Plantation Shutters

I have a confession to make.

I am obsessed with plantation shutters. I am. I love, love, LOVE them!

We had them in our last home. Why? I found them to be the strongest, most practical and stylish looking solution for our sliding doors. And once they went on the doors, we started to put them the windows, because they look fabulous!

I love the way that they look good from the outside of the home as well as inside, and I love that the amount of light that you let in to a room can be adjusted. They are easy to clean, and just so durable.

We have been getting our final quote this week for our shutters... We are doing the entire house. It's not cheap, but it is an investment - shutters will outlast curtains and probably most blinds as well.



Madeleine's bedroom in our previous home

 

And here are some pretty rooms with shutters that I have found whilst browsing Pinterest....



Image found here

Image found here



 

                                     Contemporary Staircase by New York Interior Designer MuseInteriors 
                                                                                Image found here

Image found here

I know that plantation shutters aren't for everyone, but I do adore them.... Do you have them in your home, or are you lusting after them, too?

 

And then she broke....

Image found here

The stress.

It's getting to me.

It's making my life difficult.

Sometimes.... it's hard to breathe.

My stress is only over first world problems, but at the moment there seem to be so many of them, I am finding it hard to cope at times.

I feel like I want to jump right off this rollercoaster.

I want to push the fast forward button and be in a different place.

A place where there are no 4 hour photo shoots or open for inspections for this rental that is being sold (thus meaning that I have SO much cleaning to do!)..... A place where all the packing has been completed and unpacked at the other end. A place where I don't have to go to work but can maybe work from home during my own hours (that's a big dream, ha!) so that I can be here for my children.... A place where everything goes to plan and turns out exactly as it should....

It's pretty safe to say that I am not really in such a good place right now. I am sure that I will come out the other side okay, but sometimes, it's important to stop and have a cry if you need it. I know, because this evening I broke. My eyes are feeling scratchy and my nose is runny now, and I will probably wake in the morning with a killer headache, but I am feeling a little bit better for having gotten it all out, and now I am feeling better for writing it down.

I don't want you to feel sorry for me. I am just a normal person with a HELL of a lot going on right now. I know that there are other people with A LOT bigger problems than me. I absolutely get that. I really do. But no matter how big or small your problems might be, it's important to talk about them, and if you need to - cry. It might just help to make you feel just a little bit better....

I hope that everyone else is okay this evening...


Teresa x

Remembering when....

In my first year at University, my best school friend invited me to a Tupperware party being held by a friend of hers.... I remember on the drive there, the two of us were joking about how grown up we were now (we had met in year four and are still close friends today), going to Tupperware parties and University.... anyway... This day we jumped in to the car and headed up a hill to the house where the party was being held. It was a winding road of course, and when we arrived and were invited inside, the party was being held on the balcony. I remember nothing more from that day, except the view. This was a part of the town that I had never really been to before, and I was amazed by how far along the coast you could see from up there. I remember standing on that balcony, staring out at the view, thinking that one day, I might like to live up on this very hill with a similar view to this... It was a far fetched dream, especially for a 1st year University student with a part time job that paid almost nothing!

At the end of my degree, I moved away from that town, to a much bigger city, and then I moved again to another state, and to be honest, I had forgotten all about that day until recently, when I stood on our balcony at the house, and took in our view. A view that is much better than what David and I had originally anticipated that it would be.

The view on a lovely sunny day before the house was built

The funny thing is, that we didn't buy our block of land because of that view. It was far more important for us to stay in the same suburb or close, and to have the space in our garden to keep chickens and grow vegetables. Our block ticked all those boxes, and was the only other one that did when our offer on another block of land was rejected.

In all the time that it has taken us to finally get started on building our home, there have been some very frustrating times for us along the way, and I think that the view ended up being something that really kept us going. If the process was becoming all too hard, and we were getting depressed and annoyed with the process, we would drive up to the block, stand about half the way up and look back.... and each and every time, all our worries would disappear. We would want to keep going. We were determined to build our house and live here in this beautiful suburb. I do hope that we will never tire of our view....

Up on the balcony at dusk.

I think it's funny how a little thought I had in my head so many years ago has seemed to become my reality. It was never a goal that I was looking to achieve or something that I was actually striving for, but it's a bit uncanny to think that something I had seemingly wanted that day, is so very similar to what we have ended up with years and years later.

Has anything like this ever happened to you?

Moving House Announcements

The handover date for the house is about 4 weeks away!

So I've started thinking about some announcements. I like the idea of these to give to people with all our new contact details. It's something that I have done in the past, although in the last 3 moves I didn't bother, and we missed some important mail from relatives... I'm not sure that cards like this would have prevented it from happening, but I love sending out cute things like this and since this will be our last move for a VERY long time, I'm going to make the effort!


Here are just a couple that I have found on Etsy...



Image and Card available here

Image and card available here



 

Image and Card available here

 



It's more than likely that I will end up creating something myself, but I actually may need to use one of these if I run out of time (which is VERY likely!)... I like the idea of including a photo as well. I suppose it's also a little keepsake for our family of when our home was finished also.

Have you send moving house announcements before?

The house. Another update!

It seems like forever since I updated you on the house. This whole working three days a week thing makes my four days at home super busy... We'll hopefully get the hang of it soon...

Anyway, check out our house! This is a really photo heavy post, because I have lots to share. The photos are a little all over the place, but they are in order.... 

The build is coming along in leaps and bounds.  It really, really is! It's so surreal after waiting so very long, to have everything finally fall in to place. It's like a dream.

There has been a big focus on the exterior being finished, and at the same time so much has been happening inside as well.

The Hebel went on the upper level walls. We chose Hebel because we used it on the extension in our previous home and loved it so much for its ease of installation (David, his Dad and Uncle put the walls up on our extension in 2 days) and the energy efficiency. We also figured that it would be much easier and cheaper to get a rendered look again as well. And it has not disappointed us. We are happy with the result.



The Hebel going on



The pillars at the front have finally been finished

Starting to look more like a house

 

 

The framework for the decking out the back has had to be removed. Again, I had some unkind words to say about the architect.... The architect drew the decking to match the floor trusses. This in turn has meant that the decking boards were running away from the house, rather than parallel to the back, if you get what I mean! We are planning to extend the deck right the way to the retaining wall, and this would also have made it quite difficult to extend later on.

 





The back area where the decking will go

 

The walls have been insulated and gyprocked as well. With the 6 star energy requirements our entire house has had to be fully insulated in every wall, even the pantry, ha!

The house is SO energy efficient, even the pantry is fully insulated!

More insulation in the family room

Our hallway

Hebel finished and rendering started

Starting to look much prettier

Looking in to the media room and out on to the balcony


 

Main bedroom with walk in robe on the left. You walk through the robe and in to the en suite.

Inside the walk in robe, looking in to the en suite

 

Water proofing has been completed in all the wet areas

Looking at the kitchen. The pantry is on the left.

Looking in to our family room. There will be bookshelves either side of the gas log fire.

The exterior is really coming together now. The Hebel has been rendered and is waiting for its coat of paint to seal.

This afternoon I met the builder down at the block to confirm the tiling, as it has arrived. Yes. The tiling is about to start! I am so excited! The front door and the internal doors should be arriving later this week and apparently the scaffolding will be coming down as well. There is a lot to do, but with perfect weather forecast, and these really hard working men, who continue to amaze us with just how much they can do in one day, I am not surprised that the builder expects the exterior to be finished.

We have Christian's 2nd birthday this weekend, and my Mum visiting from QLD. I am really looking forward to showing her around the house.

Hopefully it won't be so long between updates!


Teresa x

Good Riddance to the pole!

 

 

So the hideous pole is gone.... Hallelujah! I can't tell you how happy I am!

 

 

In case you missed it. I wrote about the pole a little while ago here.

 

 

This is what you see when you look through the non existing front door now..... (I just can't wait for the front door and the garage door to go in)



Looking through the front door now


 

And this is what you see from the garage. The door on the left goes in to the entrance. The stairs will be directly in front of you, and the door on the right is for the storage under the stairs. There is quite a bit of space under there.



The solution involved a second door in the garage.

It's great that we were able to compromise and find the best solution to this problem...

 

I'll be back later in the week with lots more photos of what's been happening. Obviously we are up to gyprocking now, so I am a little behind in my updates....

 

 

Teresa x



House update!

Work at the house has been progressing in leaps and bounds, and we have been so excited by all the changes and how quickly the place is going up. Another week or two and we will be at lock up!

My darling husband has been working tirelessly at the house. He's an Electrician and wanted to wire the house up himself, and because we are using a small private builder, he was happy to allow David to do this. It means that we haven't seen very much of him lately, as he has been spending the evenings after work and the weekends working on the house. He's almost done though....

So, last time I updated you on the house progress, the floor trusses were in... Now we are finished the frame stage and the roof went on yesterday! I think the Hebel wall panels go on the upper floor starting tomorrow. Anyway, even though I haven't been posting much here, I have been popping in at the house regularly to take lots of photos, so for now I'll let them do the talking...

Frame work going up on the top level

View of the side - Upstairs above the garage is the main bedroom

Front view

Standing inside looking towards the front

Roof trusses going on

View from the back. You'll notice that the trusses for the back decking have been removed. I'll have to fill you in on that!

Windows start going in.

More windows. Side view.

Roofing and guttering going on. We chose Colour bond Shale grey for our roof and guttering

Top hats on ready for the Hebel to be installed. This section that you see jutting out from the rest of the house is where our heater is going and there will be bookshelves either side

 

So, while I was putting up these photos, I remembered that I hadn't filled you in on what's happened with the deck.... So here goes....

 

 

Usually when you build a deck, the decking boards would run horizontally across the house. Our architect didn't take this in to consideration when the plans were drawn, and so the trusses for the deck were just an extension of the house - so they ran the same way, and after the trusses had been laid, we (and the carpenter) realised that he had the decking running the opposite way. Needless to say we were unhappy! Running the boards that way would have looked rather awful. Our lovely builder organised for everything to be dismantled and the deck will be laid properly soon!


So, that pretty much brings you up to date with everything that's been happening.... Since I started writing this post the Hebel is almost all on, the roof is complete and the gyprock her been delivered ready to go up!



Teresa x

The Pole Palaver

Hello! It's been such a long time since I have blogged. As I expected, I am so very busy now that I am back at work, and the 4 days I have at home with the kids just go by soooo quickly! We are managing though.

 

There has been a LOT going on at the house, which I will update you on later, but today I wanted to share with you a little story about the house... 

 

The carpenter started working on the frame, and David happened to pop in, and noticed a post in the entrance way, that we weren't expecting to be there.

 

He called me over to come and have a look, and says that he has some ideas for how to fix it, so I dropped the kids at my MIL's as the building site is not suitable for them, and headed up there to have a look...

 

Here's a picture of the offending post... Honestly, who would want to look at that when they walk in the front door? Also, the door from the garage is behind the post, so we would have had to walk around it to get in around to the stairs, which are to the front of the post. Not practical when you might be holding a couple of shopping bags, or something!

 

I later joked that maybe they should have been putting such poles in more suitable rooms in the house, such as perhaps the bedroom, lol!


I was horrified to find this post here, and couldn't believe that no one had told us that there would be a post required here, because surely it didn't have to be there, and a beam could have been put in the ceiling instead or something, but no... Apparently there was absolutely no other option.

The pole had to stay.

I won't lie. I was very annoyed. At first, I couldn't see any solution. Of course, I'd not been having the best day, and so tears followed, and I think I said some unkind words about the architect!

I found a solution, though! I was very excited because usually my solutions are stupid and don't work - David usually just laughs them off and tells me that my idea is ridiculous, but this one was perfect. It gives us access from the garage to storage under the stairs and involves us adding in another door for us to access the house from the garage. The carpenter advised us that it was an easy little change to make, but it would need to be cleared with the builder first. Thankfully we are building with a small builder, who was very understanding and has agreed that we can make the changes. So our crises was averted! Phew!

So happy to have been able to dodge that one! The pole is still in full view at the moment, and hopefully work will be underway to disguise it soon!

Changes....

It may start to get a little quieter here on my little blog.

You see, I'm starting a new adventure this week.

After 2 years of maternity leave.... I'm heading back to work! Eeek!!!

I can't believe that it has been 2 years since I left work to have my baby boy. I remember at the time, thinking that 2 years was like forever...... yet the time has just flown by so quickly.

 

Words just can not express just how grateful I am to have an employer who has allowed me to have 2 years away from work to be at home with my family. I am very aware that 2 years of maternity leave is rare and so I am most grateful. I must also mention how thankful I am for my hard working husband who has supported me emotionally, and the four of us financially so that I have been able to stay home for all that time.

 

 

It has been most wonderful to be able to watch my little boy hit all his milestones... I was there when he crawled, he said his first word and took his first steps, among other things. I have also had Madeleine home with me for those 2 years as well. I feel so blessed to have had all that time with her also. I have been able to spend lots of time crafting with her and playing, and I have been able to settle her in to kindy. Not only have I watched both my babies grow as individuals, I have watched them form their bond as siblings. They just adore each other, even though they do argue at times (as I know all siblings do)....

Being a full time stay at home mum has not been easy. It has had its challenges, but I have still loved it. And truth be known, if I could, I would continue to stay at home with my children. They grow so quickly, and this is a time in their lives that I will never get back. But, David and I have goals that we want to achieve, and I need to work for us to achieve them.

I know from past experience when I went back to work after having Madeleine - life seems to travel so much more faster when you are a working parent. I will look forward to the weekends and those extra two days I have off with them even more.

And so, it is very difficult to send my children off to child care for the first time as I head back to work 3 days a week. We have had a few visits to childcare to settle them in, and I think on the whole (despite some tears) the kids are both doing quite well settling in - better than I expected them to. I am hoping that Madeleine and Christian will enjoy their days at child care, and will have great stories to tell me about what fun they have had when I collect them in the afternoons.

So, please excuse me if gets a bit quiet on here for a while... I'll be trying to find my feet as a working Mummy!

Teresa x

Weekend Getaway

Are you a planner, or are you spontaneous?

David and I are planners. We like to plan everything. We like to research purchases and ask advice. We don't usually make spur of the moment decisions, though there are always exceptions to this, and so on the odd occasion we will do things on impulse. It's a refreshing change when we do. It's nice to do something out of the ordinary sometimes.


This weekend, the opportunity to have a spontaneous weekend away was presented to us, and we grabbed it with both hands. Who wouldn't!


We really needed some family time. The kids have been missing Daddy, and so have I.... You see, David has been helping out with the build here and there, and so we haven't seen as much of him as we usually would as he's been doing these jobs after work or over the weekend. So getting away was the only real way to get it, though.... We had planned a family day out for over the weekend, anyway, and we were offered somewhere to stay in the local area where we had planned our day trip. So it couldn't have been more perfect, and we packed our bags and headed off to to Port Elliot for the weekend.

We spent the day the the Goolwa Wooden Boat Festival yesterday, which was a lot of fun. The highlight of the day was a cruise on one of the paddlesteamers, and we even caught up with friends from home for dinner last night. It was a lovely, relaxing weekend which couldn't have come at a better time, as life is about to get a whole lot busier for us (but that's another post!)

At The Goolwa Wooden Boat Festival. View from the P.S. Marion. The kids just loved the cruise.

 

On the P.S. Marion

A little bit of fun. Driving a mini boat!

Playing in the playground this morning.

It was nice to get away. The weather was hot, but just gorgeous. The kids got to have some alone time with Daddy, while Mummy got to sleep in! That's always a bonus! And we got to spend some time together.

I hope that you had a lovely weekend. What did you get up to?

Teresa x