Pendant lights anyone?

We only chose one.. for over the dining room table :)

Our neighbor up the road put us on to his electrician, who came by today to install a couple of lights. Thanks Chris! :)

There was an issue with the pendant light fitting that caused a bit if a scare.. I was thinking I might have to take it back, and who knows where the receipt is now. When it was installed, the lone arms were quote bent. Anyway, the electrician pulled the light apart and fixed it all up.

First up, the entrance light in the hall.

And now for the pendant.

Yep, that's me in the mirror.. :)

Closeup

And finally, a letterbox!

I went to council today and lodged the Development Application modification for the retaining walls out the front. This is where we plan to build the 'real' letterbox - in to the block retaining wall. So for the time being, a cheapie from Bunnings. No level. No concrete.. just pushed into the ground.. Professional I know :)

All moved in!

Well, what a whirlwind week it has been! Has been really busy with moving and then work in between we have not had a chance to blog anything.

Last Thursday I took the day off and painted the girls' feature walls. This was the agreement we made with them. They could have a fan in the rooms, or they could choose their own light and we would paint a feature wall. So here it is! Emily chose purple and Bella chose blue.

And after cutting in, this is the finished product. Still half masked though :)

On Friday we had our new TV installed, so I went and borrowed some foam mattresses from Kel's mum and surprised the girls with our first 'sleepover' at he new house!

We also had a concrete path laid around the back of the house. This will help keep the water away from the slab as it was pooling really badly around there. During the build it was at least 20cm deep! There is a little step down from the alfresco, but this was required to keep it the obligatory 70mm away from the termite barrier.

And of course the new dining room table and chairs! For those that know us, we have been using an old round pub table for many many years! Be gone with you pub table!

And the all important fridge that makes Kel happy :) The fitting for the water point was not correct for what the builder installed, but a quick run to Reece plumbing supplies late afternoon seen the correct fitting installed. We now have plumbed water and ice!

So for me today, I am taking another day off work. I will be going in to council today to submit a modification to our DA to change the retaining walls from timber, to block, and also to extend the front retaining from the patio out to the boundary, and along the front boundary so we can level the front yard a bit more.

Post handover day 2

Having had to work the rest of the week we have not had a chance to just take it all in! At least I have tomorrow off, so I can make a start on the feature walls in the girls rooms. Emily wants purple and Bella wants Blue. We purchased the paint a couple of days ago, and I managed to mask up Bella's room this evening ready for painting tomorrow.

Took a few pics... not a lot, but a couple to keep us going :)

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Ensuite

Ensuite

Kitchen

Kitchen

kitchen

kitchen

Front Door

Handover!

We now have the keys!

Unfortunately that is the only picture I have! As soon as we got the keys I went straight in to cleaning. There is a few items outstanding - the dreaded shutters for one!. Front and rear door seals are still sticking a little due to the weather seal. We will see how they bed in over the next couple of weeks.

Otherwise, happy with the result. Unfortunately I have to work today, but will be having tomorrow off to make a start on a few things...Some of the more immediate jobs to attend to:

• Paint the stairs in the garage - MJH did not include this would you believe? However they painted the sides, just not the treads,, Bit disappointing so they will hear about it in the feedback I provide(already got an email asking for feedback)
• feature walls in the girls rooms
• hang one pendant light and another flat light for the entrance
• Clean clean clean
• grout sealer
• Get approval from council to change retaining walls from timber to blocks.

Ideally, I would like to have most of this done by the weekend so we can move in.
We have a concreter coming today to form up a path around the back of the house. Really need to get the water away from the slab! He plans to pour on Friday.

Outdoor setting is delivered tomorrow, TV installed Friday and the fridge arrives he following Tuesday

Ill try and get some pics and update the blog again soon!

An outdoor setting?

We have been looking for an outdoor setting for a while, and today we were looking for indoor furniture.But while we were at the shops,we had a look inside an outdoor place and lo and behold, they had one that suited! I have to ask though, why do kids need to take photos at stupid angles? Why did I entrust the photo's to the 11yr old? ;)

9 Piece outdoor setting

We also went to Bunnings and the girls chose their paint colour for the feature wall in their rooms!

Purple for Emily and Blue for Bella!

Just some pics without the cage

Oh and the driveway has been painted... Bit rainy here today

The dancer posing

Delayed!

There will be NO handover this Tuesday, repeat NO handover.

Feeling quite pissed off with MJH right now.

The saga with the window shutters continues. That is, they are not ready and will not be ready for another 4 weeks.

Good Morning Brad,

I have spoken with your site supervisor in regard to your concerns. The shutters cannot be measured & ordered til the sills are installed internally. The company visits the site measure all windows. The order is then placed for the shutters & it takes up to 4 weeks for these to be made & delivered to site. If clients were to install their own blinds/shutters the process is the same, that they cannot measure til the sills are installed.

I can understand your frustration at the delays, on the positive we will be handing over the home well before the end contract date of the 5^th August 2014.

If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact the office.


So, we ordered the shutters back in May 2013. They had 12 months to organise this. Granted, they required the sills for measurements, but they were finished and painted by May 6 2014. So they have had a month already, but I was told this morning they will not be ready until the end of the month. Why were they not measured some time around May 6? They would of been ready to install now.

We chose to purchase the shutters through McDonald Jones so that we could simply walk in. Job done. It would of been cheaper to get them done after handover, but no, we chose to pay the extra for the convenience of not having to do this later. Now, to have a delay based on these shutters has really got me worked up.

I knew the contract date would appear at some point in my conversations with them, but really, all the brilliant experience has now been marked by their lack of planning. Had they simply measured and ordered when the sill were ready, as they state, we would be moving in this Friday or early next week.

Fence removed!

The fence has now been removed!

We are almost there!

Since the PCI we had a private building inspector also go through. He has found a few defects, but nothing really major. I have sent this off to the site supervisor for attention. The handover date was the 10th June but given the outstanding items,I am not sure we will make it. Given we have to get the bank to make the deposit 2 days prior and the Monday 9th is a public holiday.

Also this afternoon the valuer called as he needs to attend to the the final valuation for the bank, so he has been provided the builders contact details and will organise this.