World's Worst Updater!!

Hey everyone!! World's worst updater finally updating!! LoL!!

We've been busy little bees for the last couple of weeks with the house.. and here's what's gone down since handover...

I took a week of annual leave about 2 weeks ago so we could get our floor laid, but just our luck, the Friday before my week off, our flooring dude rang and told us that when he rang his supplier to place the order for the wood, they were OUT OF STOCK!! It was going to take two weeks for them to get our order down to Melbourne!! BOOOO!!

So!! Today, three weeks later, our flooring finally arrives!! Our flooring dude rang my partner and said he'd take some of the wood and start laying right away as we have our appliances booked in to be installed on Thursday! Hopefully he'll at least get the kitchen done by then and then he can take his time to finish the rest of the house. Finally the last piece of the puzzle is being put in place.

So.. during my week off, the fencing guys came and put up our side gate and finished the fencing. Lookin pretty good. Got some quotes for the blinds, and got our driveway done!! YAY!! We decided on a light coloured exposed aggregate called Sorrento Bianco. I think it really sets off the house.. especially with our off-white mortar. We also got to do some feature walls, before the flooring gets put down so we dont stain the wood.

So.. without further ado.. PICS!!!!

During the laying of the driveway. We also had a path made to go around the side of the house round to the side gate and into the back.

Ta-da! The finished product!!

Close up of our aggregate in Sorrento Bianco.

Our two feature walls:

This is in the living area, it's painted with Dulux River Rock in Diggers Crossing.

This is in the master bedroom done with Dulux Designer Silk in Sultry Glance. I have to say, having the red in the bedroom is one of the boldest colour decisions I've ever made! And I LIKE it!!

So that's what's been happening in the last couple of weeks. Will get more pics when the floors are done!

We've Got Keys!!!

Hey guys!!

Just a quick update to say WE'VE GOT KEYS!!! Finally!! Floors in next, then in we go!! YAY!!

Handover: T Minus 16hrs And Counting!! (And Updated Piccies!)

Yes, I know I've been very slack with my updating, but it's a bit hard when you cant get into the house!! Which is a good thing for us I guess, cuz if we cant, then no one else can!

SO! Here's the low-down.. Handover was supposed to have happened on FRIDAY the 22nd of May in the morning, but due to the repairs on our house not being complete by THURSDAY afternoon, it has been pushed to TUESDAY 26th of May in the morning... ie: TOMORROW AT 8:30AM!! Hopefully there havent been anymore mistakes or dilly-dallying and we can finally get the keys and show some of you guys through!!

Anyway, although pictures dont do it justice, here are some updated ones...

Kitchen with sink, benchtop, splashback and rangehood installed.

Looking from the kitchen to the living area. You can see the doorway to the other bedrooms, bathroom, WC and laundry immediately to the left, and the rumpus entry on the facing wall.

Looking into the kitchen.. yes the door has been fixed! :)

Ensuite shower all tiled and grouted and glass installed.

Bathroom shower with our feature niche.

Continued feature pebbles on bathroom floor.. just to break up the grey.

There are still heaps of things we will need to do after handover:

• sealing all wet area tiles
• frosting the bathroom, ensuite and toilet windows
• feature walls
• blinds/curtains
• lighting
• flooring
• driveway
• front garden
• backyard (alfresco area and plants)
• washing line
• dining setting

I'm sure there's more, and some of the ones I've listed can wait a little longer, but most of them need to be done before we can even think about moving in!!

Handover: T Minus 2 Days!!

Yes everyone! We finally get our keys on Friday! Woo hoo!! *does happy dance* It's been a long and painstaking process, but it's all worth it in the end.. we have a house which we will make into our home. We will be doing our final walk through the house on Friday morning, and then go to head office to sign the papers, hand over the final payment and take control of the keys!

OMG!!!

Tiling Almost Complete... Handover On The Horizon!!

Okay chickens! Some update pictures!!

The moldings around our windows have been installed. We're planning on painting these some shade of grey ourselves after handover cuz the colour we chose first doesnt look as good as we thought...


The fence on the garage side of the house has gone up.. meaning our neighbours will be moving in soon!

The ensuite shower.. although the bathroom shower looks exactly the same!


This is a close-up of our niche with the feature pebbles in it. Again, bathroom is exactly the same.

We've continued the pebble theme in the bathroom with a strip running along the floor at the base of the bath.


And the laundry.



And finally, the fully stained and laquered bi-folds.. I'm so totally obsessed with them if you havent noticed!!

Kitchen and Vanities Installed!!

Well peoples, here's the latest news!

Our garage door has been installed, so have the down-pipes. The kitchen cabinets have been installed, as have the bathroom and ensuite vanities, and the laundry cabinet. Our front door, French doors and bi-fold doors have been stained.. YAY! Getting closer and closer to having a hand-over date! The painters and tilers will probably be doing their thing in the next two weeks or so. Our SS wants to do a walk-through sometime next week so we will be able to see if everything is where it's supposed to be before that happens.

And now.. here are the latest pics! All thanks to Kir being a lil sneaky.. heh heh.

Our wood-look garage door.

Nice clean bricks.

Our stained front door in "Rosewood".

The stained bi-folds and French doors also in "Rosewood".


The bathroom vanity.

Ensuite vanity.

Laundry cabinet.

My kitchen!! YAY!!

Well, that's all for now! Just waiting for the magical date for hand-over!

Mini Update

Well not much has happened since the last time. Our bricks have been washed, the plasterers have pretty much finished, the skirting boards are in, as are the door frames. The handles have been installed on our French doors and the hole has been made for our front door lock. We've been told by our SS that the cabinet-makers are in this week and the painters will be in on Thursday. YAY!! Piccies soon!

Plastered!!

We met SS on site yesterday for an inspection of our abode. We were there to get a tour of the house and to see the repairs/corrections that have been made as per the report given by our independent inspector.

Everything has pretty much been done; there's a few things that still need doing, but they can be done after the plaster - it doesnt affect it at all. We are a little bit worried that the plaster started so soon after we'd done then inspection as there was a section of the sisalation in the master bedroom and the ensuite which badly needed patching due to excess mortar shredding it to pieces. We dont want rising damp/moisture to ruin our vanity and walls in a few years.

So Kir was informed by a friend that drove past our place today that the plasterers were in and working hard. I dont know.. it seems too soon after the inspection to have plastering start as there didnt seem enough time to repair the sisalation etc, but I'm not a builder. What I am is excited!! We have plaster! In one day!!! So here are the pictures!!

Looking from across the street.. all the bricks complete!

The garage.. plastered!!

The Master BR and retreat.

Looking down the hallway all the way to the rumpus window.

Standing in the doorway of the kitchen/living area.

The meals area.. Check out our awesome sets of French doors!

Stage Two: (Pretty Much) Complete!

Well! I'm BACK! And finally we have something to update! I havent had access to the internet for 2 weeks so havent been able to update. It's been terrible Muriel! But anyways, on with the update!

After all the excitement of getting our roof done just before Christmas, it was a little bit sad to see them stop working for 2 weeks. But the tradies deserve a rest. They work hard!

So, during the 2 week Christmas break, we had our bricks delivered in New Year's week and work pretty much began on the next Monday back. We kept going back every couple of days during Xmas to see if they'd kept working, but alas, they actually were on holiday.

Two weeks ago, we had our independant inspector go through the house for a pre-plaster inspection to look at the framing, roofing, the slab.. pretty much everything that had been done so far before the plasterboard goes on the walls. OOOOOHHHHHH BOY.. was that the best couple of hundred bucks we ever spent! There were things we were worried about which he picked up on; the slab falling short, the plumber's hack job on the frame etc, and also things that we, as lay-people, had no idea about, and things we just plain missed (the ducted heating unit was put in the wrong place!!) We received an 8 page report on the defects which we promptly forwarded on to our CSC, who then forwarded it to SS to take care of.

That was just over a week ago. SS has contacted Kir today to say that he'd like to do a walk through the house on Monday, to let us have a look at the repairs etc that have been carried out as per the report before he books the plasterers in. We'll have to see how that goes. Hopefully everything mentioned has been taken care of and fixed to building code standards.

CSC has also contacted us to inform us that the colour we've picked for our kitchen cupboards is no longer being used for the style that we want, so we have to pick a new colour!! *sigh* All that hard work going to waste. So we went back to Hopetouns on the weekend to pick another colour, emailed CSC for a quote on Monday. We'll see how that goes too..

So the last two weeks has seen the following done:

- bricking finished

- electrics wired

- bath has been delivered

- plasterboard has been delivered

- all external doors have been hung which means.. WE'RE AT LOCK UP!!

Stage Two - (pretty much) Complete! YAY!!

Our bricks on the palate.

Our bricking... half done.

Our bricks close up.

So, next up plastering! Or what I like to call Stage 3. I'll put more pics up of the outside when I can so you can see what the bricks look like.