The latest

Dropped by the house on the way to picking up my boys from pre-school yesterday and thought I'd have a peek through the windows to see what's happened since our walk through on Wednesday.

Site has been cleaned up

Here's our lovely flyscreens (can flyscreens be lovely?) Only cost $700 to include them which I believe is a little cheaper than doing it afterwards.  

After walking around the perimeter I noticed the French Doors at the front were unlocked....what a shame!  So naturally I popped inside for a little looksy...

And found the showerscreens have been put in!  Yay! 

('scuse dodgy phone pics)

But nooooooo!!!  The shower door in our ensuite is opening the wrong way!!!  It's noted on the drawings and in writing that it's to open the other way (don't want to get all chilly trying to grab a towel now do we?!)  It's all in the detail don't ya know!

No painting as yet however I imagine they're waiting for the gyprock and cornice on the kitchen bulk head but do note our newly installed rangehood...

And that was pretty much it.  I'll be looking forward to my next drive-by on Wednesday!!

Bugs & Alfresco Dining

When designing our new home our must have item were 2 walls of timber bi-fold doors meeting at the middle, opening onto our alfresco area.

And this was the display home where we first fell in love with them. Swoon.

Only problem with this kind of opening is that it's difficult to keep the insects out and I don't know about you but I'm really not a fan of bugs inside!

We're having a ceiling fan in the alfresco which I've heard helps to keep the bugs at bay.  We've also looked into screening options that can be retro-fitted.  There are a couple of options such as fly-screen roller blinds that have magnets and attach in the middle but I'm not convinced they'd stand the test of children time - especially with such a wide distance to cover and nothing more supportive in the middle to attach to.  Anyway, kinda defeats the purpose of having the beautiful opening only to put a screen in the way!

Then when I was at a friend's party a few months ago, we got chatting about her bug "killer" which had managed to keep all the bugs out of the house even though her sliding doors had been open all night.  I was quite excited about this little find as it's not a traditional zap it & smoke it kinda bug zapper (nothing like a smoking fried bug to kill the mood), it kills them quietly & smell free instead! Hey, they're only bugs! 

My friend had a bugvac which I can only seem to find at a Perth Mitre 10 store but I've also found the Bug Eater which is Australian made and appears to work in exactly the same way.

How it works (as quoted from their site)...

Insects are lured to the bugeater by an 8 watt ultra-violet light, specially formulated to attract biting insects.  As the insects approach the light, they are blown into the water tray below the fan.  A couple of drops of liquid detergent is added to the tray of the mosquito trap, to break the surface tension of the water, the insect is unable to float on the water so it drowns.

So it's safe (no chemicals), quiet, Australian made and effective.  I'll take 2 thanks!

How have you overcome a similar problem?