Delays :( and Outdoor ideas

We went to see the house on Friday, hoping to see lots of new additions. We found no changes at all!  :(  Everyone is busy and booked out for the next few WEEKS :( The builders are busy with one of the government funded school building upgrades (A huge new school hall) plus two other big housing developments. Apparently our little house isn't much of a priority, the Site Supervisor said he comes over 'When I get a spare day' BOO not happy! Looks like we won't be finished anytime soon :(

He did say the tilers might be over in two weeks time, but not to expect anything else between now and then. I guess they would be delayed anyway as the tiles for the wet areas were out of stock. We had to reselect the tiles ( now we will have the same cream 333ml floor tile throughout the whole house, and the same wall tiles and feature tiles throughout the whole house) I guess it will keep it simple, i decided to just go with one floor tile rather than have to go through the whole selection process again.

We also had to order extra floor tiles as DH decided we were having diagonal floor tiles in all living areas (adding an extra $10/m to lay plus 5% extra order for tiles = $500+!!!) The wet areas will still be straight except for the tiles in the shower which will also be diagonal. I can't say i mind either way in terms of direction of the tiles, but as we keep saying, we can only do them once so we may as well get what we want. Too bad it all costs money.  This pic is a small tile on a wall, but you get the idea!

In other news we are making plans to have an alarm system installed by a family friend. It will be a fancy set up with movement/glass break sensors on every window, corner sensors is every room, a blue flashing light out the front and connected to the security monitoring company in case of break-in or firealarm activation. DH's mum used to sell them and has one installed in her house so we will get a good deal :) It won't look like this, I just put it in to break up the writing!

We are also looking into getting a double garage with workshop for the backyard. It will be colourbond to match the house with side access along the narrower side of the house (the right side of house) We are not sure whether we will pay for it's completion, pay for a slab and put up kit ourselves (my choice) or do the lot from scratch as a kit. It will look something like this: (same colours too but stretched to make it a bit longer)

Hubby gets the shed on the condition that I get my timber decking, shade sails and garden :) Hopefully we can also get a good price on the timber as one of Hubby's friends works at a timber mill :) I think the boys will all chip in to help with all of these builds - boys and their toys :P

My ideas for the deck are a combination of this:

And this:

With a pergola looking something like this: (i have found an Bali imports shop in our town who sells them for a decent price, there are also different sizes available, some with seating attached)

or this is a more realistic option:

Then i plan to add lots of lovely green plants! And a few flowers of course!