29 January, 2011

Pre-settlement and aftermath

I'd be lying if I said: 
  • I wasn't a little stressed when the painter called for the third time, still unable to find the house, 15 minutes into the "half hour" inspection.
  • I was delighted to meet the vendor. 
  • I was thrilled to discover that the parquetry floor in my bedroom is VINYL (as are the "tiles" on the bathroom floor)
  • With just a little tweaking the chook shed will be habitable (by chooks)
  • The kitchen isn't dingy.
  • All the garden needs is for the lawn to be mowed.
Honest to goodness, though:
  • the house will, by Thursday at 2pm, be purged of the box upon box currently choking it (I didn't take pictures today because it felt like documenting someone else's trainwreck).
  • The painter DID eventually make it, and was a very nice Iranian man with an Arabic name and impressive Persian handwriting (leading me to expect he might be handy with a paint brush - which is what you want in a painter). 
  • I am shocked by my compulsion to pull down some of the nastier curtains and blinds (don't know why I'm so fixated on window treatments). 
  • All are in agreement that the floor, the built-in desk and the chandelier in my bedroom have to go.
  • We did confirm that the pool is solar heated and salt water chlorinated and apart from the odd busted tile is in pretty good condition
  • We identified more trees to cull.
  • We resolved (to a degree) the window treatment issue in Mum's Pine Box
  • I bought a new bed.
  • Just the bed, not the side tables and not the bedding.  
    Clean lines no fuss, nice proportions, a 1960s feel.
    and not a million dollars.
  • We bought new appliances:  rangehood, cooktop and oven.
Omega Double Wall Oven OO887XN
Omega 90cm Gas Cooktop OG91XA
Omega Rangehood OR920CXA


Mum and I have absolutely no problem spending money.  We almost bought two new televisions while we had our wallets out. But the spectre of as yet undefined (appliance and catflap) installation and (household) moving costs cast a pall over proceedings.  So we exercised restraint.  


No fun (but lots of fun all the same).

4 comments:

  1. Argghh. Sounds great. Not everything has to be right from day one so spend wisely. You have a lifetime to fix it up.

    Hec

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  2. It's all fun, Hecs. I love every bit of it, and the process is the best fun in the world...

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  3. The greeny friend says don't go crazy cutting down trees asap. Live there for a bit. You may actually find they're useful (eg. for providing shade) and encourage wildlife to visit...and they take a bloody long time to grow back if you change your mind!

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  4. The trees we want to ditch are all too large for the space they inhabit.
    They are claustrophobic, block light and are nothing that a native anything would go near. You'll see. However. I promise we won't do anything until you come see, how's that?

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