bahahaha! I guess batting eyelashes wouldn't avoid a ticket from the fun police...

If you were male....it might

I have to be a party pooper and head off to bed - big decisions to make tomorrow!
Thanks for the laughs ladies! Hopefully talk again soon.

Good luck With the kitchen..hardest room.
Have fun!!!

Don't forget to show us.

Happy zzzzzzz

So its a British thing, that makes more sense

I grew up in Kingsgrove but the family we have down there has spent nearly all their lives down there.

I hear you about the heating but you have chosen to live in the wrong area if your worried about it being cold lol

**Waves** to Bowral, I absolutely love it there. Was born in Bowral Hospital and have family there and Mittagong. Whenever I visit it feels like home.

Love your plans and an acre is great space. Look forward to following your build

Hi and thanks JLD! It always felt like home to me too, so we moved here

And BradS, the cold is one of the reasons why I love it here, but I am not a fan of huge bills so practicality won out! Although the solar panels we are putting in should help.

I am keen to see how much the solar makes a difference as well. Ours is only on the hot water though it should make a difference. We also have a gas fireplace so that will help as well

Currently everything we have is electric so our winter bills are huge!!!!

So no pics from kitchen consultation (it was just to plan the layout and cupboard types) and I have to wait at least 2 weeks to get our drawings patience is not my strength

Anyway, we did get to finalise our plans today so I thought I would list our exciting inclusions and variations:

*Omega stainless steel 900mm free standing cooker and rangehood
*Omega stainless steel dishwasher
*40mm Caesarstone kitchen benchtops
*2 Aluminium Stacker doors to Alfresco area
*Gainsborough satin chrome lever door handles
*Caroma Metro tapware for bathrooms [ img ]
*Bluescope Truecore steel frame
*Front door [ img ]
*Manooga Grande vanity tops [ img ]
*Caroma Newbury podium bath tub (upgraded to 1800mm)

And our variations:
* extended kitchen in line with dining area
* 2700mm (9ft) ceilings throughout
* 5kw solar system
* Dulux wash and wear paint throughout

Until we get to our colour appointment next week - hopefully that won't add too much!

So we managed to swing doing our colour appointment early, before we have officially signed contracts even, because we wanted to use our holiday time rather than trying to race over one Saturday.

Our biggest dilemma - the bricks Back story goes like this: the normal company our builders use has CLOSED two of their production plants and the third is in QLD so they are hogging all the good bricks and there is *#@%*$ none left for us. So we went to Austral instead and they were fantastic, wonderful service and gave us these super cool hinged colourbond samples to take around to the brick wall display so we could see how the colours went together! I get excited by the littlest things, I know. Anyway, we picked an upgrade brick because we love them so but they are going to cost us $6500 extra They are only sand, for goodness sake, it is free at the beach. The building company boss is trying to negotiate a sweet deal with Austral though so fingers crossed this will come down.

Anyway, to piccies!
Carpet (Jacaranda Eversoft Brazil) "donkey" coloured with our wall colour (Dulux Male half) behind it
[ img ]

QLD Spotted Gum floor (this isn't our carpet place, but it is a good pic!)
[ img ]

Exterior colours (and my hubby's dirty fingernails) - the brick colours are on the previous page I think.
Clockwise from left: Dulux Natural white/white birch (front door, window frames), Dulux Isolde (cladding above front patio), Surfmist (fascias and eaves) and Ironstone (roof, gutters, downpipes, rainwater tank)
[ img ]

Kitchen colours
White gloss tile for splashback (not actual tile, I am getting 200x100mm subway tiles like here, in fact, that is pretty much my kitchen ), Dulux natural white cabinets and Ice Snow caesarstone 40mm benchtops
[ img ]

Bathroom colours
Clockwise from left: Matt white wall tiles, Laminex Avignon Walnut cabinets (it looks very brown in this pic, the real colour is here), gloss white Manooga Grandetops, charcoal/black matt floor tile
[ img ]

Shower recesses
[ img ]

Did I miss anything?

BIG smiles in our house tonight

Its a great feeling knowing that all these choices have been decided, I couldnt wait to get them done and it was a huge load off my mind so congrats on getting it done

Cant wait to see it all start to take shape

SOUNDS BRILLIANT!
well done.
good picks.

and yay for freebies

wheres the brick? on the other page?

yes they are...1st page

Oh BradS this was the fun part! I am now going to be bored out of my brain for months and months while my hubby gets excited about holes being dug and concrete and steel frames (why isn't there a :yawn: emoticon?)

Thanks Kiwi, we have made an effort to make it to our taste - turns out our taste is white and neutrals

We are partying with cheap wine - because we did make some savings today!

Ack, except page 1 is not our bricks anymore! Same type, we are just going a blend instead - this one
[ img ]

Eeek! Deemaree, how do I do it?

Photobucket my dear, photobucket.

[ img ][ img ][ img ]
Success! Thanks a million Deemaree! That would have bugged me for days...