Almost there!

Tomorrow, with turf laying, will see the end of the major landscaping works. After the pool is finished, there will be some minor touchups to complete. So happy with the plant selection and can't wait to see them grow and grow and grow. We have 3 trees that need to grow to beyond 15m high as per council stipulations. We have gone for a more tropical look with palms, camellias and a few frangipanis

Still need timber on the seating

Turf in the middle

The paving is now going to be sealed

Turf here too

Our waterline tiles arrived today

Paving almost complete!

And now in different light...

Concept Pools update

In the interest of a fair & balanced blog, I had better post tonight about Concept Pools. After their history of poor communication with me, I was surprised today to receive a call to see where I was up to with my selection of waterline tiles. It had been actioned with the Office Manager. To be proactive,  Ben suggested that I also select the pool equipment box. Wow! Talk about a turnaround. I asked Ben about the programme of works - as soon as the pool fencing is erected then it will be full steam ahead. They will be able to book in our Gemtex lining which should take about 2 weeks at this time of year. We may yet get a swim in our pool this summer.....

A week makes a difference

Whilst we have been away for a week, the landscapers returned to work and have been busy. We have a new back boundary fence (which we gifted to the neighbours), we have some travertine paving, we have rendered retaining walls and we even have our pool coping in place. There is a back story to that one.....
I sent an SMS to Concept Pool supervisor as a reminder to book in the next stage for mid January when they supposedly returned to work. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a reply back to say that they were expected on site the very next day! Shortly after I received an SMS asking me if the waterline tiles were on site ready to be laid???? Ummmm, NO! I wasn't under the impression that I needed to source them though I did know that they and many other items were not in the contract price eg. coping pavers, pool equipment, solar heating. PANIC! I was away on holidays and didn't really cherish the idea of coming back to Sydney to source tiles. No idea what I needed or where to get them at short notice. I was called back and told 'not to worry' - the coping could still be done and that it would not hold up the construction. I would need to go into the office next week and select a tile which then could be ordered for me. Crisis averted but where on earth is the management process for this company?? All it would have taken is a courtesy email or phone call to ask me to select my tiles. Even if it was all clearly explained to me (which it wasn't), it was 18 months ago that we signed up with the company and so much has happened since then.

Pantry viewing

A few people are hassling for more posts from me. Really, there isn't much to post at the moment with no finished pool or gardens. As punishment, you can have boring pantry photos!
Loving the space especially given there isn't much in the kitchen outside the pantry ie. very little cupboard or drawer space. We even added in 2 overhead cupboards so it would have been dismal otherwise.
In the first photo, you can see packing boxes down below. They are excess plates, bowls & mugs for parties. Not sure whether, it will be kept in there or in the garage.
In the second photo, you can see that I have added a workstation of sorts. School paperwork, envelopes, stamps, chequebooks, pens, stationery, recipe books etc. Not such how much of it will stay there or get moved when other rooms are completed.

Some green for Christmas

Our lovely landscapers gave us some green for Christmas time - it makes such a difference which excites us for the rest of the greenery yet to come. Brad & I have not had lawn in our 12 years of marriage, in fact I have NEVER EVER had lawn. I know that the novelty may wear off when it needs mowing constantly.

And in other news, the plumbers were out this morning to fix a flooded undersink cupboard. Turns out that our pullout tap mixer is completely 'shot to pieces' (his words). He has put in a temporary one until mid-January so we don't need to deal with flooding every day.

Landscaping photo update

New letterbox

Ready for travertine paving

Extra alfresco area

New table tennis table being put to use by the sleepover girls!