Work has kept me so busy I've neglected my blog; We've finally unpacked most of our stuff and have been able to get the car in the garage. The landscaping started three weeks ago and we're hoping it'll be completed next week so we can have a house warming party. Were only getting the bare minimum done with the landscaping - the front fence, retaining walls around the back, paving the alfresco & laundry / garage area and putting in turf. No plants. This will just have to be a WIP.

We haven't had too many issues with the house, just the front door lock breaking and the pump in the water tank stuffing up - this is still an issue, hoping someone will fix it next week. Had not noticed but this had been turned off the whole time and when we turned it on it was stuffed.

We still have no blinds, have not organised anything yet I'm still undecided as to what to have. I think this will have to wait post xmas as funds have depleted somewhat due to the landscaping and bits and pieces we've bought for the house.

I'll post some pics next week of the landscaping, cannot wait to be able to open the bifold doors and sit outside and soak up the sun.

Finally here are some pics of our house...we have had such a busy last couple of weeks moving, cleaning, packing & unpacking and to top it of I got a new job last week!!! so life's been very busy.


Entrance & stairs - I think getting EB to redo the stairs has paid off, very happy with this result.


As mentioned in my previous postings I was very happy with the carpet colour, matched the tiling perfectly.
French doors to the study downstairs
front room - still not sure what type of window coverings to have here??? should I get shutters? or curtains?
back area with bi-fold doors to alfresco area - cannot wait to get this outside sorted out
this is now the rumpus room - full of play stuff - I think this is the best room in the house in terms of the light & getting the morning sun
my kitchen - very happy now that almost everything is unpacked
love the mosaic tiles in the kitchen - not sure if I should put a glass over the top...

this is the end result of the double tiling, could not wait another month or two to sort this out so we are just living with it, the independent inspector we had thought it was acceptable.
my new white lounges in the front room, now with lovely cushions; would love to get some built-in bookcase in this room and some tables would be good too.
these are the new taps we replaced as the other ones were hard to get your hands underneath to wash your hands - thanks EB....EB did pay for half these taps but when the plumbers installed these taps when we moved in they also took the old ones. Let me say that again EB installed taps which were not usable we paid for 6 new taps (almost one thousand dollars )and EB paid half. The new taps which we paid for were installed and the plumbers took the original ones....So now these taps are installed, the tiling needs to be redone as there are large holes - I'm not really sure how this has happened as the whole point to getting these taps were that they were the same shape. They use the same back....so who knows if these will ever get fixed now??? I told my SS straight away but I think he is now MIA
my kitchen at night - with the rangehood & oven installed. I had drama after drama with these appliances, I had to get Smeg out as one of the cooktop didn't work, one of the oven buttons was faulty and whoever installed my rangehood forgot to take this flap out so it was very noisy. All is fine now. Gabrielle kitchen came out to sort some stuff out and I'm hoping they are coming out again, they kindly installed my trim kit for the microwave which looks great. Have ordered some stuff for the drawers. Since the rangehood was just installed - the cornice has to be fixed. Again I told my SS this in the first week we moved and have not heard from him...hhmmm
loving my kitchen
daughters room with new bed & quilt
our bed with new curtains, have ordered bed side lamps but has taken forever to get...another drama.

Managed to get computer access this afternoon but no time for blogging....will be out of action till Wed when hopefully will get internet access - can't wait to post some pics then.

WE HAVE KEYS

Hooray!!!! We finally have our house, it was very exciting driving my car up the driveway for the first time and opening the garage door. Finally being able to get in my house.

I didn't get a chance to take photos this afternoon but will definitely take photos before we start the move this wkend. I will be doing lots of cleaning first, cleaning and more cleaning. Then we'll be packing, packing and more packing.

We moved out of our flat in 2006 so I'm looking forward to unpacking stuff we put in storage since that time. We bought the block in Dec 07 so it has taken us one and half years to get to this point. 4mths stuffing around not knowing what to do who to go with, then signed up with EB it took 5mths from tender to contract stage and 10mths construction stage.

Thank God that's over - EB must have been celebrating this afternoon just like we were tonight.

There was one main rectification last week and that was to redo the flashing in the front, which was rectified earlier in the week...so we were hoping to settle last week but there was a stuff up with the bank.

The bank valuer stuffed us around, we had lodged weeks ago to get the final valuation done so we can get the final settlement cheque - their excuse was that we or the builder hadn't returned their calls. Well it's hard to return a phone call when you didn't get it in the first place.

Then there was more drama to be had when the valuer eventually came to see the house but my SS was running late and the valuer couldn't wait for him; so he left and he didn't see the house. So then we had to speak again to the bank to organise the valuer again....nothing has been smooth sailing for us with this build so should have expected something to go wrong with this also.

The valuer came on friday so maybe Tues or Wed we can bloody settle this whole thing.... I can't imagine anything else could go wrong from here?? surely???

To do list:
packing again, lots of packing
on settlement - EB will change the locks, install appliances, taps & mirrors, fix some electrical stuff
work out window coverings
lots of cleaning & sealing of grout
more packing
hopefully get the place leveled so we can put a fence up on the corner side

Pre-settlement Inspection

The painters finally came on Wed and Tyrrell's also. Our independent inspector came on Friday to check the issues which were found in the PCI and unfortunately he didn't think the rectification for the flashing was satisfactory so we are hoping EB will get this fixed early this week.

Not sure if this is going to happen now as Tyrrell's signed-off on it already....I told my SS that I wasn't comfortable in signing the PCI when this was still an issue so hoping he does the right thing and get it fixed.

There were other things outstanding from the PCI which didn't get rectified, the striker plate on the doors - so the doors don't close properly in the wc & spare bedroom; the pantry door painting didn't get fixed up; we still have the curved t-bar in the garage; no cover for the manhole; my laundry security door still not changed (EB installed the wrong colour) and there are things which apparently will happen at settlement such as the locks changed, the hot water system installed, mirrors installed - my SS is worried that this will get stolen if we get this done before settlement - but my aircon is in - I hope no-one steals this...

We also found out last week that we don't have gas mains on our street, we only found out last week!!! this is like we'll put taps in but won't check if you have water mains...not sure if we were meant to check this???? but surely if they are providing us with the gas hot water they would check first if this was ok???? I was surprised that our street didn't have gas so now we have to get bottles put on the corner side of our house - which won't look to flash.

I called Gabrielle kitchen last week to see if they can fix some of the scratches I found when we did our PCI, my SS kept saying that the cleaners will clean it but I could tell it wasn't dirty the paint was scratched and also they drilled holes in the back of the cupboard under the sink and to cover it they just put a laminate sticker over the top so I wanted them to put a false back to cover this....hoping they can come next week. I also want to ask them about my cutlery tray as I think someone swapped mine for their old ones...why should I get skanky old ones...