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 :)

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

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.

Delays... hmmm

We have had no work on our house for the last three weeks. Last week we found out why. The builder hadn't recieved the third payment (for lockup) and so our contract was extended by 14 days. The reason it wasn't paid was:

1. I was away when the email was sent in JULY and didn't know anything about it until early August
2. Hubby doesn't check his emails anywhere near as often as he should :S We also thought it wasn't at lockup when it was as the front door wasn't on. The plaster was the next stage, so that's when the lockup money was due.
3. When I gave the release form to the SS he held onto it for a week not knowing what to do with it as the Builder was away in Perth for a month.
4. The bank held onto the form for another week before they processed it.

We are very lucky that the builder didn't charge interest on the money - as they are entitled to this according to the contract :S

So the GOOD news is that the drama is all sorted, the builders will be back to work next week :D, the front door needs to be reordered (which means i can now upgrade to wood stain, something i was going to pass off if they already had it ordered) and the tilers will be coming soon :)

I think the delay actually helped in a way, as it meant they could catch up on all their other work. So *hopefully* they will now have some more time working on ours :)

The builder also said that we were lucky that our slab went down when it did, as they have another house that has been waiting 6 WEEKS for good enough weather to get the slad done :S

We also got to decide on our cupboard set out while we were there.

So back on track and hopefully lots of progress soon :)

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!

The first drama of the build...

Today i went to see our SS to check on a few things. It turns out the tap fittings are wrong in the shower, and for the vanity :( The only way to have mixers is to pull off the gyprock and re-do the plumbing. The builder went off the original plans as we hadn't told him we were having mixers. We had assumed that the people we got the taps from would have told him or he would have seen it on the quote and when he ordered them. That's ok, it was a mixup and probably mostly our fault.

I told them not to worry, we'll just have normal taps. When i told DH he had other ideas and insisted we get the mixers, so back to the builder i went to say we did want it fixed. Problem is 1. We have to foot the $500 bill to change it and 2. They have to have the mixer tap to install into the wall when they do the plumbing. So off i went to the shop to find out where our order was at... and the lady couldn't find our order!

So now we need to wait for them to find out where our order is (arrived, on order or lost in the abyss) so that we can take the mixers so that the plumber and plasterer can be booked to change the plumbing and re-do the wall again!

It's going to be one expensive mixer by the time we are done!