Keeping up with the Joneses

Garden Mojo

2011-12-10T00:37:00.002+11:00

As the title suggests, we got our gardening mojo on recently and were finally able to put some plants in the backyard!!

Let me remind you of the blandness BP (before plants)

We were given some free Clivias from 'B's' Mum recently to provide a bit of ground cover which you can see below. They've not overly liked being dug out of their previous home and transported to ours but hopefully they'll come good. This pic also shows the 'frame' for a screen we have since put in...

Here are the Dracaena's we planted back in October. Only difference in this before pic is a bit of mulch.

And here's the garden bed in front of the Family Room BP

Which in itself was a major improvement on what it had been for quite a while....

After visiting our favourite plant nursery as well as Engall's Nursery (which was equally fantastic if you're specifically looking for citrus plants), we came home and positioned the plants how we thought they'd look best

The fantastic guy at Engall's helped us choose 2 mandarin varieties and an orange tree which all bare fruit at different times, one after another. They grow between 2 - 4 metres which is perfect. We already have a Dwarf Lemon, Dwarf Lime and Kaffir Lime Tree in pots which is why we've chosen how we have.

Along the back fence we chose 5 Little Gem Magnolia's as our feature trees. We love the look of them and growing between 2 - 4 metres suits us perfectly.

For the ground cover we chose Lilirope Muscari. I think it contrasts perfectly.

Along the Family Room we chose Daphne's. These will grow 1m high & 1m wide which will be perfect for this spot. Daphne's love pots with good drainage and potting mix *apparently* so underneath the weed mat are 6 plastic tubs with lots of drainage holes drilled in and they're filled with nutrient rich soil.

And here's everything planted...

Cannot wait to smell the Daphne once it flowers! D.I.V.I.N.E.

Okay, so still a little on the bland side but it's so much better with a bit of extra greenery. We can't wait till it all looks more established and also when we get some garden lighting.

'B' has also finished the screen behind the sculpture. We did a screen here for 2 reasons. 1) To help create a separate space between Alfresco and back garden and 2) To make the sculpture stand out a little more. Later we'll get some nice lighting to shine onto the sculpture and also another to shine onto the BBQ.

You can also see we've put some bamboo screening up. Couple of things... we need more to cover the top of the colorbond fence and we also need to secure it a little better. It's looking a little wonky after the recent weather. We plan to continue the screening down the side of the house but not on other fences.

We added some of our favourite Rhoeo's as a border in the Alfresco too...

Lastly, we bought a few pots of Jasmine to put outside our Lounge Room window to have something nice to look at instead of a fence. Yet to be planted.

So, between the Magnolia's, Daphne's, Jasmine and future herb wall we should have a really fragrant garden :)

We are in the middle of working on some more projects too so I'll share those soon.

Happy gardening / building / decorating etc etc!

3 Month Maintenance Inspection

2011-11-10T22:01:00.001+11:00

Hasn't time flown? On the 15th November, we'll have been in our new home for 4 whole months!! Feels like we've been here for years and only 5 minutes all wrapped up in one.

True to their word, Eden Brae came over on Tuesday to conduct their 3 month maintenance inspection. Tim couldn't have been more helpful and happily wrote down everything on our list. Even the missing toilet roll holder from the granny flat which technically was our mistake for missing it prior to hand over!

So, "How has the ~~old~~ new gal held up since moving in?", I hear you ask.... Pretty well. Nothing major, really. Here's our list...

1) Carpet in our bedroom still rippling and not secured at the edge near ensuite

2) Carpet edge in Living Room not secured properly and is fraying. Di Lorenzo Carpet were really the weakest link in our whole home building experience. Shockers!

3) Few spots need to be re-grouted in all 3 bathrooms

4) Some timber quad (trim) lifting in the kitchen

5) Patch & paint dent on pantry ceiling

6) A service and some sanding & re-staining required on bi-fold doors. They're a bit 'sticky' to open which causes the doors to scrape on the bottom door frame. Also, where they've patched some nail holes before staining is showing as a different colour.

7) Patch & paint some damage on the Alfresco ceiling

8) One of the touch catches in the kitchen isn't working

9) Some of the floor boards near laundry are a little springy & one other spot seems un-even

10) Door lock on internal garage door doesn't work

11) A few cracked roof tiles that had never been fixed but should have been prior to handover

12) Cracked tile in Granny Flat ensuite where they've secured the shower screen

13) Toilet roll holder missing in Granny Flat ensuite

14) Repair brickwork at front of the house (this section has never been right!)

15) Point up some brick sections at front porch and clean down bricks

16) Stormwater pipe broken at end of driveway

No cracks in walls, no leaking pipes, all major appliances work i.e. air-conditioning, oven etc, so not too bad really. Majority of these things were picked up within a couple of weeks of moving in so it's not like things have continued to deteriorate or anything.

You only get one chance to make a list by the way, so it helps if you write things down as you notice them. Also, best to keep a few bricks just in case you need some replaced like we do at the front of the house. If they had to order some more bricks, chances are they'll look a different colour as each batch slightly differs. Also good to keep some spare roof tiles (make sure yours don't get taken away by the cleaners like ours did!)

Our Maintenance List has now been handed over to MGH Contracting to coordinate the relevant trades to do the repairs. I heard from them the same afternoon Tim had been out and twice since. Everything has already been pretty much confirmed and lined up for a few weeks time. They ask you to provide about 3 dates within a week or two and then they try and get all the trades to come on one, maybe two of those days and then organise the painters to come on the last day if required.

Assuming all goes well from here, I'm impressed. Again, this has been straight forward with no hassles.

Faux pas

2011-10-29T22:17:00.000+11:00

Well don't I feel like a boob?! All this time I've spelt the title of my blog - Keeping up with the Jones'. When the correct plural of Jones is Joneses.

Sigh.... and I pride myself on my decent spelling and grammar.

*hangs head in shame*

Well looky here....

2011-10-27T21:59:00.005+11:00

Three cheers for something other to look at other than boring colorbond fences!!! Yes, that's right. We couldn't help ourselves and bought a few plants.

The garden bed alongside the alfresco is in the shade majority of the day so we chose 3 Dracaena Tricolour plants as a bit of a feature. They are extremely hardy, slow growing, love sheltered positions and require very little maintenance. Ticks all the boxes. I think someone at the Nursery mentioned "thrives on neglect" - SOLD!

Try to picture some small plants to fill in some ground space, dark mulch, bamboo screening to hide the fence etc etc. This little spot is by no means finished.

A close up of the colours on the leaves. The more sun the plant gets, the more the red features.

Next to the barbie is a little spot that came about quite by luck - just the way the retaining wall heights stepped down - and it's the perfect spot for the sculpture my brother & sister in law gave us for our wedding.

I'm in love with the little green / purple decorative plants around it too, called Rhoeo. They're only $2 each from Sydney's Plant Market (best Nursery...seriously!)

And I just had to get a pic of 'B' cooking our first BBQ last Tuesday night...in the rain....

Picked up this fab pot & Dracaena Marginata for inside too. Has livened up the rather bland corner and ties the inside in with the outside. My sweet little boy who is 2.5 years old has been quite diligently saying, "Play in dirt outside, not inside." to anyone who'll listen. Brainwashing - tick.

So what's next? Some Little Gem Magnolia's along the back fence, some Daphne for the garden bed outside the Family Room window (have you ever smelt Daphne flowers? AMAZING!) and some citrus trees continuing along BBQ fence line (lemon, lime & mandarin). Oh & I haven't forgotten about the vertical herb garden I've wanted all along outside the Dining Room.

One step at a time... Got to save some more $$$. Lots more $$$!

Bit by bit it's getting there

2011-10-26T00:11:00.000+11:00

Haven't had much to update lately - boo - (not for lack of wanting) however there's been a bit of activity over the last week or so!

I last left off showing the finished deck out the back. 'B' has now given it a sand, a wash down and oiled it - and wasn't that a job and a half! Would have been easier & quicker to hire a floor sander but 'B' was happy to do it to save a few $$$.

Here it is in it's pre-oiled glory

"What's taking you so long?" I'd shout through the glass intermittently when walking past...

(kidding haha)

But I'm jumping ahead of myself. First he built up the BBQ area and hooked up our barbie to natural gas.

Here's the deck all sanded and freshly scrubbed.

And here it is after 3 coats of oil!

All the rain we've had lately has really helped to establish our lawn. So nice seeing something green outside!

Turn away now if you're a BBQ snob because this little beauty only cost $148 on sale from $380 at Bunnings!!

Cannot wait to get some plants in!!!

Support

2011-10-15T11:17:00.000+11:00

My favourite blog is Enjoying the Small Things. Every post, without fail, makes me smile. Kelle's photo's of her beautiful family and her love of living in the moment is so inspirational.

I'm writing today to spread the word of support for little Nella. This beautiful little one was born with one extra chromosome.

Kelle is trying to raise $200,000 in support of Down Syndrome and so far she has $115,026!

I dare you to read the blog. Double dare ya! You'll fall in love with the Hamptons without a doubt.

And now, in Kelle's own words....

On October 22, we will be joining with friends and family to walk in our second Buddy Walk, supporting the thousands of individuals with Down syndrome and their families. This walk is personal to us for we were welcomed to this new world when our second daughter, Nella Cordelia, joined our family in January 2010 and brought with her some unexpected magic...that little extra 47th chromosome. What began as a shock ripple-waved into something more beautiful as the opportunity to learn more about life and happiness unraveled for our family and many more. We are learning more every day, and through Nella and many others we have come to know, we've discovered a new world of acceptance and opportunity for individuals with Down syndrome.

What do we want for Nella? We want the same things any parent wants. We want our daughter to be recognized for her abilities, to be granted opportunities to reach her dreams, and to be accepted for the amazing little girl she is. The National Down Syndrome Society helps our family and thousands of others in the challenge to spread knowledge and awareness, to show the world that we are more alike than we are different, and to create opportunities for individuals with Down syndrome and their families to live their best life possible.

Special thanks to all of the generous donors who contributed to Nella’s ONEder Fund earlier this year. Your collective contribution has helped us to set our greater goal of $200,000 by the time Nella turns 2. Please help us this month as we continue to make efforts to reach our goal. In turn, you are helping thousands of others reach theirs.

The National Down Syndrome Society works to create a culture that fully accepts and includes the more than 400,000 Americans with Down syndrome. As the national advocate for people with Down syndrome, their goal is to ensure that individuals with Down syndrome are full participating members of our communities.

We are happy to join NDSS as advocates for people with Down syndrome. We invite you to join us as one of Nella’s Rockstars by making a donation to NDSS and making a difference for people with Down syndrome. Your tax-deductible donation will help support the vision of a world in which all people with Down syndrome have the opportunity to enhance their quality of life and realize their life aspirations.

Every dollar helps, you can donate here!

Spread the word!!

* permission was given to post Nella's photos *

And then there was grass...

2011-09-21T21:58:00.004+10:00

The backyard is really starting to take shape now!!

Since my last post we have continued the merbau up the retaining wall on the bottom level to give it more of a finished look and we're so glad we did.

Much nicer than before!

Ready made bench seating all the way round or as the boys see it, a ready made road for their cars!

Our new outdoor setting looking all sorts of awesome in it's new home

But of course before there was turf, there was turf underlay and a whole lotta levelling going on.

And here is Sir Walter himself! Doesn't look like much does it?

Daddy's little helpers! Bless.

Love being able to see the whole backyard from inside

So, what's left for out the back? We're letting the merbau sit for about 4 weeks before we sand and oil it. Apparently this lets the excess tannins bleed and stabalise (or is 'B' just feeding me a line to have a break haha). The remainder of the treated pine retaining walls need to be stained to blend in a little more. Some plants are desperately needed and then some nice outdoor lighting and that should just about do it! Oh, don't forget the BBQ! Need one of those too, we ditched the old I've-seen-better-days one when we moved.

I must add that for all the "we's" going on in this post, it's actually all been 'B' and my Dad. Thanks guys for working so tirelessly to create such a beautiful space xxx

Bringing the outside in

2011-09-19T22:28:00.000+10:00

We have some French Doors on the boy's playroom that open up to the backyard. Love. Them.

They are reasonably recessed though so when they open, they don't sit flush with the wall. That is until 'B' fit them with some broadbutt hinges (bought from here)! Now check out these babies!

Get a load of the broadbutt hinge on the right compared to the original hinges on the left!

Took a bit of tweaking to fit them on!

They stick out a little

But they don't detract from over all look and they're well worth it for the function they provide!

Lastly, we put these little magnetic catches on to stop the doors crashing into the bricks

and here's the stopper screwed into the deck

So there you go, for $104 we have doors that can now open right up and not get in the way of little one's running inside and out.

* And if you're really observant, you may have noticed a bit of extra decking and greenery in one of the pics....backyard update coming soon *

The things we have learned

2011-09-08T11:45:00.007+10:00

For novices who seriously had very little clue about the whole house builing process, I think we did okay however we did learn a few things along the way...

(1) Go over your contract & drawings with a fine tooth comb. Then go over them again. And again. Each time we went over our drawings we'd pick up something new!

Pay particular attention to the little things like which way you want your doors / shower doors to swing, are your windows centred on the drawings, are your window heights all level with each other, are the heights of your openings the height you would like (we wanted 2340mm square set openings like the display house but the standard was lower, there wasn't any extra cost to raise them).

We had so many variations that I ended up doing an excel spreadsheet (snapshot below) and went through each page of the contract, room by room and noted what should be in each space. This really came in handy at walk through when our SS had one thing noted and I had another as I could tell him exactly where the written instruction could be found. Also made life so much easier for us knowing exactly what was meant to be where. So many months pass from when you originally choose things that it can be easy to forget exactly what door knobs you selected...

(2) Turn on the '"read recepit" on your email. Helpful to know that your emails have been read if you haven't received a response.

(3) When you're in the contract stage and adding things in, changing things around etc, liaise with your Customer Service Consultant by email so everything is in writing.

(4) Have you made your windows larger? Can be difficult to get certain window furnishings. We found that with our 2600mm wide windows in living areas. A lot of blind fabrics only span 2400mm. In the end we chose to "rail-road" the fabric which means the fabric hangs the other way and it's ok but it does have a slight ripple effect to it. Hardly noticeable in the sheer fabric but was quite obvious in the blockout blinds they had accidentally first installed.

Sheer fabric

Block-out fabric

(5) If you choose timber flooring, you might want your internal doors to be a little longer. We found out too late that the internal doors allow for carpet so they sit about a good inch off the finished floor level. Not the end of the world but I would have definitely chosen better fitting doors had I known.

(6) If you raise the height of your ceilings, you may want to increase the height of your doors too. We didn't worry about the bedroom doors but for the front door and the granny flat which has the internal door in the Entrance Hall with a ceiling height of about 2900mm we raised the door sizes accordingly. It would have looked ridiculous otherwise.

(7) If you are on recycled water, the standard inclusion is 1 recycled water tap. Don't assume you automatically get one at the front and back of the house like we did.

(8) Get yourself a good Mortgage Broker, it makes all the difference sometimes in getting the loan for the amount you want or getting the best deal. Hey, we all try and push the limit don't we? We used Kevin Lee from Smartline and we did everything over the phone, fax & email. He was great and it was so convenient.

(9) And last but definitely not least, read this thread from the Homeone Forum. It's 18 pages of other people's hindsight!

And we all love a bit of hindsight!

It's all coming together - A back yard update!

2011-09-06T00:02:00.001+10:00

Remember ~~the pit of misery~~ our backyard when we first moved in?

Well now it's looking a little more like this...

'B' has outdone himself putting up ~~8 billion~~ all the retaining walls!

Backyard came complete with 2 superheroes. We decided to keep them.

Now that the decking is down, the alfresco looks so much larger.

'B' was stoked to have Dad's amazing carpentry skills on hand when it came to this area.

Main deck with pathway to deck outside the playroom. Garden of some description will be going in under the window to the right.

Looking back towards main deck. We extended the length of deck by 1.8m and a BBQ will be built into the section straight ahead at the end.

Outside the playroom. Will put a nice feature pot & plant in corner.

Looking a bit messy but we've been letting this area settle before putting some good quality soil & turf down. It's settled quite a lot, so we're glad we did wait.

So the plan from here is to sand & oil the merbau timber, stain the retaining walls, lay the turf and plant some kind of a garden (feeling a bit lost in this area - any advice would be definitely appreciated!) We'll most likely line the bottom retaining walls with merbau too as they're looking shabby right up next to the nice timber.

I'll leave you with an action shot! This was at the very beginning when Dad & 'B' were realising exactly how hard merbau is and many a screw had been snapped.

Oh and apparently it's not funny to comment the deck is feeling a bit springy (it wasn't). 'B' just rolled his eyes and groaned (apparently I'm predictable. Pffft) while poor ol' Dad looked momentarily horrified. Hahaha gave me a good chuckle anyway.

What scratches?

2011-09-01T08:04:00.000+10:00

I love our dining table. We bought it about 5 years ago from Oz Design but my god it scratches easily! You know it's bad when even your placemats scratch it!

I'm not really into table cloths and having 2 young'ns around I realised I could either:

a) pretend I don't notice the scratches or
b) develop a nervous tic or
c) buy some glass to protect the top

I'm no good at pretending, wasn't really keen for a nervous tic so I went with option 3 and called Matra Glass who whipped me up a 6mm thick, Starphire glass top. The edges have been polished and the corners mitred (slightly rounded but hardly noticeable) so they're not sharp at all.

We went with starphire glass which cost $100 extra but is a clear colour instead of having the greenish tinge that normal glass has. Oh and it was recommended to just go with standard glass, not toughened glass for a table top like this because if something is banged down hard on toughened glass it will shatter where as normal glass might get a chip.

Cheeky Monkey

2011-08-30T21:59:00.000+10:00

Three cheers for our parcel delivery person who finally realised our address exists today!!!

After 3 parcels were returned to sender courtesy of said delivery person, today we got a nice surprise left on our door step.

Removable wall decals from etsy for my 2 year old son's bedroom. They're quite fitting seeing that he's a cheeky 'lil monkey himself.

Took me a while to choose something for his room as I didn't want anything too baby-ish or big boy-ish. Hopefully they'll see him through the next few years until he forms an opinion of his own and decides they're naff!

If you're wondering what little creature lives in the aquarium above, it's Lulabelle, Ryan's spiny leaf insect... She's very cool!

They didn't half take a while to put up but we all love the finished result.

Bring on the warm weather!

2011-08-26T14:45:00.002+10:00

The backyard is nearly finished!!

My Dad and 'B' have been madly building a deck. All the joists and framework has been completed and the merbau boards will go on next. The retaining walls are all done, just waiting for some soil and turf to go down now (we've been letting the new ground level settle and settle it has with the recent lot of rain).

In celebration *cough* call it what you will, I just "won" the following outdoor table & chair set on ebay for $898.88! 'B' is stoked when I win on ebay, no truly. He loves nothing more than driving all over Sydney picking up my winnings!

Here's a better idea of the colour, it's showing up a bit dark in above pics!

It's verrrry similar to another set I saw at BBQ's Galore over the weekend which sells for $1999! Happy with my $1100 discount, thanks very much! And this is where I should add that 'B' truly is happy! He loves a dollar saved, that guy. Bless.

What I love about this outdoor setting is that the chairs all sit flush under the table (with the exception of the end 2 which will sit on a separate section of deck when not in use). Sitting flush is quite important to us because when our lovely bi-fold doors are open, they take up quite a bit of room - which has meant our ginormous, wide 10 seater setting is about to get an ebay listing all of it's own!

See what I mean?! And I know! How shameful I don't have a current pic of our doors!

Anyway, the budget has all but been spent now (and then some) so it will be a while before any new purchases I imagine.

** I wonder if anyone who builds a house comes in on or under budget?? **

Promise to be back soon with a backyard piccy update.

Great balls of wire...

2011-08-24T21:47:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the corny title but I couldn't resist!

Remember when I bought these pendant lights back in April?? Well today they went up above the dining table!!

And we love them!

I ended up buying 2 new ceiling plates as pictured above for $10 each because the ones that came with the lights were a little cheap looking. Still though, $72.50 each in total isn't bad.

We've still only got bare bulbs everywhere else for now but we'll focus on the rest of those a 'lil bit later.

In other news, the backyard is coming along really well. I'll post some progress shots soon.

Come on in!

2011-08-10T13:32:00.000+10:00

....and take a look around our new home.

Our front entrance.

We raised the ceilings to 2590mm throughout and it's raised to about 2800mm in the entrance.

Looking back at front door. The strip of carpet is there only while it's still grubby outside. Need some art on the wall and some downlights.

Dining and Living Rooms

I love my sunburst mirror

Kitchen

Our Kitchenaid which is responsible for the splashes of red throughout the house

True colour of splashback

Walk-in-pantry.

There's shelving on the left as well which is where we keep our microwave & toaster. Very hard to photograph in such a small space.

Family Room. You might notice the blind hanging a little awkwardly? Because the window was so wide, the fabric with it's natural fall didn't span that distance so they had to "rail-road" it which simply means hang it the other way. Unfortunately it therefore it doesn't hang as perfectly as it otherwise would however it's not quite as obvious in real life when a camera flash isn't high-lighting it's imperfections. Oh and they (Abbey Blinds) accidentally hung block out blinds in all these rooms instead of sheer blinds so I'm hoping it will be less obvious again in a lighter fabric.

Main bathroom

Main bedroom. Looking a little plain at the moment. I have a few things in mind though.

Our ensuite

My son's bedroom

Still a little plain at the moment as I couldn't find another decal I really liked until recently...

However I bought this one a few days ago from this shop on Etsy. The tree is just under 2m tall so should fill the wall nicely. It's particularly suitable for my mischevious, climbing little charmer.

Love these little guys. So does he apparently as they end up in his bed each night.

My other son's bedroom

Oops, just noticed his name is crooked.

Loving his feature wall! He loves Space and Planets so it only seemed fitting. I've had the decal for months after seeing it on a friend's son's wall (hi Lisa). It's from My Munchkin Home. Oh and if you think it looks a bit sparse on the left, that's where the door usually sits open and my son requested the small, medium & large star combo thingo going on if you think it looks a bit odd like 'B' did.

Here we have the playroom / guest room. Though it's got a whole lot more of a playroom thing going on. It's such a great room with one whole wall with wardrobe space and french doors that open up to the backyard.

So there you go, that's our home as it currently stands. Still need to hang a few pictures and do all our lighting and that's on top of the landscaping so it will be a work in progress for some time yet. Loving every minute though!

What I got up to over the weekend!

2011-08-08T11:34:00.001+10:00

I made a Kid's Art Gallery! Ta da!!

Well technically, I just hung the frames and the kids took care of the "art". It only cost $29.30 too thanks to the colourful Ikea frames!

It's positioned between each of the boy's bedrooms in the hallway and it makes us all smile when we see it. Especially Mini Picasso and Tiny Van Gogh.

Here's how I did it...

I worked out what pattern I wanted the frames in on the floor. I tried a few different ways but soon realised I prefer a more orderly pattern / shape.

Then I cut out the shapes of each frame & put them on the wall.

I had already measured and drawn a spot on each paper so I knew where to put the hook.

Then I hung the frames up & pulled the paper down from behind.

And lastly I filled the frames with masterpieces. I used a little blu-tak on the bottom of each frame at the back to keep them from going crooked.

And here's the photo I've had in my "inspiration" folder for aaaaages and from which I drew my inspiration from.... Unfortunately I don't recall whose photo it is.

resting on our laurels

2011-08-05T11:12:00.002+10:00

HARDLY!!!

We've been in our home now for a few weeks and have all settled in beautifully!!! We've been super busy with all the unpacking, shopping, organsing quotes, shopping, landscaping, shopping ;-) ....you get the drift!

Here's my youngest with his tool belt on feeling all important!

And here he is helping his Poppy put together a kitchen in the flat!

And did I mentioned we've been busy? Mainly thanks to a lot of landscaping that poor ol' 'B' is pretty much doing solo. He's doing a cracking job though and it's going to look fabulous when it's all finished. Though I definitely need to shout out a big thank you to 'B's' brother 'S' who was a huge help for a couple of days and 'B's' mate 'M' who is giving him a hand today!!

This is a before shot. Swampy much?

And from another angle. The weather was against us in the first week.

Here's 'B' carrying one of the many beams that will be part of our retaining walls. He makes it look light!

And here he is with the kanga hammer digging holes for the posts to go into. Each hole is 900mm deep and majority of them were through slate! 'B' now has muscles on top of his muscles! If you've ever lifted one of these machines you'll know what I'm on about.

And in enters Russell and his excavator!! Saving us, oh let's see, 1000 hours of manual labour!

Here he is out the front excavating our drive-way

Here's dedication for ya! Once 'B' got everything out of the hole, he'd scoop the last out by hand to make a flat surface for the post.

You can see the excavated back yard here...

And wasn't it a relief to get a drive-way put in! We had rain for the first week and it became so muddy. Not great when you have a very independent 2 year old who was most put out when not allowed to walk through it when getting in the car!

We received 3 quotes for the drive-way: $6200, $5300 & $4600. Pays to shop around!

Its just plain concrete at the moment to match the existing section of battle-axe drive-way. Once all the landscaping is finished, we'll clean it with a gurney and then paint it.

Yay for Dave the concretor!

Before you think it just looks like a whole lotta concrete, once the fences go up and we put our decking on the porch and landscape at the side of it (where the huge mound of dirt currently resides), it should look much nicer. We also needed it to be reasonably big so we have the option of turning around when coming out of the garage.

On a final note, we had a few things to be finished off by Eden Brae after handover and I was naturally a little wary, wondering if we'd become yesterday's news once the house was officially ours and never hear from them again. However true to his word, our Site Supervisor has continued to get some of the last few bits and pieces finished off for us since we've moved in, which has been terrific!!

If you're after a terrific concreter, call Dave from Ferral Concreting on 0415 221 001.

If you need an excellent excavator / bobcat operator, call Russell on 0418 220 372.

Kudos

2011-08-03T14:49:00.001+10:00

For 13 and a half months or 412 days if you will, my wonderful Mum, Jan and her fantastic hubby, Warwick kindly let us live with them while all this house designing and building caper was going on.

They live on a gorgeous property in the Southern Highlands and as exciting as it is to have finally moved into our new home, we will really miss their company and the peace & quiet and greenery of the Countryside. It has been so great living close to my Mum again and my boys have absolutely adored having their Nanna on tap. So much so they were not that keen to move out! Oh and I shouldn't forget the alpacas out the back - my boys just loved them.....me, not so much lol.

We won't miss the thousands of extra kilometers we've both clocked up in travelling to our usual work places and the boy's pre-school but even that has been a small sacrafice to be afforded such generosity.

So kudos to you Mum and Waz! If it weren't for you both we could never have done any of this.

PS Sorry I haven't put any pics of the house up yet! I've had no internet connection at home but everything is falling into place and looking great (if I do say so myself) Ha ha. Hope to share some pics soon.

We're in!!!

2011-07-20T23:23:00.001+10:00

Have you had enough suspense?

We moved into our beautiful home last Friday!!!! 5 months to the day & 6 weeks early!

Bank came through with the goods in the nick of time & handover went smoothly, unless you count having your oven STOLEN the night before settlement as 'smooth'!!! The only saving grace was that the builder was responsible for replacing it and they didn't do any damage when removing it. Can you believe it???? Was an inside job too as they had let themselves in with their trade key.

That aside, we are all moved in now and our oven has since been replaced. We have unpacked lots but still have boxes waiting their turn to be up ended.

The boys are happy that they can finally watch cartoons again now that we have an arial & foxtel went in today.

Quotes for drive way tomorrow.

Busy times but it has sooooo been worth the wait. We are all just loving our new home.

Will be back with more of an update and pics when I have more than a phone to update with.

By the skin of our teeth

2011-07-12T16:21:00.000+10:00

ANZ are a pack of tools!

There I said it! I am positive that anyone who has had to get a house loan, in particular a construction loan will have called their lender a tool (or worse) , at least once!

Our relationship with ANZ had actually been going quite smoothly until this final invoice. We were told it could take 5 - 10 working days to finalise this payment as they need to organise a valuer to confirm the house has actually been built as per specs and ummm, well, that's about it really. I wish I had a 10 day turnaround to perform my tasks at work!

So, last Monday, the same day I received the invoice from Eden Brae, we sent the request off to ANZ via our Broker. At the time we were hopeful we might have been ready for handover last Friday so our Broker asked if it could be looked at urgently. "Nope, sorry it could take up to 10 days", was the reply. Awesome.

Our Broker has been following up ANZ regularly and one minute she's told the valuer has been booked and then today someone confirmed the valuation still hasn't been booked!! We're 7 days into the turnaround timeframe and no sucker has passed on our SS details to the Valuers! The tools let slip who the Valuers are though so our Broker got on the phone to them and has now got the ball rolling.

Oh and the best bit? They have had us and Eden Brae running around all last week in circles chasing down an Interim Occupation Certificate (said they needed it before releasing payment) until the bright spark at ANZ today said, "Oh, hold on, they're in NSW aren't they? Then we don't need the interim certificate after all!"

There. Vent over. It had to be done. No home build is complete without a dummy spit over the bank! It would have been positively un-Australian not to have had one.

On to much cooler news......It is verrrrrrrrrry likely handover will be this Friday.

*Fingers crossed*

So close yet still so far

2011-07-09T09:28:00.000+10:00

At the beginning of the week, when we thought we may have a final walk through yesterday, I changed my work days around so I would be free to do so. As Friday rolled around it was becoming rather obvious (to us, not so much the SS) that nothing would be happening but it meant 'B' and I had a rare day when we both had the day off and the kids were at pre-school!

Our SS never made it to the house on Thursday (as he said he would) to check everything was completed nor did he make it out yesterday (as he said he would). As far as he's concerned he *thinks* the house is finished & ready to handover however if he'd actually gone out on site to keep an eye on things he would have noticed there is still a fair bit to do!

'B' and I naturally dropped by the house and were stoked to find a way in! We weren't expecting that! So we took our time and checked everything over - without feeling rushed and now that there is nothing left to go in and in decent natural light!

Here it is all nice & clean. The floors need another mop but I'll do that when I move in anyway.

Our original list of things left to do still stands - except 4 out of the 5 touch catches in the kitchen have now been fixed (they missed one)...

Clean brickwork (grubby where it's been repointed & a few of the sills have mortar chunks on them)
Fill in some of the gaps between cladding & brickwork at the front
WIP & WIR shelving
Shower door in our ensuite opening wrong way
Fix the tiling in our ensuite and where the towel rail has been removed in main bathroom
Install a shower head in bathroom
Privacy lock in bathroom
Silicone in bathrooms
Touch catches in kitchen
Garage step
Manhole cover
Light & fan in our bedroom isn't working
Roof service (cracked tiles)
Door service (they make sure the bi-fold tracks are cleaned and fix any scratches etc)
Fix dented window frame

In addition to this list, we picked up some extra things yesterday:

Paint splatters all over timber flooring

The scotia was removed when the oven was installed and never put back

The carpet in our bedroom still looks rubbish and needs to be pulled tighter

And now that we've finally been able to see the carpet in decent natural light, we've noticed the join in the carpet that looks terrible!

There's big gaps in some of the grout around the bath tub and none of the excess grout has been cleaned off tiles or floor (can see it better now that it's been "cleaned")

I don't even know how we never noticed this little gem of tile work before. Can you see how it slopes up at the end?! It's on top of our bath hob.

Our kitchen splashback still has excess grout all over the tiles and there is paint all over the metal ends

And ummm are the windows meant to do this and completely lift out?! Not all do it but a few do.

Had everything been actually completed and cleaned before our PCI, we would have picked up most of these additional issues at PCI. Lesson learned.

So, aside from feeling like a picky whinger the house on the whole is looking great and oh so ready to move into. It's getting frustrating knowing how close we are yet how many trades still need to be coordinated to finish it off to a satisfactory level.

We're also getting tired fast of feeling like a nuisance each time we try & get in contact with our SS!

I haven't even pointed out some of the additional paint touch ups that need to be done as we're just going to do it ourselves later.

Hopefully, we'll have some kind of result next week!

We're this close!

2011-07-06T22:01:00.001+10:00

Yep, the title says it all! It's nearly alllll ours!

We dropped by the house this afternoon and the cleaners were there and kindly let us have a quick look around! Yesss!

The painters have been back and done all their little touch ups and repairs.

Here's the front of the house with the cladding painted in the correct colour - woollooware

Much nicer than the icky grey it had been accidentally painted

Here's one of my boy's feature walls - Bristol Reservoir

And here's my other son's feature wall - Bristol Regatta. Loving both of them, nice splash of colour.

The towel rails have been removed and the correct one has been installed in the granny flat.

Some minor electrical's have been done such as fixing some of the bedroom lights.

Also, the carpet looks much better! Someone has clearly been in to fix a couple of things and pulled it tighter because some of the random lumpy bits are gone and it is nice & straight against the skirting in our room! Very happy about this as I thought we'd have to raise it at the final sign off.

Left to do...

Clean some of the brickwork around the front & on porch
Fill in some of the gaps between cladding & brickwork at the front
WIP & WIR shelving
Shower door in our ensuite
Fix the tiling in our ensuite and where the towel rail has been removed in main bathroom
Install a shower head in bathroom
Privacy lock in bathroom
Silicone in bathrooms
Touch catches in kitchen
Garage step
Manhole cover
Light & fan in our bedroom isn't working
Roof service
Door service
Fix dented window frame

Gee, so much has happened this week I'm kind of surprised there's so many things left to do! Mainly small things though apart from the tiling.

Don't think we're quite ready for the final walk through this Friday as SS had hoped for but I'm not worried, we're only a matter of days off now....

Blinds & shutters!

2011-07-01T23:09:00.001+10:00

I went to the house this afternoon with great anticipation as I saw the Abbey Blinds & Shutters van at the house this morning. When I got there I kicked a major goal as I was able to be let in by someone who had a key!! Yipee!

House was a bit dark and not all rooms have globes / working lights yet and I only had my phone to take pics, so apologies for the quality of the pics but here goes...

We got shutters in each of our bedrooms (more about that here). This is one of the boy's rooms.

Here's our bedroom

From another angle with better light

The photo's don't do them justice, I had a colorbond moment when I walked in the room! I just LOVE them!!

In our living areas we chose sheer blinds because generally we just want nice, big, un-obstructed windows during the day to let lots of light in. The blinds are really there for privacy at night and the sheer fabric enables some light to filter in during the day if needed but you can't see through them at night.

Problem. They've gone and put block-out blinds throughout. Sigh...

Not the greatest pic but you get the idea. Should all be good though, it states "sheer" on the signed quote and at least in the meantime while we wait for their replacement, we'll have some privacy.

The Tyrrell's Inspector also came out today. I noticed some of his green tape around marking a couple of things we missed. I'm looking forward to seeing the report next week.

Paint touch ups were meant to happen each day this week however nothing has been done yet. Has probably worked out for the best though as Tyrrell's have pointed out some extra things anyway. I think we've also been waiting for the Carpenter to re-fix the skirting (after they were removed to put floor boards down) and make our internal garage step before painting happens. Our SS indicated they should be there over the weekend. Hopefully anyway.

Neeeeeearly there!

What a bad lay!

2011-06-30T10:54:00.001+10:00

We were so excited to check out the house yesterday afternoon and as luck would have it the front door hadn't been pulled tightly enough closed so we could have a proper look around!

Started off well enough, the carpet had been installed by Di Lorenzo only that same day and the first room we saw looked pretty good.

Then we walked through to the Living Room and thought it strange to see the indentation and thought perhaps it was the crease where the carpet had been rolled....hmmmm....... (never noticed such a thing when I've had carpet laid on 2 other occasions though...)

But wait, it gets way more dodgy! Then we walked into our bedroom.

And if you can't see the sea of ripples above, check out how dodgy it looks against the skirting.

There are no other words than WTF?!

A lovely little finishing touch!

How about the quality below! Nothing like not lining up the lines and having a bubble of carpet for no apparent reason.

Seriously! Could you imagine doing a job like this and thinking it had been done well? I just don't get it.

To top it off, the carpet was the only thing to happen so far this week! I know it will all eventually get there but it feels like it's slowed down to a snails pace again.

Left to do:

1. Tyrell's inspection (might have been done, need to get a copy)
2. Brickwork around the front
3. WIP and WIR shelving
4. Correction of shower door in ensuite 1
5. Door service including fixing the gaps at the base of the French Doors
6. Roof service
7. Tiling in ensuite 1
8. Removing towel rails & replacing the tiles they were attached to in ensuite 1 & bathroom
9. Silicone in bathrooms
10. Touch catches in kitchen
11. Privacy lock in bathroom (missing)
12. Missing wardrobe handles in Rumpus Bedroom
13. Missing shower head in Bathroom
14. Garage step
15. Manhole cover
16. Lighting in bedrooms

Wish us luck!

The latest

2011-06-25T07:24:00.000+10:00

Dropped by the house on the way to picking up my boys from pre-school yesterday and thought I'd have a peek through the windows to see what's happened since our walk through on Wednesday.

Site has been cleaned up

Here's our lovely flyscreens (can flyscreens be lovely?) Only cost $700 to include them which I believe is a little cheaper than doing it afterwards.

After walking around the perimeter I noticed the French Doors at the front were unlocked....what a shame! So naturally I popped inside for a little looksy...

And found the showerscreens have been put in! Yay!

('scuse dodgy phone pics)

But nooooooo!!! The shower door in our ensuite is opening the wrong way!!! It's noted on the drawings and in writing that it's to open the other way (don't want to get all chilly trying to grab a towel now do we?!) It's all in the detail don't ya know!

No painting as yet however I imagine they're waiting for the gyprock and cornice on the kitchen bulk head but do note our newly installed rangehood...

And that was pretty much it. I'll be looking forward to my next drive-by on Wednesday!!