House update: we get the keys and work begins

It’s been a crazy week this week, hence the lack of posts. On Wednesday we received the keys to our new house, and I guess you could say we moved in. And by moved in, I mean we brought a swag over. Yep, the first night we slept in a swag in the master bedroom.

Thursday was the Australia Day public holiday, so after a single night camp out, work immediately got under way.

The floors start to come up

First thing in the morning the in-laws drove up from Brisbane ready to lend a hand. They arrived shortly before 9am, and before you could blink they were into it.

Our main goal for the day was ripping up the old floating timber floors. They’re still in good nick and so we’ve saved them to see if they’ll sell, but they weren’t the style we were after. The whole process was a lot faster than we expected, and after an hour the whole house was done.

We’ve booked in some tradies to come on Monday to get rid of the tiles and bring it back to polished concrete. Then once the walls have been repainted, the new floors will go down.

Back garden part 1 demolished

Given Mario’s green thumb, eventually all gardens will be replaced. The plan is to build a retaining wall on the side, and then have a huge veggie garden but for budget reasons that will have to wait. We will just build one into the corner for now, then the plants from our other home will come over.

For now, there are two gardens to be ripped out and eight trees to cut down. The tree lopper came past on Thursday to give us a quote, and we booked him in for the following week. It’s mainly palms that we are cutting down. They drop fronds too much and given their position, are a bit worrying for house if they ever fell in a storm. So we decided they should go.

For the gardens, they were way too close to the weep holes. As it was, the gardens were chaotic and a random assortment of everything. Growing up, my grandparents had a jungle of a garden that used to scare me, so admittedly I’ve never been fond of unkempt gardens.

We got stuck in, and after about an hour the result was this:

In that garden we found SO many bits and pieces, including:

• An evil bunny rabbit statue
• A candelabra
• Two glass balls
• A rubber ball
• Some lantern stand thing
• Something I assume was once a fish head statue or case
• A turtle statue
• A small shovel
• Countless little garden lights buried in
• A water irrigation system
• Half a dozen pot plants
• A huge terracotta water feature

What a collection! I’m excited to see what we find when we tackle the other side of the back yard!

The plan for that area is to have a raised deck and use it as a seating area. A couple of outdoor lounges, some nice potted trees etc. If the water feature can be cleaned up and saved we might eve put that in a corner. It’s a nice big one with a terra cotta pot and a ball on top.

The remaining trees in there will be cut down, then we will pull all the stumps out. You can clearly see the weep holes in the second shot, so mission accomplished.

Front garden

This garden had the same issue in that it was too close to the weep holes and needed to go. Something will need to go there in the future, but right now everything needed to be pulled out.

This one was a monster of a job.

We still need to get an excavator flatten it all out. The soil is completely covered by roots, and there’s even a bit of gravel in there. Such a mess, and an eyesore, but it’s step 1.

I need to figure out what we want to do in front of the window to get privacy back. I’m unsure as to whether I would like a privacy screen, or get some nice plants back again. Something to think about later at least, but if anyone has any ideas I’m all ears. We have a huge waste pile in the front yard, and eventually we will get a skip and get rid of it. Or hopefully the tree loppers take it; that would be a nice surprise!

Other stuff

Other than that, we removed lots of little bits and pieces from around the inside. There were picture hooks everywhere, all that need to be removed and patched.

So all that in a day! It was some exhausted bodies that sat down for a Chinese takeaway that night!

Admittedly, I am feeling lost in the process as I’m not experienced in this at all. I just ask for jobs, do what I’m told and stay out of the way. I did feel as though I wasn’t doing as much as everyone else, but it’s very hard not to feel intimidated.

This weekend we should have all the walls patched ready to go for the painting next week. We are removing some ventilation points, and dismantling a cupboard from one of the rooms. I’m not sure what else the boys have planned, but I’m betting they’ll be busy!