tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795554775345116772024-03-14T06:18:11.344+11:00The Coventry CaperUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-26181782566912439212012-11-24T14:25:00.001+11:002012-11-24T14:25:08.513+11:00Finally, some pictures!
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. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-59361189064909518932012-11-04T23:28:00.000+11:002012-11-05T00:08:54.469+11:00Our house, in the middle of the street...
We're in!
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. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-86052299643024819482012-11-01T00:14:00.001+11:002012-11-01T00:17:07.929+11:002 big sleeps...
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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-26311188181903579452012-10-30T23:10:00.002+11:002012-10-30T23:10:49.578+11:003 big sleeps...
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').
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-89499432174045327622012-10-29T22:58:00.001+11:002012-10-29T22:58:29.013+11:004 sleeps till Santa...
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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-48877721495247615742012-10-28T22:48:00.000+11:002012-10-28T22:48:01.952+11:005 sleeps till Santa...
Only 5 big sleeps until Santa comes and brings us our keys!
Dropped by the house to find that the painters have been back to do all of their touch-ups, and the skylight in the study has been installed.
No pics this week - we are taking a leaf out of Linni's book and don't want to ruin the surprise! Stay tuned...
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-88975069518296282802012-10-25T22:25:00.004+11:002012-10-25T22:25:56.641+11:00And the fence comes tumbling down...
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 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-79259336903737485662012-10-22T22:18:00.000+11:002012-10-22T22:18:40.821+11:00Lock it in Eddie...Handover has now been booked for Friday the 2nd of November, which means that in only 12 sleeps the keys will finally be ours! Huzzah!
Still quite a bit to do before then:
Fireplace to be installed
One cracked window to be replaced
Plumbers to come back to finish their fit-off
LPG to be installed
Air-conditioning installation to be finalised
Painting touch-ups
Skylight to be installed in the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-11482099976499695462012-10-15T22:11:00.003+11:002012-10-15T22:32:42.257+11:00Taps and walls...
This weekend work continued on the front retaining wall....and when I say work continued, I mean that Ben worked on the wall while I attended various breast cancer awareness lunches and Guide cooking days! It's a hard life...
Even with all of Ben's hard effort over the past three days, the wall is not quite complete yet. I'm away camping with the Guides this coming weekend so Ben is Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-296674103968249882012-10-10T22:16:00.000+11:002012-10-10T22:16:08.758+11:00Compromises....
This is a post about compromises.
Understandably, when you consider the building process typically extends over many months it is no surprise that things can change. Sometimes these changes come from us (like our garage strappings) and other times it comes down to the builder or their suppliers. Suppliers go out of business, products get discontinued, humans make mistakes...these things Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-89960442427594647402012-10-07T20:14:00.000+11:002012-10-07T20:16:12.436+11:00Digging to China...
Today was digging day.
The front and side retaining walls just outside the house need to be installed before we can move in. Now that we finally have the building permit, today we hired a dingo and auger and drilled out the post holes.
First up though, moving the big pile of leftover crushed rock in the front corner. Ben set me up with a shovel, and it was my job to move the big pileUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-85493409141242928412012-10-06T21:20:00.002+10:002012-10-06T21:20:58.775+10:00Well polish my knuckles and call me Susie....
Steve the floor polisher worked very hard this week, and managed to finish up everything by Thursday. Very pleased with how it has all turned out:
Here's a close-up of the "firestreak" effect:
Tomorrow we are going to have a very busy day on site starting to dig the holes for our front retaining wall. I have been sick this week, so I guess this Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-50742427369471945992012-10-01T21:40:00.001+10:002012-10-01T21:40:18.151+10:00Floor sanding, day one...Today was day one of the floor sanding and polishing, which involved giving the floors a thorough sanding and laying down some black putty.
Tomorrow the sanding and putty-ing will continue, and the polish will go down tomorrow afternoon. Three coats of polish later, and our beautiful floors will be done...can't wait!
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-50520021870646015122012-09-27T23:24:00.000+10:002012-09-27T23:24:11.027+10:00Let there be light...
How many mystery writers does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One to screw the bulb almost all the way in, and one to give a surprising twist at the end.
Ben stopped by for a site visit yesterday afternoon to drop off some extra hearth tiles for our fireplace, only to find that the electricians had been on site for most of the day finishing their installations. What does this meanUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-41744688893537623462012-09-25T22:09:00.000+10:002012-09-25T22:12:11.417+10:00Time to start packing...As promised, here are some more photos from today's tiling efforts. We are very pleased with the job the tilers have done so far:
En-suite floor done
Bathroom floor
Bath hob almost done
Close up of the bath
Tiling above bathroom sink
Another shot of the bathroom sink
Bathroom shower (including feature stripe)
Kitchen splashback
Laundry floor
Ben Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-48202894597089005582012-09-24T22:01:00.002+10:002012-09-24T22:01:54.637+10:00More tiling, and a trip to the vet...
Today was full of both good news and bad news...
The good news is that Ben was working in Broadford and Beveridge today, so he managed a quick trip past the house to take some progress shots of the tiling from today. At the time of taking these pictures, the en-suite walls had been completed and work was starting on the bathroom walls.
The second bit of good news is that Ben is Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-67529296475436650512012-09-23T18:14:00.000+10:002012-09-24T07:35:34.081+10:00Tiling started...
It has taken a few weeks for the tiles to arrive on site, but last Wednesday they finally came in. However, the tiles for the kitchen need to be sent back as Hynes have sent the wrong colour - d'oh! Never mind, at least we realised before they were actually laid.
The tilers were on site bright and early Saturday morning to start the laying, so after a quick check of everything we left Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-77893010415562156472012-09-19T22:00:00.000+10:002012-09-19T22:28:58.806+10:00Gypsies, tramps and thieves...
A few months ago, some sneaky bastard made off with a few panels of the side of our temporary fence. Not a big deal since it was only a panel or two and the vast majority of the fence was still standing.
However, when Ben dropped by on his way up North today, he noticed a much bigger problem....someone has stolen ALL of the front temporary fencing! Bastards! It amazes me that someone Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-40382920751433944752012-09-13T22:40:00.000+10:002012-09-13T22:44:33.837+10:00Power levels at 50% and increasing...
Today was day one of the electrical fit-off, which saw all of the outside lights installed and the power-points and light switches installed on the inside. No lights have been installed inside yet - I'm hoping that will be tomorrow's job so that we can see them on our weekend visit. The holes have all been drilled in the ceiling roses ready for the light fittings, so I think that is a promising Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-56152049432536754792012-09-11T22:17:00.003+10:002012-09-11T22:17:52.208+10:00Turning up the heat...Just a quick update to say that the tilers haven't arrived on site yet, but we have had a visit from the heating guys to install all of the ceiling vents:
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-43119217076077047072012-09-09T22:16:00.001+10:002012-09-09T22:16:58.945+10:00Moving along nicely...
Those few weeks where nothing seemed to be getting done have now passed and the house is progressing along nicely.
In terms of progress, we don't have any new pictures this week but it looks like the painters have finished up painting both inside and out.
Now that the painters are done (for now), preparations have been made for the tilers to start this week. We decided to alter the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-225087022135273202012-09-02T22:23:00.005+10:002012-09-03T07:42:38.526+10:00This little piggy went to market...
Happy father's day to all the dads out there!
We travelled up to Ballarat to my sister's house for a family get together. We spent the morning looking around Ballarat market, where we managed to pick up a few cool new treasures for the house - all for the grand sum of about $20...
The chicken pot is my favourite, but Ben says he likes the brass mice the best...
We did manage to get Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-22204850929457916132012-08-27T22:12:00.000+10:002012-08-27T22:12:04.536+10:00Nothing to see here...
We dropped into the house on Saturday, but there are no pictures this week as not much has changed unfortunately. Hopefully Ben will get to see some progress when he drops in on his way up to Albury later in the week and we will have some more updates for you then.
In the meantime, we have been busy buying a few bits and pieces for the house - which is quite exciting. It is a bit difficult Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-92222654748024856382012-08-18T18:09:00.000+10:002012-08-18T18:09:51.487+10:00Paint me like one of your French girls...So the painters have finally arrived on site!
We had a little hiccup earlier in the week with the colours, but luckily everything has been resolved now. The issue was that we had originally chosen a Dulux colour, 'Gentle Touch (half strength)', for most of the walls in the house. However, the painters use Haymes as their paint supplier, which apparently doesn't tint well with Dulux colours.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-479555477534511677.post-60015859032517307972012-08-08T21:52:00.002+10:002012-08-08T21:52:14.040+10:00Crushed rock and not much else...
We haven't updated the blog in a few weeks, but that is only because work on site seems to have ground to a halt. The painter is ready to go, but we have been waiting for the plasterers to be available so that they can finish the fix in bedrooms two and three. Apparently the plasterers were on site today, so the painters have now been booked for next week.
PK tells us that we will be Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2