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

It just keeps rolling on!

It is all going great guns at the moment. I had our weekly update from our SS this morning (yes he awesome, we get weekly updates with this one). Skirting boards have been installed in the areas we will be having carpet, first stage of water proofing has been done and will be complete soon (can't remember what day he said it will be complete but it must be soon as they will have the certifier go through next week to give it the seal of approval, no pun intended). Our internal doors have all been installed and so has our front door (which I saw when I did a drive by yesterday and I must say I absolutely love it, and it hasn't even been stained yet!). Also on my drive by I think I could see the cornices were done too.

Next week we will be locked out as our garage door is going up, and our kitchen and vanities are also going in next week! The following week our wet area tiles should be ready to go, our SS would just like us to come out and check them before they start the tiling, just to make sure they are definitely the right tiles.

The reason our skirting boards have only been installed in the carpeted rooms (bedrooms and theatre room) is because we are getting the carpet done after handover. McDonald Jones are doing our hard flooring and we have specified in our contract that we would like the skirting to go on AFTER the flooring has been done. We are getting Gerflor Vinyl Planking and were happy to go through McDonald Jones as their pricing was pretty competitive and it saved us the pain and effort of having to paint and install the skirting boards ourselves after handover.

Keep on rolling!