In the system

The report for consent (for the extension of the party wall) has been submitted to council. They probably won't get to it before Christmas, but at least its in the system. So hopefully early next year we will hear back.

First supplier visits

So we had some 'homework' from our architect: go and see the concrete floor people and go see the wooden floor people.
Both of which we did today.
Concrete floors. What a myriad of colours, what a myriad of stone mixes that can go into the concrete. Not to mention levels of polish. What a choice.
Wooden floors... well how many species of trees are there? What level of quality in each species (less details to full character). And how wide would you like the boards to be: 80mm, 108mm, 130mm???
Decisions, decisions. And this isn't even the nitty gritty details as yet (ie. what sort of door handles would we prefer?).
Ye gads!

Meeting 5

Wow. The preliminary report with the surveyor came up with a few issues, so we sat down and worked through them: mainly overlooking and privacy issues. Fingers crossed that we have done enough for it to pass through council as smoothly as possible.

Meeting 4

Preliminary construction drawings have begun, as our report for consent has been prepared to go to council, in relation to extending the party wall more than is usually accepted. This could be our first hurdle, particularly if our neighbour is not happy with the proposal.
Other than that, things are moving along.
Our next big hurdle is the Christmas break: will council even get to go over our report for consent before the holidays? Not likely.
So then the shit may hit the fan next year... we shall see...

Yikes!

We sprung a small leak in the lounge room ceiling!

The Garden

So our architect organised a landscape architect to pop 'round to see our garden.
What do we want?
Hmmm....
Something low-maintenance, drought resistant, dog-friendly and inviting.
Not a cottage garden (as neither of us have a green thumb). We will concentrate on the back as that is the place that is going to have the most work done, and it will need to marry well with the new renovation/extension. The front can be a work in progress. Plus we're not 100% sure about the crossover and whether that will happen or not. A driveway will impact a lot on the design of the front so we thought it best that we prioritise the rear.
They'll get back to us with a rough sketch of ideas, seeing as we had no clear vision ourselves (except that I don't want any water features).

Evolution 3

This meeting, we got closer to finalising the layout. We have begun discussing materials and climate control. Now that we have been in the house for a bit, we can better understand the climate variations in the house in regards to our wonderful northern aspect. Next meeting we will be seeing a colour palette and some quotes for heating/cooling, as well as some wood samples. We are liking what we are seeing. I guess when it comes down to the nitty gritties is when we'll have to make some more obvious decisions. Ie. double fridge? sliding doors in the pantry or folding? top loader or front loader? Where is the doggy door going?
The back end of the house has evolved a bit with the addition of a rear deck, which I'm much preferring. Although we will still have full length windows to take advantage of the Moreton Bay Fig. The past few nights I've started to hear the fruit bats feeding on the fruit in that tree. Marlee seems ambivalent to them, which is good.
The architect says that after plans have been through council and approved, the building process should take no more than 6 months (with a few weeks contingency). So I guess we're looking at Christmas 2008.