We are in!

It has been a long time between posts but we are finally in. We moved about 5 weeks ago and have spent most of that time chasing up tradies or organising extra things for the house. Helen also started maternity leave which has given us more time to argue with annoying tradesmen! With the baby 1 week or so off, nearly everything has been finished. The main outstanding thing is that the curtains won't be here until middle of January which means sheets and garbage bags are our only form of privacy!! Otherwise, we are pretty happy with how things have come together overall. Probably the funniest story is when we had the footings dug for our front fence. They said they would come about 0830. At 0615 we hear a couple of voices out the front and two random fellas are standing at the front of our place smoking cigarettes, ready to start digging. They ask for a couple of shovels and get started! At 0930 there's a knock at the door. tradie: "darling, you had better call the gas company and get them to come around, we've cut the gas line. tell them it's an emergency". me: "is it an emergency?" tradie: "just tell them it's an emergency" so while i am on the phone to the gas people, there's another knock on the door tradie: "while you are on the phone can you call the water people, we've cut the water pipe" me: " are you kidding" tradie: "just call them too" so about 2 hours later, with no water to drink (on a 30 degree day) and no gas for shower i go outside to check up on them. as i go outside, the digger guy suddenly stops digging and points down towards the hole. Seems he has dug straight through our sewerage pipe. So there I am, 37 weeks pregnant, no water, can't go to the toilet and had to call our (very unhappy ) plumber to come past and fix our sewerage. I have to say that all the services were fairly promptly restored by about 2pm but i still had to drive to my parents house to use their toilet and have a drink!! all fun and games and hopefully the last big saga of the build! Here are some pics of the house and of the ever growing belly!

The splashback












The breakfast bar










The splashback













Breakfast bar










Main bathroom

Bed 2













Laundry












Study / Nursery












My side of WIR













Ensuite

Pouring fence footings




















My belly at 38 weeks

Putting the belly to good use!

The latest

The last 2 weeks have brought some progress, but also some funny (read annoying) moments. The floorboards were polished; looked fantastic from a distance but up close there were loads of little bubbles everywhere! the floor guy reckons there are little bugs in our timber that we couldn't have known about until the polish went down! anyway, it means that the floor needs rebuffing and repolishing, but he can't guarantee that it won't be worse 2nd time around. This has put us back a week from the planned move in date but the guard dogs won't mind staying around an extra week.

























The granite benchtops are 1/2 done. On the day they went in the company rang to say that they had broken one of our pieces and had to try and make another one to fit. By that afternoon they were installing. They still have to put the breakfast bar in and we have to choose the splashback colour.























The carpets went in. The bedrooms are a bit darker than we remember choosing but they look alright. they need vacuuming in these photos but that's a job for the weekend!

Almost there!

Plumbing & Electricity

More progress this week gives us running water and electricity. Nearly all of the lights are in, and the toilets flush (but have giant OUT OF ORDER signs so the tradies continue to use the outback dunny instead - we want to christen our own toilet!. We finally chose the granite and have booked the shower screens, mirrors and kitchen benchtop to go in. The plumber found that one of the taps that we bought (on his request) over 12 months ago has water coming out of not only the spout but also half way along the spout shaft. So we will try and return it but our chances might be slim given how long ago we bought it! The floorboard guy started today (yes, on a public holiday!) so we can't wait to see what colour the floorboards turn out. Here are some of the latest pics

The living room lights; look a little small!














The pantry shelves













The powder room sink, tap and light. don't think we will need a baby bath!













The hallway lighting in













The facade all painted; now just need to chose verandah tile pattern














Ensuite vanities, taps and lights in












The entrance hall painting and light. Feels a bit French!










The dining room light; love it!














The smaller hallway lights

Lots of progress

The cabinetry is all done now and it looks fantastic. I can't work out how to take pics of the bigger cabinets so there are just some pictures of bits of the cupboards!

Frank's drawers in the walk in robe














Part of Frank's hanging space in WIR












Helen's drawers and hanging space














Kitchen complete with handles











Helen's shoe racks on the left and more hanging space













Bathroom cupboard looking through to hallway linen













Bedroom 2 built in desk and wardrobe with feature cornice













Bedroom 3 built in robes













powder room vanity complete with handles but no sink or taps yet











the kitchen cupboards










The granite guy has done his final measurement, the carpet, showerscreens and mirrors are booked. The floor guy starts polishing on the 6th october. We are on track to move in at the end of October. We just need to decide on our splashback which goes in 1 week after the granite benchtop.

More pics

Here is one week's work. Things are really progressing now. We have narrowed down the carpet selections, the sparky has started putting in the powerpoints and the cabinet handles should go on over the weekend. The walk in robe hasn't gone in yet but the materials have been ordered. The design I drew didn't fit in the room (never was a mathematician) so the cabinet maker had to re-design it all. Will be good to see how it works out.

Better pic of the ensuite













View of the kitchen from the stacker slider doors. they have been painting the doors so they are all spread out drying. We also had a couple of people come and measure up for the granite benchtops today.















View from the kitchen, up the main hallway to the open front door.

The facade with the garage door down. The wooden posts and fascia on the verandah still need to be painted.

A view of the kitchen from the living room.

Some colours!

The painters are more than 1/2 way through. We love the wall colour (wattyl Ermine White) that flows through the house. not 100% sure about the bedroom feature (browny colour), but love the dining room feature (red). They have done a great job so far and have been really accommodating of our (read my) changes of mind by painting just a little bit of the cornice, waiting for us to see it and then doing the rest or changing it. The electrician has started to put the powerpoints in and the cabinet maker has put the benchtops in the bathrooms. We have bought pretty much all the lights and have narrowed down the carpets. The belly keeps growing but we should be well and truly in by then!













The dining room feature colour















The blue cornices through the hallways















The greyish - browny colour in the master bedroom ; also continued through cornice













the double vanity in the ensuite is finished. basins, taps and light to go in soon!