Floors Galore

Flooring started yesterday and continued today and will finish tomorrow (the bamboo that is). I am loving my floors. They are covered in dust but I can already tell how gorgeous they are. One million thank yous to those of you who talked me into the dark floors - love em.

Just imagine them sparkling clean!

 I could have sworn  I popped my proper camera in for good photos...but no I left it on the table here. You get the idea though.

The colour goes brilliantly with the dark stain on all of our timber doors. Looking forward to the skirting going back on too - that will make a huge difference to how they look.

Did I show you the pic of my daughters blue feature wall? Remember it will go with pretty pink and blue decor.

This will be such a pretty room when it's done (I hope)

This is our 'grey pepper' feature wall in the rumpus. Wait to see how well it goes with the blinds when they are installed. 

Air con guy coming back tomorrow. Carpet Thursday. Metricon still popping in and out most days to fix/finish stuff. Blinds Friday. Driveway will start next week some time.

On the pool front, we are here:

One guy worked alone to do all of that steel work in 1 day! I think the only time he stopped all day was for a coffee and a smoke! No food...and wondered why he was a bit weary at the end of the day! Pool plumbing and electricals tomorrow and an inspection to be carried out ready for the concrete pour  Friday - please be kind and not rain on my parade! I also ordered the glass mosaic waterline tiles today and we'll order the travertine coping and pavers any day now.

Two of my purchases turned up this week:

This is a wall decal for my daughters room off ebay. I had it made in a lovely blue. At $23 if I furnish the room and decide it's not going to look good it's not a big deal. It's not really as large as it looks in this pic too. But 'Always kiss me goodnight' is very much my Maya Grace.

This is a limited edition print I ordered from 'Woop Studios' in the UK. I plan on framing it and putting it near some framed black & whites of my kids. They had some very quaint and quirky picks to choose from but I kept coming back to this one. It sums up my new home...full of love:)

I have 3 days of work left before 5 WEEKS OFF! I tell you, I am going to collapse over the finish line. Can not wait!!!!! We will move our belongings  there over the weekend, get the driveway done, unpack and then regroup to see what's next on the agenda. More landscaping I imagine. Hard labour time! Will all be worth it.

Cheers
Kylie

There's a Hole in My Backyard Dear Liza

Quite a big one too. Unfortunately they hit rock...heaps of it. Typical of my luck, but what do you do? We could decide to make it a very shallow wading pool...Don't think the kids would be a fan of that plan! So we have disturbed the neighbourhood for 2 days now hammering out the rock. They have completed a fair bit and should finish the dig Monday sometime. Check it out

This shot shows where they ended up today. They just need to dig a bit further down at the deep end.

This photo shows how close to the outdoor room the pool comes. Also, see the white pipe (rainwater tank pipe)? Well it didn't all go around the edge of the slab as it was meant to. One part cut across the pool and the excavator dug straight into it. SS will organise for it to be fixed Monday. Our plans clearly showed where the pool was going and therefore where pipes were NOT to go!

In this shot you can clearly see where we went from nice soft earth to mean nasty rock!

Formwork and concrete pour all scheduled for this coming week - please be kind to us weatherman!

I called by late this afternoon whilst I had 5 mins to myself (waiting around while my daughter was at a birthday party). I had just bought myself a coffee, so I sat out on my 'deck' overlooking my 'pool' and imagined it all done. It is going to be an awesome summer ahead when it's all done:)

Tomorrow we will paint 2 feature walls and do a few other bits and pieces. Can't wait to see the floors start Monday! Thigee, I hope they look as amazing as yours!

This time next week we are hoping to be nearly moved in! Yayyy! Hope everyone is happy with how their work is coming along.

Cheers
Kylie

The Next Stage of Proceedings

It was great to see the electricians stick to their word and turn up Monday morning first thing. All of the downlights are in, plus the other lights we were having put in and the outdoor fans. The fans look great. So do the downlights I should add. The air con guy is mucking around a little. He has promised to start the job tomorrow and finish off next week. Not the plan I had in mind but as long as its finished before we move in I guess.

The guy turned up to install our roller blinds as planned but he called to say it wasn't a great idea to put them in before the flooring. He explained how bad the dust and mess will be as they prepare the floors and  that the blinds would be looking the worse for very little wear. They have been rebooked for the Friday before we move in. I am hoping the shutters may now be ready to go in at the same time.

The outdoor room fans

Some of the downlights we swapped to - we had the builder just put battens everywhere 

Downlights under the eaves

This is the light for Connor's room. It wasn't a great time of day to be taking photos - will repost another pick if I get a better one tomorrow. I am concerned about how little light this one gives off. Perhaps a nice bright lamp to help?

Maya's light - no globe yet to show off how gorgeous it is:) But this silhouette type pic gives you the general idea. Again I'll update this pic when I can.

Our pool builder came today and marked out our teeny tiny pool:) I'm excited! Hoping it will be dug Thursday morning! It comes quite close to the outdoor room which will be lovely when it's all finished.



 We will probably paint our rumpus feature wall on the weekend and maybe one in my daughter's room too. We also need to try to fit in sealing the tiles and doing a little of the floor prep (this is between soccer gala days, birthday parties and swimming).

Not impressed I still haven't heard back from our landscape designer - must call him tomorrow. DH met someone for another driveway quote today too.

Our SS emailed twice yesterday about the few things still to be finished off/fixed up. It's all in progress which is pleasing to see!

Our fence finally went down today (although we arranged to keep some for the side where the pool will go until we construct the proper fence)

Ta Daaaaa......

That's all for now people. Will keep the updates coming. I am still sooo looking forward to more progress and MOVING IN!!!

Cheers
Kylie

Presence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder!

Not absence for me. Spent quite a bit of the day at the house today. The longer I'm there the more I love it. I am just dying to get everything into the house permanently (including ME!!!) My kids - particularly my daughter are so excited. She wants to help with everything, and the conversation I had with her about a feature colour for her bedroom was priceless!

DH poured a slab for the air conditioning unit to sit on. Quite a job in the thick clay mud and mess everywhere! I moved about 30 boxes from my parents place and tried to make a start sorting the mess on site. It's quite tricky to know where to start! We need to clear the area of building mess and rocks etc where the pool will be dug. The tip where they take the fill is very fussy and there can't be a whole heap of building debris mixed amongst the fill.

I realised today how important getting our driveway sorted is. So far I only have 1 quote, so this will jump in priority this week - hopefully we can commit to someone by the end of this coming week.

The pool may start by the end of next week too. The certifiers will be our only hold up. Apparently our 'guy' is on leave and no one else can write the 'notice to commence' letter we need for council...will see what we can do - maybe he'll be back Monday and can sort it out for us. We need to give 2 days notice so technically they could start Thursday or Friday if we are lucky!

I am being anti social and sitting at home on my own this arvo instead of being out with family. It has been a big week on many levels for me and I needed to take time out to just put my feet up. I really can't afford to get rundown and sick at the moment! So much to do!

Hope everyone else has had a productive week.

Cheers
Kylie

It's a Done Deal

We have the keys! I've written on my calendar ever since this journey began. Today was the best entry so far!

Unfortunately there is still a number of things to be completed post handover (and yes it has taken a bit of shine from the occasion) but we really wanted to proceed today so that we can make a start on the long list of things we need to do. The line for lots of other little things not fixed is 'add it to the 90 day check list'. Really??? Apparently it is common practice to handover with things already needing to be addressed at the 90 day check! Hmmm. I don't mean to be a party pooper but...

I realised this afternoon that very soon we will stop referring to it as 'the house' and it will soon be 'home'. I can't wait til that moment!!! The highlight of my afternoon was popping to the supermarket and getting toilet paper, kitchen wipes, hand wash etc to put in my NEW HOUSE!

I also popped to porters paints to look at feature wall colours. We'd like to do one or two before the flooring goes in. Found a colour that is a perfect match for our roller blinds in the rumpus. Bought a test pot so I can check how it looks once the blinds go in Monday.

My air con guy has delayed starting the job from Monday to Thursday. I will email him to confirm that - won't be happy if he pushes it back even further!

LOVE how my kitchen has come up. The house is so echo-y without flooring and furniture - can't wait to see the flooring transform the place.

We are hoping that the weather improves so that we can do a couple of jobs we hope to do on the outside.

More updates soon. Have a good weekend everyone!

Cheers
Kylie

It's the Final Countdown

Original title I know! Heard it before I know - but I couldn't help myself.

Can you believe that after the stressful hold up getting the final invoice, we are all sorted.  Completely done! This afternoon DH received a call that the payment has been finalised.!!!This is after only getting the invoice 5pm Monday afternoon! How did this happen? Well as I mentioned previously, DH tried to get the ball rolling late last week from our end with the bank. The bank did such a great job, and already knowing the final instalment amount, they had actually already made the payment for us electronically before they got the invoice from Metricon!

I did send an email to our SS about the long list of things that still needed doing before handover. Have they been attended to? Some have. But some - more than I am happy with, I'm guessing will happen after handover. Not a great situation to be in when they already have all of the money! But I intend on ringing them every single day until things are finished!

Handover will happen Friday at 1pm. Can't wait!  Thanks again everyone for your support. I have some advice as to how i might solve my not-able-to-comment dilema - will give it a try soon.

Cheers
Kylie

Is Anyone Home?

I don't have anything inparticular to post about today. I am simply using my blog as a forum to vent my frustrations. If you read my last post, there was a list of things to be done yesterday. Most got ticked off the list...except the ones associated with the builder.

I called SS Friday to confirm if I could access the house Saturday with the bank valuer - sure, the splahback is going in, was my answer. Now I knew this was to be a waiting game but he said they'd be there earlyish. (this is the splashback that was meant to go in a couple of weeks ago but they measured it wrong, and was then scheduled to be replaced Tuesday of last week). I got there at 8am prepared with my newspaper, magazines and a coffee - quite happy to simply enjoy the peaceful time without the kids.

Luckily the bank guy lives locally and decided to pop by - even though I hadn't rung him as planned to say the house was open. He stayed a matter of minutes and left saying all was good. I say luckily because to my knowledge, the splashback guys didn't come at all! We left the site about 2.45pm after meeting our pool builder and Nothing! No one!

Plus I realised the hot water system that was meant to go in last week is also not there. Now I realise this is a case of the supplier not keeping to their word but AGGGHHH, followed by lots of swear words is where I am at. Originally SS said the house would be ready for handover last Friday, and it was only our inability to get the bank stuff sorted that prevented this from happening. Really?????

I am about to compose an email, reminding them that we still do not have the final invoice and that there is still a s*+^load of work left to be done. I am going to be the unhappiest, crankiest person to walk this planet if those keys are not given to us next week, with things completed.

Do I feel better after getting all of that off my chest? Well, I think so. Hopefully I can write a civil sounding email now. Wish me luck for the week ahead...I think I am going to need it!

Yesterday was topped off with the gutterguard quote being nearly double what we had anticipated! Have you seen the gum trees in my pictures? We really can't do without it! Another piece of furniture I can't afford to buy now:(

I will try to pick myself up for the start of the week and find a way to be positive. Will definitely be much better when the bank stuff is confirmed and sorted. Come on Metricon...don't let us down at the final hurdle!

Cheers
Kylie