SOLD!

Hi all,

Big Hi to Grandpa in Helsinki, hope you are having a great time!

As you might deduce from the title, we sold our current house. I can't believe it, it went unconditional last night, We sold in 8 DAYS, for the amount we wanted and with a 90 day settlement. We put it on the market because a house across the road was on for nearly 7 weeks before selling (fairly similar type house) and we thought that it might take that long to sell.

Ummmm, No, on the market Friday morning, inspection Saturday, inspection Thursday before Easter and then sold on the Saturday. Can you tell I am still in shock that it has all happened so fast?

So we have to be out by 9 July, I really hope PD is finished by then. I am getting less confident, the painter was supposed to start Easter week, then straight after Easter and still no appearance your worship! Now we are told the tiler is supposed to start on the 22nd. Well, we live in hope!!!

So since the last blog update there has been some action:

- The caesar stone bench tops have been installed = Good

- They forgot we are having an under bench mount sink so they did not put it in before fixing the bench top to the cupboards = Bad

- More back filling of our retaining walls = Good

- Only on one side of the block= Bad

- More washing of bricks so no more green bricks = Good

Um, and that would be about it. So for most of the last two weeks, zip, nada, nothing. So, no we have not paid the fix invoice yet. It's being insepcted Monday and we'll know where we are then.

Our CSC says we should be ok, she thinks, but they will not budge from 11 August, so we all may be sleeping in a row of sleepy bags on my father in law's lounge room floor if it goes past 8 July!!! Our SS had handovers on Thursday and Friday this week, so hopefully that means that he can concentrate on getting our house up to scratch and moving again.

News on the decorating the new house list:

We had decided on red ironwood floating floor. Our carpet store got in a box of the red ironwood for us to look at, so we could see exactly what we are getting. We thought a bit strange because we had chosen from a sample in the shop. As we are getting over 110sqm, which adds up to a bit, Neil wanted us to see a larger area and feel comfortable with it. So he ordered the packs and asked for one to be sent on approval. Well we went in last weekend and yuk, the pack was almost a honey brown colour instead of the red/pink of the sample. I know timber oxidises and darkens, but I am not waiting for 10 years to get the colours I thought I was getting from the sample they supplied. After lengthy discussions, we decided to look at a jarrah floor. Fast forward to this weekend and our sample pack of Jarrah arrived today. It's gorgeous! So we have now massaged the budget to include this extra cost.

On a brighter note, we went and choose most of the lighting for the new house and put a deposit down on them. So that is another thing off the list. Anyone else finding that it is just toooo easy to spend bucket loads of money quite easily when "shopping for the new house" LOL

Getting our concreteing quotes this week, so more ambulance action could be required LOL

Stopped Plaster and Cornice

Well, although it does not seem like it, a lot has happened this week. As of today all the plaster has been stopped, sanded and all the cornice is on. We really like the cornice we chose for the living areas, it's Concerto.

The waste pipe was moved in the powder room, so I assume they can come back now and fit that cabinet. Bath has been delivered and installed. Doors and architraves have been delivered. Shower bases formed in ensuite and bathroom. Looks like the spa does not fit in the cradle through, oops.
Now for the pics!

This is the formal lounge room, they have cut out for the fireplace now, if you look closely you can see the cornice.

The bi folds are in and look sensational. This is the view from the kitchen looking towards the alfresco area and dining room.

Bath arrived and was installed in the bathroom...

Deliveries this week, firstly a heap of architrave timber...

Our gorgeous front door, with a side light. We like a fairly classic sort of look, so we chose these from the Corinthian catalogue. We're both also fairly individual so it suits us to have what no one else is having.

And all our internal doors. We LOVE the classic look of these doors, they are 2.5m high as DH is quite tall. Our mirrored sliding robe doors are supposed to be there too. We can see the frames but not sure if the mirrors are there. We'll have to wait until they are installed. You can just see the sidelight peeking out the back.

Now, at K's special request, the spa and ensuite layout. We were a bit concerned about this because PD did not have it on display and did not have one being built at the time.
Firstly, the spa, decina duo...

Looking from the master bedroom into the ensuite..

Then moving into the ensuite looking across the vanity, spa dead ahead, shower in the corner...

Looking towards the shower and spa area...

And finally the shower base..

Hope you enjoyed the tour, K!

On another note, we are getting a bit concerned about our green bricks.
If you click on the picture and look at it, you can see some of our bricks are turning quite a nasty shade of green. We have let PD know about this but it seems to be getting worse.

Have a good one everyone!

Bricks and Spaghetti

Hello everyone!

What a fun week it has been so far this week. I fear we are becoming spoilt, as when we went to the house on Monday nothing appeared to have happened and we felt quite disappointed. I can't complain about our SS, he has the trades lined up to come in bang, bang, bang and so far everything has been great with the build. If it keeps up at this pace, I am sure that handover will be before 11 August. Fingers crossed!

I spoke to the SS on Tuesday, as we have to move the cold water point in the WIP. S has a bulging disc in his back from, you guessed it, moving a fridge! So, our cold water point has to go above the fridge so that we can change the filter without having to move the fridge every 6 months. He said he'd speak to the plumbers. He also said that we have to have the gas meter at the front of the house as it has to be 1 meter from the meter box and 600 from the HWS. He seems pretty pedantic about things, so it's going to be on the side of the study.

The Ducted Heating unit and the ducting were installed on Tuesday. S climbed into the roof to make sure it was the upgraded unit (while J had heart failure!!!!) and found that PD place an alarm on the heating unit. Makes sense I suppose given the price of these things, but it is a sad comment on the world we live in.

There's a heater up there somewhere...

Fit off of the plumbing inside the house...

The Gas lines to the hot water service were put in...

The offending cold water point in the WIP...


Then on Wednesday, the Plumbing was finished off and the brickies gear arrived on site. no brickies, just the gear. Thursday night we rocked up and BRICKS!!!!!

We have Nougat bricks by Austral. Like many other bloggers, when the bricks arrived I was not too sure about the colour. When we got to see the bricks laid up close, I was still not too sure and a bit disappointed. Then I saw the bricks in full sunlight and they were exactly what we chose. The colour looks soooo different in shade/filtered light compared to full sun. One thing though for anyone contemplating Nougat bricks, go the Off - White mortar, it really completes the look with the bricks.

Bricks!!!

From the front which is in the shade, the bricks look much darker ...

The brickie is really neat so far. This is full sun, bricks are much lighter..


When we got inside, the electrical rough in has started!! Spaghetti everywhere. We were trying to remember the data points, power points,foxtel cables etc. Need to take the plan up and compare.
Some of the spaghetti for the HT area...


More spaghetti and they are not finished..

And the last pic is of our timber window which was stolen and has been replaced!
Now that the electrical is in, we are going up Saturday to put in extra noggins where we need them for pictures, hand rails etc.

Have a great week everyone!