Snippets.

Just a few little snippets for the pic piggies! I still have a long way to go in terms of decorating, as I still have to unpack and purchase some more furniture! I have my eyes on a gorgeous coffee table and side table for the family room, and will let you all know when I have organised it. I'm still thinking about an ottoman to use as a coffee table in the lounge room, and I also need a dining table and chairs for the Dining room. There are still no pictures up on the walls and I am still without a clothesline!

I posted this Laura Ashley lampshade a while ago after I bought it, so you may remember it. I decided to choose the Laura Ashley 'Selby' lamp base for it, and I absolutely love it!



Thankfully this antique table and chairs managed to survive relatively unscathed after the 'Great Storage Flood' back in March. They used to sit in the bay window in our old house, and knew they would sit under this window in the lounge room. I know I have waaaay too much on the table, but many things were unpacked and dumped as they didn't have anywhere else to go!! The cat loves catching the sun here:




Closer detail of the table, with 2 of my 3 Eiffel Towers', and an apothecary jar I received for my Birthday last week. It probably won't stay here, but might sit with another 2 larger ones...somewhere! I also love my chunky keys I bought in Richmond, Tasmania last year:




Cushions in the lounge room, I still have 2 more to buy:




Part of my bargain hall table, which I adore. I'd love to show more, but it has a pile of broken down storage boxes underneath! I plan on getting a mirror in the next couple of days to go above it, so I'll post more then:



The one item that has made it's way up on the wall! The 1 metre diametre clock I bought a year ago and has been sitting in storage. It's now up in the meals area and I love it! Keeps good time too ;). I may transfer the pussy willow branches into something else, but for the moment I'm happy for them to stay in the modern pink metalic vase!




Lots more to organise, but I'll get there eventually.

Anyone care to powder their nose?

I am almost fully operational in the PC department again, which is great news! It's wonderful to be able to catch up on everyone's blogs as 4 weeks is a long time without them! I am also happy to be able to download the photos from my camera onto my own PC and upload them again with a fast ADSL connection! I actually didn't take too many over the past 4 weeks, as I was just too busy moving, unpacking and getting a little organised.

There is really only 1 room at this stage that is 98% complete, and that is the powder room. I'd still like to put a picture up on one of the walls, but that can wait! I always wanted to create a nice feel in the powder room, which flowed from the rest of the house. I know it's only a toilet and basin, but being the guests main toilet, I wanted it to look good!



I'm still deciding what to put in the glass apothecary jar, but I am thinking some small white soaps. I haven't found the perfect ones yet...at the right price. I love the 'MOR' soaps wrapped in gorgeous papers and ribbons with a wax seal on them, but this particular jar is too small for them. I have a larger one in the ensuite where they might go! I just have to start collecting them:



A closer look at the orchid which I assembled myself. There are many available to buy in the shops, but I wanted something that was an original, and what better place to put one than a French cast iron urn!



One of my purchases specially with the powder room in mind:



...and one I couldn't resist yesterday:



I'm not sure how long the powder room will stay like this for, as I may move a few things around. That's the great part about decorating, finding the perfect spot for things!

'The Phone Company' Frustrations.

Hi All,

I have not completely fallen off the face of the Earth, I have only just had the phone line 'properly' connected, and am still waiting on the internet. It has been the most frustrating 4 weeks without the internet and email and I'm quite livid with 'The Phone Company' for stuffing the whole connection up in the first place.

Trying to organise several meetings for various things, a business trip to Sydney, a family weekend away with other families and keep in touch with family and friends via facebook has been impossible.

I won't go into too many details about the saga, but I had the trenching, the connection and an internet provider all sorted before we moved so there would be no delays, no internet or email 'downtime' and everything would run smoothly. It has not and I'm now going to have to play 4 weeks catch up on email and blogs once I am fully on the air. I'm currently in the local Maccas, making use of their free snail's pace internet...but beggars can't be choosers and I have to make do!

We are 'mostly' settled in, but we can't get the cars in the garage due to the boxes and some furniture, I haven't been able to download any photos from my camera as my PC monitor refuses to start after being laid dormant for a year, and unable to upload pics with no internet. I can't get quotes for the front fence, driveway or plantation shutters due to having no internet or email, and the frustrations continue!! What on earth did we do before the internet!!

With any luck, I 'should' be back on air next week, and I can't wait to catch up on everyone's news. 4 weeks is a long time without blogs, not to mention extremely frustrating!

I'll be back soon with some photos!

Flooring complete, so the moving in begins!

It has been a very busy 'week and a bit' since I last updated the blog...I have just been too exhausted to even think about it!

So after getting the keys on the Thursday 10th, we had a family get together of pizza and Bolinger on the Friday night (with deck chairs on the concrete floors!).

We had every intention of sealing the garage floor over the weekend, but the weather decided to play havoc! It was incredibly windy, so what was soon swept up and out, ended back in the garage! We did, though, literally chisel off any odd bits of mortar, plaster and dirt from the garage floor, and made it look nice and smooth for the 'eventual' sealing.

Instead, we took down everyone of the hideous plastic china men's hats lamp shades the builder provided, and replaced most of the compact fluoros with 75 watt incandescents I've been stock piling for months! I spotted my Son wandering around the house with a china men's hat on his head! We also began to install the paper 'Redi Shades' on all the windows. Not the best for sun blockout, but instant privacy and only $7 each (for the small ones) at Bunnings!



So all was not lost over the first weekend! On Monday 14th Sept, I had organised a Telstra approved Contractor to dig the trench from the house to the street, and channel underground from the street to the nearest Telstra Pit. He arrived earlier than expected, had the job done in no time and left the nature stip of my neighbours looking as though absolutely nothing had taken place!





I made sure I took quite a few photos of the conduits' position and depth for future landscaping reference!

Since Monday ended up being such a lovely day with no wind, Hubby decided to leave early from work and put the first coat of sealer on the garage floor!



There were several options we were looking at, including Berger Jet Dry Paint and Dulux Garage Floor, but both applications required the floor of the garage to be acid etched first for the paint to 'take'. We decided to use 'Staseal Premium' from The Concreters' Warehouse' on recommendation from a friend. It required 2 coats, and the first having a solvent added into it so it would soak into the concrete. It was brushed on around the edges, and then 'broomed' on with a broom instead of a roller for the remainder of the floor.

Tuesday saw the beginnings of the floorboards go down, and I was very impressed with the results so far!



They are one strip engineered "Boral Silkwood in Spotted Gum". I have read several things about this type of flooring - both good and bad! We have gone with the 'Australiana' finish which is apparently more hard wearing than the 'natural' finish, so fingers crossed!





Tuesday late afternoon also saw the second coat of garage floor sealer go on:



It looks fabulous, and will be so much easier to sweep and also prevent the concrete dust being brought into the house. Well worth the effort! We just can't drive on it for about 5 days, especially with hot tyres as it can lift the paint.

On Wednesday, the floor boards were completed. They look fabulous, and really make the house look like a home! It took me ages to clean them, though, after all the foot traffic from the tradies!

Lovely variation in the wood:













Thursday morning the carpet installers arrived, and by the time they had finished for the day the whole of the upstairs was done.



The carpet is a woven 80% wool and 20% nylon from 'Brintons', called Bell Twist in the Mushroom colour. The installers commented that they guessed I wasn't planning on changing the carpet in a hurry! They have seen it layed for 45 years and still looking fabulous! They left rather a large mess with tufts of it everywhere, and it took me close to 3 hours vacuuming just the top storey! I had to empty the Dyson after every room as it was just absolutely FULL!

The finished installing the ground floor on the Friday, including the stairs, which they had a little trouble with as they were not quite built exactly as the display stairs I had photos of! It all worked out in the end, and no one will ever know there is a little gap in one part of a step where the stairs were slightly different to the display!



There is a small spot of glue or something similar right in the middle of the study floor, which I noticed as I finished vacuuming it. I did ring them, and am waiting for a call so they can organise a time to come and clean it off for me...or I won't be paying them! ;-)

Saturday we only had a couple of hours to move across a few boxes before we had 2 parties to go to. Sunday was fairly quiet as we assembled the 3 Expedit shelves and the 3 Ingolf bar chairs from Ikea! The Expedit shelves were an almost perfect fit across the wall in the kids TV area, I just need to get some more baskets, as they wouldn't have fitted in the car at the time!



The kids are really looking forward to eating their breakfast here in the mornings before school!



Today, being Monday 21st September, I am absolutely exhausted. It feels as though I haven't stopped for about 3 weeks, and it's only just the beginning. We hired a truck for 2 days (Husband on a weeks annual leave) and today we began to clear out all our furniture and boxes from the storage unit. The truck has been fabulous, and the kids loved riding on the hydraulic lift...which has been a Godsend!!



We took 2 trips to the storage unit, clearing out a third each time. I have an aching neck and back, and I'm just about to pop into bed....ready to do it all again tomorrow. Not sure when I'll get a chance to update the blog again this week. All depends on how much energy I have left!!

News Flash...WE HAVE THE KEYS!!!

Not much else to say, really!

It's been a very busy day, and I'm exhausted, but we have the keys and the house is finally ours!!!

Many thanks to our Waterstone Financial person, who pulled a few strings and got the bank moving to release the funds. And many thanks to our lovely CSA at Henley who we met today after 7 months of talking on the phone almost every week. I hope they both like their boxes of chocolates...I ran out of time to get some flowers too, as it was all a bit of a rush once the money came through!

I'll attempt to update a little more tomorrow, and should have some photos of the redi shades!

I hope you'll still continue to follow my journey as it's really only just the beginning. There is so much to do to turn it into our little home!

What a Week.

Friday 28th August to Friday 4th September will not go down in history as one of the best weeks we've had. We've encountered the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and all in the space of hours.

Friday 28th August just happened to be my Husband's 40th Birthday. The day before we had our house inspection and were extremely happy with only 66 minor items to fix, all of which could be completed in a week, and the house would be ready to handover on the 4th. We knew the bank most likely wouldn't be ready, but little did we know they would completely stuff us around. More on that later...

So, for the big birthday, we chose to eat at a lovely local Italian restaurant. Upon returning to the car, we noticed that the inside cover to the boot was up (which it never is). We looked around the car and noticed the ipod and the GPS, which were very well hidden, had gone. The drivers' side lock was completely wrecked, and once at the Police Station we also realised the 2 white china dinner sets we had bought the night before but left in the car had also gone. Not a nice way to end your 40th Birthday, but to also be out of pocket over $1200. Fair enough the ipod and the GPS have served us well over the past 5 years, but the dinner sets were for the new house and were still nicely wrapped in their boxes. I hadn't even looked at them.

There's probably not a chance in hell the Police will ever find the culprits, but I have informed Myer that 2 new unopened dinner sets 'may' be brought back, and I'm on the lookout on ebay. Chances are they'll be sold at a market, a pub or off the back of a truck. I was furious, to say the least.

After having our inspection on Thursday, the final invoice and cover letter explaining what to do with the left over funds was faxed off to 'the bank' on Friday morning. On Monday, my Husband rang them to see if they had the fax. To which the person replied they did, and began to read it back over the phone. Fabulous! Confirmation that they have it and they can begin to process it....so we thought.

With a school cross country race on Friday 28th, a Ballet Concert on the Saturday and a family party/dinner for Hubby on the Sunday, I ended up having my Daughter home sick from school on the Monday through to Thursday. The poor thing was absolutely exhausted. It enabled me to do a fair bit of tidying and packing, which was a good thing! On Thursday I was finally able to get out of the house and hit the shops again! ;-)

Friday 4th there was a Fathers Day Breakfast and a circus performance at school in the morning, followed by our re-inspection of our house to check to see all the items had been attended to, and to our satisfaction. All but 3 items were fixed properly. The 4 on the list included:

* Touch up the render on the right pillar of the portico (the metal edging was still visible)
* The skirting on the curved wall in the 3rd bedroom was still a little wonky
* The spreader on the downpipe from the top storey to the garage roof HAD been fixed, but not to the inspectors liking, so it will be done again!

The 4th item on the list is one we should have picked up earlier, but it didn't occur to us until last week. All our network, speaker and HDMI cabling had been done by an external person pre plaster and at our own cost. When the electrical fit off took place, the sparkies fitted a cover plate to the HDMI cable in the alfresco, which is fine, but in doing so they cut the end of the $200 cable complete with the fitted plug on it, rendering it useless. It has been suggested that the sparkies might be able to solder on another plug, but Hubby seems to think it is not possible due to the nature of the cable. If they can't do that, then they will have to fork out of their own pocket another cable and *fingers crossed* use the existing damaged one to draw it through the wall cavity and through the other end in the family room. If they can't, well then I guess they'll have to rip out the plaster and replace the cable that way. We really are not happy that this has happened, as they perhaps should not have touched the HDMI cable in the first place as it wasn't part of their 'job'. But what's done is done, and hopefully it will be an easy fix, and thankfully we won't have to pay for it.

All in all, the re-inspection went really well, and we hoped we were all set for settlement on the 11th. Having had confirmation from 'the bank' that they had received the fax on Monday, all that was missing was the Certificate of Occupancy.

Around Midday that afternoon, I had a call from Henley to say the certificate had just been received and it was being forwarded on to me, and onto 'the bank'. Fantastic!! The keys are sure to be ours the following Friday!!.....maybe....

....I'd just come home at 4pm after picking up the kids in the pouring rain when I received a frantic call from Hubby to say 'the bank' has not received our final invoice. WHAT??? It was discussed over the phone on Monday, they had received it alright! Absolutely reeling at this stage, I had to drive out to Henley's Head Office with our copy of the fax (proving it had been received) and give it to our financial person who has dealt with all our loan documents throughout the process. She knows the strings to pull to get things done, as she has had to hurry them up with previous stage payments when 'the bank' failed to release the money in 14 days.

Again, I am absolutely furious at been given the run around. Basically, they have wasted 5 of the 10 days they claim it takes to conduct a property valuation and release the funds. They had better get a move on, because WE WILL settle this Friday, having picked up the cheque from 'the bank' on Thursday afternoon.

I would much rather be sipping Bolly on Friday knowing the 23 month ordeal is over, than ringing around all the things I have organised to happen the following week because the bank has completely stuffed up AGAIN....

Not Happy Jan.

New Home Inspection.

Our new Home Inspection, or PCI, was last Thursday, and we are very happy with the outcome.

There were 66 items on the list, but most are tiny little paint imperfections that are easily rectified. Other items on the list included:

* 3 privacy locks needed adjusting (as in they didn't work!)
* a grout defect in the laundry (dirt in the grout)
* dining room heating vent on crooked
* window frame scratches
* screw end through the pantry shelving in a noticeable position
* patchy paint in living room (entire walls will be repainted)
* paint over spray on most kitchen handles
* few scratches on the stair balusters
* couple of proud floor screws in the TV area
* paint drops on the tiles around bath and on window sill
* scratched handle on toilet door
* missing render (exposed metal edging) on the RHS portico pillar
* repaint beading on exterior laundry door (the glass had already been replaced due to scratches)
* Mortar blow outs
* scratched downpipe brackets
* rubber seal issue on a window
* wonky roof tiles on back of garage above external door
* extra weather seal on garage door so it actually works!
* hole in slab edge of garage behind rear door.

Without a fine tooth comb, most of these things would really not have been picked up as the place really does look fabulous! We checked around all the vanities and basins and it's all neat and tidy (including the caulking). All the taps work, plumbing doesn't leak (although we must check again once the hot water is in as the heat can expand the seals and then leaks can show up), all the toilets flush and re fill correctly, all the wiring is correct (the three light globes we bought along came in handy!), all the power points work and the tiles in both showers are smooth and drain away...yes I took off my shoes and socks and dragged my feet along all the tiles!

In my last post, I mention the Tradies cars in the driveway, well I was very pleased to see the linea band under the gable on the portico had finally been rendered! Yes, my SS didn't realise it was supposed to be, but when the handover supervisor did his inspection he picked it up and organised the renderers straight away:



Most defects were little minor paint imperfection:



Powder room all finished, complete with mirror, basin, taps, toilet and accessories:



OK, had to be done, but this is the only one as the other 2 are exactly the same! At least the lid is down! ;-) :



Close up of the basin and taps (which I hate...):



Under the laundry trough. Nice neat concealed plumbing and a hole for the washing machine hoses to fit through to join the taps:



The dirt or 'something' grouted into the floor in the laundry:



The kitchen sink. I'm going to have to get used to washing the dishes around the 'wrong' way!!



Our lovely big ensuite double vanity, with plenty of space for my apothecary jars:



Ensuite shower and towel ladder:



Close up of the same basins and taps in the ensuite, and the shiny Caesarstone:



We are very happy with our 'better than display home quality' house! We are just looking forward to making it our home. I actually didn't take as many photos as I had expected, because I was too busy looking at every finer detail! The whole inspection took 3 hours anyway! Our Supervisor for the inspection was lovely and very patient, and even helped us put in the light globes! On the whole it was a very positive experience and we look forward to our re inspection this Friday 4th September to check all the items have been addressed.

There was every possibility that we could have had the keys this coming Friday, as the house will be ready, but the bank needs 10 working days to carry out their valuation so they can release the final payment. We have asked the bank to have our cheque ready to pick up on Thursday 10th, making our handover on Friday 11th!

That's 11 days away!!!

This is what I have booked so far:

* 14th Telstra trenching
* 15th - 18th timber and carpet install
* 21st - 22nd truck for clearing the storage unit

...and I'd like to book the appliances and heating install on the 24th or 25th, then we can move in properly!!

Final invoice received.

Yesterday we received our final invoice and a letter detailing our New Home Inspection appointment and what will happen next! With any luck it will all run fairly smoothly and we will have the keys soon. A lot will depend on what we find 'wrong' or in need of fixing, and how soon they can get it all done before we re inspect for our handover appointment. So the next few weeks are an uncertainty and will prove to be busy yet again.

Roll on term 4 so I can collect my thoughts and unpack and decorate at ease without too much hanging over my head!



On my drive by this morning, there was yet another tradie's vehicle in the drive way. Again...no idea who it is or what they are doing, but the render is still missing from the linea band just below the gable on the portico! So maybe that will be done today!

I'm excited to be going back in the house tomorrow, but have not had much time to prepare at all. I've made a list of all the things on the exterior we can see we are not happy with, but no idea of the interior. Must not forget to pack the light globes!

Temp fence gone for good!

3 drive-bys today, first one without camera, so I had to go back. The next 2 times I had the camera but there were cars parked in the 'drive-way' so I didn't take any pics. Hopefully tomorrow!! Not sure who the cars belonged to, but they were still working on perhaps the touch-ups before our inspection on Thursday.

She does look lovely sitting there all on her own...although a little lonely! Great to not have to dodge the fence anymore, now I'll just be dodging the huge gum tree on the nature strip trying to take photos :-)

So close, but still so far...

We have a date!!

Our New Home Inspection is booked for Thursday 27th August!!!

Considering it will be the first time in 4 weeks I have been inside the house, I'll be armed with my camera, not to mention my list of external 'things to fix' and my eagle eyed vision to pick up every detail and anything that will need fixing!

I am also taking along a small electrical appliance (possibly a hairdryer) to check every powerpoint, a spirit level, a tape measure, a torch and a couple of 100 watt incandescent light globes. The house has compact fluoros in it at the moment, but since they are not staying, I want to look at the paintwork with the lighting we will be living with, not the fluoros which give me a headache!

Apart from going over absolutely everything with a fine tooth comb and making sure it all opens and shuts, if you can think of anything we should be looking out for, please let me know, particually if you have been through a PCI before!

Bring on Thursday!