Champagne and nibbles!!
The big jump! All these kids belong to our group of friends.
Nick and Matt
Abbey, Tim, Daz, Ben and Amber peeking through a tube.
Amber in the river
Matt coming out of the rapids
The beautiful Kiewa River. This was our second year at Tawonga and we hope to make it a tradition. Lots of our friends go as well and the kids have an absolute ball! You can walk up river about 500 metres and float down some rapids on tubes. It is so much fun.
This area has been cleared for the 400 metres of effluent lines running from the septic system into the ground. They just run up and down, up and down, etc.
Here is our Worm Farm Waste System!! It is now buried and the hole in the top has a compost bin on top to put all your scraps in. It also likes paper as the carbon helps balance the eco-system. Would you believe they put only a handful of worms in along with some mulch! This is going to treat the waste water of a family of 8 and turn it into water for the garden.
Here is the top level plastered. This has now been painted and looks great!! I am experimenting with colours at the moment. I think we'll do some of these walls at least in a colour called Aviva. I've put a pic below (it's scanned from a sample sheet and is therefore not exactly right).
Here is a better picture of our external colours. We love how it has come up!
This is our stairwell from the back of the house looking forward. The plasterers are moving very quickly. We found a guy who was willing to work over the Christmas period. He brings a gang with him most days and they just go for it!! It is great for us. The whole upstairs is now done except for cornice and downstairs is well under way.
The plumbing is going well. We aim to have one bathroom completed with running hot and cold water and toilets by mid Jan. The electrician is coming back on the 15th Jan to fit off all the light switches, powerpoints, etc. Darren will then be doing the skirting, architraves and doors. I hope to get the floorboards in and polished in later January and then lay carpet. We will be home from holidays on the 28th and hopefully we can move in. The main thing that won't be done is the kitchen but we will make do until it is.
Here is where our fuse box will be. There are probably three times as many wires now. It looks quite ridiculous. We have have electricity wires, data wires (for hardwired internet and phone points), tv antenna wires, foxtel kind of wires, and even some speaker wires all behind the plaster. There's also a big "3 phase" wire running to the garage. I don't really understand it but I think it allows you to use machinery that draws more power than normal applicances. Darren has thought of everything that we might want to use in the future which is very sensible.
The weatherboarding is almost done. It looks fantastic. I am so happy with how it has turned out. It's great to see your ideas grow from paper to an actual house!
This is Daz and Tai (in the white) having lunch. I've just bought them Chinese takeaway. Aren't I a nice wife!! It reached 30 degrees today. Darren is going to get some water. It's hard work weatherboarding and painting in the heat.
The top left end of the house is painted in the finished colour. I hope you like it! We have admired the colour of a house up the mountain for a few years now. Finally, after much experimentation and trying different sample pots, Darren went in and asked them what colour they used . They were really nice. It is "Stonecrop" by Dulux. They said they absolutely loved the colour and that it is fantastic in disguising dust. We get a lot of dust off the dirt road so I am really happy with the choice. By the way, the dark bit on the 2 boards near the window at the bottom was just one of our experiments. The colour we chose is much lighter and softer. See below.
Our electrician Peter is coming tonight from Qld. Darren worked on his renovation last year and they have done a labour swap. Peter moved to Qld but he is happy to keep his part of the deal which is great! Yesterday Darren and I had to add up all the power points and light switches and buy the brackets, then put them all where we want them. It actually takes quite a bit of thought! You have to think of where the furniture will be going, what applicances you might want to use in each room, etc. It was fun. We also went tile shopping. I love these beautiful new tiles I saw online. They are glass tiles with a lovely, almost wallpapery background in a classic tapestry pattern. There's a picture below. But when we priced them for our ensuite, it would cost $1300 just to do the back wall of our shower let alone around the mirror. My dream probably has to end!! I just want something classic but modern at the same time, like the glass tile idea. I don't want a strip of stones like every other new home of the last few years!
