Sorry about the lack of updates, but we still don't have any internet at home (bloody Telstra!). We have been very busy over the last couple of weeks though, unpacking our house and helping my parents move into their new house too...just 5 minutes down the road from us!
Most of our house is unpacked now, but there is still quite a bit of work to do outside in terms of landscaping. Luckily mum and dad's new garden is so well stocked that we are the recipients of a heap of new flowers and fruit trees that dad has transported from the old house. Now to get planting...
Kitchen mantle
The coffee corner
Long shot of the kitchen island bench
Dining table
Hall table
Pantry
Family room
Family room & fireplace
Close up of the fireplace
Theatre room
Theatre room with the temporary TV cabinet
Spare bedroom
Master bedroom
Kody loves laying in this spot in the afternoon sunshine
We had a few dramas on the morning of handover, what with the gas bottles not being delivered on site, issues with the stove, and issues with the solar panel - but we got there in the end!
Keys!!
In addition to the keys, we also got a lovely hamper of welcome-stuff from Keogh:
It has been a very busy weekend of loading stuff, unloading stuff, and unpacking. Our storage lockers are basically empty, but there is still quite a bit to move from our bedroom at (our old) home.
Huge thanks goes to all of our friends and family who stopped by over the weekend to lend a hand.
The house is not quite unpacked and picture-ready at the moment, but in the meantime we have put together a short video summary of the entire building process.
For those of you who view the blog on a mobile phone, please note that the video is about 142mb in size and runs for approximately 3 minutes.
Today we had lots of excavators and bobcats and other machinery onsite to level of the backyard, re-cut the front yard ready for some gardens, and re-cut the driveway. We had originally cut in a big "S" shaped driveway, but after driving down it a few times and consultation with others, we decided to re-shape it into a straight sloping driveway. This should mean that it will be much easier for us to back the cars and trailer in and out.
The plan for the front garden is to build in three separate levels with a pathway running down the middle. Apart from some lavender and English Box, we are not too sure on what exactly will be planted there yet. Time will tell...
We also had a visit from Keogh to start work on most of the list of defects we provided them. We also now have weatherstrips on the external doors, silver strips on the doorway to the bathroom and toilet, and a few other little bits and pieces.
The second visitor for the day was the bank valuer. Ben managed to have a good chat to him about our plans for the future (such as the deck and shed) and what impact these would have on the overall value of the house. The valuer must have found everything to be okay because tonight the loan money was in our account ready to be drawn down for the cheque on Friday. Got to love a bit of punctuality...
Today was carpet day, the last of the major installations for the house before we can move in. I haven't seen it in person yet, but I must say that from what I have seen in the pictures it is all looking great so far. We've gone for 100% wool, with a beige-brown colour for the bedrooms and study (can't remember the name of the colour), and a deep purple for the theatre room ('coriander seed').
I know I said no pictures until the final reveal, but here is a quick sneak peak:
Ben had another busy day today working as apprentice carpet installer, as well as finishing off the installation of the towel rails and door stops. He also managed to catch up with FK when he made a quick visit to check up on the severity of the list of things to be addressed before handover. Nothing too major, so we are still looking like we are on track for Friday.
Tomorrow Ben has organised for the backyard excavation to begin again. We did attempt to do this back in July (seems so long ago now!), but the wet weather stopped the heavy excavator from being able to accomplish too much. Now that the ground has had a few months to dry out, it is time to try again. Once the backyard has been levelled, we can start looking at putting up the side boundary fence.
Ben is now officially on holidays for the next two weeks, so he started off today by installing the doorbell and some of the towel rails. He also organised for the new bins to be delivered in the next week or so, and dropped off a fencing notification for our new neighbours...if they ever decide to start building on their land!
In terms of Keogh's progress, the cleaners were on site today doing a fantastic job of making everything look new and sparkly for us.
Tomorrow... not sure about what Keogh will be doing, but Ben will be a busy boy meeting our carpet installer on site at 8am, and then finishing off the installation of the rest of the towel rails and toilet roll holders.
Not much to say today, other than the temporary fence has now been taken down (finally it was by Keogh and not by thieves - at least I think it was by Keogh!). Apparently the plumber tried to install the fireplace, but was unsure of a few things so his boss will be going up there tomorrow instead.
Today we received the Certificate of Occupancy, so tomorrow we will be faxing it off to the bank to get them moving on the final payment.
Gas is already organised, and tomorrow we will be calling the electricity company to get that all switched into our names too. I wish I had a checklist of all the things we need to think about before we move in, because I'm sure that I'm forgetting something...
