Anyone still awake?

OK, so once you actually get into the  house, updating the blog becomes a lower priority, and actually getting stuff done seems to take over all of your time.

So for anyone still paying any attention, here are some of the more recent photos.

I think since last update we have had the driveway and concrete/spray crete finished, and have put a little work into the turf and landscaping.

The Pergola for the back patio area is the last thing we have left to do, and with Christmas quickly approaching that likely won't be until the new year

Enjoy.

FRONT

BACK

Careful what you wish for

OK, so that moment you've all been waiting for is finally here!!


What moment? you all say.  Well the moment when I inundate you with all the pics that we've been saving up over the last few weeks.

A lot has happened, we've moved in and are getting settled, the driveway and paths have been cut out and poured, it has rained on and off for the duration and now things are starting to get back to some kind of normalcy.  So without anymore pointless babble, I will just let the photos do the talking.

We chose 600 x 600 polished porcelain floor tiles for downstairs and were lucky enough to have our cousins from Brisbane offer to come down and lay the tiles for us.  It was a big job and I'm sure a lot of work for the boys, but I know our company for a couple of weeks made it all worth it ;-)









We had a little drama with the glass tiles behind the range hood as some appliance installers said it wasn't possible to hang without a support board behind it, some installers said you can't drill into glass tiles but persistence prevailed and we found a great range hood specialist who had no troubles hanging it on the glass tiles within about 20 minutes.

Don't listen to the naysayers!  Anything is possible if you ask the right people

Progress being made here on the installation of our carbonised strand woven bamboo flooring upstairs, we are delighted with the finished product, and cannot recommend our carpenter any more, he did a fabulous job.  If you need a chippy in the Central Coast or Sydney areas I can't say enough how great a job he did and a nice guy as well!!  (which is sometimes hard to find these days)

Area cut out for outdoor entertaining area and driveway (below).  Concrete has since been laid since these pics, but have yet to get any photos.  We have a few weeks wait now until they come back to finish the stencil off.

 The Media Room

 The downstairs living room

 Formal Lounge

 Formal Lounge / Dining

 The Entrance Foyer

 Upstairs Living Room

 Main Bathroom

The Infamous Maple Stairs

Keys are OURS!!!

Thats right, the keys were handed over on the 17th as planned, we did our final inspection and took ownership.

Was a great feeling, weird, but still great to be walking through the house now and knowing that it is ours, and that we didn't have to scarper out the same time as the site supervisor was leaving.  Also it was amazing how much bigger the front yard feels now that all the security fencing has come down.

So now we move on to the finishing touches that we need to do before we can move in, starting with the flooring.

The tilers (fantastic relatives from QLD) came down and started work on the 18th, so far they are doing a fantastic job and they are expecting to be finished by tomorrow evening (24th) if everything goes to plan.

The bamboo flooring for upstairs started today and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the week as well.

And the driveway/concreting is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.  Although I think rain has been forecast, so that might get delayed, let's hope not!!

Unfortunately for all those following the blog, we have made a decision not to post any more photos until everything is complete, this way our friends will still get a decent surprise when they come to visit.  I know you're all on the edge of your seat with suspense (yeah right), but you'll just have to wait.

So we are firing on all cylinders now, hopefully won't be too long before me start to move in, and I'll share all the juicy photographs then.

Slowly inching closer

Ok, So the ETA of May 13th has been pushed back to the 17th.  Only a couple of days so no major drama.  Just means a few quick phone calls to flooring tradesmen to move them back a few days and hopefully things will still roll along smoothly.

Will have some new pictures soon, however, there are not a great deal of visible changes.  The last of the scaffolding has finally been removed and the balcony railing on the portico has been installed, so at least from the exterior it looks as though we have a finished product.

Things are so close now that everything has slowed down and weeks feel like months, and changes are so small that it almost feels like no progress is being made, but no doubt, in a week or so, things will all be finished and the wait will be worth it!!!

First look inside

Ok, so it's been a month since my last post and there has been a fair bit of water under the bridge....

Since my last entry we have had another issue with the staircase, but to save a long and drawn out story, the long of the short of it is that we have agreed to a compromise with the builder that will see some of the stair built of solid maple and some of it from MDF with a maple veneer. The builder has agreed to provide the same warranty on the staircase as they would if it was full solid wood maple, and aslo provide us a refund for the difference given that the entire stair will no longer be solid wood.  My wife and I are just happy to be moving forward on the matter and are glad to be able to put the entire staircase chapter behind us.

So, that all cleared up........

Since my last post, the tiling has been completed, the painting has been completed and the electric finishings have been finished.  The bathrooms are all but complete, they now have everything except the shower screens, and from what I can tell the plumbing is complete with the exception of the hot water tank.

Easter is now upon us which measn we'll likley see not much happening over the break, but afterwards we understand they'll be sanding the floors, and then installing the last of the fittings, and a big cleanup etc so we've been advised a tentative handover date of May 13th.

Here's the first pics we've got of the interiror which we grabbed when we poped out one day and the tradies were nice enough to let us have stickey beak inside.  These were taken just before the toilets were installed and whilst the painting was underway (if my memory serves me correctly)

Downstairs/Guest Bathroom

Ensutie vanity and bath

Ensuite shower with waterfall shower head

upstairs leisure room and stair void

Main Bathroom vanity and bath

Main Bathroom shower

It cant always be roses.....

So we're within sight of the finish line, but we've unfortunately had our first stumble.

We've had a slight difference of opinion with regards to the stair issue mentioned in the blog entry below.  We have however stood our ground requesting the product that we paid for and was detailed in the contract, and after some less than comfortable discussion the builder has begrudgingly agreed to remove the incorrect staircase and install the maple one. But not before making us feel as though the issue was our fault and that our desire to have what we paid for was unreasonable.

The whole incident has left us feeling a little deflated and now the excitement of it all seems a little tainted.  So now we're just hoping that both parties can put the matter behind us and forge onwards for the last few weeks until practical completion.

So, this weeks update is that the tiling is being done, we met the tiler onsite yesterday and he advised that the job will take approx 2 weeks.

A couple of recent pics of the exterior

The front elevation with front door hung and garage door installed

 

 

The Completed Rain Water Tank

Update Time

Hello All,

I know you've been feverishly awaiting a new update, so although I don't have any more images to share with you at this time, here is where things are at.....

So, since the last update the gyprock has gone in, the waterproffing of the wet areas has been completed, all internal doorframes and doors and window frames have been installed.  The cornices have all been completed and the stairs and balustrades have been installed.**

All external doors were installed and at the end of last week (11th March) we were at lock up.

This week we have seen the baths, bathrooms cabinets and kitchen delivered and installed.  The Rain Water tank has been fitted and looks like it's finished. And the garage door has also been fitted and is ready to roll (see what I did there :-)

** One problem that arose however, we paid to upgrade the staircase to solid maple timber so that we could match the stain of the stairs with the bamboo flooring we intend on finishing the top floor with.  We did however notice that the stairs that have been installed are the regular MDF particle board stairs which usually get covered in carpet.  We've raised this cocnern to the site manager and we are assuming he'll address the issue, but at this point in time we are still awaiting confirmation that the stairs will be changed to the solid timber we requested.

Apologies for the lack of photos, but now that the outside is completed we don't get much of an opportunity to get inside and take a look around.  We are basically limited to peering through windows or hoping someone is still working onsite when we drop by. 

Would be nice if the builder offered the odd walk through so that we could take a look now and then.  We got lucky that we picked up the mistake on the stairs which we would have missed had we not dropped by whilst the workers were still onsite.  We would rather the opportunity to pick up any issues now during the build than after the fact and have to go about ripping things out.  Anyway, just my 2 cents

New pics coming soon......... hopefully