Posted on 2011-02-16 08:00:00
Tags: Project NH, Happiness
Project New House
Earlier this year my family and I started project New House. After renting for about 10 years here in Australia, we close the door on that issue and open the door of our own house.
Buying a house is not cheap, but thanks to proper saving in the last ten years and some luck (Getting shares from the company you work for at the lowest possible price at the beginning of the GFC for example :-) we now own the lower part of the house while the bank owns the upper half.
The town house itself is relatively new, 15 years old, one old-lady-owner who didn't do too much damage to it. So far I haven't found any skeletons in the cupboards.
The stats are: Three bedrooms, nice kitchen, nice bathroom, a grand total of three toilets (WTF? Why does a house like this three toilets?), two car garage (so the car is allowed inside next to the bicycles).
We already met four of the four neighbours, nice people. The fifth neighbour, not met despite various communication attempts) is described as a woman who does not like children and complains about everything. Oh well, five friendly families out of six houses is not bad. And if she wants to make her life miserable, go for it.
Some things need to be fixed, adjusted or just peed on to make it ours:
Because we moved in the hottest days in summer this year (not worlds greatest idea), we know exactly where the hottest parts and least ventilated parts in the house are and have invested in a couple of ceiling-fans for these rooms.
The light in the ceiling of the bathroom might be at the right position for small Australia old ladies to look in the mirror, for tall Dutchmen it just gives me a nice halo around the head, so we will get an extra light above the mirror.
While swapping the lightbulbs for energy-saving ones, I found out that the light above the frontdoor has a screw-fitting instead of a banjonet-fitting, which gives me the opportunity to use an old present from my brother: An 1.5 Watt LED colour-changing-lightbulb. Dank broertje!
Over time I hope to give more updates on the sub-projects of Project New House, like fixing the garden (Currently covered with "Buffalo grass" or "St Augustine Grass" or "Stenotaphrum secundatum" which makes it impossible to mow with a handmower and getting a solar-thingie on the roof.