We're in!

As I'm sure you all know, moving is no easy task! Our move was especially complicated as our timber floors weren't ready for shoes (trying to explain to removalists that they can’t walk beyond the protective matting was impossible! I hope the scuff marks come out…), and we have no storage other than the vanities and kitchen. Our solution…move everything in to the garage! We are far from settled, however despite the chaos, we do have some pretty photos to show:

Our kitchen! - We hope to purchase some bar stools this weekend

The kitchen - waiting on blinds to be installed

Kitchen - We will eventually buy a nice, big stainless steel fridge (that's an expense for after the wedding!)

The media room - still needs blinds and a rug (and the projector!). This is also a sneak peak of our carpet. I will post more photos of it later.

Our dining room table and chairs (recently purchased from Ikea) - still waiting on feature cabinetry in-between the pylons, as well as blinds and a bar, which we will be (eventually) having installed in the niche behind the table. The table is extendable, though we only have six chairs at the moment.

When we have a bit more time (and hopefully some proper internet) I will post more photos.

The house still has some issues, but Fairmont are working through fixing them and overall we’re loving the house and location.

Still to go:

-       Our blinds have been ordered and will go up in a few weeks.

-       Mick’s father will be installing our laundry cabinetry (if it arrives in time) next week and helping Mick get started on the hard landscaping

-       We had the house measured for security screens and fly screens today and are awaiting the quote

-       Mick’s friend is finishing off the data-cabling and is bringing another friend (they are all data electricians) to install our TV antenna and hook up our projector this Sunday

- Unpacking, unpacking and more unpacking! (oh, and have I mentioned the washing that comes with unpacking..? *sigh*) 

Sneak Peak at the Timber Floors

Mick and I spent Sunday preparing our house for the timber floors being finished Monday and Tuesday. Mick put up a black plastic barrier between the upstairs and downstairs while I swept the entire downstairs. We also covered the oven and range hood with black plastic. The aim: to try to stop the onslaught of red dust that will come from the sanding. Whether we were successful or not, we won't know until tomorrow night when we can walk in socks on our floor. 

Plastic barrier to the upstairs.

Plastic on our appliances.

The preparation we feel will be worth it (not to mention the expense) as our floors look MAGNIFICENT!!! They aren't the best pics, but here are some sneak peaks:

Hallway.

Study

View into formal living room from the garage.

And the maple step has come up beautifully!

I am seriously in love with our floor. It is beautiful and rustic (a lovely juxtaposition to the more contemporary elements in our home). Even though I am now unwell (thanks Mick), I don't care and have even been happy to brave the cold just to be around our floors. Silly I know!

Still to come: The carpet goes down Friday, the removalists turn up 7am Saturday and I'm meeting Tracey, our Kresta rep, Sat morning for a final measure and quote on our blinds. I will also be double-checking my blind colour choices, especially now the flooring will be done - I've already decided to tone-down the choices for the formal living rooms and kitchen/meals so as not to compete with the very strong floor.

The count down to move in day has begun!

Window Coverings

On Saturday I met with Tracey, our Kresta Blinds rep, and selected our window coverings. Tracey was extremely helpful (as were the ladies in the Campbelltown store when we popped in a week or so ago) as Mick and I were quite unsure what to choose at first. Tracey recommended roller blinds, which was an option we were considering, to suit the contemporary vibe of the house. As I was looking through her amazing samples, Tracey set about measuring, and I soon fell in love with a very vibrant and contemporary aubergine-coloured fabric. Tracey confirmed it went with our feature wall colour (it was great to have another person's perspective). I soon discovered that there were several other colours in the same patterned fabric that leads me to believe that the company that designed them must have had our house in mind! They are a blockout fabric, which is great for privacy and avoiding the sun, but I also wanted something that would provide privacy during the day, but still allow the sun in. So, I quickly found a beautiful geometric sheer. It looks like rice paper! We will be coupling the sheer with the blockouts throughout (I also hope the sheer will disguise the view of our neighbour's house).

Without further ado, here is a sneak peak of our choices:

From top to bottom: Sheer, red, black, white and purple.

The purple will go throughout the downstairs, except in the study (shame they didn't have a blue) which will be white. Then the red will go in the TV room, the black in the master bedroom and white in all the other bedrooms. The only fly in the ointment are the french doors that lead onto the balcony. Because they open inwards, and have a large handle, the blinds have to be mounted on the outside (rather than under) the frame of the doors, and we're not sure how this will look... Hmmm, will have to do some more thinking.

At any rate, I am very excited about our selections and can't wait to see them installed!

A Quick Update

Mick is still unwell so he worked from home today and, for the first time, he could do it from OUR home! Yep, we bought Mick a fancy fold-up chair so he could work in (relative) comfort. This also meant that Fairmont could send some trades out to connect the hot plates and fix the balcony doors which didn't close properly when unlocked. Mick also installed the pendant light bulbs. Here's a pic:

Tomorrow Mick and his friend are finishing their data-cabling handiwork and I'm meeting with a lady to order our window coverings. Exciting times ahead!

Keys at Last!

Poor Mick has been off sick the last couple of days, but at least it meant he was able to collect our keys yesterday afternoon. Yippee!

The house isn't without it's issues (for one, the gas cooktop isn't connected and we don't have the second garage/alarm clicker or alarm pin...), but at least we finally have a house!

The timber flooring is scheduled to be sanded and polished Monday-Tuesday. We also hope to book in the carpet installers for the following Friday and removalists Saturday-week.

More photos and updates to come...

Hand Over Postponed

So our house isn't ready, and to make matters worse we're currently battling with the A/C manufacturer who don't want to honour our warranty because they've suddenly decided that they don't like the placement of the exchange unit as it differs to the original plans council approved (council have since approved of the new location in their inspections). The installer wrote a very strongly worded email on the subject, to which we replied in kind. One excerpt I will share with you from my email which I feel actually sums up a lot of issues we have encountered while building, is this:

"Ultimately this matter should have been weighed against building standards/regulations, council requirements and manufacturer recommendations by the professionals we have paid (and who have been licenced) to make such decisions."

We are not the experts, and when we are told that the installer has suggested we can move the unit, we take it on good faith that they know what they are talking about and won't turn around six months later and try to get out of giving us a warranty.

Anyway, I spoke to Fairmont, and they are currently working with the A/C installer to come up with a compromise that will enable us to have a full warranty, but it should never have got to this point. I will not be recommending this A/C installer to anybody, nor will we ever use them again.

Other points holding up handover are the paint and electrics. The painter should be in tomorrow and the sparkys on Friday, however we're not confident the house will actually be ready Friday. The glazing issue, which has been going on since August last year, is still not fully resolved. Fairmont is waiting for the glazier to provide the replacement panes for Bed 1 and the Laundry (Bed 1's wardrobe pane is currently opaque but should be clear and vice-versa for the laundry window). 

Another issue is the gap between the front pylon and driveway. It looks horrible and is one of the first things you see when visiting the house. We are unable to, at such short notice, get the right size tile - though because of the front fascia tile, they would never perfectly line up anyway. For the sake of symmetry, and so that it doesn't stand out immediately to the eye, we have asked that the grout line up and be centered again:

As always, we will keep you posted.

Shiny Things for the Media Room

Just to make up for the month without an update, we've decided to post three in two days (it must be some kind of record or something!). But it's tough to churn things out on your own. So back by popular demand (see his other post here), is my other half with a much-anticipated Media Room Update! Take it away Mick...

So we drove past Harvey Norman last night and they had a 3 HOURS OF POWER!!! sale going on. I've had a shopping list of bits and pieces I wanted in the Media Room for quite a while now, and I wanted to double check the speakers they had on sale. Well, everything was on sale even if it wasn't supposed to be!

The sale was only for stocked items but I think we made it worth their while to give us a good price on almost everything we wanted - in stock or to be ordered in. We made a spur of the moment decision to go up to a bigger amp and to go down to a smaller projector, but we're pretty sure that we've ended up with good quality items which will make the Media Room work really well.

On To The Stuff!!!!

We initially wanted the Epson EH-TW9100W projector, which was more expensive than the 8100, has THX certification and wireless HDMI. Since we like a lower price, don't care about THX certification (all other specs are the same) and have HDMI cables ready to go we were happy to drop down to the 8100.

Epson EH-TW8100

Our room is 3.5m wide and this screen will take 2.7m of it. We don't know much more about it, but it seemed pretty good for the demo and it is motorised, which can only be a good thing.

Tauris Screen 120" Motorised

We really wanted the Yamaha RX-V773 amplifier but it was a run-out model and we missed out on their last one. It has been replaced by the RX-V775, which only has a small difference anyway. The Harvey Norman demo system uses the RX-V2073 to drive the speakers we also bought, and has a LOT more inputs and settings than the 773/775. They gave us around 40% off RRP so we figured more power was always better :-)

Yamaha RX-V2073

Not sure what we're going to plug into this many inputs, but they sure look impressive! (Edit by Ash: I call it the "Boss Amp!")

The amp can drive a full 9.2 system but with our room design we really only need 5.1. If we want to go crazy later, the wall cabling is waiting for 7.1 but we're not sure that'll be necessary. In any case, we're sure we can drown out the neighbour's drumming (Edit by Ash: Oh yes, you read correctly) with this system so it should be fine.

Klipsch F-30 Home Theater System

PCI

We powered through our thirteen page checklist during our PCI today and spotted some issues, but all still seems on track for hand-over Wednesday. Here are some pics:

Kitchen appliances will be installed at hand-over to minimise risk of theft (I probably should have moved Mick's jacket...)

I LOVE my bookshelf

Fridge space, wine rack and pantry

Our microwave space, complete with shelf

Powder room

Feature niche in hallway

The wider step is much more usable (raised platform to be carpeted)

Ensuite toilet

Our shiny ensuite

Ta da! Like our TV room feature wall colour? Worth the effort we feel.

TV room window

View of our master bedroom from the TV room

Main bathroom - glad we chromed the waste pipe

Bath, niche and skylight

 

View from the bath (yep, I hopped in!). How's the serenity...

Our fancy tap

Main bathroom

Towel rails in main bathroom

View from Bed 3

Some galahs monkeying around out the front . Good to know our cockatiels will have company during the day.

We have to compile our list of defects, pass it on to the builder and hope for keys next week!

Could That be the Sound of Keys Jangling..?

It has been a while between updates as things have been moving at a snail's pace. However there is light at the end of this long tunnel. We have our tentative completion inspection set for tomorrow and hand-over scheduled for Wednesday.

Here are some photos and brief updates:

So, here she is in all her glory. Do you like the new windows?

Balcony privacy screen

Plaster still to be cleaned from the tapware

Our bath

Towel rails in the main bathroom

Heated towel rail in the ensuite (hopefully it will be hard-wired)

Some walls aren't square

We had one of the small stairs in the media room filled...

...and we widened the other.

Our driveway when it was first poured

Don't let this post fool you, we have a massive list of (mostly) small things that need to be fixed for hand-over to happen. But we are quietly confident, so we have scheduled our timber floors to be sanded and polished next Thursday and Friday and the carpet installed the Friday after that. We hope to spend the long weekend moving some items in ourselves ahead of the big move on the 15th. Let the fun and games begin!