Loving the house :)

Well i have been VERY lazy and not updated this in AGES!! We moved in on the 11th December after a few dramas here and there.

We only found out that we could 'officially' move in the day before, but we had been packing for two days anyway as we knew we needed to be out of the rental.

Anyway, on the afternoon of the 10th we called everyone & told them we were moving the next day. My parents & sister came over on the saturday morning (it was a few hours drive to get here) and DH's dad came, along with a good mate of ours who lives in our town. We loaded the car and ute, drove into town to meet the builder and chatted for a while (we had to discuss what was happening with the clothesline, mailbox, turf and side fence) Then there was a hand shake and the keys were ours :D :D It was all pretty informal and a bit of a laugh after all the waiting and anticipation of getting those KEYS!!

So then we drove over town and opened the door to our NEW HOME :D :D

We quickly unloaded the car (I made sure that the boxes of Christmas decorations were the first to come in as i wanted to know exactly where they were when I had time to put them up) and met up with my parents, then we drove back out to meet everyone else at the rental.

There was a bit of drama when we thought that the truck we had arranged to loan from a friend was no longer available :S (Not impressed that we may have to load our ENTIRE HOUSE into ute trays, there would have been no way we'd get it all done in a day)

Anyway, the truck ended up being available so it all turned out ok :)

The boys (mainly our dads) loaded the first of the big stuff and off we went again. We ended up filling the truck twice and filling about 10 cars worth!

It was about this time that we realised we have WAY too much stuff! lol. The photo below was the start of the first load, By the end we could only just walk through here!

At the end of the day we were left with a house full of boxes with little pathways to walk through in between. I think the only thing we had time for that first night was to try and arrange the lounges in the somewhat smaller loungeroom and set up our bed . So after a few bumps and scratches we were (mostly) in.     

                                                                                                                                                                       We thought the scene below would be funny for anyone who passed our moving convoy.
 'Ladies and gentlemen, please choose your seat!'



It took DH & I three more days to move and clean up the rental in between trying to unpack the basics here and me having to work (DH had time off work for the move)

We were originally told by the builder that we wouldn't be getting the turf until the new year. When we picked up the keys we were told if there was a break in the weather we would get the turf this week or it wouldn't be til next year. We didn't have very high hopes.

You can imagine my excitement when i got a text from DH on the 14th saying that the builders were supposedly at the house scraping the weeds! DH had to leave to go to clean the rental so he hadn't seen any progress. That afternoon after work i went via the house and low and behold we had TURF!

This was probably the biggest excitement as we were dreading having Christmas at our house with a yard full of weeds.

Anyway, we finished cleaning the rental and finally had time to focus on unpacking the new house :D :D

After three days of unpacking i was finally allowed to put up the Christmas decorations Woohoo :D

So now we have been in for just over a month and we are LOVING  it! There is still a garage full of boxes as the shed is yet to be constructed but the rest of the house is unpacked and we have settled in well. I have even started on the garden but this is a work in progress.

 I love the mixer taps in the bathroom, i'm so glad DH insisted on changing those when they were done wrong. I also LOVE the tiles, they flow so well through the house and are a breeze to keep clean. People complement our tiles all the time :) Actually we have had complements on the bricks, the tiles, the kitchen bench and of course the nieche hehe.

 Well, complements on everything really :)

Anyway we are in and it's awesome and we love it! We are so happy that we built and it's wonderful actually using the rooms and appliances that have been planned for so long. I'll try and update this as we add things. I have big plans for the garden and the paving, this is just the beginning so i'll try and keep you posted. :)

Oh, and we have a new addition, Lucy came to live with us on the 17th of December. I have wanted a cat for sooo long and now i can finally have one :) She is a little terror half of the time...

...and the other half she is a gorgeous lovable purry little angel.

She is beautiful and has brought us much joy :)

more toys! :D

Here's the latest:

Hand towel holder ( it looks big! :S) And that isn't my drink...

Near invisible soap holder and glass shelf!  :) Hopefully it will match the shower screen :)

They have painted the shelf supports (the ones they forgot to do with the rest)

We have a toilet!
Not so happy to see that it's been used - or should i say ABUSED!! :( :( Bleughh. HOW RUDE. They better be cleaning it til it looks brand new again.


Oh, and you can see what the door handles look like :)

Gas cook top minus the black trivet (?) things that go on top. I realised today that they hadn't put the oven in yet. The electricians were there today doing all the power points and putting the oven in :)

Sink looking good. Not sure why they got the blinds to hang at that end of window :S Might have to change that...

Dishwasher! :D :D

Painters were there painting on the skirting boards Tilers have finished laying the extra tiles (the ones that were missing after they tiled the extra room by mistake)

Not sure about green verandah posts... and they painted green around the door - i think that should be cream as it looks a little strange...

They were staining / lacquering the front door (or whatever it's called :P) Happy to see action! :D

We (meaning I) have drawn up a plan for the garden - and a plan for the watering system with pop up sprinklers and water weeping hoses :D We (Meaning DH) plan to dig the trenches and put in the pipes this weekend! YAY!

Tile drama sorted :)

We ended up going with the tiles. The builder actually said he thought it looked better as tiles once he saw it this morning. It seems the tiler thought it was meant to be tiled and didn't check the plan.

This means we get a free room of tiles, feature tiles laid for free and we don't have to pay extra for laying diagonal tiles! Wooohoooo. Glad they stuffed up now lol. They have all been very generous and gone out of their way to make up for it. One happy customer here :D :D :D

When we were there meeting the builder it seemed like it was all systems go - we had the guy just finishing up installing the blinds, the plumber doing the vanity and taps, someone else installing the kitchen appliances and the carpet people came to measure the rooms!

Below: Guy taking the dishwasher in the front door :D

It is looking really nice now :) We have kitchen appliances all in, blinds finished, vanity and bathroom taps all done :)

Still waiting on: Skirting boards to be installed, tiles to be finished, paint to be touched up and skirting boards and posts out the front painted, carpet installed, power points, light fittings and switches, gas HWS installed, pump and tank connected (tank now in right place), grass going in  next week, clothesline, mail box and then the KEYS :) Not long to go now, approx 3 weeks plus the time for council to approve and let us in.

Left: Shower tiles and taps yay :D The shower head may not stay though, it's just a water saving one i had already so we didn't have to pay for a cheap normal one.

: D

Loving this! :) Mirror still to go in.

New toys!!!

Blinds in living area. They match perfectly, considering i didn't have a paint sample to comare it too. Mmmm 'biscuit' :)











I didn't get any kitchen pics as the guy was there the whole time installing everything, i thought i'd be a bit strange to ask for him to move or have him in the pic :S  Photos of kitchen next time.

Tiling Mega DRAMA!!

I went around to the house on monday to see how the tiles were going. We had the laundry floor grouted, wall tiles in place, bathroom floor and wall tiles in place and concrete cleaned/polished ready for tiles. All looking good so far :) I thought it was a bit strage that they had polished the loungeroom (which was having carpet), but didn't think much of it. That night i casually said to DH 'I hope they know the lounge is having carpet' and he goes 'They did the feature tiles right so they must be going off the plan. They were probably just cleaning it all up, it'll be fine' And the topic was forgotten.

On Tuesday afternoon I went back to see the progress. The first thing i noticed was the nice cream tiles laid on a diagonal IN THE LOUNGEROOM!!!! Gahhhhhh, they DID lay tiles in the lounge :S :S

The rest of the house was perfect, the tilers did a fantastic job. I called the builder and told him they'd tiled the lounge. He said that they wouldn't pull them up now they were laid and he'd pay the difference. He just wanted to know if we still wanted carpet and i said we'd be happy to keep the tiles. Little did i know...

Left: The room that was meant to have carpet.

When i got home DH was really annoyed at the mix up, and was insisting we get carpet. Here started the many phone calls between builder, tiler, tile supplier and us :S The builder gave us two options:

1: Keep the tiles, no carpet

2: Install carpet OVER tiles, using glue and nails to pierce the tiles, wrecking the tiles completly and having carpet raised higher than tile height.

The third option we came up with was: Keep the tiles, get a piece of carpet fitted to the room (matching bedroom carpet as planned), overlock the edges (?) but NOT install it so tiles are still good underneath - good when we come to sell as buyer has both options there. Still sits higher than tile height.

The builder didn't like this idea and said the only way he'll pay for carpet is if it's INSTALLED. I think he won't give us the warranty if it's not installed and we think he may consider it a trip hazard (?) / hastle if it frays etc.

We had pretty much decided last night to keep tiles and get carpet over the top. Then this morning...

Dahhh dahhh dahhhhh...

The builder rings to inform us he has booked a JACKHAMMER to pull it all up :S

Can we really justify wrecking a room full of perfectly laid, brand new tiles??? So now we are back to square one. I like tiles as it is better value, easier to clean, you can just change/clean the carpet, and it is good investment to leave them for when we sell the house down the track.

DH wants the carpet as it is soft, it creates a different 'zone' so that people know that carpet = shoes off and no eating on our new lounges, carpet is good for crawling little kiddies (when we have some), it's not cold on feet like tiles and it gives us the option to have that room as an open walled 4th bedroom/kids play area/office/formal lounge.

So there you have it. We are at stalemate. By tomorrow morning we have to give the builder either permission to rip it out or leave it (with or without installing carpet over the top) I think he plans to work out where the decision was made and have them pay or have it covered by insurance to cover the extra costs.

New Pics :)

We have been talking to the builder again this week.
The good news: The tiler *should* be starting this week :)
The excavator *should* be coming Tuesday to dig up the pipe causing us all the drama


The not so good news: We won't be moving in until AT LEAST mid November :( The builder estimates we will move in 5 weeks after the tiler finishes (the first time he has even given us an estimate of a move in date) Nothing much can be done until the tilers are finished so we are hoping that we will get lots of tiles done this week!

The site has been levelled. This is where the garden goes :)

The line is where we are going to pave. The pavers will go past the sliding door to the BBQ gas point, and around the corner up to where the air con unit is. 2m wide near door, 3m wide along side of the house









Looking towards the street. This side will all be garden (except for paved area)

We have shed roller doors!!











Tile boxes! :D Now we just need a tiler to put them all down!

333ml floor tiles. These are the same throughout the whole house.

 The feature tile for the bathroom will be three rows of these squares wide and will run horizontally above the shower and bath. In the kitchen the same tiles will be used in 9small squares to make one square, laid as a diamond.

Wall tile, feature and floor tiles are all the same throughout. Wall is garage lining painted in 1/4 hog bristle
















The shed kit has arrived. They just dumped it out the front :( so it took us about 3hrs to break it up and carry it into the garage piece by piece :P

The front door is also here :) This is the top of it, it will be stained by the painters when they come back after the tilers come.

The paint is looking awesome! This is the niche all painted and ready to be go :)

 Not a good pic but you can see the finished paint and aircon installed :)

 The top cupboards look darker now that the paint has been done (peruvian clay - laminate)

The daiken air conditioner :D :D

 Bath ready for tiles












Shower base is done

 The backyard and paddock crazy with weeds

 Looking from the front door

The front of house now that the site has been levelled. We even have a strip of turf left over from the house across the road! I don't know if there is much point though, it'll just die as we won't be there to water it :(