That said, DH and his dad have worked very hard this past week and completed a very long retaining wall.
I enjoyed buying a couple of bits of greenery this week and can't wait to start planting. Here is a glimpse of a couple of our plants I've purchased. I also still need to transport a whole heap of plants we moved to pots and kept at my grandmother's house.
To reward our hard work and inparticular, thank my father-in-law for all of his help, we enjoyed a lovely lunch at Sealevel restaurant today. A couple of seafood platters and bottles of wine later and all is good.
Our next jobs involve drainage, turf and planting. Plenty of hard work ahead, but hopefully it will be worth it.
We are still very frustrated with the response of other tradesmen. Sitting around waiting for them to turn up to quote, only for them to then not turn up at all is very annoying. We are trying not to panic but we simply have to get the side front fence completed for the pool to eventually be signed off (before it can be filled). We have one quote for the fence which also includes 2 other little jobs and the price is ridiculous. This week we will really have to reconsider all options and hope the next round of people I call for quotes actually show up when expected.
We are also waiting for a break in this horrible weather so that our coping and waterline tiles can be laid...that's right they are still NOT done! The guy was running late finishing other jobs and now we are being held up with this rainy weather. He is also tiling our outdoor area and claims to need an almost guaranteed 3 days without rain to do the job. If he turned up when originally planned he would have had 3 WEEKS of dry weather!!!! If my pool is not completed in time for the Christmas holidays we will need to factor 3 weeks in Queensland into our budget. I will not be staying at home with the kids for 5 weeks for another summer without a pool...simple.
Anyway, that's all there is to report for now. Nothing much else has happened inside. I am being very careful to leave as much money as possible that we have left for outside work. Artworks and other bits of furniture will have to wait I'm afraid.
Hope everyone else is travelling well.
Cheers
Kylie
Ugh! I feel for you. It is so horrible waiting for tradies (or anyone really) to show up, when you almost already expect them not to appear.
ReplyDeleteI hope everything gets sorted ASAP, and at the right price. Three weeks up here in the Sunshine State wouldn't leave much money left in the decorating budget!!!
Good luck
M
xxo
Hi Kylie, good to see you back on blogger. Talk about sore muscles. Ben and I eventually decided to do much of our landscaping ourselves. We started on the back yard this weekend and really felt old when I got up the next morning with very sore muscles and joints. I agree, Tradies can be so frustrating and the variation in their quoted prices is totally ridiculous. I hope the rain stays away for the next few weeks so we can complete our landscaping. Will try and post something soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks M!I hope it gets sorted too:) Sunshine state is like a second home to me so if I don't get up there then it will be soon after! Fingers crossed my next quote is a good one!
ReplyDeleteThigee, good to hear from you. I do get on blogger often still - just not enough to write about unfortunately. It's a strange feeling when you've moved in and things slow right down...the lull is strange to deal with! The backyard work is hard but hopefully it will be worth it. We are trying to do most of the backyard ourselves, just need help with the front. Look forward to hearing your next update!