Saturday, January 31, 2015

Guild Grey or Ticking?


I've narrowed down the paint choice for the posts to Dulux "Guild Grey" (on the left) and darker Dulux "Ticking" on the right. I'm not sure I can tell just from a small sample. The Guild Grey is a shade darker than the "Simone Weil" that is on the front door, so I don't know if there's enough contrast.  On the other hand, we don't want the fence competing with the house so perhaps a light colour would due better?


Actually I prefer the Guild Grey, I'm just not sure it will provide enough contrast. Everything is just 50 shades of grey…


This "Ticking" is way more dramatic.  But is that what I want? Decisions…decisions!  I have a bit of time to decide anyway. All these nail holes have to be plugged up and sanded back and everything given a coat of primer.

It's finally stopped raining and the weekend is here so guess what we'll be doing….?

Happy Friday everyone!!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Day Eleven - Construction Complete!!!


It's FINISHED!!! It was essentially finished last week, but we were waiting for a bracket and for some final adjustments to be made which stopped us from shutting the gate. But now that's all done and dusted and woo-hoo, construction is complete!

We're sooo happy with everything. The design and the look has come out exactly as planned and the quality is beyond our expectations. This fence is S.O.L.I.D!


The letterbox is in as well! We were a bit limited in the types we could have because the sliding door went all the way across the pedestrian gate, we couldn't have an in-wall letterbox so we had to have one that just mounted from the front. No matter, we're happy with this!


But…what makes us the most happy is the fact that this little button is home! Our dog Bella hasn't been able to come home without a fence, it's our main reason for putting it up. She now has a massive yard to run around and explore and there's someone home everyday so she's not lonely. She's been so happy just lounging around on her bean bag and just being back home.

Happy days.

Next step, paint! We would like to do it this weekend, but rain is forecast all long weekend. No matter, we're just enjoying the completion of this stage and having our dog back.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Day Four - Fence Project - Gates are in!


The gates are in!! Huzzah! The pedestrian gate is on the left (looking out, obviously), sliding gate in the middle and swinging gate on the vacant lot on the right. 


I'm pleasantly surprised that the gates are steel. It wasn't in the quote and I just assumed it would be timber so jumpy claps for that. The sliding gate is quite long and does slide over the pedestrian gate, but that's unavoidable for the type of gate I wanted and the narrow frontage of a small lot.


No comments please on the state of the garden. I'm well aware, but really looking forward to putting some plants into this bad boy.

Tomorrow the railings go on the gates go on and then it might be even be ready for the weekend for us to paint!


Oh and here's the letterbox we chose. I think we will put in on the fence between the pedestrian gate and the sliding gate.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Day Three - Fence Project


On day three, I changed my mind about the size of the gap between the rails, after the fencer had nailed two bays on. He totally loves me…NOT!

This was the bay with the 38mm gap. I wanted to be able to see through to the plants that I will (eventually) plant in the garden beds, but still have enough for privacy. After he sent me this pic I thought they needed to be a bit closer together.


Hmmm you probably can't see much difference to the first pic, but this gap is 33mm. Not too much of a difference, but I'm happy.



So end of day three and most of the rails are done. Just waiting now on the gates. We've started thinking now about paint colours and letterboxes. Decorating!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Day Two - Fence Project


The end of day two and the fence on the vacant block side is up. It's not fancy schmancy, but it's solid and straight and will do the job. There's space for the double swinging gates and the sliding gates for the house side and both are on order (apparently).


The first of the horizontal rails are on as well. I hope they look ok. I've wanted horizontal railings since the beginning but not too many people agreed with me and said vertical would look better. If you have a dodgy fencer as well, horizontal fences will sag so I understand some people's point of view.

Wait and see I guess. I'm pretty happy with how it looks so far…even if there are only two rails up there.

Monday, January 12, 2015

New fence starts! Day One!


Today is the 4th anniversary of the floods which claimed our little home. It seems like such a long time ago. We didn't plan it that way, but on the anniversary we started the next stage of the house project - the fence! I like to think of it as another chapter in our building journey.

This one has been a long time coming. Like everything when you're building, it's expensive and with a 20 metre frontage the costs can be astronomical depending on what type of fence you choose.

We've decided to do different fences for each block due to costs. The fence in front of the house will be a timber fence with 100mm X 100mm hardwood posts and horizontal rails set back with a top hardwood rail. The rails are 62mm and will be set 38mm apart. There will be a sliding gate and pedestrian gate for the footpath that leads to the front door.

The vacant block will just have a (very) plain pine fence with vertical batons and double swinging gate. It's not fancy, but a good temporary solution and I guess if we ever build there, you could certainly leave it up for a while.



Day one is complete and the posts are up! The fencer is one of Jansen's tradies and the only person he uses to do his fencing because "he's that good". I certainly hope so…had to book him in two months in advance!