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 It has been replaced by the RX-V775, which only has a small difference anyway.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!

A Quick Update on the Driveway and Things

Not a lot of progress has happened (to our eyes at least) on site. The rain delayed the driveway which delayed other trades. Also, I think the small nature of the jobs makes it hard to coordinate the trades.

According to our builder this is the current (sort of) timeline:

·         Brickwork has been complete (where we had to knock a few bricks out to install the flashing for the windows)

·         Glazing to the windows has been installed

·         The carpenter has to finalize the Media room step. They will complete with the towel rail to main bathroom

·         The painter has half a day of touch ups, and repainting the feature wall, and architraves to the new windows

·         The powder coated screen to the side of the balcony is to be installed tomorrow (which is now today).

·         The Clipsal switches will be installed before handover.

Monday afternoon Mick is meeting the concreters and builder on site to review/approve the driveway formwork for pouring. How long everything takes from there I don't know.

What I do know is that this build is dragging out too long. We just want it done so that we can avoid the next huge round of storage fees and perhaps have something to show our family and friends at our engagement party in a couple of weeks.

EDIT: Mick is now going tomorrow to inspect the formwork. With a bit of luck they'll pour it Saturday and hopefully get the rest of the trades in next week. Wishful thinking? Probably.

So Close, Yet Still So Far

Like so many house builders before us, Mick and I are frustrated to be so close to keys and yet so far.

As usual, a few photos and a few issues:

Our bottom window has (almost) been replaced, it's just missing the solid middle panel. It already looks better. It's great to have this shot as you still have the top window to compare it to. The top window will be changed as well.

Our rangehood is lower than we wanted, but has been installed according to the manufacturer's instructions . It still looks great and is a real talking point. We think it will be something people either love or hate.

Our microwave cupboard. It's a dream to open and close.

Powder Room vanity and toilet. The drawers don't open or close properly. Hopefully that is something easily sorted.

Oh that darn pipe. We had wanted (and ordered) a wall-hung vanity, but alas, our raked ceiling made that impossible (as it did on a few things) and a compromise was this pipe. Problem is it is very visible as it is in line with the hallway, so unfortunately you see it a mile off (can't blame us/Fairmont for trying!). Time now to "bling" it up with a chrome sleeve and make it look purposeful... fingers crossed!

It is a nice vanity. Needs a bigger/better tap...*sigh* add it to the wish list! And the drawers are sticking :-S

The spa bath, another hard-fought battle. How's that tap!

This one sucks. We changed the towel rails in the Main Bathroom from 2 x 900mm doubles to 2 x 700mm doubles, as the space is tight. And despite our builder's best efforts (the 900's are sitting in their office to avoid confusion on site), the sub-contractors have drilled the tiles at the 900mm spacing instead of 700mm, and installed the 900mm that is supposed to be in the Powder Room. So, the tiles need replacing.

Holes  incorrectly drilled for the second 900mm towel rail.

Ensuite vanity. You know, of all the vanities it's copped a battering as ex-display stock, but it's the only one with drawers that work!

Ensuite shower. The hand-rail and rain-head are separately plumbed.

On the plan, the hand-rail is supposed to be on the other side of the rose (i.e. in-line with the edge of the seat). But, it has been installed now and is not worth removing the tiles and possibly disturbing the water-proofing. This way around it is easier to stand under it as a shower, we had just hoped to be able to sit and shower (still a possibility, it's just a little harder).

Ensuite toilet, toilet roll holder and spare toilet roll holder.

Our unsightly alarm system in our showcase (I wish) wardrobe is taking up so much room. Fairmont will ask the alarm company if they can move the wireless router thingy (I'm so technical) in between the box and powerpoint. This way we can more easily hide it in a cupboard (we only have room for overhead cupboards here, and the current configuration will make them sit too low).

Our video intercom/doorbell has been installed. It looks good, but it's installed in the middle of the bricks on the right side of the porch (as you face the house), and is not immediately obvious. I didn't even notice it. Wish we had specified that it be installed next to the door. Anybody about to build who is reading this blog, please take note to specify the location of EVERYTHING!

Entry video doorbell/intercom, alarm and light switches.

I can confirm that we are now having our driveway installed by Fairmont. It's not a fancy driveway, but it's not cheap (makes me wonder about the large/ornate driveways out there!). And because nothing has gone smoothly on this build, we can't have the shape/layout on our plans. The main reason is that there is a council tree right smack bang in the middle of where we'd like to run it. Knowing what a hassle it is to have council remove/move a tree, Mick has re-worked the design and this is our compromise:

The perforated black line is the old design. The yellow star is the tree and the curb can't come within 1m of the tree, so the yellow line is the new design. With our driveway pointing left and our house facing right, our place is going to be a bit wonky...just like us I guess!

 Still to do:

- Finish replacing the windows (front, WIR and laundry) and service the rest
- Finish installing the bathroomware, replace tiles in Main bathroom where incorrect holes drilled, install mirrors and fix drawers in vanities
- Chrome plate waste pipe in Main Bathroom
- Install water tank, HWS, A/C and kitchen appliances
- Replace the HPM powerpoints and lightswitches with the Clipsal we ordered
- Fix the myriad of red dots in the house (lots of the typical chips etc)
- Re-paint the TV Room Feature wall (have I mentioned that we changed the colour..? Stay tuned!) and re-paint the downstairs hallway niche (site supervisor had the wall sanded as it had some rough patches)
- Re-brick under back door
- Stain first stair tread
- Install screen on balcony
- Pendant lights in the kitchen to be installed
- Driveway
- Clean...and probably a whole host of other things we've forgotten!

Just a Quick Update...

...The house clean has been booked for next week and our "final" inspection is set for Sat 13th April. BUT we're still waiting on the replacement windows. As soon as they turn up (assuming we're happy with the inspection), we get keys!

In the meantime, we've asked Fairmont to quote on the driveway. It will likely cost us more to go through them, but A) we don't have to deal with contractors and B) if it gets us in sooner, we save money on storage fees.

We've also asked friends/family for a contribution towards landscaping (in the form of nursery gift-vouchers) as our engagement present.

I hope we can get the flooring completed in time for the engagement party, which is May 18th. Not that it really matters as we're not having it at home, but it would be nice to show people through.

Have a wonderful weekend!