Building in Australia

The House that Roy & Verne Built, Part 4 – Our House

Our house, at last completed; You Will Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties; Get the Party Started; Our House; Build Me Up, Buttercup; Roy’s baby; Art Deco upstairs; man cave moments; The Lift Girl’s Lament; Bed(s) of Roses; sounding the retreat; more stuff; as the stomach churns

Let me start on a celebratory note with some party pics, including my birthday and our housewarming party on 8 March. Otherwise, we may all glaze over at the seventh picture of tiling/paving, switch off and never get to see Roy and me thoroughly enjoying our long-awaited new home.

You Will Always Find me in the Kitchen at Parties – Jona Lewie (1980)

 

Christmas Day 2024 at 543 Burns Beach Road, our first tree in 10 years: Roy, Verne, Holly, Carrie, Mia and Carl

Moving In Day was 16 December 2024. By then, the house was completely liveable, even comfortable. There was still plenty to be done: gates, landscaping and the commissioning of the lift, for example. We were able to have family over on Christmas Day, basking in the twinkle of our first Christmas tree since we left Singapore in 2016.

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Down South to Yallingup, Margaret River – 19-22 January 2025

The Grateful Alive; going down south, or even way down south; my semi-apology for gabbiness; Grand Design shed; alien kookaburras… really?; couples of a certain age at Bunbury Farmers Market, Vasse Village; rump cap report-back; friends and neighbours in Marron Rise; Lamont Smith’s Beach for Sunday dinner; lunch at Wise Wine, Eagle Bay; Aravina Wine Estate; curvy Botero with understated genitalia; WA Surf Gallery museum

Talking about gratitude with Roz on Burns Beach last week, she and I agreed that it’s impossible to be grateful and depressed/anxious at the same time. And that we’re very lucky to be living in a wonderful place.

Burns Beach, Iluka – 300m from home

A health podcaster I heard the other day described how she consciously started each day with a gratitude practice, so as to flood her body with the feel-good love hormone, oxytocin. The minute she wakes up, she gives thanks for her pillow, for her comfy mattress, for her Egyptian cotton sheets – and especially for the lusty young man next to her that she brought home from the club last night. (Obviously, I made that last bit up. The rest is a true story.)

Moving on, then, before this becomes a post better suited to my health and longevity blog, Living Long & Strong with Verne and Roy.

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Awe-some Places

Studies also show that our bodies flood with oxytocin when we experience the sensation of awe – as happens when beholding glorious natural scenes like a sunset sky, the sea or a pristine forest. This may be part of why being outdoors is so good for us.

Verne and Roy in the bush at Yallingup, Margaret River

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The House that Roy and Verne Built, Part 3 – Bye-bye, builder

The House that Roy and Verne Built; blast from the past – Parts 1 and 2; our builder went bust, and we heard it through the grapevine; up the creek without a paddle; so dry your tears, woman; counting our blessings; up on the roof, or some pricey scaffolding; Bob the (Un)-builder; ceilings, windows, doors, floors and more; Roy’s stairway to heaven; be of good cheer!

It seems almost inconceivable how long this house-building lark has been dragging on for: three full years since the slab went down in May 2021. So disjointed has the progress been, and so dispiriting the experience, that I haven’t even felt like blogging about it for the past two-and-a-half years.

For Parts 1 & 2 of This is the House that Roy and Verne Built,  you can look back at the archives. Or simply click on the links below.

This is the House that Roy and Verne Built
From Part 1 of This is the House that Roy & Verne built – breaking ground at 543 Burns Beach Road, Iluka WA

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This is the House that Roy and Verne Built: Part Two – Bricks and Mortar

Apologies and advance warnings; concrete proof – slab, soakpit and sewers; lonely brick storage site; Dino’s dilemma; men at work!; the sacred interstitial space; graffiti message, but not from us

Apologies if you’ve been eagerly awaiting This is the House that Roy and Verne Built: Part Two after the first in the series, Part One: Breaking Ground, which we celebrated back in April 2021. After the slab was laid in May, the site lay cold and abandoned until four months later when – spoiler alert! – the hoped-for, prayed-for and longed-for bricklayer team eventually came on site.

Now that we’re just about up to the second level, here’s the story of the build so far. Feel quite free to gloss over any dreary construction details (I know I would), and simply savour all my lovely photos of Roy.

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