Been a BIG week!

Where do we start?... Ok, we'll start with our new SS, PG, whom we met monday morning. Our old SS has gone into commercial building and finished off last friday. Well to say that he made a great first impression is probably putting it mildly. We were very worried about the standard as our old SS set the bar fairly high but PG is breaking new records for service and organisation and approachability! (I'm sure that's a word) Very friendly and very keen to deliver our house in tip-top shape. PG was previously in charge of the maintenance side after handover so understands that alot of issues should have been rectified before handover and has told us he'll endeavour to do this and not leave things for the 3 monthly maintenance. Two, no four thumbs up from us!

Now, to what has happened during this past week... electrical fit-off completed, garage roof plastered and cornices done, shower screens and mirrors fitted, door furniture fitted including our Madison 104 front door and trilock, plumbing fit-off nearly complete (missing powder room toilet and mixers to stone benches) and the kitchen sink is in!


Our 104


Latest front facade pic


Our new loo in master ensuite


shower screen not quite done in master ensuite


mirror, mirror on the wall....


guest ensuite


kids ensuites (for when we have kids)


powder room


balcony balustrade waiting to be fitted




lounge/dining bookshelf


lemaar shelby door handle and privacy lock


trilock to front door


garage roof plastered and cornices


garage rear door fitted


view towards front door


very happy with the look of our 104




and the kitchen sink!

PG also suggested that before the scaffolding to the void was to be taken down that we could use it to fit our void lights... if we had them. But the scaffold would probably be taken down the next day sometime. Well we didn't have them but we knew what we wanted and where to get them. Looked at the time and it was 4.45pm... can we get to the store in time and organise our sparky to install them? Yes we can! Quick google on M's iPhone gave us the store's number. One phone call later and we found out they closed at 6.30... plenty time to get to Richmond. Now just hope they have them in stock! We didn't know what they were called so couldn't ask over the phone so we crossed our fingers and jumped in the car. Now what we wanted were these balls, three of them in different diameters, to hang at different lengths largest to smallest. Got there to find out they had the medium and small ones in stock but the only large one in stock was on hold for someone! Aaaaargh!!!! After a few pleas and phone calls they agreed to give us that one and order in another for the other person whom hadn't left a deposit! Phew!!!! Now that we had the lights, time to call our sparky. Oh no! He already has an appointment elsewhere! No wait, he'll reschedule and come in first thing in the morning! YAY!!! After all that it was time for dinner at Maha... great middle eastern cuisine! 9/10! hehehe Anyways, after our beautiful dinner, we just needed to drop them off and leave a note and diagram of how we want them hanged. And voila! Le final result:




And just in time as the scaffold was taken down the next morning! They remind M of the white ferrero chocs!!!

We also placed an order for our sofas the week before:

This one for the family room


Upstairs games room (we just got the 3 and 2 seaters)

We also got sofas for the lounge and our ensuite retreat but don't have pics for them yet. Also arranged to get our quote from the concretor and our window furnishings next week. Busy, busy, busy!!!!

we are back....!

Hi guys, we are back. So sorry that we haven't updated for a long time. Yes, I must admit, we were a little bit slack in the beginning, but then a car accident happened near our place and hit the local exchange which meant no internet for us. It took telstra 3 weeks to fix their bit, then optus another week or so before we got our internet back! The technical side of things I don't know much about... I just know that we finally got our internet back.. thank god!!!! It's amazing how much you miss things when you don't have it!

Anyways.... this is going to be a huge update with lots of pics because whilst our internet was not working, there has been a lot of action on our house.

Here's the list:
1. undercoat for the render has been applied
2. Most of the basins are in (except master and guest ensuite because these are the ones with the stone benchtops)
3. Painting has been finished... we are loving the chalk beige
4. Heating and cooling vents have also been installed
5. Tiling is 90% finished.. just waiting for grout and niches to be finished off. The tiler has been my favourite tradie so far, as he has done an excellent job and came up with some very good ideas.
6. Timber staining has also begun, but we are still waiting for the final coat.
7. The fixed window in the master bedroom which was not centered has now been rectified.


We had a site meeting with SS the other day and he has told us, if all things goes smoothly we will be getting our beautiful brookvale in 6 weeks! We sure can't wait!

Render undercoat photos:





Powder room


Pantry


Laundry




Ensuites 3&4


Travertine for our shower bases


Guest ensuite


Spa bath now installed (Travertine up spa hob)


Master ensuite vanity and feature tiles in travertine


Niche


Kitchen QQ benchtop with 100mm rear and waterfall (LOVE IT!!!)


Other side of island bench


Hilite window to Master bedroom now centered. SS gave us a shorter window but deeper.


Bifold and sliders


Balcony tiled

Well that's all for this long overdue post. Catch you all again soon!

Lockup, Fixing and Locked out :(

Hello again,

I sure dislike this winter... the freezing cold wind, the mud all over my shoes, the early nights and to top it up, we've been locked out of our house! Well, they attempted to lock us out at least ;) Bifold door won't close properly at the moment so we still have access :) Hope they don't fix that anytime soon... that's one thing we don't mind not being fixed quick smart :)

Well since the last post lots of action... cabinets have been installed, architraves and skirts installed except to void windows and master bedroom hilite window which needs centering. Scaffolding has been taken down and our bricks have been cleaned. So we've had the lock-up invoice and are expecting the fixing invoice probably monday as 24/7 has us having completed fixing last friday. Gosh lock-up is a BIG invoice! hehehe




Facade minus the scaffolding... our gables have been stained Jarrah


Rear cladding done... still waiting to hear where the solar panel will be moved to

Ok now for the cabinetry :)


Kitchen island and cupboards - Licorice Linea


Overhead cupboards - Fossil


Pantry - Burnished wood


Laundry cabinet - Burnished wood


Powder room - Burnished wood


Master ensuite and all other ensuites - Burnished wood

We must have loved Burnished wood! Think the Derrimut display had Burnished wood throughout their ensuites... we DO love it :)


Architraves and skirts to void. Our broken window has now been replaced. The fixing carpenter has left the architraves around the void windows as I guess they forgot they needed to do that before the void platform was removed. Might need some internal scaffolding to finish off.


Our portico has been lined also.

Next stop painting!!!

This void doesn't leave us with an empty feeling!!!

Hi everyone, we were sooooooooooo excited to venture on up monday night to see the void platform had been removed and we could now see our void in all its glory (via a torch at 6.30pm... bring back daylight savings!!!!). WE LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!! No pics for you though as it was too dark so we went back today to take some pics for all you lovely bloggers and were even more excited to see our stairs and void glass ballasters up!!!

We loved the void monday night but now we REALLY, REALLY, REALLY LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!

So here are the pics...


Our contemporary staircase


Our contemporary void (did I tell you we love how it looks?) :P


View from the lounge passageway




Up the stairs


View at the top of the stairs


Another angle


And another...




View of the lounge below

We are so glad we fought hard with PD to have the glass ballasters around the void as it really gives it our personal touch to our little own Brookvale. :)

Our cabinets have also been delivered and we're dying to see how these turn out. Like everyone, we were having second thoughts about our kitchen colour choices so hoping to ease our minds.



Once they're assembled I'll take more pics and name our colours for you all :)

The gables have also been fitted to the facade. These will be painted/stained Jarrah to match our garage and front door.





Oh Toni, yes the previous post did reveal to us also that the master bedroom hilite window was not centered!!! Couldn't believe we had missed it and it wasn't until I took that photo and had a look at it on the computer did I notice it. Brought that to the attention of our SS so that's on our list of things needing correction. Remarkably, we don't have a long list at all yet so fingers crossed it stays that way. Although by fixing, I think we'll no doubt get alot more... guess that's why they name that stage fixing! :)

Hopefully the next post will have pics of our cabinets!!! :D

Waited a long time to get plastered!!!

Well after our last post, we had over 2 weeks of zip, nadda.... nothing happening on our build as our brickies disappeared to wherever it is this rare species go. Well they reappeared about a week and a half ago and we've had some good progress since. Once they'd wrapped the top floor, the plaster got delivered and started the next day. Boy did the plasterers work hard! In 2 days they'd pinned the whole house! Another couple of days of 8am - 7pm work, they'd finished everything! The last night they were there, they didn't leave until 8pm... I know as I was there from 6pm waiting for them to finish so I could have a sticky beak!

Cornices have also been put up and we're very happy with them! I think the names were Symphony to living areas and Cove for bedrooms.

Internal doors, skirts and architraves have also been delivered.

Brickies are now 99.99% finished with just one column in the alfresco half finished. Apparently they stayed til 6pm to try and finish it off but just ran out of light. Shouldn't take them long on monday to finish off tho.

I'm still on dial-up as I used up my download allowance watching the NBA finals so have to put the pics into a slideshow rather than uploading each individually.



We've been told stairs are to go in next week. Can't wait to see them in and hopefully cabinets soon after!

Solar HWS, insulation, bifold and pink squiggles

Hi guys,

Lots seems to be happening at our place this past week. Brickies doing a great job and have done pretty much 2/3rds of the house. They're just waiting on the scaffolding to finish off. In the meantime, SS has them starting up on another build (single storey) so they'll be back after that is done. Our insulation batts have been delivered and put in on the lower floor. Waiting on the bricking to finish before they do the top.


Front in progress


They've started on the garage


Anyone want a french door frame complete with sidelites? Not sure why it was replaced as it's in perfect condition. Haven't checked the dimensions but I'm guessing it may be slightly large? Free to a good home :)




Insulated


BSS has noticed our cracked glass in the void window

As we are getting solar power, we spoke to SS about possibly moving the solar hot water panels over to one side and not smack bang in the middle of the roof which is prime real estate for solar panels. Well SS got hold of the installers and they sure did move it out of the way.... so far out it's on the alfresco roof on the lower floor!!! I'm no meteorologist but even I can see that the position is not ideal. Our front faces NW and where they've placed it; facing ESE, the panel would only get the morning sun and be overshadowed after midday! You'd think the installers would take it into consideration???


The out of place panel


Our bifold has also been installed. Will have a word to SS about covering all the timber for the acid wash.

Here is the rest of the artwork we've got in the house atm... what do you all think? Like?


I think cement sheeting needs to be put here somewhere.... but where?... hmmmm?


We've gone very yin-yang and philosophical... must be level in mind and body to proceed


Here we must bow before entering...


Karate kid style.... up.... down....up.... down....

Aircon, spa and doors...

Hi everyone! Sorry for not replying to your posts but J has been relegated to dialup speeds and is not coping well :) In the meantime we've been busy researching on solar power as we do want to do our little bit for the environment.

Today, we finally decided and settled on going with NuEnery who is also offering a free 1kw solar system. For the Brookvale, which is such a big house, we probably need to look at least a 2kw system but we're probably looking at settling on the 1kw or 1.5kw for now. We haven't exactly decided as yet, but have put through the application to apply for the 8k government grant before it finishes in June.

On our way back, we decided to drop by our block. We didn't expect much, because even though we've checked out our house everyday last week, there wasn't much happening besides some progress to bricking. However we were pleasantly surprised today when we got there. We saw our SS on site, as well as our brickies, and the guy who makes sure all walls are plumb and sands them down as needed (don't know what he's called). Our SS updated us on our progress and apparently our bricking is supposed to go quicker however, there was a stuff up with another house and the head brickie has gone to fix it. Otherwise, fingers crossed, we should have lockup in about 2-3 weeks.

We also noticed that our aircon & ducted heating had been installed. Our temporary front door is in. Our balcony door and laundry door are also in. The french doors in the lounge is about to get hanged (hopefully tomorrow). The frame for the spa is also finished. We also noticed that the sparkie has been in and wired up most of the first floor, with only some of the ground floor to go. It's amazing how quickly the tradies can get things done when they are actually on site. But it's the getting them on site that is the hard part! Apparently the chippies are also coming back just to do a few other little bits of fixing.

So hope you guys enjoy the pics!!! And yes, the house looks hugeeeeeee when it gets bricked... I am def starting to get a little worried... Going to suck up to mum so she can help me with all the cleaning after handover! :D

-M-


We needed 2 units to be able to provide cooling for the whole house




Lots of shiny ducts all over the place! Well.... in the ceiling anyways :)


Temp internal access door from garage




Laundry Win21 door


Balcony door


Our spa hob... hope PD have learnt from previous probs with these... but I won't be holding my breath