Screen door locks - at last!

Today the builders finally installed locks with keys on the screen doors, replacing the original locks which had no keys that ever got into our hands. Another item checked off the defect list as done. Still a few to go.

Awnings and blinds

Someone came to measure the windows of our new house for awnings and blinds (some external, some internal). We've decided about most, but not all, of the window coverings; the rest can be done later. Installation should be in mid-June, after we return from a trip to Adelaide.

Smoke alarm

Used grill in oven for the first time in new house. Set off the smoke alarm. Alarm's turn-off button didn't. Eric had to rip it off ceiling and remove the battery. Not impressed. The chops tasted good, but.

Front garden ideas

We're contemplating the delights and hassles of installing a model railway in our garden. Eric's been helping by feeding me URLs. This scheme started with rocks as low-maintenance garden plants, artistically arranged, and grew from there. (I've been wanting a train set for years. Never had one as a kid.)

Buying furniture

Yesterday and today were shop-till-you-drop days: table, chairs, lamps, side tables, hardware and household stuff. Slowly getting organised. Today we ordered a "dining" table, which should be delivered in about 3 weeks. I put "dining" in quotes because we normally use our table for everything else as well as dining, and some of my/our hobbies can be a bit hard on the surface... so we bought a table being sold as a desk or conference table. It looks very much like a slightly larger one being sold as a modern style dining table (white top, stainless steel legs), so we figure it can't be too weird... not that we care. That store didn't have any chairs we liked, so we went next door and bought 4 chairs of a style used in conference rooms. We looked at a lot of dining-type tables and chairs, but couldn't find any dining-type chairs that were comfortable to sit in, so that contributed to our decision to buy conference-room items. In addition to being comfortable, these chairs look quite nice and should go well with the table. Two were in stock; the others should arrive late next week. They were a discontinued model, so on sale... a nice bonus. Update: Here's a picture taken after the table and chairs were delivered.

New cupboards

For years I've been making do with two open-fronted sets of shelves as my "pantry" in the hall, but a few months ago I decided it was time to seriously attempt to replace them with something a bit tidier, that is with doors to hide the jumble of contents. After looking at lots of unsuitable (and often overpriced) cupboards in several stores, I finally located ones I liked and ordered from one of the local hardware stores three single-door flat-pack pantry cupboards. To the surprise of both me and Eric, the cupboards turned out to be really easy to put together. The instructions were good (good English, readily under­standable, with good clear diagrams), and the quality control of the cutting of the pieces and the hole spacing for screws was excellent. The quality is conspicuously better than most of the cheap flat-pack stuff we've bought in the past 10+ years, and not much more expensive. They are from a company in Western Australia. I did most of the assembly myself, enlisting Eric only for the heavy lifting.