Our Phillip Island Home
- starting again -

Starting with our concept sketch, we worked back and forth with Ashley Beaumont to create a plan we loved. He understood all we wanted and added some nice touches of his own which included working with the existing bungalow to extend and develop it into a semi-self-contained cottage. Our sketch

And then, around July 15th 2006, it was down to work. Kelvin Brigden and his mate Al won the building contract. Kel's quote was not the cheapest, but when interviewed he impressed us with his experience, attitude and attention to detail.

First, some of the garden had to go...

Remove garden

...then machinery was called in to... Cat at work

...reshape the ground after the deck was ripped up. Goodbye deck

By August 19th, a new retaining wall had been built and stump holes had been dug. Wall and stump holes

Tearing out some of the inside walls revealed unexpected disasters which would have to be fixed. The cost just went up! Old bathroom

By September 2nd the hard yards had been done and it was all systems go for raising walls. From the cottage

These photos were taken on September 28th... From the cottage

...standing on the roof... Roof view 1

...more or less above the dangling fish. Roof view 2

October 7th
As the house develops, keep your eye on... 		From the back verandah

...dangling fish... From the back corner of the cottage

...and the lemon tree. From the cottage sitting room

Lock up stage came soon after and then it was to time work on the inside of the cottage (this will be its kitchenette)... Cottage kitchenette

...and the house (this is inside the new back bedroom). In the new back bedroom

Things now seemed to go quite slowly. This is November 18th. From the front you have to look hard to see the changes - new steps and a shortened front verandah to allow for a built in robe off the main bedroom. Come in

Inside though all the effort was going into plumbing, electricity, plastering, painting and fittings. Attention to detail was what we wanted, and what we got.

Just in time for Christmas we were allowed live-in access. It wasn't finished, but it was near enough for us to be able to spend three weeks after Christmas turning a building site into our new home.

Bathroom: Work in progress