What a bad lay!

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

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!!

PCI. How it all went...

We met up with our SS yesterday morning - check-lists, tape measure, spirit level, step ladder, mirror (to check under the external doors had been painted / sealed), toilet roll, hand soap, paper towel, snacks & drinks in hand (yep, we were prepared for a mammoth day) and proceeded with the inspection.

Since our last visit, the fly-screens have been put on and the windows had been cleaned but that was pretty much it.  No painting had been done, no other cleaning had been done, floors were still grubby and the 2 out of the 3 shower screens are still yet to be installed.  Rangehood was still down, some electrical work still needed doing, internal step in garage was missing and some tiling around the mirrors still needs to be done in our ensuite.  Oh and as mentioned previously, carpet is being put in next week.

Can you see our blue pockmarked walls?

So, to be honest it was a little hard to do a PCI when it wasn't really finished but we did go around and mark any imperfections in the paint job (happy to say it was great quality work) and we did go over a few things that needed to be fixed such as pantry & WIR shelving hasn't been done properly, towel rails were installed where they weren't meant to be and a few other little things.

What's next? I hear you ask...

Rangehood....................was being installed as we left

Painting........................Friday

Tyrell's Inspection..........Tuesday

Carpets.........................Wednesday
Blinds / Shutters............Wednesday
Appliance fit-out............On day of handover

And in between now and handover, the shelving will be repaired in WIP & WIR (apparently this could be a bit of a wait), there'll be a Door Service (final check & clean of bi-folds / french doors), Roof Service (check for broken tiles), tiling will be repaired / finished, all the small repairs  noted from today will be completed as well as final electrical check and then it's pretty much ours!  Not forgetting a final clean right through!

So, we're looking at 1 to 2 weeks roughly, all going to plan!!!!

Oh and we were only there about 3 hours in the end!!  Didn't need the loo paper, hand wash, paper towel or snacks!  It was helpful to have our Admin Variation List though as back up for a few oversights.  And as for the Mother Of All Check Lists it was barely consulted!  Having spent ages the night before tailoring the list for our place, I was very familiar with what we needed to pay special attention to anyway and a lot of it just couldn't be done at this stage.

Practical Completion Inspection

WE ARE HAVING OUR PCI THIS WEDNESDAY!!!!!

Tanty has officially ceased.

Are we beside ourselves? Yes
Are we delirious? Yes
Are we - okay, you get the picture

And in other exciting news, our SS actually called me back today - twice! 

Cleaners are there today, the rangehood and gyprock on kitchen bulkhead is being organised and painting is being done in next couple of days.  Carpet was going in this Wednesday however he's rescheduled it to next Wednesday due to our PCI.

It feels a touch premature to do the walk through before a few things have been finished but from what he's told us, he does the walk through and then gets any final things fixed in the 2 weeks following.  During which time the bank's inspector can check it out and organise final payment.  I'll just be sure to not sign off on any missing items until I see them.

Mood Boards

For MONTHS I have been trying to picture in my mind how "this" rug would go with "those" cushions or what colour I should paint my thrifty lamp so it doesn't clash with everything else but be a nice feature all the same (yep, all the important things in life) and it's been HARD!

I'd heard of Mood Boards and even fell in love with this one from YHL a while back but I'm just not clever enough in photoshop to make one myself.

Then the other morning I read on YHL about Polyvore and Mydeco where you can easily create your own mood boards for free.  I signed up to both to check them out but particularly love polyvore!

Polyvore is an America based site and has links to many of the American homeware stores which I personally think have much nicer things than you can find here (online anyway) however I discovered you can also upload any item you find on the net as well.

And here's my very first effort.  I won't even tell you how long it took me, let's just call it a labour of love!

Family Room Mood Board by karry327 on Polyvore.com

Firstly, I had to work with our existing chocolate coloured lounged. And if you're wondering, that tan thing under the rug is an idea of floor board colour.  My main colour palette is quite neutral, layered with chocolate browns, tans and ivory.  I'm trying to balance out our darker furniture with some lighter textiles.  For colour I've decided to add splashes of red and other smaller pops of colour.  My inspiration is the cushion.  I really love the colours in it and thought it tied everything in together.

Please be kind, it's my first effort but I definitely recommend giving polyvore a go!  It's so nice to see everything all together.  Later I'll show you what I was planning on doing and it so didn't work as nicely as I had pictured in my mind.  

I think I'm hooked!

Despondent...

It took only 11 weeks to have our house 98% completed yet in the last 2 weeks only a wardrobe & pantry fit out has happened.

I know we're incredibly lucky compared to some where most of their build has been like the past 2 weeks for us but it also feels really cruel to bring us so close to the end and then nothing.

'B' called our SS this afternoon - no surprises there that we had to make the call - and miracle of all miracles he answered the phone and a conversation was had.  As far as he was concerned our clean up, carpet and shower screens have all taken place this week. Ummmm, no.  He's heading out on Monday to have a look.

Any the hoo, in the spirit of not being tooooo down about it all - perhaps we can look forward to some weekend action?

I hope everyone elses builds are speeding along :)

Party pooper

Our SS has been strangely AWOL this past week.  Perhaps it's because not much has been done in the house recently?  Either way, we've been trying to get in contact with him for the past week or more to see what's happening because by his own word, we are possibly doing a walk through very soon.  And I know it must sound strange but we have work & kids to organise if we're going to need a free day!

Annoyingly, our emails aren't being responded to and if we do manage to catch him on the phone he says he's busy and will call back.  He doesn't of course and to be honest he's always been pretty bad at responding to calls and emails but because everything has charged along at such a fast pace we didn't overly mind.  Anyway, I managed to catch him yesterday and I got a grilling for being in the house over the long weekend.

Hmmmph!

All along he's known we've popped in to have a look around.  He even joked around with 'B' about it a couple of weeks back.  I know we're not technically meant to go there and yes we are in the wrong however we have only ever gone when no one else was around as we didn't want to get in the way or be annoying to the tradies.  On Sunday, we took our 2 good friends there for a quick look around because they're moving to QLD at the end of the month and wouldn't get to see it otherwise.

And wouldn't you know it, the cleaner came at that exact same time to suss out if the house would be ready for cleaning on Monday (and funnily enough confirmed it wasn't ready).  No problems or anything but then he ratted us out to the SS.

Oh well, pointless post really but you think they'd be more concerned about us popping in when the house actually was a building site, compared to now when it's not.

Reckons he'll call us towards the end of this week to make a plan for next week.  Hmmm, we'll see....

Have you had any party pooper moments lately?

Almost there....

We did a drive by this morning in the hope of seeing a finished house peeking through the windows and seeing some carpet down but we found a window unlocked.... Happy days!!

Last Friday it was mentioned that we'd most likely be having a walk through in another week from now so naturally I expected a fair bit of activity to have happened over the last week.  Especially based on past speediness.

Seeing that the wooden floors finished last weekend, I had thought the carpet would now be in as well as the shower screens that have been sitting there for a week.  Some paint corrections maybe?  Not so.

Wasn't a complete downer though.  They've put most of the door handles on, finished the electrical, done the wardrobe / pantry fit-outs, bathroom mirrors are up and kitchen splash-back has been re-tiled (5th time lucky eh?!)

Can I have a hallelujah?!

Bit of door hardware (they've missed the privacy lock on the main bathroom door though)

Basic wardrobe fit-out (actually it's an upgrade from the standard wire shelving but it's just a shelf and hanging rail, nothing too exciting)

WIP fit-out - The microwave will go on one of these shelves

Other side of WIP.  There are meant to be 5 shelves and the shelving is meant to also be on the right wall.

Powerpoint in the island bench. Had to go here as it couldn't go on the side where the dishwasher is or where the cutlery drawers are.

One verrrry excited little boy in his new bedroom!  I love how he doesn't even reach the bottom of the window sill yet!

Bathroom mirrors in and shower screens still waiting to be installed

Oh and my personal favourite..... the towel rails that have been installed that we requested not to have put in.  I even sent an email reminder to our SS 10 days beforehand so that this didn't happen.  We are putting in heated towel ladders after hand over.  Now they'll have to replace tiles in the main bathroom and our ensuite.  Oh and they've been sure not to put one in the Granny Flat which is the only bathroom they were meant to.  How much freaken easier can you make it for them not to stuff up?

Anyone else notice something wrong with this picture?!  We figure the plumbers in the bathroom on the other side of the wall got a bit excited and this is the result!

If you can get past the terrible clashiness (yes I just made up a word) of the different wood colours, can you see the gap at the end of the door sill / jamb / thingy?  Looks a bit un-finished, don't you think?

Hard to see but it's the same at the other end.  By the way, in real life the colours all blend in much nicer than shown here...

Anyone know what this is?  It's just above the internal door from garage.  It's not an alarm sensor as they look completely different in other areas of the house.  It's not the door bell as that's in another spot and it's not a smoke alarm.  It's also not mentioned on electrical plan.  Just curious really....

So there you have it... we're almost there!!

The latest....

'B' went to the house this afternoon only to find it in lock down!  No sneaky windows left unlocked anywhere, all doors locked.  For the first time we, or I should say he, was restricted to peeking through windows. Nooooooooo!

It wasn't all bad though, he could see that the bathroom mirrors are in and that the shower screens have been delivered yet to be installed.  We also knew from a phone call from our SS today that the wardrobe and pantry fit-outs happened today and he could see a bit of that as well along with the wardrobe door handles having been put on.  No carpet yet or paint touch ups but I guess they'll be happening soon.

In other exciting news.... we bought a new TV, Blu Ray Player and Fridge over the weekend!  We've been saving our pennies over the last year and doing a bit of research here and there (as discussed here a while back) and we're pretty happy with the deal we got.

Firstly, we ended up getting the Samsung Fridge that we've liked all along.  It still seemed to represent the best value for money and thanks to good ol' Mr Lee where everything really is negotiable, we got it for a steal at $1490!  We love it cause it has the water and ice dispenser on the outside, is the perfect size and looks fab!  Oh & did I mention the great price?

Next, we got a 46" Panasonic Viera Plasma for $845!  Again, thanks Mr Lee!  For the tech heads out there it is full HD, 600 Hz, has 3 HDMI, SD Card and USB.  We got a Panasonic Blu Ray player for an additional $145 as our DVD player carked it a few months ago.  We think it's a pretty sweet deal.

Personally, I don't know how I'm going to cope without our neanderthal, beast of an old tele, like the one below, which has a whole lot of tv rear projection bizzo going on behind it but I guess someone at Vinnie's is going to grab a bargain at least.

 Hopefully I'll be back soon with another update and PICS!

L.O.V.E!

Our floor boards are in!  Our floor boards are in!   LOVE is an understatement!

When we originally started choosing our colours, it was hard to know where to start.  Once we decided we wanted these timber laminate floor boards, 'B' had the good idea to choose our floor colours first as the choices were more limited compared to paint, bathroom and kitchen colours.

Slowly, actually not so slowly, we've watched our colours all come together and we've liked what we've seen but it's the floors that have just brought everything together.

The lovely floor contractors (2 of them) started only yesterday morning and were at the house finishing up at 5pm today.  What an amazing effort and the workmanship is just fantastic.  Walking around with the lights on and nearly finished, it really felt like home.

Enough with the gushing, on with the pics!  'Scuse the dust particles!

Standing where future kitchenette will be in Granny flat

Standing over near the French Doors in Granny Flat looking over to bathroom and future kitchenette space

Standing at the front door looking down the hall (off to left is internal door to flat)

Looking into mudroom / laundry

Ta da!  Standing in family room looking toward kitchen

Standing in Dining Room

Non-floor space below is the Living Room and will be carpeted

Study Nook

Rear hall near bedrooms

Playroom / Guest room.  We chose to not carpet this room seeing that it has the french doors going outside and figured it would be more kid friendly.

Bring on the carpet, blinds, shutters, fly-screens, bathroom mirrors, wardrobe & pantry shelving and last few bits & pieces!

Oh and if you're overly attentive, you may have noticed the dodgy tiling behind rangehood has been completely removed, ready to be done properly!!  Woo hoo!