We've been terribly busy of late, but here it is; our new Casa Nostra, in somewhat full color pictures. They were taken late in the evening, as this first "view from the balcony" image testifies.

Now, our house ain't big, but we like it that way. It doesn't look like all that much from the outside either, but looks are a bit deceptive; it is very cosy, has wonderful light going through it, and is in tip-top shape throughout. In fact, everybody in it (me, my wife and two kids) all love it. We simply adore it.

Oh, and did I mention that is has ducted gas heating (look for little slits on the floors) and air-flow system?

Here is the general view from the front, giving us plenty of trees and greens to bask in. We've even got our own street lamp, which is a darn nice feature when you're coming home late. Or leaving early. whichever.

There is a long drive-way up to the house (the fence in front of the garage needs re-doing; the planks are a bit on the rotten side) where we plan a possible hedge, possibly going all around the front. Also, note the little green maple just in front of our front door; it turns into the most wonderful colors now that autumn approaches.

Also notice our new (well, used new) car, the Toyota Seca GSi 1996. We have no complaints about this car at all.

The back is in bricks, as is most of the outside of the house. There are a few scattered tin things on the north side of the house, painted in friendly yellow. Yes, the house has a distinct yellow feel to it, a nice calm and cosy feeling.

I need to get up onto the roof and a) make sure the drains are good/clear/clean, and b) set up an arial antenna so that I can receive 102.4 ABC Classical radio music without any interference. Luckily, we're a few good stone-throws away from Telstra Tower.

Next up is the back side of the house with its massive deck. Imagine the BBQ and the nice setting (the current deck, in bits ready to be sanded back this coming weekend is located in the picture of the shed below) with an umbrella positioned there, with us nicely leaned back watching a setting sun with a few glasses of white wine or port.

Of note here is the back garden you can't see, which is quite nice. (It was too dark to get any good pics of it. More later.) Lots of plans for this one, but Julie's got this one under strict control. Whenever she needs a break from the kids, this is where you'll find her.

The idea here is that we're going to have a low-cut fence going through on the front-side of it, blocking kids from accidentally crawling headlong into the garden, and having lots of pots of cute plans and flowers on the sides.

This is where I'm to be transferred from a mere male to an Aussie bloke; the shed, where tools, bits of plank, pieces of wire, buckets of oil and paint and beer together in a dangerous mix form the backbone of the Australian culture. Plans have been made. Oh yeah, baby. Currently the sanding-machines (borrowed from father-in-law) and paints are stored here, but I'm building a set of benches and shelves to host all my wonderful bits of stuff my wife says "shouldn't be on the kitchen table."

Let's peek inside. This is the main living room, with our two sofas. The floors are either nice light wood (living room, hallway), nice blue comfy carpets (the three bedrooms, no pictures due to sleeping kids and poor lighting) or lovely Terracotta tiles (kitchen, bathroom, toilet and laundry, no pictures due to poor lighting and too tired, except the bathroom).

The door you see in the picture leads out onto the deck. The main entrance door is just to the left. The kitchen behind us, but the pictures I took of it looked so bad I'm not going to embaress myself here with them. Don't you worry; more pictures will come.

And here is a sneak-peek into the bathroom. Yes, Mr. Ducky is already in place. In fact, the bathroom is the first room we'll do something massive to. We're going to knock down the left wall, and join the toilets and bathroom together, re-tile the caboose, and put in a nice spa, and of course bigger and brighter windows.

We are all suckers for the best bathroom experience, so this is obviously a high priority to us, and we'll probably be starting this process in a month or so. Also, the taps and shower will be new and shiny. We also need some nice shelves and places to put the electric shaver.

And finally a little extra something that happened this morning; a flock (here, two of them) of balloons strode gently across the sky. There is a lot of ballooning going on in Canberra, and notice the left one. It looks like someone is moving their house, and the only bugger is that "why didn't I think of that before I moved this weekend". Oh well, maybe next time. In a few hundred years.

Maybe.

! Update: Added this backyard garden photo. I put this together from three different pictures. My Photoshop skills needs improving. Sometime soon. Some day. Maybe.

Permalink (Wed, 10 Mar 2004 13:00:00 GMT)| Comments (0) | General