We finished laying the besser blocks on the weekend for the retaining wall on the left side of the driveway (facing the street). Pete started on the letterbox and is almost done. It was too hot for him to finish it off...lol...it was only 36 degrees. Any excuse! If you're reading this honey...I love you ;)
I've started to make some calls to get some quotes for rendering or bagging the wall. Not sure which look to go for. Eventually we want to render the whole front of the house, so we figured rendering the retaining wall would be best, but that could be a long way off, so bagging might be the way to go. At least it would match our facade. We will probably go with whatever is cheapest. I would love to give it a go myself, but I don't feel comfortable doing it as I have never seen it done before.
Pete also almost finished off laying the foundation for the retaining wall on the right side of the driveway. We just need to buy more besser blocks as we have run out. It's surprising how much bigger the front yard looks with the wall up. I would have thought it would have closed it in and made it look smaller, but it is the complete opposite, which is great.
I finished painting the fence on the right side (facing the street). I however did get out there in the heat, but I was clever and put the umbrella up, so it wasn't too bad. I'll be glad when I finish the rest off. It's a painful process, but all the hard work is worth it. It would be a lot easier using a spray gun, but the one I bought is crap, so I have hand painted every single paling.
We had the MJH maintenance guy out this last week too. He is coming back again next week to finish off everything. I was surprised when MJH said he would be back for the day. It might even have to be a 3rd day.
We also had our driveway guys come back and reseal our driveway for us which was nice. We had a few hairline cracks (damn clay) and the crossover needed some solution on it to stop it flaking.
I decided to go for a drive today up to the new Sydney Business Park at Marsden Park, which is a only a 5 min drive from home. Ikea and Bunnings are coming along nicely and before too long, Costco and Masters will be on the way. Very exciting have these shopping heavens so close to home.
New Ikea being built
New Bunnings being built
New Ikea being built...looks huge
Looks awesome, you must be beside yourself now that the finishing touches are coming along. Pete's done a fab job on the brickwork and no doubt has saved you a pretty penny. I sooooo can't wait for the new ikea to open up, I reckon I'll be sleeping/camping out there the night before the doors open for the first time!
ReplyDeleteIt's about a 10 min drive for us so lucky you to be closer.
Yes definitely go the bag look and you can do it yourself, there's so many paints on the market that make it quite easy to apply...bunnings has a good range and it would save you a fortune....since you love painting now that is lol.
Good to see that MJH are getting the maintenance jobs finalised for you too. We still have a few to be done but Fred has done all that he can so just waiting for other trades to follow suite!
Our biggest issue os the scratched glass in the bifold door, the guy has measured up about 5-6 weeks ago so really, how long does it take to replace?
The other is there's about 13 or so roof tiles that are cracked and need to be replaced and due to not having any...any left over, we will have to have a new batch so you know what that means????.....different colour grrrrr!
It's amazing how a little fence can change the look of the front of the house and make it look bigger, it's probably because you kept it all in proportion, i.e. the fence isn't bigger than the house! Then you would've closed yourselves in lol
Having said that, paint it in the same colour as your posts and once you put your plants in, it will still contrast, tho not as much as a darker colour would but you've already tried the darker and didn't like it, so go for darker plants.
Good luck with the rest of the jobs x