The carpet was installed on Monday (i've been busy so i haven't uploaded the pics til now)

I LOVE the carpet! It complements everything else in the house (and even DH approves!) These are the best photos i have until i can get access to the house again.

Third bedroom

Main bedroom













The list of things still to be done:
Install shower screen
Mirror for bathroom
'Whirly bird' and two eave vents to roof
Tv antenna
Turf
Clothes line
Mail box
Finish shelving in main bedroom
Hand towel ring installed in laundry
Turn around blinds above sink (so they hang at opposite end to sink)
Clean whole house and SCRUB the toilet til it's looking brand new again!!!
*Check to make sure all powerpoints are in (especially at end of kitchen bench)
*Check to make sure towel rail is installed in bathroom
*Paint - touch up where needed
*Possible re-paint of paint around front door

That's all i can think of for now :)

We still haven't got a move in date. We've been told it could be up to EIGHT WEEKS for the bank/council to process paperwork if they take the maximum time allowed! :( :S We can't start that process until the turf goes in (condition of council to have the house & land 'finished' and presentable) The problem is it keeps raining in Newcastle (where turf iscoming from) so they can't dig it up and it's been raining here so it would be too muddy to install it :S

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.

Garage, cupboards etc

We now have full approval for the garage :) We are currently trying to find a good concreter, hopefully one who can do the slab sometime in the next couple of weeks.

The house hasn't had much progress this week. As far as I could tell, the only addition was the installation of the built in cupboard in the third bedroom.  The equipment was all there, so hopefully they get lots done over the coming week. We still need the tiling, doors and skirting boards to be installed.

The GOOD news is that the builder called us up today to request the paint colour. Why? Because he says the painter is coming NEXT WEEK!!??!! I'm not a builder, but you'd think all the doors and cupboards would need to be done before they can paint?!? Oh well, I guess it's progress.

 The builder also asked us to get the carpet dealer's details (we didn't go with his usual carpet dealer) - he estimated the carpet will go in in about 3 weeks!! Well, all i can say is they better get moving if they plan to be ready for carpet by then!

Anyway, progress is good :) We'll just be waiting with baited breath to see how all of these deadlines go. Let's hope we have cupboards and doors by this time next week.

FINAL selections list (locked in !)

Well the ideas have changed a bit over the last few months but we have finally locked in our selections. Now we are just waiting... waiting.... waiting for the bank to give the official go ahead so that our builder can start. It is very frustrating at the moment but hopefully we will be starting soon :)

Selections:

Roof and gutter: Colourbond wilderness

Fascia: paperbark

Brick: PGH 'Bathurst'

Front Door: Hume Vaucluse XV5 either wood stained or painted a cream colour to match 'Paperbark' facia

Internal door: Hume standard oakfield

Carpet: Carpet choice nylon twist stainmaster carpet. Cream/pale brown in colour

Tiles:

Main living area floor: 333mm square light cream tile

Wet area floor: 250mm square light cream tile similar to main floor

Bathroom and kitchen wall tile: 250mm x 300mm (?) light cream gloss tile with a slightly darker 'vein' running through it.

Feature tile:

3 high horizontal strip across bath and shower
3x3 (as shown) square in diamond on kitchen wall

Bathroom:
Mixers to vanity and shower
full porcelain close-coupled toilet
standard bath.
vanity with water overflow and integrated semi-recessed bowl
Kitchen:

We added pot drawers and moved the dishwasher, includes basic mixer tap and 1 and 1/2 sink with basket waste.
Appliances are all Omega. Retractable exhaust hood, gas hotplates, elactric fanforced oven/grill and dishwasher, all in stainless.

1. Bench top diamond gloss 'Lunar Stone' with round edge, 2. Top cupboards and kick board 'Peruvian clay', 3. Bottom cupboards 'Pumice'.

 

update

It's been a while so i better update:

We still haven't decided on a feature tile after 3 trips to the shop :( i'm happy to pay the difference if i have to but DH is not so convinced.

We went to the carpet shop yesterday and chose a nylon twist carpet in a latte colour. DH wanted cream but i think we will stick with the latte as it should hide stains that little bit more. The room will lighten it anyway and i don't want a cream carpet that will glow once it's in the room. The carpet is right on budget which is great as i was worried it would go wayyy over. This means we might have a little more leway with the tiles :)


The builder rang last week to tell us he was sending out a colour selection pack :)  (we do it all ourselves as we are not building through a big company) It is now thursday and still no pack so i might ring him tonight to find out if he was slack or if it just got lost on the way!

Our neighbour now has walls, trusses with support for the tiles/colourbond & has been wrapped :) At the same time the one across the street (by the same builder) also has walls and trusses but hasn't been wrapped yet. It is going so quickly so hopefully ours will too. :)

Anyway that's all for now. I'll update when there is some more news

Colour schemes

Last night i was awake for ages thinking about different colours for everything. I know we have a while to choose everything but i would like to have an good idea in my mind so that it is easier when it comes to choosing later on.

DH and I both like blue (royal blue to navy, not so much lighter blues) and neither of us like the white and black colour schemes that seem to be popular at the moment.

We also plan to have this as an investment at some stage down the track so we want it to be 'us' but also work with other peoples tastes too.

My idea at the moment is cream & light browns (eg latte) with a few dark blue and chocolate highlights.

I'm thinking latte carpet, large cream tiles and cream kitchen cupboards. We both like the idea of blue bench tops but will this be too much?? Should we stick with cream and brown with just a highlight of blue in the tiles?? hmm.

If anyone actually reads this let me know what you think!