completed. The pic below shows the first half of it. It actually extends right out to the left on top of the garage as well.Below shows the floor joists on top of the garage (view from the back). This is now completely framed up as well and joined to the main house. This area is our formal lounge and our "guest quarters". We're having a guest room with a queen bed and big bunks as well as it's own bathroom. We really want family and friends to be able to stay over easily.This is our entrance hall. To the left at the back is my laundry which is my favourite room!!

This will be the view from my kitchen sink!!
Here's Darren sitting at the front door.
Since these photos we have done more framing and today the first floor sheets are being lifted on. We are using Hebel which is 75mm aerated concrete. It is for sound proofing the kids rooms upstairs!! The sheets are really heavy and need to be crane lifted up. The truck came yesterday and attempted to get up our driveway but the power steering failed. Guys came out to try and help but it ended up having to stay there overnight. This morning a mechanic came out but he ended up getting lost and bogged in a dead end street. Someone came and got the mechanic out then he finally came and fixed the truck but it still couldn't get up the driveway enough so only half the pellets went up. He's going to come back when the ground is drier and try again with a lighter load. Of course we have to pay for each extra trip out.

I guess that's building in the hills!!!

Lastly, please feel free to pop out and visit the site. Darren is there most days and he'd love to give you a tour!

It's been a while

It has been a while since I updated. I was away over the holidays and now my camera won't upload to the computer. It has malfunctioned so the error message says!! I have so many great photos of our progress but you'll have to wait till I get the camera fixed.
We have done heaps of work. The ground floor sheets and frame are up and over the last few days we have done the flooring on top of the garage and across the join to the main house. It is so exciting and inspiring to be able to walk through the house and envisage how it will be. I love it so much!! We worked on the design for over 3 years and it is perfect for our family. I have lots of little personal bits like a walk in and out "dumping room" for schoolbags and stuff. My laundry is the size of a bedroom with a huge central folding bench and a shute from upstairs. It backs on to our wardrobe so I'm also having a little roller door to transport our clothes. I have also worked out storage spots for everything from boogie boards to the Christmas tree!!
Darren is so happy to have got a decent run in on building. The kids have helped on various days and all in all things are very positive around here!! Tonight, Jake and Ben are camping at the block with some friends. They have a campfire going in an old washing machine bowl and are cooking their own dinner and toasting marshmellows etc. It is a great thing for them!!
I will post some photos as soon as I can. Take care, Jodie.

We have a floor and it's red!

Here is our floor being built. The timber is red as it is specially treated to repel termites. It looks very pretty!! The sheets on the right are the chipboard floor which Jake and Ben are helping to put on.
Darren wants to shoot me?????

Our handsome helpers, Ben and Jake.

Today, the site is being sprayed for termites and the floor will then be finished. Next, we start walls. Stay tuned.

PS Thanks Teresa for your comments. Hopefully it won't be long till you're doing the same as us.

You guys can make comments!

Hey, do you realise you can leave comments on our blog? Just click on the words "0 Comments" or whatever the count is, at the bottom of each post. Then you can write us a message! Thanks Jo for being the first to comment! Love Jodie.

Our garage

Our garage is coming along nicely as you can see from these photos. This will be Darren's workshop and where he will keep his van. I will have a smaller garage up on the main house level. Darren is very excited with the size of his "shed".

This photo is looking up the driveway to where the main house will be with the garage on the left on the lower level. Darren has plans to turn the slope in front of the garage (where the tree fern is at the top) into a conifer garden.

This pic is taken from above the retaining walls. All the stumps are now in and the garage is on the left in the background.

We have also decided to downsize the upper storey of the house. It was just too big! We are now having 4 bedrooms upstairs for the kids as well as a bathroom (with 2 showers) and a communal closet. Downstairs will be our bedroom and a guest room. So it is now 6 bedrooms instead of 8 which was a bit ridiculous. Jake and Ben will have their own room and the others will share for now. The younger ones don't like being on their own anyway and we can always use the guest room or other spaces for a bedroom later on if we need to. We still have 2 living areas plus a huge rumpus room downstairs.

That is the news for now. We should be able to start the floor very soon. Love to all, Jodie.

PS, our "baby" Amber starts school tomorrow!

Progress

Stumps are in, well first lot anyway, we had to leave some so we could have an area for the concrete trucks to come in. We need about 20 more but most are in. Bricklayer started today, very exciting to see walls going up. Also Darren has levelled the first tank and put it in place so we could get some water delivered. We will need it for bricking as well as drinking later on.

This is our little shed. It came with a BBQ, a fridge, microwave and power so it is very handy. To the left is a nice shady area where we can sit and watch the men work!!!

The first wall!