We're in!

Yes, folks we have been in our new house for 2 weeks now. So why the delay on the blog update? Good ole Telstra have given us a little bit of last minute grief in getting the new connection on but after 4 failed attempts to show up and flick the switch, Barry the very nice Telstra man came on Tuesday afternoon and waved his magic telecommunications wand and voila!

So what's been happening?

Firstly, all the nasty things I said about buying a kitchen from Ikea are still true, however, putting it together was really easy and the result is fantastic. We still have to get the door handles on and the kickplates, oh and the wall tiles, but I LOVE MY KITCHEN!!!!!

Now, the interior fitout is far from finished but the downstairs is completely plastered so that is where we are living. It is a giant studio apartment with our bed in the area that will be the lounge. Hmmmm, maybe we should have built a house only half the size!! 

The most exciting development (apart from having cooking and showering facilities), has been our new stairs. We used Jones Joinery and they have done a really nice job of the external stairs (front and back) the timber and wire railings on the upstairs balcony and the solid hardwood staircase inside. I can't show you the internal staircase yet. The stairwell is shrouded in black plastic to prevent the warmth wafting upstairs and straight out the top of the building. You see we haven't lined the soffits so there is a lovely draft running through the upstairs at the moment. And, as you all know, it is the middle of bloody winter!!

Note that the gaping hole at the top of the house is finally gone. Greg broke many safety laws and possibly even the law of gravity to get them up there - 8.5 metres from the ground. The procedure involved a trailer, a platform on the trailer, a bloody great extension ladder on the platform and a large amount of pure adrenalin. Did I mention that Greg did it on Tuesday - the windiest day for years. I am pleased to report that no DIY madmen were harmed during the exercise.
So, things will slow down on the building front now as we prepare to go back to the job of earning a living and paying for it all. It has been a big journey, with much passion, frustration, elation, boredom and exhaustion. It almost killed us, and yet, and yet we still catch ourselves saying "Next time we build, we'll do if differently......." AAAAAAAHGGGGGGGHHHH!!! When will the madness end? Stay tuned.....