while we wait 4 Rome.....

[rosierose]

Just venting here.....

In 2007 we sold our home with the intention of owner building...


we bought land...drew up plans......realised it was wrong land.....sold it.................went back to search............


In 2009 bought old house.................rented it out for 12mths and went literally back to drawing board........................

July 2010 wait for demo guy......he comes in August.......................house takes 4 weeks to be demo'd.

wait for excavation of land to make block flat............... takes a month..........

DH not happy with steepness of driveway now he bothers to look at plans.........not happy with engineering plans........................... go back to engineer.......back to draftsperson............... may be another month before we can get amendments made...............

Grrrrrrrrrr ............................

When can I get excited...................literally this house and my DH is going to take Foooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeverrrrrrrrr r!

So what do I do now I've picked out my colours/fixtures/fittings/tiles..............? I wait............I wait ........I wait.................

In the meantime I can't stand my "temporary" accomodation..............feel like I want to pull out all my new house stuff......my new linen....my new towels........my nice pictures..........but they r all for new place......And chuck out all my old mismatched misplaced, squashed in furniture........
3 years (and likely to be 4) without pretty is making me feel gloomy........

Ah the vent is good.....................

[rosierose]

Oh and Mr 5 and I went to freedom today...for 40% off bedlinen....to pass time (more nice stuff to store)

His room is going to have a red,grey/back and white colour scheme.....

So we bought a red comforter with pillowcases and then added a b/w cushion.... this will go with his sheridan coast grey and black quilt cover. Its all about the layers....

Here is the cushion......the comforter reduced from 179 to 107 was not pictured on website.

[dmplus3]

Cool cushion, rosierose.

I undertstand your sheer frustration, and unfortunately, having time to think, means time to think of changes to make. I hope the new plans are sorted quick sticks and you can get moving.

As hard as it is, I urge you to hold onto everything until you are in the new house and you can create your TRUE vision!

[bubbles]

I feel you pain. I am in pretty much the same boat.
Purchased home (renovators delight) end of 2008.
Got all excited and began dreaming of what it is I want in this house.
Submitted drawings, engineering ect to council and have been waiting ever since. Thanks to one neighbours objection and constant calls to council complaining of something every time she sees a trady repairing internal things in the house (which we can do).
Having to wait over 6 months to get a hearing at VCAT. Have had to make minor modifications (which I am ok with). Costs to engage a town planner at hearing, plans redrawn, engineering reports has cost almost $15,000.00 that could have been used on the home.
Still waiting for the council to stamp the permit:mad:.
And this neighbour has the nerve to smile and wave at me when I go past the house.
The house we are currently in is too small and needs work done.
So I too have miss matched towels, bed linen and lots of stuff stored at mums waiting for the move.
We could have completed our reno and moved in by now.
It will take 12 - 18 months to complete renovation and extension from when we get the ok from council
It has put a downer on things.
Sorry I have just had my vent aswell. Feel better now:)

[Julie-Ann]

Oh vent away- you poor things. My step sister had all sorts of dramas with their council when going to build. I think it took over 2 years for council to approve. Hang in there - it really is worth it in the end.
But I am going to disagree with all of you:eek::D. Break open all your lovely purchases. Life is too short and having lovely stuff around you will help the temporary accommodation feel nicer.
The cushion is fabulous Rosierose:thumbs up:.

[Milena]

You are not alone rosierose I really understand how you feel. We have been in the same boat since 2007.:( We sold our house planning to build, bought a block and rented. By the time the land settled dh was made redundant so we had to wait until he got a stable job before we could get a mortgage. That took until 2 years after we had sold our house.
Then when we went to the banks none of them would lend us any money so we had to wait longer. We have since decided to sell the block we had and bought a new block and put the money left over in the bank.
The new block will settle in July next year. If all goes well it means our new house will be completed 5 years since we sold our house. We thought it was only going to be about 18 months. I feel so frustrated by this whole ordeal and it is very hard to get excited about it all because of one man who didn't like dh and convinced other managers that he should be made redundant.:(

[rosierose]

Ah Milena and Bubbles I feel validated by our shared experience...........we r all in Melbourne too......is there something in the water??

J-A Whilst I am not going to crack open the new stuff I am going to do a huge spring clean to make myself feel better....................if I don't love it or haven't used it I am passing it on...................

I am going to post pictures of this process.........to help the cleansing......anyone going to join me???????? Maybe I'll start a new spring clean thread where we all need to post what we have decided to part with.

So far today I hit the books............... literally...........I have .....a folder of carefully collected and pasted recipes that I have not cooked a thing from in 10 years....some herbal remedy books.......some Marg Fulton 70's dinner party books (that my dad has been collecting from garage sales 4 me - god luv him) with enough cream in each recipe to block an elephant's arteries..
Some ugly picture frames...............and some ugly scarves....

Three bigs bags worth and only this afternoon's work............Let's see what tomorrow brings us.........ladies????????;)

[thisisme]

Love the cushion!!!

I feel your pain rosierose. We too are owner builders and here is my rant:

February 2007 – submitted plans to the council
We were required to have the soil tested for contamination and audited. Nothing abnormal was found but the testing process cost us over $30,000

January 2009 – received planning approval

July 2009 – received building approval

We got our steel frame and structural steel from a supplier in Queensland (after consulting National Association of Steel Framed Housing to make sure they were legit). They sent us huge amounts of wrong materials and so many things were missing. It took us 7.5 months to get all the materials from them. It also cost us $7,500 in labour in order to fix the defects with the frame and structural steel and over $12,000 in materials in order to fix the defects and make up for the missing materials. Not to mention the additional renting cost that resulted from these delays. Our steel frame installer left us a few times and refused to come back due to the ridiculous number of defects with the materials we received.

October 2010 - We are still waiting for the last bits of the lower trusses to be sorted out :(

[thisisme]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1ece_1s4bkU/SzPdCagLrlI/AAAAAAAAFm8/t3jGnPi-AL0/s400/4151332269_554c6d57fb+be+patient+good+things+come+ to+those+who+wait+by+Mykl+Roventine+at+flickr.jpg

[Milena]

Oh I love that saying thisisme:love it:

One of my other favourite saying is Everything happens for a reason;):)

[rosierose]

So its never smooth sailing no matter how much you plan.............................................. .......
...........
Sometimes I think all this happens to occupy me & take me away from real worries.............Mr 5 is having his third seizure of the day...........this happens everyday............a bit much more serious than ugly towels but I can't help but feel like there has to be something I can control when despite all attempts my son's quality of life remain so awful.......So if I make pretty surroundings all will be okay..sounds silly but u gotta get by don't ya.........

Soooooooooo sorry to be all down..................off to my blogs to see how those with 'perfect" lives live.......
:rolleyes:

[Julie-Ann]

You are well and truly entitled to vent. I have known people to have real sagas like you are all having. I have wondered some times why some people are so unlucky to have these hugely expensive delays happen to them.:(
But it is like you said Rosierose it is not as important as our loved ones are. So we appreciate what we have, try to create as wonderful a home as we can given the situation and wait patiently.

[dmplus3]

So its never smooth sailing no matter how much you plan.............................................. .......
...........
Sometimes I think all this happens to occupy me & take me away from real worries.............Mr 5 is having his third seizure of the day...........this happens everyday............a bit much more serious than ugly towels but I can't help but feel like there has to be something I can control when despite all attempts my son's quality of life remain so awful.......So if I make pretty surroundings all will be okay..sounds silly but u gotta get by don't ya.........

Soooooooooo sorry to be all down..................off to my blogs to see how those with 'perfect" lives live.......
:rolleyes:

Rosierose, I've been trying to write something really inspiring and motivating for you, but I can't find the right words. Keep on keeping on, and doing the fabulous job that you're doing! I'm reminding myself that noone's life is perfect, as I try to talk to my husband on the other side of the world!

[rosierose]

Just the fact you wanted to say something nice is nice :)

I know hubby's homecoming is going to be amazing.................and you do an amazing job too decorating and mummying and all....

Rest assured I will have good and bad days like anyone but whilst I have the occassional vent I am not an "Oh woe is me" kinda gal.;) No sir-eee

Now off too start a declutter challenge thread (if there isn't one I can revive)

[Beverley]

Hi Rosierose, I really feel for you and know how frustrating a wait can be when it comes to building!
Great minds think alike I have just started spring cleaning and have taken a big box of recipe books to Lifeline. They are lovely to look at BUT I have never cooked anything from them and cart them to house to house. Just thrown away a big scrap book full of recipes I cut from magazines and not used either! It feels great to get rid of stuff. I find I de-clutter every now and then and then my kids will do it a week or so after me without me saying anything to them...look forward to the Spring Clean thread.
Bev :)

[rosierose]

Yes Beverley it is really getting addictive...............if something isn't bolted down I'm likely to turf it..........oh wait no that's the husband....better keep him.....

[Julie-Ann]

Yes Beverley it is really getting addictive...............if something isn't bolted down I'm likely to turf it..........oh wait no that's the husband....better keep him.....

Rofl- yes better to keep the hubby- he might be useful some time soon;):D.

[NewHome]

I know how you feel!!!

It took a year and a half for our Plans to be finished, now it's been nearly 8 months finding the right builder....our Pool has started but not yet finalised a builder :-(

[rosierose]

I am feeling in great company.........