It is 6 months today since hand over.  The process of moving in has been continuing since my last post, although at a much more leisurely pace:

• The last of the boxes was finally unpacked a few weeks ago.
• Plantation shutters have been fitted in the master bedroom, ensuite and bathroom.
• Curtains have been hung in the spare bedroom, laundry and on the side verandah door.
• Most of the plants we saved have been re-potted or planted in the garden.
• Garden beds have been built in the front yard and the pebbles spread out.
• The inside of the wardrobes in all the bedrooms and study have been completed.
• The vestibule door has been stained.
• We purchased some old lace trim for the verandah.  There are a few pieces up so we can see how they look.  They are quite rusty so need a good clean and re-painting.
• We have started on the driveway; purchasing 3,000 old bricks on ebay.

We still have a bit of work to finish the front yard, and driveway of course.  We also still need to get blinds for the study (we have temporary ones now), large living area windows and back deck to block the sun coming in through the two sets of doors.

 Wardobes

The wardrobes in the three bedrooms have been fitted out with the Elfa storage solution from Howard’s Storage World.  The Master Bedroom fit-out was designed by HSW; the other two rooms were put together from existing components we salvaged from the old house, components I bought on Ebay and some more components from HSW to fill it out.  We installed all of this ourselves, and now have completely flexible wardrobes that can be easily changed as our requirements change.  Bedroom 3 also has some Ikea LOSJÖN hangers and SKUBB storage boxes.

The study wardrobe has been fitted out with Ikea BILLY bookcases.  We purchased two 80 mm wide bookcases with height extension units and two additional shelves.

 Window Furnishings

We had plantation shutters measured up for the master bedroom, ensuite and bathroom in August last year.  They have a 8 to 10 week lead time, so we wanted to order them as soon as possible – which meant getting quotes once the architraves had been installed around the windows.  We ordered the shutters from Dollar Curtains and Blinds in September and they were installed in November.

The shutters in the master bedroom are timber (basswood) painted silk white with 89 mm blades.  The bathroom and ensuite are wet areas so we went with PVC shutters, also in silk white, with 63 mm blades.  The shutters are fitted to the outside of the architrave.

They look fantastic, but my one complaint is that the PVC ones smell.  Its not so bad now, but on hot days more of the smell comes out.

The two small doors of the side verandah and laundry both have glass panels, which presented a problem with privacy.  Particularly the side door which gave a view into our living area from the front of the house.  I made the curtains for these two doors using stretch wire I bought on Ebay, Ikea SYRLIG ring clips and hooks and a sheer curtain set (Koo CAITLYN) I bought from Spotlight and cut  to size then re-hemmed.  The small laundry window curtain was made using the left over curtain pieces.

The spare room (Bed 2) has a traditional style curtain, with a rod pocket lace curtain from Spotlight (Monica) and pinch pleat block out curtains (Regency in Bisque) from Curtain Wonderland.  I used a RÄCKA / HUGAD double curtain rod  and BLÅST
Finials from Ikea and blue Jewel rope tiebacks from spotlight.

We also have some temporary ring top curtains from Spotlight for the study and side windows in the living area.

Driveway

The driveway is currently a work in progress, with some bricks laid at the front and the middle, and the rest lined up along the fence!  This will be a few weekend’s work, but will be well worth it when its done.

Front Garden

We have created three large round garden beds in the front yard, that will contain fruit trees.  One of them has been planted with a Dwarf Golden Delicious Apple, the other two will be planted with Fruit Salad trees.  Inside these garden beds we have various annual flower varieties and some vegetables.  The rest of the front yard is covered in pebbles salvaged from the garden before the house was demolished, planted with mostly salvaged plants, plus a small number of additional purchases and gifts:

• Amongst the pebbles:
  • Liriope Evergreen Giant
  • Dietes Iridioides
  • Mondo grass and dwarf mondo grass
  • Succulents: Bugundy Ice, Echeveria, Sempervivium
  • Red Hot Pokers
  • Triglochin Striata Streaked Arrowgrass
  • Sisyrinchium Angustofolium
  • Sisyrinchium Bellum
• Lavender: Lavandula Avonview, Lavandula French Lavender, Lavandula Hidcote, Lavender Hidcote (to create a border along the side and front fence)
• Dietes Iridioides (potted)
• Hydrangea White Lace (in front of the bay window)
• Yellow roses (driveway along the side verandah)
• Gardenia Magnifica (potted)