Colour Selections.

Here is the full colour list...I just hope I haven't left anything off!

NOTE: Photos are not a true representation of the colours, just a basic feel!


EXTERIOR

Bricks: Daniel Robertson's Hawthorn Tan Blend.

Mortar: Flush off white.

Roof Tiles: Bristile Classic Single in Gunmetal.

Windows: Merino/Paperbark

Gutters/fascia/downpipes: Paperbark

Garage Door: Caprice (raised rectangular panels) Paperbark

Front Render: Earth Kiss

Front Linear Bands: Paperbark.

Front Door: Gloss Black (signed a disclaimer as Henley won't cover for 'warping')

Rear Cladding: Jasper (blends in with bricks)

Eaves: White.

Driveway: Charcoal grey concrete (done at a later stage).

Meter Box: Paperbark

Rear Garage Door and Laundry Door: Paperbark




INTERIOR

Wall colour throughout: Nomadic Ivory

Ceiling: Builders White

All Woodwork and Internal Doors: Gloss White.

Staircase Treads/Risers/Newel: Gloss White. (Carpeted)

Staircase Balusters: Black with some decorative ribbon inserts (dust collectors!!)

Staircase Handrail: Colonial Baltic stain.




KITCHEN

Bench Top: Caesar Stone Ice Snow

Cupboards (o'head and base): Laminex 'Alabaster' in gloss 2 pac. Soft bevelled profile

Kicker: Alabaster Laminex

Splashback: Glass 'Alecon Lace' on Starfire. (low iron content so true clear glass, not green tinged)

Handles: Tekform Square D-Pull brushed chrome.




POWDER/BATHROOM/ENSUITE

Bench Top: Caesar Stone Ice Snow

Cupboards/Kicker: Laminex Alabaster

Floor Tile: Banur Earth (was Urban Earth)

Wall Tile: Roman Gloss white

Handles: Tekform Square D-Pull brushed chrome




LAUNDRY

Bench Top: Laminex Diamond Gloss Pure Mineralstone

Cupboards (under bench and o'head): Laminex Alabaster

Kicker: Laminex Alabaster

Floor Tile: Banur Earth

Wall Tile: Roman Gloss White

Handles: Tekform Square D-Pull brushed Chrome




FLOORING

Hallway/Kitchen/Meals/Family: Boral's Silkwood Spotted Gum

Study/Lounge/Dining/TV/All Bedrooms: Brintons Bell Twist 80/20 Mushroom

Loan Approval!!! Yippee!!!

I guess the title says it all!

Today we received confirmation from our Waterstone Consultant that we have pre approval for our loan. It's still subject to a few bits and pieces, but basically this is the news we have been waiting for since last November, so we can finally get this house off the ground...but I guess we have to level the existing one first ;) !

We also had our colour appointment this morning at Cosham. Although we were totally prepared and new exactly what we wanted (apart from grout colours!), the appointment still took 2 1/2 hours to cover everything. I wont go into all the colour details at this stage as I am working on a colour board to post, then I'll list them all. It's all very neutral, and will add colour with the decorator items.

...now I can safely go shopping for things!

First of the Boxes Go!

It's been a long time coming, but today we finally sorted out the storage (they are brand new and still don't have EFTPOS). Unfortunately for us it was pouring rain at the time, so the Territory was backed up as close as possible to the front door to pack. Driving over the lawn and garden? Yeah, well who cares about that now! It'll all be history in a few months time.



...at least my lounge room has more room to move in it now!

The countdown to colours is on too. Only 3 more sleeps!! I'm pretty confident in our colour choices, but it still is quite a worry, just hope that everything falls in to place.

We all went to look at the Henley Majestic that's up for auction in the area this afternoon. It still has a lovely homely feel about it, and I will be interested to see how much it goes for next week...if it does. They put in the most expensive fire place, mantle and Caesar Stone surround in the lounge (approx $11,000), but there is one thing missing out the back...an alfresco (and of course a TV point to go with it! ;) )

On with the packing!

Electrical plan and loan application.

Today we had another trip to Henley to apply for our loan and to discuss the electrical plan. We will find out next Friday whether we can borrow the amount we require. It works out at 51% of what we are able to borrow, so personally, I don't think we have a problem...but the bank may think otherwise!!

We discussed our electrical plan with our lovely Sales Consultant, and are happy with what we have chosen. It works out to be almost $5000 extra, but considering most of the upgrades are low voltage downlights to the ground floor, it's not too bad! On a suggestion from our Sales Consultant, we have included a TV point in the alfresco area! It's only $67 extra, and in the grand scheme of things, it's minuscule in comparison to the price of the house! How great would it be on a balmy summer's night to sit in the alfresco watching the cricket ;). Oh, and Grand final party at our place next year!! ;)

We also have confirmation that we are able to have the 'Guildford' Facade, although the price has risen by $1000, it's still a lot cheaper than some of the other facades! We have, however, increased the eaves from 300mm to 450mm, and will find out the exact price at our tender appointment on 7th July. I'm expecting at least $4000 to do so. We are also able to swap the 2 smaller lounge windows to the 1 larger dining window (and vice versa), as it faces north. We figured there is no point having a large window facing south, looking onto the neighbours house. Better to have it facing north, and capturing the full winter sun. We can also add the extra window to the meals area, which also faces north. The family/meals predominantly faces west, but the inclusion of the grand alfresco will help shade the house in Summer. The north window on the meals will let in more light in winter as well.

One variation with the facade we asked, but are unable to have, is the decorative mouldings around the 6 front elevation windows and garage door, to dress the facade up a little and look more like the Royalston facade (which is $18,200 extra for 'part render'). We can always add this after if we feel the need.

We are also able to have the doors to the kitchen/meals/family swung the other way so it doesn't interfere with the access to the kitchen.

Another variation we asked about today, was to have the garage internal access door swinging the other way, so it opens into the hallway, not the garage. This would allow more space in the garage to park the car, without fear of bashing the car when opening the door! There is sooo much to think about when planning a house, and being a double story, we have to make sure everything is 'correct' in the ground level as access is limited! We can always add extra lights and power points to the top storey at any stage, but it gets very tricky with the bottom...especially in terms of ceiling lighting!

Our lovely Sales Consultant was very patient today, and we want to thank him for all his time and suggestions to us!

My apologies for the complete lack of photos..but there really is nothing to photograph! I will try and take pics tomorrow of the things I will miss in the current house, but I'm sure I'll bombard the blog with pics next week of our colour selections!

Demo and Flooring Quotes.

Last Saturday we had a guy from one demo company out to give us a quote for the house/garden. He came up with $9500, which we thought was very reasonable. We will cut down the trees in the front garden ourselves, and most of the ones out the back we will try and keep. We thought there would be lots to salvage from our house, but as it turns out, the salvage yards are no longer accepting stuff from them. We have clinker bricks, colonial widows and shutters (including a floor length bay window), the kitchen and the bathroom which we thought could be worth quite a bit. There are also beautiful hardwood floor boards throughout, but we learnt they will not recycle ones that have already been polished. Oh well...still a pretty good price to be under 10 grand. I have thought about selling our picket fence and red brick paving on ebay to get a little extra cash!! If you are interested send me an email! I would like to salvage some of the floorboards and turn them into our huge desk top which will run the width of the study...would be nice to have some of the old house in the new! I'm also thinking of attempting to remove the grey slate tiles from our porch to use in the new porch.

I also received a quote for the flooring. It actually wasn't as expensive as I thought...given it is one of the top brand woven carpets! The Silkwood Spotted Gum and the Brintons carpet came in at just under $29K. It still is a HUGE amount, but if the carpet lasts for 30 years, then it is well worth it. I was expecting over $35K



I also took a trip to Cosham yesterday for the last time before we have our colour appointment. For once I actually spent some time with one of the designers there, who we will be seeing for our appointment next Wednesday. Usually when I visit the girls are so busy with clients it's hard to get any questions in! She was so helpful with guiding me on my kitchen and bathroom colours, with some wonderful suggestions as well. I am now pretty set on my kitchen, and have also scrubbed the original 'Stipple Cocoa' off the list completely! I just feel it is such an 'in' colour now, that 5 years down the track I will regret my choice. It's all now quite light and fairly bland...but not white! This way I can add any colours with it, and it will look good. I'll let you know all the details of each room after our appointment next Wednesday.

We have completed our electrical plan, and are now going to Henley on Saturday to go through it with our Sales Consultant, and also to apply for the loan!!

I'm still packing, and there are boxes absolutely everywhere, but at least this weekend we will have access to storage...finally!! Things are progressing nicely, but it will still take time before we officially start the building.

I also noticed in the realestate insert in our local paper there is an 18 month old Henley Majestic up for auction in Mt Waverley. Their asking price is over $1,000,000. I couldn't resist and had a look through it! It's so beautiful! If not sold prior to auction, I'll go along to see how much it goes for.

We Have A Revised Quote!

Great news all around at the moment!! We took a little trip to Henley over the long weekend, spoke to our Waterstone Financial Consultant, and will apply for a loan in the next few weeks (still waiting on a pay slip!). We also revised our quote with the added changes and additions, and have had confirmation that we will have the base price from March if we can sign the contract before the 30th September. This is fantastic news, and will save us $14,000...which, no doubt, will get spent in colour upgrades (bricks, electrical plan, different tiles, stair options etc..etc...etc!)

I also took the plans to a flooring shop to get a quote for the floorboards and carpet. I've asked for a quote on Boral's Silkwood 'Spotted Gum' and Brinton's Bell Twist in 'Mushroom'. I'll find out in a few days time what the damage will be!!

Organised to have a quote from a demolition company on Saturday morning, and I'll speak to the electricity company tomorrow regarding the installation of a pit.

We have also realised a new storage place has opened up around the corner from us and they have an opening special of 30% off for the first 3 months! They are open 7 days a week too!

Things are moving quickly, and I have soooo much to organise...and I still refuse to get excited until the papers are signed!

Many thanks, once again, to the wonderful staff at Henley...lets hope the build goes as smoothly ;)

Appointments Booked.

I was able to talk to our Pre Site Customer Service Admin yesterday, and she kindly emailed through the results of the soil test and survey. We have sandy, silty soils and will require a strengthened 'M' class slab. There is also a little concern over trees and the need for root barrier along the slab, but I assured her the trees on our property will not be there! The huge Gum on the nature strip (which the Council refused to cut down earlier) may be of a problem as well as a tree in the Neighbour's front garden. This will all be seen to by an engineer once the existing house has been demolished, and further soil tests are conducted.

We have a fall of up to 1000mm from right to left across the property, so a cut and fill will be required for our slab, and the possibility of retaining walls along the 'fill' side as the garage is to be along the boundary. All will be decided with an engineers report.

We have made our colour appointment for June 25th, and our tender appointment for July 7th. I was back at Cosham this morning looking at tiles and splashback colours and discovered we are unable to choose any colour for our glass splash in the kitchen, but only from their selection they have. This narrows down the choice significantly and makes me want a white kitchen even more as any of their samples clash awfully with the Stipple Cocoa.

There is also some disagreement with our base price of the house, what we have been lead to believe we are entitled to pay (since having our deposit down since November), and what our Admin has told us we are to pay. I won't go into the details but obviously there is a communication glitch between the Admins and Sales Consultants with regards to their pricing policy. Hopefully things will sort themselves out and everyone will be happy!

We are looking into storage facilities in our area as well. There are a number of them, but 2 have been crossed off the list already! One has room available but up a flight of stairs, and the other isn't open 24hrs, and not at all on a Sunday! Highly inconvenient for both of them.

I'm still packing...and now stressing!

Things are moving quickly....

My Husband had a call from Henley today with the results of the survey and soil test. They also want to make a time for the Colour and Tender appointment! Wow!! He refered them onto me, but I have been unable to get back in contact with them at the moment.

I think it's time to get out all the plans again and decide on our electricals too! I really should make a decision about the kitchen as well...

...time to seriously start packing! :)

Contour Survey Done.

The contour survey was done this morning (apparently...I wasn't home!). It will be interesting to see the outcome, how much the site will need to be cut and filled, and whether we will require expensive retaining walls. I guess we will find out soon enough!

Nothing much else to report at this stage, still have decisions to make with the colours, and waiting patiently for the last payslip and a letter from the employer. I had a busy weekend packing up a few more boxes and digging up some plants from the garden I want to keep!