Our DA was submitted to Lake Macquarie Council in early October and we are still waiting for approval. The plans have been referred to the Rural Fire Service which is standard for a bush fire prone property. Apparently we might need to get an aborist to do a report on the effect the development will have on the neighbours gum tree (i.e. will it die if we hack a few major branches off).
The other exciting news is that we moved into the house this week, somehow managing to cull enough stuff to squeeze in! It feels like a holiday every day which is great. Don't really feel all that motivated to go to work though :( The kids drove us absolutely crazy with the move and spend most of their waking hours asking where things are now located etc etc. I guess things will settle down over the coming weeks.
It looks like we might have found our builder, who we met with tonight. He can start in early February - that is if we have the all clear from Council by then! Here's hoping his referees back him up..
After a brief battle of wills with Mike, I hired a landscape designer [Cliff] a couple of months ago as I really don't know what I'm doing with this block of sand. I'm used to clay soil back in Adamstown. True to form Cliff is taking forever to come up with something. The architects took 5 weeks to create a house but the landscape designer is up to about 9 weeks and produced zero. Oh well. Have worked with him before and he is worth waiting for.
Also have our former interior designer staff member [Mel] on the job. She visited the house again on Friday and will be helping decide all sorts of stuff. This is the design brief I gave Mel:
External
Retaining wall to backyard – material and colour
External existing house colour/material if bricks removed / extension colorbond cladding colour / windows/doors to extension and existing/roof/guttering
Fencing material/colour [have asked Cliff to look at this but will run past you]
Front porch railing/flooring (stairs to be removed and come out from door – think Cliff was doing something a bit interesting so not coming straight out but will run past you when I finally hear from him!]
Front path/driveway materials/colours [have asked Cliff to look at this but will run past you]
Internal
Flooring – polished concrete colour/aggregate etc / timber flooring
Paint colours
Kitchen cabinetry etc
Bathrooms – kids/ensuite/powder
Laundry tiles/cabinetry/floor
WIR cabinetry
Feature lighting (most will be downlights)
Built in cabinetry for TV / ecosmart fire
Blinds
Curtains
Anyway, keeping a few people busy!
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