Handover Friday 25th June, counting down until we move in!

I am so excited for you Kristi your house is becoming a home! It looks fantastic & I love all the peep holes a very good idea to keep an eye on the children!!!!!! The plaster gives you a completly different feel for the room sizes etc. You must be rapt! Bring on the brickies !

vanilla tree: This room was the 'theatre' on ours too! I plan on putting a kiddy gate across the doorway, so the littlies can't get in. I called it a 'rumpus' as well, but really.. it'll just be my room. haha.

Jodie: yes, it is looking like a home! Now i can really imagine living there. It's awesome, and very exciting. and guess what....

The brickies started today!!! Woohoo! I didn't get home until it was dark, so no piccies, but I've been out the front with a torch .

And the plasterers must've been inside, cause all the plasterboard joins have been taped over.

I really love the peepholes .... DH and I were just talking about doing something like that between the study and lounge room, mostly because I spend so much time on the computer (usually on H1 ), then I won't be so cut off from the rest of the house, mind you, maybe once this is all over I won't be on here so much ... wish we'd thought of it sooner.

Looking forward to seeing it bricked up

More progress piccies!!!!! The bricks all went up in 4 days. There is a teeny tiny bit left to go (window sills at the front, and the corner pillar in the alfresco, but it's pretty much done.

The plasterers were in this week too.. and all the inside is smoothed over, and the bathrooms have had their blue waterproofing painted on.

The garage door was also installed! Although it's been left open, so I don't know how the facade is all going to look yet. Very exciting.

We had lovely brickies, (hopefully kept happy by the afternoon beer the kids would take out to them) and I asked if the kids could put a brick on the house. They were so excited!! See photos..

Very nice! I L...O...V...E that you got pics of the kids putting a brick in ... I think that's very special!

Pebbles: it is special isn't it?! Just bummed my 6 month old wasn't co-ordinated enough to hold the brick, lol.

ETA: the bricks are looking really grey at the moment. I hope after the brick clean they look more blue!!

Kristi, what fantastic photo's!!! I love them & so will your kids when they turn 21 & you show them off at the party
Looks like things are progressing well & the plaster is great. Gives you a real idea of the rooms & feel of the house - great news!!

Well.. things are just steaming along now! Our cornicing?? was installed today, and our bedroom doors and kitchen/bathroom cabinets were delivered!!! So exciting!! It was raining today, so the brickies didn't come back to finish. But, can't wait to see what's next.

The skirting was being put on today, and the tiler started! The kitchen/laundry/bathroom/ensuite cabinets all went in last week. The plasterer said he would finish the skirting tomorrow, and then get onto the eaves. The tiler will be finished by the end of this week too! And painting next week I hope, fingers crossed!

Our colourbond slimline water tank was delivered today as well.

And.. got our lock-up progress payment invoice. Not so excited about that one, lol.

I'm so excited about the house progress this week. It's all fun stuff!!

The tiler, true to his word, finished up today. A lady is doing the grouting though, and she wasn't quite finished today, so will be back tomorrow to finish the grouting on the floors, but all the walls are done. We asked the tiler to tile right to the roof in the ensuite shower, and he did it for a carton of beer! gotta love that. There were JUST enough extra tiles to go right up without me having to buy anymore.

The eaves were also finished off today.

Painting is booked in for next week!! Our site was semi cleared of the crap today. I don't know why they didn't take it all?? Didn't fit in the truck maybe??

So here are some progress piccies..



ensuite




laundry


kitchen






main bath








I'm a bit annoyed with the tiles in the niche.. it was meant to just be 3 tiles of alternating colour, but the tiler lined them up with the alternating feature tiles on the other shower wall. Not sure whether to kick up a fuss, or if it looks better because they are all lined up???

Kristi

Looks great. I love your rainwater tank. Nice colour of the cabinets too. That was very generous of the tiler - it's cost us a couple of hundred to tile up to the ceiling in both showers! The beer is a bargain

Ohhhhh Kristi, wowowowowowow! Your builders have been very busy the last couple of weeks! Fantastic news & love the photo's. What a great tiler you have good on him!
It's up to you about the shower tiles, you will have to live with it so if you are not 100% convinced get him to change it. I think it looks ok but I know if I had an idea in mind & they stuffed up I wouldnt be able to look at it forever without wondering would it have looked better the other way???
Hope your boys keep going at this pace & have a busy week ahead!

Woohoo your guys are flying through it now!!! Looks great!! Damn I wish I'd been at my place when they were tiling ... I would have gladly bought them a carton if they'd done extra work for me

As for the tiles ... I think the way they are looks good cause they line up but then you look at the niche itself and then they look uneven ... ummmm that's not really helpful is it Maybe just leave it the way it is ... you're going to have shampoo/conditioner bottles in there anyway so probably/hopefully won't notice it so much.

Hey Kristi, it looks amazing!! Your bricks are gorgeous (I love love the greys) and your cabinets just looks beautiful!

Did you post your laminate colours up? I'd love to know what they are ~ especially the ensuite + the kitchen...

You have got to love that!!! Well done!

How would you have done it differently? Light tile at the top, then dark tile in the middle, then light tile at the bottom?
I haven't seen a tiled pattern done like this before, but it seems he's done a pretty nice job... He's obviously a nice guy, maybe you can talk to him about it.

Can you live with it? Will it annoy you every morning? Main bathroom or ensuite??

~ cheers Kristi, you're speeding along, J

Thanks for your comments Re: the tiling in the niche. We meant to have it dark tile on top, light tile in th emiddle, dark tile on bottom. Hubby and I have agreed because there will be shampoo/conditioner in it covering anyway (thanks Pebbles! ) that we'll leave it as is. I'm not a stickler for details, so it really won't bother me that much!! I'm just happy it's done

Vanilla tree: our ensuite and lower cabinets in the kitchen and laundry are laminex lustrous elm. The upper cabinets in the kitchen and laundry and the main bathroom are oyster linea. The casear stone bench top is osprey. I'm really happy with how it's turned out so far. We are going to have wood look vinyl planks through the kitchen/dining.. so i think that will really offset the lustrous elm nicely.

I hate being locked out of the house!! I used to be able to wander out the front whenever i felt like it and walk through.. but the contractors are all so good with keeping everything completely shut off!

Looking forward to seeing the painters tomorrow (and sneaking another peek in at the bathrooms now the grout is all finished).

On an aside, we got our first quote back for concreting. $7500. It's actually a bit cheaper than what we were expecting! So that's a plus! Included a 5m wide driveway, alfresco extended out from under the roof, a side path for the clothesline, a front path from gate to front door, a path along the side of the house close to the neighbours and an extra bit concreted out to the fence from the driveway (hubby plans on using as a little basketball court, and the kids for riding their bikes and the gyrocar).

Other quotes we've got back this week.. $5800 for crimsafe and diamond grill security screens
$10 090 for our vinyl planks and carpet for the media/main bed, $3300 for the extra light fittings.

Then on top of that it's just some extra window furnishings (although i've picked up some good roman blind bargains on ebay! $440 worth of brand new freedom roman blinds for $100 ) and landscaping and decorating. The fun stuff!!

I bought a freedom clock the other day, and some pretty little twig lights. Now I just need to find a nice pot to put them in. And I also found a really lovely dresser/sideboard to go in my 7 month old daughters room. Found it for 50% off at everyday living!!!

Signing off for now...

Sounds like you are bargin queen Kristi, can you do some shopping for me as well!

Hey jodie - give me some money and I'll be more than happy to do some shopping for you!!!

Ok Pebbles you are on! We want a leather couch to go in our rumpus room. Probably 3 seater & arm chair if possible as I dont want to over crowd the room. We want a bargin but not cheap & nasty either! We have done heaps of looking & sat on soooo many couches but are yet to find one we really like. I want over sized armrests & softish but not to soft if you know what I mean. Colour mmmm brown or tan! We would like something about 2 grand mark, what can you find for me Pebbles!

Is this too tan???




Well.........I didn't say I was any GOOD at it

I love it Pebbles!!

Very good!!!