tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84078704361017989452012-01-29T13:40:57.465+10:30Follow Kezz & Lee as they find, buy, renovate and update a run down old post office building & residence in a small township called Dawesley in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia.Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-28526559980048022052010-03-28T21:33:00.000+10:302010-03-28T21:33:47.419+10:30

Mid December 2009: Today Mum & Kerry finished the pruning job. They were closely watched by a pair of "nosey neighbours"! Cute huh? They actually met a neighbour of the human kind too. Onyx - she and her partner are also restoring/renovanting an old property in Dawesley. It's nice to know we are not alone in this journey! Anyway, Mum & Kerry attacked the remnants of the bush with the sabre

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-7309073262072099982010-03-28T21:21:00.000+10:302010-03-28T21:21:21.687+10:30

Early December 2009: Today Mum & Kerry started the next pruning job. They were merrily snipping away, when they heard - peep, peep...peep, peep...peep, peep... There was a baby bird, not quite flown the nest yet. So they stuck to the other side, getting half the job done Next weekend they'll go back to hopefully finish the job, as long as our little friend has gone out into the big wide

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-77568449689346612892009-12-21T23:23:00.002+10:302009-12-21T23:26:55.288+10:30

One of the common problems with buildings as old as the Chateau is dampness in the stone work. They are usually built directly onto the ground with stone foundations (if any) and no damp course like modern buildings. In our case this problem has been heightened by two factors; 1 - the lower level is partially beneath ground level, so the earth is actually up against a large portion of the western

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-69534932718894835802009-11-29T20:16:00.002+10:302009-11-29T20:29:09.452+10:30

 From this... to this... in 4 hours!!! "Give a weed an inch and it’ll take a yard" (or in our case a rain water tank) Today Mum, Dad & Kerry took on the vine growing around one of the rain water tanks at Dawesley. (Lee had to work so he missed out on the latest cleansing task). All it took were 2 ladders, a cordless sabre saw, a garden saw, secateurs of varying sizes, tin snips and a lot of

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-41916672308494994782009-11-22T22:56:00.005+10:302009-11-23T12:13:46.229+10:30

And today was fun, even though we were met at the door by an unexpected guest. After charging the batteries for the cordless tools and packing the car with a few bits of equipment borrowed from dad's garage, we headed to the Chateau. Lee unlocked the door and as soon as it opened the surprise guest appeared. Kerry kindly provided the following creative version of the encounter: (To the tune of

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-25962427424698580552009-11-18T22:59:00.003+10:302009-11-23T12:20:43.856+10:30

Hoorah - we finally got there. We have had several delays and are already behind schedule (not that we actually have a schedule) but at least we have finally achieved settlement. Lee got an email from the conveyancer on Tuesday to say that settlement was to occur today however the saga continued (told you it'd be a saga) when the conveyancer called Lee at work today to organise for him to sign

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-67064733117839840082009-11-11T22:32:00.002+10:302009-11-11T22:47:05.970+10:30

Well it's been a while - sorry for the lack of posts lately. So here's a general update: Remember the post about the meetings with the architects? Remember there was one that we really wanted to go with? Remember we were waiting for their proposals? Well, we got the proposals... and we can't afford the one we liked. Where to from here? Don't know. Remember we had a roof contractor measure the

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-54670261935583841412009-10-25T22:54:00.002+10:302009-10-25T23:03:06.102+10:30

                    A bientot! K'n'L

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-53599940961962525822009-10-17T21:49:00.000+10:302009-10-17T21:49:58.336+10:30

We believe that stage one of the Chateau (the bit on the left) was built in 1884. We reckon the rest was added around 1900. Maybe. Tada!

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-10287990007114158392009-10-15T22:56:00.000+10:302009-10-15T22:56:09.439+10:30

...errrr... suck. Solicitors suck - yep, that's it. Today we finally received our copy of the signed contract. As well as another document to sign. This new one is an addendum to the contract to change the settlement date. The original settlement date was set down for 30 days from the date of the contract ie: 30 days from when the second party signed the contract. That happened on the 17th of

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-36216860909324363752009-10-12T09:25:00.000+10:302009-10-12T09:25:08.274+10:30

The Chateau is located in Dawesley on the old Princes Highway. Tada!

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-82389330504136838822009-10-11T10:50:00.001+10:302009-10-11T10:53:10.357+10:30

Check this out gang - two blog posts in one week! Does that mean things are actually starting to happen? Yeah, umm... sort of. Still no word on the finalisation of the contract. The agent said he had been promised the paperwork would arrive on Thursday but it's now Sunday and there's been no word yet. But are we going to let a minor detail like 'we don't even own the place' slow us down? No way

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-82090917876226256052009-10-06T22:50:00.002+10:302009-10-06T22:59:01.519+10:30

Ah, the joys of being on the buying end of a mortgagee sale. Almost a month ago we signed the contract for the purchase of the old post office building in Dawesley (hereafter referred to as "the chateau") and bugger all has happened since. For those less aware of the finer points of property finance nomenclature, the term "mortgagee sale" refers to the occurrence of someone defaulting on their

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8407870436101798945.post-2993772216001021822009-09-13T18:10:00.019+09:302009-10-11T11:14:00.784+10:30

Before we begin posting about our latest real estate saga (for that is what it is destined to become), a little back story is in order for those of you who are not already in the know... After several months of searching we bought our first home in 1998 in the northern Adelaide suburb of 'Brahma Lodge'. Sounds posh, huh? It's not. The place had the same owner for over 40 years before we moved

Kezz n Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314744889901841453noreply@blogger.com3