thinking gardens

So were still waiting on titles... our block has been pegged out and ready to go for about 3 weeks now. not sure what the hold up is? to stop me from going insane I have started to focus on what our garden will look like. Our estate guidlines require the use of only native or drought tolerant plants , so with that in mind I went for a look at our local Botanical Gardens for inspiration.

we were thinking of using mondo grass in the front yard instead of regular turf.

I love the look of layering in the garden

this is going to be our water feature.

we have started growing our own clippings and  yukka pups

so that they are well established for when the house is finished.

still waiting

Although I havnt been officially told by our liason, our burbank workflow shows that our developer aproval has gone through. very happy, and its only taken a week!
The spray on grass has gone down on our block and everything is looking finished. not sure what the hold up is now? Im still being told settlement wont be till April. :-(

little bit of an update.

   We have a road! lol, it sounds silly but I dont think ive ever been this exited about the smell of tar!

Our 2nd lot of working drawings have been signed and sent off for developer aproval and energy rating. so hopefully we will be signing contracts in a couple of weeks. xxxxx fingers crossed.xxxxxx
I am really happy with the admin side of things, Ive heard that burbank is slow through admin, but, in our case it has been steady and productive.

color appointment......on a budget

How exiting! color appointment today. I was concerned from what I have read online that my cat1 and cat2 choices would be limited and Id walk out dissapointed, but this was not the case! we stuck to our budget and got everything we loved, of course there would have been lots more to choose from if we had money to burn. But over all a fantastic experience and a great out come. The girls at Burbank are happy knowledgable and helpful, I wish I could get service with people like that everyday!


so heres our choices-
Exterior colors:

                                                           BRICKS:  boral mist cat6
                                               FEATURE BRICKS:  boral domino cat7
                                                             MORTAR:  natural
                                                           CLADDING:  surfmist
                                                    ROOF:  bristile sanctuary cat1
                                                    GUTTER/FASCIA:  monument
                                                         DOWNPIPES:  surfmist
                                                      GARAGE:  slimline surfmist
                                                     WINDOWS:  pearlwhite gloss
                                    ENTRY DOOR:  windsor clear glazed w/ satin black stain
                                                               EAVES:  white
                                                           CONCRETE:  black


                                                                  Total: $2420


I know everyone may think its a bit over the top to spend money upgrading bricks etc. but I judge a house by what it looks like from the street, so for us, we spent the bulk of our budget on the front of the house.
Interior colors:
                                           CEILINGS: burbank white (upgrade)
                                                       WALLS: colonial
                                             CARPET: aged driftwood cat1
                                                 BLINDS: holland pumice

                                                 

                             

(sorry bout the happy snap but in the left bottom corner is the white gloss tile and its a better picture of the floor tile.) 

                                                               WALL TILES:
                 kitchen, bathroom ensuite laundry all cat1 white gloss 300x200 horizontal stack
                                                    KITCHEN SPLASHBACK:  antartica
               (unfortunatley they wanted an extra $900 to extend the splash across the wall
                              so we had to opt for white tiles next to the splash.)
                                                               FLOOR TILES:
               chicago gunmetal 400x400 cat1  (they look darker in the photo, theyre a light grey)
                                                  BATHROOM and ENSUITE VANITY:
                                    white lace cat1 benches and pewter oak cat2 cabinets
                                                           LAUNDRY CABINET:
                                          white lace benches and astral bitumen cat1
                                                       KITCHEN CABINETS:
                                                        urban bamboo cat2
                                                    STONE BENCHTOPS: polar


                                                                 Total: $550


The other things we included at a cost were-
privacy locks to wc and ensuite $50
Translucent windows to bathroom, ensuite and wc $660!!! I couldnt skimp on this as I am paranoid someone is watching me on the loo or in the tub. lol.
we also upgraded our fibre optic package which was an extra $1000.


So my tip to anyone going to their color appointment- if you cant afford to upgrade something dont look at the choices, we didnt look at anything else exept the standard appliances tapwear etc so we wernt tempted to spend $$$$$$$.
It took us 2 and a half hours to get through color selections and electrical and we did our homework on colors etc before we went in.

Its all a waiting game.

its starting to take a toll on my sanity, all this waiting is driving me to stalk everyones houses in the Geelong area. Ive been driving around our estate everyday to see if theres any progress!My husband recived a phone call from edge last night, they wanted us to go in next week to choose our colors!
Then my darling told me he said NO!
Im going to spend my day on the phone frantically trying to get our time next week back.
wish me luck!.................


yay!!!!!! We have our color appointment booked in for next Wednesday! 15/02/2012.

our house design

after lots of disscussion and 3 different builders we decided on Burbank's SOHO2400. Its double frontage suited our 18.65m block width.

we made only a few changes to the original plan. A walk in pantry for me and roller door and window at the rear of the garage to keep hubby happy!

our block

we found our block at the start of 2011 in Estuary Leopold. It is the perfect spot for us to raise our young family. Close to schools, shops, parks and recreational reserves. We put our deposit down 2 weeks later,a little bit impulsive as we already have a great house but we just couldnt help ourselves!

Land was supposed to be titled in deacember 2011, but as it usually goes there have been some delays and now were looking at settlement in March.

we have gutters! 17/01/2012. hubbys worried cause we dont have a crossover like everyone else!

hes measuring to see where its supposed to be?

our block takes up most of our side of the street

today 8/2/2012 we finally heard back from our land developer.Our crossover will be put in before title, so no more delays for us. Footpaths went in last week shouldnt be too long now before the roads get done. xxxxxxxx crossing my fingers.xxxxxxxxxxxx

just some more boring photos of our block

and some more.......

unfortunetly for us the parkland beside our block has been bordered with an ugly footpath, so my dream of having our study and bedroom overlooking the park will now have a view of walkers by.

I guess that what you get when you by land thats not developed yet.