Shutters & Driveway!

It has been a while between posts, again! A few major things (OK, major in my opinion!) have happened such as plantation shutters have been installed and our driveway has been poured, yay! Was a bit of a debacle and drawn out process with the driveway because of the sewer pit but we got there in the end. It looks fantastic. The pics I am posting are before the tint seal went on so the colour is now much darker than what it is in these photos, but you get the general idea anyway. It’s like a charcoal colour, I love it and it seems the norm around our estate.

I am in love with the plantation shutters! Very happy with them. After my disappointment with the double roller blinds (the flimsy openers etc but I have gotten over it now and don’t even notice it) I was kinda dreading the shutters but I am pleasantly surprised, they look great and actually make our little house seem a bit more spacious due to their sleekness and the bright white colour. I rather enjoy pulling up into the driveway and looking at the shutters that are on our bedroom window, it makes the façade look that much more beautiful. Now all we need is all the landscaping to be finished and we’ll be good!

Landscaping is a whole other thing. It’ll be at least another 6 months til that will be all finished if all goes to plan (and how often does that happen?!) but I like to think that 6 months is realistic anyway. We have to do retaining walls – another ongoing saga but we have FINALLY submitted to council for the second time. Actually our Engineer did, we asked him to do it for an additional fee as we didn’t want to waste more time if we were to get rejected again. So that was lodged 3 days ago but I can’t see us getting approved before Christmas, so it’ll be well into the new year I’d say. But we are going to order all the blocks soon so we are ready to rock as soon as we get that approval. The only thing we can probably get started with in the meantime is the decking of the alfresco and maybe the front patio, still deciding on whether we are going to get a concrete path leading from the driveway to the patio or not. It would only be small and regardless we will still deck the patio, but how it all gets done depends on whether or not we concrete a front path. But the decking won’t depend on the retaining walls whereas turf and gardens will so that will all have to wait until the retaining walls are up. We will also do a concrete path around the dead side of the house but cannot do that until our neighbours retain, but again that won’t be for a while because A) they haven’t finished building yet and definitely won’t be in before Christmas and B) we cannot expect that they will do their retaining walls straight away and I don’t blame them – as we have discovered all of these things take time!

So here are the pics of the shutters which also shows the front of the house with the driveway (pre-tint seal). Plus one of a beautiful sunset we had last week!

 

Main living area / dining

Main living area / dining

 

A spare bedroom (before the bed got pushed back)

Main bedroom (excuse the mess!)



Front Facade and driveway

Front Facade and driveway



Stunning sunset!

 

We're in!

Well it's been a little while between posts - handover happened on 23 September, carpet was laid on 24 September just in time for us to move in on 25 September!

We are loving our new house and have been enjoying some well earned time off work to set it up and make it a home. We still have a long way to go with decorating etc... but I am pretty happy with what we have achieved in the 9 days since we have moved in. All went well with handover and most of the things picked up at PCI were sorted, though as you would expect there is a growing list of minor bits and pieces for our maintenance period, but most of those are paint issues. A couple of our lights have died but the electricians are onto that.

Very happy with the carpet though not impressed that they have scratched walls in every room that carpet was laid - before they cut the carpet to size they had the excess lengths sitting up against the walls which caused scratches to the walls - we will definitely be getting those fixed when our painter comes back at the end of the maintenance period, some look really obvious. So if you do carpet after handover, look out for that! We have had our double roller blinds installed and just waiting for our plantation shutters to come in. I am a little disappointed in the blinds as the opener thingys are plastic and feel like they would break at the drop of a hat, we will just have to be extra careful when we are opening and closing!

The night before we moved was chaotic as my sister in law went into labour and we were "on call" for when that happened as we needed to look after my niece whilst my brother and his wife were at the hospital. So I looked after her whilst poor Vas spent the evening disassembling our furniture without my help - but luckily his Dad helped him out :) we were blessed with another beautiful niece, Lola Eve. It was a very late night then an early morning for the move, then after the removalists had been we were dying to go meet our new niece, so we went up to the hospital for a cuddle. Wow, what a hectic 24 hours that was!

Anyway, here are some pics. Once again a big shout out to our SS, Iain - he made our building experience enjoyable and we would definitely build with McDonald Jones again.

How amazing are our temp blinds haha. Still a lot of accessorising to do...

Love my theatre room lamp!

That chandelier is coming down unfortunately - it sits waaaay too low :(

Practical Completion Inspection

We had our PCI yesterday and all went really well - no major issues at all. Mainly just paint touch ups, cleaning some areas of brick work, towel rails etc still to be installed and our walk in robe door doesn't close properly but other than that not too much of a list! Of course we will see more things once we move in, and today we have Howard Ryan going through for an inspection to pick up anything we may have missed so will be interested to see that report. Handover is booked in for Tuesday after work - extremely excited! Appliances (except for dish washer) had been installed and look AMAZING! Splashback looks stunning as well, very happy with it.

Have booked in our carpet installation for Wednesday as well as a measure and quote for a Clearshield front door, and our hot water system will go in on Wednesday too so we can pop on our steel strips straight away to try prevent the unit being stolen. We have called a plumber to come out (hopefully he can make it on Wednesday before our fridge goes in anyway!) to install the water point for behind the fridge.

Thursday is moving day! And NBN will be connected on Monday 29th :) Busy times but looking forward to a couple of weeks off work, been a while since we've had a decent break and looking forward to just settling in and making our house a home!

Fence is down!

Yesterday morning I had to duck out to the house as the guy from Accent was there doing the final measure for our shutters / roller blinds, it was awesome to be able to go inside yet again and check out the flooring and the other progress that has occurred over the last week or so. The cleaners were in the other day and the shower screens and windows are looking sparkly and clean :) when I pulled up out the front the first thing I noticed was the security fence was gone! The house looks so much prettier without it! Our flyscreens have also been put up. Sounds like all that is left is splashback, appliances, silicone sealing in the bathrooms and hot water system (which will be lucky last after all the thefts that occurred recently).

We will hopefully have our PCI early next week, hoping to hear from our SS in the next day or so to book it in - very exciting! Hopefully the list will be minimal, we will wait and see :)

The end is nigh!

Took my inlaws to check out the house today as they have been overseas for the last 3 months so the last time they saw the house was when the frames had gone up! They loved it and we came across a few pleasant surprises ourselves, such as the installation of the shower screens, mirror sliding wardrobes and the shelving / cabinetry in our WIR. Other things (that we knew were happening) was the Gerflor flooring has been laid and all our tapware has been installed, as well as our air conditioning! Love the flooring but sure I will love it even more when it is clean but it's completely to be expected that it is dirty and dusty at the moment.

All I can think of that needs to be done before handover is splash back, skirting boards, flyscreens and the ceiling fan in our master bedroom is yet to be installed. There are probably a few other things I can't think of but we are definitely very close to PCI.

Here are some not so good pics of the flooring, taken through the window:

We've been bagged (and painted)!

Went out to the house today to see the bag and paint for ourselves and I must say I am SO happy with how it looks, the pics don't do it justice (as you will see in every pic it looks like a different colour). Most of the electrical looks to have been completed and bathroom sinks have been installed. Flooring is scheduled to go in this coming week as well as installation of shower screens etc...hopefully the splashback will go in too.

Whilst we were out there a tradie had to drop in for a minute so he kindly let us in to take a few quick snaps - warning, lots of photos ahead!

Front facade painted in "Twiggy" - LOVE!

Front entry pendant light

Ensuite shower recess

Ensuite vanity

Kitchen with pendant lights installed

Main Bathroom

One of the spare bedrooms - all with retractable blade ceiling fans

Benchtops are in & tiling complete!

Went for a drive past the house on my lunch break today, I was at the roundabout just outside of the estate on my way back to work and drove past a MJH car...thought nothing of it as I see them all around the estate, 10 seconds later my phone rings and it was my SS saying he just passed me at the roundabout and did I want to come back and have a walk through the house! I thought that was a really nice gesture to go out of his way like that - so I turned around and went back - I would never miss a free opportunity to go through the house, especially when he told me that the benchtops had gone in!

Tiling was complete last week and painting should be finished on Wednesday, including the Moroka at the front, the weather isn't looking good for the rest of the week though so I will be surprised if they get the outside done. Flooring is scheduled to be installed next week. We should be getting a letter late this week / early next week with the final payment amount as well as PCI date!

Here are some pics from today:

Kitchen!

Ensuite shower

Ensuite vanity

Bathroom

Bathroom vanity

Bathroom shower

The lone Laundry tub!

Painting in full swing and tiling has started!

The first coat of paint has gone on and I must say it looks amazing, I am really happy with our colour choices (Stonebridge for all areas except for both bathrooms and laundry, which are Tombstone). Just the first coat alone looks great so I can't wait to see it once it is complete. The front door has also been stained and I absolutely love it. Eventually it will be covered up with a Clearshield security door but at least we can enjoy it from the inside :) All the internal doors have also been painted including the gorgeous Lin1 doors.

The tiling also started yesterday, had a text from MJH telling me so. I went out there for a drive today to check out any potential flooding and to my pleasant surprise it hasn't flooded! A couple of small puddles here and there but nothing worth writing home about so I am very happy about that. Whilst checking out the back yard (from another empty block near us, didn't venture into ours) I could see the laundry tiles and I am very happy with those, they tie in with the paint colour nicely :)

All in all, coming along nicely. I'll get some pics when I can. Shutters and roller blinds have also been ordered - exciting!

DA lodged for Retaining Walls

As I have mentioned previously, we have had an Engineer come out and assess our needs for our retaining walls so he could draw up some plans for us to submit to Council. He has been fantastic and I feel like we are FINALLY starting to get somewhere with it after much frustration. It cost $1210 just for his services (which includes a couple of sites visits whilst the wall is being built) but unfortunately because the height our retaining walls need to be they have to be engineer designed, so no choice but to pay the money.

So we received the drawings from him the other day and I have just submitted our DA to Council. No idea how fast or slow Wollongong Council are but I hope they are fast! We would really like to make a start on these damn walls! Especially because the stage behind us has now registered, we were relying on the block behind us for access for our excavator and retaining blocks to be delivered. So fingers crossed we get in before they start building. Come on Wollongong Council!

Watch this space...

Painting has (sort of) started, tiles have arrived!

Painting has started, just slightly though, we went through today and some of the ceilings have had a coat done, the painters will be back on Friday to get into it properly. The tiles were also delivered and the tiler will be in next Tuesday to get started! We also met up with our consultant from Accent Blinds today to measure up for our plantation shutters and roller blinds. Our benchtops have been measured too, can't wait til they go in!

Our next door neighbours have finally started their build (also MJH) so I'm really looking forward to meeting them :)

Here are some pics of the kitchen and vanities:

Hope the installers enjoyed their maccas!

Ensuite vanity

Bathroom vanity

A couple of quick snaps...

...of the water tank and my white glossy kitchen!! I'm in love...can't wait to see it complete with benchtop and splashback! As predicted, there is reflection due to not being able to get inside!

Kitchen & Bathroom cabinetry - tick!

Kitchen and bathroom cabinetry was delivered early this week and install is finishing up today! Also saw we have our water tank when I drove past today too :)

SS called today and said our tiles should be delivered early next week, the bags of cement have already been delivered. Tiler should be able to start next week, he has just been a few days behind as he has been doing display homes. SS will call us early next week once the tiles are delivered so we can make sure they are the right ones.

Hopefully our guy will come in to measure for our shutters next week so we can get them ordered ASAP, don't want to be living with sheets on the windows for too long! Now that our skirting is on in our carpeted rooms I have called Choices to get them to go out and do their final check measure.

SS also mentioned that the slab has been filled in where we had the brick over hanging at the back of the house which is great! He said they will fill in the drilled out concrete in Bedroom 2 next week (where that wayward random pipe was originally placed).

I'll get out there on the weekend to take some snaps, though they will probably be the type where it's through the window with reflection now that we are locked out ;)

Locked out!!!

Today marks a very exciting day - we are officially locked out of the house! Garage door was being installed as I drove past, not long after Vas drove past and the garage was complete and closed, he got this pic though it is a little dark, but the garage is Caoba.

Kitchen to be installed this week as well as bathroom vanities with tiling commencing next week hopefully!

Some pics...

2 updates in one day!

Just some pics really, as I did a drive by during lunch and a few mins later our SS rocked up! He kindly showed me through the house, so I used the opportunity to take some snaps:

We have a front door!

Kitchen

Living / Dining

Theatre Room

Master Bedroom, looking to Ensuite & WIR