In the display home, the Porter Davis Kensington 24 looks stunning with Decking, but it won’t suit our back yard, and given the BBQ is already at the perfect height for me (I am a tall guy!) I don’t want to raise the footing any higher.

Justine’s dad John is also creating a step for the rear-french doors so the step outside from the house isn’t as harsh, as we find people have trouble stepping out of the house down to an unexpected drop.

I’ve seen some good examples of sprayed or polished concrete, and I think this will give the area a well-finished look, and will almost complete our back-yard project, although I’m assessing an outdoor fireplace of some variety, and postponing the outdoor gas BBQ being connected to natural gas for the time being.

Connecting the BBQ is impractical at this time of year, and quite expensive.  The location of the outdoor gas point installed by Porter Davis is in a highly inconvenient spot, removing any cost-benefit of having it installed during construction.

The cost of the step and concrete spray is under $500, and will look stunning when finished.

That’s compared to a minimum of $2,000 for Decking, and a minimum of approximately $800 just for concrete or sand-stone pavers, before labour.

I will post photos of the area in a few weeks once it’s all completed.

Here are some of the latest pictures:

Front-View of house, Driveway & Garden

Front-Right Side View of house

House Left Hand Side View

A view of the back-yard and outdoor dining/Al-Fresco from the Living room via our big-open French Doors.

Back-yard view, left-hand side

Lawn (Roll-down turf, type: Couch)

(Ignore the dying plant in the middle )

Rear-View of Al-Fresco

Left-hand side back-yard & Al-Fresco, with Outdoor BBQ

Gardens by John, Justine’s dad. I might have carted a few barrel loads of stones around though

For those who are interested, the house is a Kensington 24 built by Porter Davis.

Outdoor Natural Gas BBQ

We found a brick layer in the Local Leader Newspaper, and he had the job done in around 7 hours.

We used left over bricks from the house, and the bricky matched the cement colour to that of our house.

The structure was finished off by creating benches from bluestone on the top of the structure, and have left a cavity underneath to build a cupboard.

We’ll clean the bricks up, and seal the bluestone, add the doors and finish assembling the burners, hotplate etc and then have the natural gas connected, which has already been run to the Al Fresco and capped off.

Total cost for this lovely outdoor kitchen was $900 (not including the BBQ, Gas Burners or plumbing).

• Moved in Early September
• Aggregated Pebble Driveway went down just before we moved in, took 6 weeks for the sealant to be finished.
• Justine has assembled a heap of furniture and for the most part is fully furnished (needs a second plasma for the lounge, a third for the bedroom ).
• Justine’s Dad and I have been doing a lot of work in the back yard (well, John has done the majority of it)
• Fence finally went in a few weeks ago
• Phone line was installed today, internet coming this week

Short-term To Do List:

• Back yard garden & landscaping
• Front Yard Landscaping
• Front Yard Garden lights
• Minor furnishings
• Organise a brickie & plumber to do the outdoor BBQ
• Throw a house warming

Anticipated short-term expenses in the order of $5,000-$7,000

More pictures will be posted when the house is looking a little closer to a finished product.

I’ve selected a very nice block of land in the Mount Ridley Estate in Craigieburn, and construction should begin in late April, or Early may, depending on how long finance and the paperwork will take to complete.

I have also been featured in the Hume Star newspaper recently, in an article focused on rapid growth in the Stockland Highlands estate, spurred on by the First Home Owners Grant.

Click the image below to read the article.

Chris in the News

Stay tuned for more info including pictures of the block and links to the gallery of the house.