First nights

Were moved! I made mick pose with me up front late Sunday afternoon.

Thank you to everyone who helped us shift on Saturday. The garage is now full of cardboard boxes and the bins over flowing with stubbies.

Can you believe it, we fit 8 cars in the front yard Saturday night! Mick got home and cooked up a huge bbq and we all sat out in the back yard eating under the stars and by aid of candlight. There were kids running around screaming and giggling and trying to get into the Dulux can of jelly beans. It was pretty good for a first night in our very own place.

Our little cave

Finally! I've had some inspiration for our bedroom. Cruising through blog world I happened upon Coco & Kelley, who has a beautiful blog btw, and found this photo. It's originally from Atla at Apartment Therapy, another fab blog, who did a special on this apartment.

I love the rich cream walls, they remind me of the local organic Greek yogurt that is so luxurious that there's a 1/4 inch layer of thicken cream on the top when you first break the seal. So yummy that I always forget about my lactose intolerance and scoop out a big dollop, heaven.

And the dark "Caribbean forest," as Coco & Kelley calls it, just wraps you in it's arms of strength and comfort. Sophisticated romance springs to mind, almost perfectly balanced between masculine and femininity for a shared bedroom.

Now, we do live in Queensland and even though the temps right now are perfect, come January the humidity will peak and anything not dried within an inch of it's life before summer hits, will never be dry again. So, a fan is needed, and this one is gorgeous. Found it on the ever bountiful Neiman Marcus online catalogue.These lamps from Pieces Inc have just the right amount of contrasting colour to perk up our little cave.

Love the texture of this Fendi linen from Neiman Marcus.

I'm not big on the white marble tops of these side tables from Paris Hotel Boutique, but the structure is what I'm looking for, maybe something a bit more practical with a drawer. The one below is from Neiman Marcus again and the one below that from Room and Board.

We've got to get the wall paper down before we do anything to the bedroom, but I can at least start collecting bits here and there.

I know the bedrooms should get done after the lounge as it's the most visible to guests, but I'm thinking that if I wake up in a room I love, then I'm that much more motivated to peal wallpaper from everything else.

I wrote out a time line today for inside the house and it goes something like this:

Move in and unpack, make sure all items to be stored are in water tight containers off the ground on pallets under the house.

Paint wall between kitchen and lounge: top-white, middle-chalk board grey, bottom-red.

Hang up photos on chalk board middle strip.

Remove wallpaper from the lounge, our bedroom, Roger's bedroom and hall (I recall that the back bedroom doesn't have any wallpaper.)

Paint all walls Primer white. Then move on to: our bedroom, back bedroom, Roger's bedroom, lounge.

Remove shag carpet! and polish floorboards.

Do something about the window coverings. Remove and replace with ?.

Then we play the waiting game. We want to live in the property for about a year before we do any major renovations on it.

Tea Party

Now that we have a yard again and arn't going to disturb neighbors too much, Iwe get to throw parties again. I've already got a tea party dancing along in my head. Mick just shook his head and looked at me like I was crazy when I told him about it. It'll be girls only in the backyard and I'm really looking forward to it. The sky is a predictable but beautiful blue these days and the temps are perfect.The organic cold MENU and SERVING METHOD method is:

Strawberries (med bowl)
Cream (sm bowl)
Scones (tray)
Jam (sm bowl)
Lemon curd (sm bowl)
Turkish Delight (tray - pink)
Petite Fours (tiered cake stand)
Cake – Bolconne Dolce (cake plate - pink)
Russian tea cakes (cake plate –silver)
Banana Nut Bread (tray)
Assorted finger sandwiches (tiered cake stand & tray)
Chicken Curry
Chicken Salad with Smoked Almonds
Egg Salad
Goats Cheese and Watercress
Cheese (wood board)
Figs (wood board)
Grapes (wood board)
Assorted nuts (sm bowl on wood board)

Tea, of course!

Curried chicken and homemade bread sangers, I think I'm drooling already.

Now this is where my love for planning comes in here's the EQUIPMENT list
Table & Chairs (8)
Roses in low clear glass vase
Other flowers in low vases (2)
(lillies? I'll drag lisa along and we'll see what's at markets)
Tea lights in glass votives (16)
Three tiered stand (2)
One for sandwiches
One for sweets
Cloth napkins (8)
White Tablecloth
White Tea Towels (4)
China – Teacups, saucers, tea plates (8)
Silver tea service – teapot, creamer, sugar
bowl, tea spoons, sugar tongs

Salt & Pepper shakers
Cheese board and knife
Cake stand, knife and server
Crystal water jug
Water glasses (8)
Champagne goblets (8)
Ice bucket
Serving bowls (5)Serving trays (4) Serving spoons (3)

butter (cream) knives (2)

this lemon curd looks so yummy. I can't wait till we can harvest our fist lemons.

I'll have to do a few early saturday mornings for garages sales and find all the lacey linen and feminene china for the party.

Wishful Etsying dreaming design

So I may be getting a bit a head of myself, but I just couldn't help it. I was cruising through etsy.com (best site ever!) and came across so much that I thought would be perfect for the back bedroom that my clicking fingers got away with themselves. Below are some ideas:

The decal would go at the end of a day bed we already have. Don't know if there's room enough. The decal is by the etsy shop, Badass Custom Decals and is called "Bird on a Tree"

I found this great material and thought it'd be perfect for some throw cushions.
Designed by Free Spirits and sold on etsy by Mod Fabric

Another decal, but I think it kinda ties in with the bird. Again, room?

The decal is by the etsy shop, Badass Custom Decals and is called "Sea Grass"

I would love this pattern on another cushion.

Designed by Jennifer Pagandeir and sold on etsy by shop, downshadowlane.

So here's how I imagine the layout of the room.
I'd like to experiment and see if these two colours on the fabric swatch above would be too much if used as primary colours for the room. Maybe a turquoise in just a shade lighter. The room isn't that big (haven't had a chance to measure it yet.) But if done carefully it just might work. We have to fit alot in this room so solid walls with patterned accessories (cushions, window dressings, not the bedspread) might have to be the go.

CONTENTS:
A magazine table with small table lamp and plant on it next to the window.

The daybed under the other window. This window is up about 5 ft from the floor.

Our filing cabinet at the end of the bed with a plant. The cabinet is metal but it's a fabulous three drawer number with bright rust orange drawers and a dark brown cabinet.

A small writing desk with the laptop and arm chair. Somehow I've got to figure out where to put the printer, it'll probably end up under the desk as a foot rest.

A bookshelf

assorted nic naks (cause they just need some place to collect dust)

Here's the rest of the house. I think I've made it to wide, but I've only been going off pictures and memory so far. I took the liberty of adding builtins for two of the bedroom (they don't have them currently).

Paperwork

There is a never ending flow of paperwork that is being printed from our printer these days. Loan application forms, First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) forms, copies of passports and licences to be certified. Lots of emails back and forth between BCU Credit Union and myself. We've requested many, many documents and as of today are no longer waiting on any!

I got an email this morning letting us know that we have been conditionally approved by the Mortgage Insurers subject to the house valuation and FHOG approval! One step closer to moving in- I'm starting to allow myself to be excited again!

On Thursday past Mick and I met at the bank to get six months of savings account statements from 4 accounts printed off. We requested the statements a week and a half before but they only sent one page from one account so a trip into the branch was called for. Mess ups like this exactly why we have chosen not to go through Commonwealth Bank for our home loan. Getting paperwork becomes somewhat of a mission because two of the accounts are in only Mick's name and the hours that he works makes getting into a bank next to impossible.

I received the last of our statements from Mick's personal loan this morning and I've sent it off to the bank. I think I've faxed over 100 pages of contracts, loan and savings statements, application forms, and a myriad of miscellaneous documents.

Over the weekend we got mail from the real estate, the solicitor and the bank. We've declined to have any extra searches done by the solicitor, The property was sold only 2 years ago so I'm hoping that any nasties were found and dealt with then, of course I could be very badly mistaken and something could be horribly wrong with the place. Guess we'll just get to be surprised!

So here's the important dates:
5 May - Building Inspection (really the 6th because 5 May in Queensland is Labour Day)
15 May - Finance and payment of deposit
23 May - Settlement!

I've scheduled a household and carpet cleaner for the 23rd, but I'm thinking that I'll have to get those changed to the 24th and 26th respectively, I want to be able to hand the keys into Jeff Jones Real Estate, our current rental agents on the 26th. Might just have to take that day off work as well. Whoo hoo... moving! my favorite past time in the whole wide world.

Since Roger, Micks dad, is going to be living with us till after Mick's surgery at least, were going to get Foxtel and SKY installed. So I've got to call about that now to get it installed in time. Lots of footy watching for recovery should be helpful and if not technically healthy it's at least not physically taxing.

Which reminds me about the Optus Wireless Broadband and our land line. I'll have to get that changed as well, hopefully they have coverage out in the burbs of Carina. I've already ordered a moving checklist from the Post and that should remind me of any other little things I've missed. Hmmm...electricity, unions, credit card, bank, car and health insurance....and the list goes on.

Only 17 days till the keys are ours!

ps I've been debating on changing the name of the blog since it is a bit deceptive. The house is a workers home, but a cottage? ideas/suggestions are very welcome!

Building Inspection

I'm beginning to feel that building inspectors have it pretty good. They spend an hour taking a look around and charge $390 for the pleasure. So yes, I know they are qualified, and they may spot something that I could walk straight pass, but I am glad that we are done with them!

Frank from Acumen, inspected the property this morning and gave us the all clear, the roof is good for another 50 years as is the rest of the guts. There are a couple of things to be fixed like the toilet needs screwed down properly and some of the doors don't close easily, but everything is pretty much in order. There's a window missing, but that's underneath the house and some of the window latches are hard to operate. Overall, it's a good house and Frank is a good inspector, at these last two properties, he's been honest and realistic, I'd recommend him and Acumen (I have not received any discounts or advantages in any for this recommendation).

While I was at the property this morning the estate agent reminded me about getting a cover note. Quick call to AAMI and RACQ will get that sorted. Lots of fees between now and settlement. Hmm....

Had another look at the yard, and yep, it's still a go for front yard garden, don't really know where to put the chooks though. I'll have to really get the dimensions of the place correct and see just where our Northern property line is. I'd like to fit in a three bin composter as well, but there's a couple of really well established shrubs in the way that I don't want to loose. This is how I see it standing on the street and looking from North to South; fence, thorny climbing vegetation on fence, chook and compost coop, border plants, pathway to front door, rose bed, raised garden beds, hedge, driveway, shrubbery, fence. Looking at the width of the land I'm estimating it at 18 meters or 59 feet, but to be safe it's probably 16m/52ft, lots to fit in a little space, but I think we can make it work.

I discovered a beautiful camilla on the property today, it's a gorgeous dark pink/purple. It's right next to a very nice apricot/orange rose. With lots of weeding and mulching and some pruning the established plants would really be breathtaking.

We found a place

So here it is, our very own little workers cottage, we signed the contract on Friday with settlement in 30 days. Ok, ok so technically most people wouldn't call it a "workers cottage" but, if you think about it, that is exactly what it is. It was built in the 1970's for a working family. Every decade since the 1900's the "cottage" has grown. By the 60's the four room house had become a three bedroom abode, complete with kitchen, bathroom and laundry.


So now that we have moved on from semantics, let me tell you a little bit about the place.
Well, it has three bedrooms, two very good sized and one a bit smaller, a medium sized kitchen, seperate bathroom and toilet and a laundry. It's perched on 607 sqm of land in the suburb of North Carina. The ample front yard has several established shrubs and a few georgeous roses, while the spacious backyard comes complete with a hills hoist (not being removed because of nostalgia and Mick wants to swing on it), some paw paws and a couple mature shade trees. Oh yeah, a partly enclosed tin shed on a concrete slab toped with a weight bench comes with it.

That's the boring stuff out of the way, now, you walk into the wallpapered lounge room, do a jig around the wallpapered privacy wall into the wallpapered kitchen and view the wallpapered dinning area, take a couple steps and your back in the wallpapered lounge. Did I say wallpaper? There is a bit of it, but the variety that adornes each wall in the house is really the winner. My favorite so far is the first bedroom, imagine a cloudy day looking out onto the Brighton beach with the dark sea beyond, and riding on this sea of grey is a floatailla of ships! Not just any ships either, Captain Cook rigs at full sail. I believe the wallpaper was a sign, Mick's dad is a merchant marine and my dad is one of those people who can never be without at least one water vessel to his name: the wallpaper is staying, at least in this room!

The place is perfect for us. We'll tear down the wall paper, give it a fresh coat of paint, then tear up the shag wall to wall and clean up the floorboards. Everything else can wait. We want to make sure that we know exactly what we want to do where and what materials to use. We don't want to go wasting any of our labour and money!

Except the garden! That's top of my list. Front fence, chook pen and chooks, worm farm and compost heap followed by a no dig veggie garden.

Eventually we'll raise the place or dig underneath to add another bedroom or two, we'll tear down the wall seperating the kitchen from the lounge room and put a new kitchen in. We'll also put in a new bathroom and maybe add an ensuite while making the lounge room bigger. The part i'm looking forward to is a big wrap around verandah that will go in. The verandah would help with parking as there is no garage now, and create living space in the front, the North side and back of house to watch the sun slowly decend over a horizon of trees.

As soon as I get more picture of the place I'll post them, but until then you'll just have to drool over this small selection.