Day 78 to Day 83 - Build my home!

Catch Up Post #16 -

Day 78 - Day 83 (Fri 16th - Wed 21st July) -
not too much to say but some pics to show...

First - a "sweeping view" of the living area / dining room
(standing at side of kitchen area)

 Next - here are several other photos
to give the current perspective of the build...

 ~ looking out through the garage door ~

 ~ the alfresco area ~ 

 ~ the alfresco roof ~

 ~looking inside through the alfresco doors ~

~ power point hole at the alfresco door ~

~ looking at the kitchen area ~ 
(standing in the living room space) ~

~ looking into one of the kids bedrooms ~

 ~ wall of the main bedroom ~  
See the 2 wires sticking out for the 2 x feature wall lights (to be above the bed)???  They are just above white plaster join - well they worry me - they need to be in just the right spot so it doesn't look off centre... hmmm... I hope we get it looking alright...

 ~ looking out a window in the media room  ~

 ~ the media room electrical point / holes ~
(I know, I know - thrilling stuff :)))

 
 ~ the main bedroom light switch wires / hole  ~
(looking out of the bedroom to the kitchen space)

 ~ power point holes in the study nook  ~

 ~ the Laundry area awaiting the basin / shelving ~

  ~ water pooling ~
(can you see the alfresco post?)

       ~ more water pooling ~                                        ~ and reflecting the trees ~

Anyway, there you go...

Due to this being our record of the building journey - even the less exciting elements like photos of power point holes, are documented in these posts...
 In spite of this, I hope something in each post may still be of interest for those of you reading this!?...  

Oh well, at the very least, it is a real depiction of building - where you can easily find yourself getting ridiculously excited over the smallest bits of progress - simply because it is PROGRESS.... moving forward IS GOOD!!!!  
(Waiting, waiting & waiting will do this to you...)


If you are getting impatient to see more interesting photos... I'm with you!!!!


Bring on the "hugely exciting steps" just so I can share them :)
(and so we move in soon as possible :)

Cheers :)

Day 76 & 77 - BRICKS BRICKS BRICKS

Catch Up Post #15 -

Day 76 (Wed 14th July) - BRICKWORK ongoing...

Day 77 (Thurs 15th July) - BRICKWORK completed :)))

So for ease I will simply add photo collection/slideshow of said brickwork appearing... (cue imaginary grunge music to accompany hehe)

"BRICKwork"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

So this stage of house construction is very exciting.

 The several (older hardworking) guys who did the
brick work were great, working very quickly
(to our newbie eyes)...  

Before we knew it - the house was no longer
wearing its "blue wrap dress" of insulation...
but is more solidly walled with BRICKS :)))))

I like SOLID - feels so much more like a real house now.
We have bricks... bricks... bricks... bricks....awesome!!! 

 

 

Showing off our brick walls :))))

...Oh give me a home among the gum trees.....

Thanks for stopping by... Please feel free to comment so I know you've visited :) Cheers :)

Day 74 - Termimesh

Catch Up Post #14 -

Day 74 (Mon 12th July) - Termimesh put around house...

 The Termimesh product gets applied all around the house - on top of the existing bricks (two bricks deep)... After this application the remaining brick layers are built up on top. 

 

The Plastering inside the house is continuing... 

This is Bill the Plasterer :) who did a fantastic job!

He seemed to work really hard with a high attention to detail... His job was patching all the nail spots and joins of the plaster-boards. 

Bill was also friendly - something I appreciate when we are constantly dropping past looking around on site...

He had a heck of a job too - as previous workers (who put up the plaster-boards) did not do a great job apparently... Instead of using glue to the middle sections of boards to hold them in place - they used a multitude of nails (or screws not sure) instead...

This gave Bill a million and one extra spots to patch - as can be seen in the photo below...

Bill also picked up that the front entry ceiling did not look quite right. 

The line of the raised ceiling** seemed to reach the edge of the niche in an ugly way... So Bill spoke up and therefore it will get 'fixed' and plastered later when they come back to do any further patching needed...

(**"coffered" ceiling I think it is called - not sure of the spelling though)

In this photo (taken later on Day 81) you can see the beam of wood added (the "fixed line") - that while it shortens the raised area **, overall it will make the raised ceiling look better when its finished (hopefully)... 


... hmmm... I don't know if that explaination makes sense... its hard to describe this stuff esp as I am not a tradie :P

Here are a few more pics...

 The front entry way (showing the niche and a small bit at the top is the area I just attempted to describe that needed fixing)...

 Looking into the media room...

This is the steel corner angles that is attached to the wall edges 

(by Bill the plasterer :) 

 

Lastly here is my 'arty' photo for this post - I think I will call it "workbench perspective"... 

More posts soon.... Huge thank you for stopping by and following our progress... :)


Cheers :)

A Sense of Community!

I want to share something that is making me pause, think... and giving me an extra surge of hope...  It is an unexpected 'bonus' with significant potential... something that is being encouraged amongst us and our neighbours by facilitators at our soon-to-be new estate...  

It is the active cultivation of the 

 'Sense of Community'.  

I have known a sense of community before in areas of my life...
In my (large) family, among my friends, my active church community, my workplace...  Upon reflecting however, I don't think it is something that I have experienced* within my neighbourhood before now...
(*I mean this as an adult - excluding where I grew up & my childhood family friends)

Since moving out of my parent's home many, many years ago, my 'places of residence' did not really have any connection with my neighbours at each location.  Sure, for many years - being single, young, and renting with friends meant I didn't really see the need to look outside my immediate dwelling...

 

Well, a small meeting this week at our new estate (with Maree Machin from Bukaji Consultants) regarding a potential Community Garden (and more) has definitely got me thinking....

As an adult, I have lived in various suburbs throughout Brisbane, 9 rentals and finally 1 house we owned (that's another story).  However, in all these different locations, I can only think of one neighbour who I actually knew well enough to remember their name*...  

Why is that?  

Is it a 'keep to yourself' habit?... the element of fear?  What is it that keeps the neighbourly relations to a brief nod, smile and wave but never moving to anything more substantial?  

Well, this process of uprooting our family from Brisbane Suburbia is and has been a HUGE adventure (read scary, exciting, exhausting, challenging and positive)... In all that I desired for our new "home/place of sanctuary", I can't say I expected to be presented with an opportunity for 'community' as well... Today, I am 'moved' by this potential bonus for my family!!!

A while back, my husband and I visited an eco friendly estate at Currumbin Valley.  We fell in love with the place but unfortunately it was out of our price range (among other things).  

What stands out in my memory was the sense of community this place offered (it helped that the residents were primarily like-minded eco-friendly people)...  One particular way they did this was the "green areas" grouping blocks of land / available for community garden plots etc... I particularly love the idea of growing plants, food and gardens together with neighbours - I love community art and this is similiar - a community project...  Something that was created together, evolving and significant to its members... An experience that connects the young and old and provides positive links between those participating...

....Just to clarify, I am not a gardener... However, I often entertain the idea of having a herb garden/ vege patch /my own fresh produce one day... I feel that if I could manage to do this, it would provide a significant level of satisfaction and accomplishment... A dream perhaps... I feel overwhelmed at the thought of achieving this by myself however... hmmm what if I could work with others on such a project.... OMG... imagine that!....

So a year ago, when my family embarked on our 'whirlwind sea-change'... I was adamant that I didn't want to move from Brisbane suburbia to somewhere that may as well be in suburbia... I needed our new place to have an distinct difference to the place we came from... Predominately I thought that this difference was via nature...(I wanted trees, or a view of water, or some surrounding environment that contributed to the feeling of sanctuary for us...)

Until now, it hadn't occurred to me that the difference might be also via something similiar to what I saw happening at that eco-friendly estate those years ago... 

A sense of community with my neighbours.... 

A common project like a community garden to bring us together, get to know each other, and have a positive effect on our lives...  

I feel so grateful for our good friends / soon-to-be neighbours across the road (who also relocated from Brisbane at a similiar time) and also for the other lovely people I have met so far from the estate...  We have joked about looking forward to a block party or two, street cricket with the kids, and such... 

But after today, I have been reminded that there can be even more... 

 ...that which I admired back at that other eco-friendly estate, is also within reach here = a community project (garden) that brings people together -  ... 

I value this highly, that something so rare in today's suburbs, is a real potential right here, for me and my family, for all those around us...

(The cautious part of me says... hey be careful how excited you get... don't jump the gun... things can go wrong when you step out of your comfort zone, meet new people, share too much of yourself etc... what if people don't like me?!.... hang on.... where did that 'red' thought come from?  It's ok... Embrace new experiences... All is well... Move forward...)

Bottom line - This is even more than I hoped for my family... a potential new experience of community... Something to be encouraged by... and to contribute to... and to share with others... A potential blessing to add to the intentional cultivation of 'sanctuary' with my family... 

So, there you go... the beginning of a new element to our journey. I am grateful for Maree's role in facilitating this development of community... I anticipate learning more about nurturing community with our fellow-residents... in this beautiful location that I am so looking forward to call HOME...

To conclude this (long) post I want to share an interesting quote I found on a website on Home and Garden:

"In this study, we found that the more vegetation in a common space, the stronger the neighborhood social ties near that space," 

wrote Frances E. Kuo, William Sullivan and Liesette Brunson of the U. of I. and Rebekah Levine Coley of the University of Chicago. 

"Compared to residents living adjacent to relatively barren spaces,  individuals living adjacent to greener common spaces had more social activities and more visitors, knew more of their neighbors, reported their neighbors were more concerned with helping and supporting one another, and had stronger feelings of belonging."

So what do you think???

Peace.... :)