Bridgeport 38: The Bush Retreat

Here's something you don't see everyday.....

2010-01-17T09:07:00.006+11:00

.....a house in it's lived-in, untidy, true state! lol I'm either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid for posting pics like these, but we live here, no use pretending it looks like a disply home when it doesn't. lol

You can all laugh (I do!!), I took these pics on the spur of the moment, couldn't be bothered cleaning up.... so this is how it looks most of the time. haha
We have no artwork up, no decorations or lamps etc yet, it is very bare. Nothing we had really suits this house so it will be a long work in progress just picking up things as I find them.

We have no fences and three dogs, bit of a nightmare at the moment. One of the dogs pulled over my Mum and shattered her arm so she had to have surgery and had steele pins/plates inserted in her arm. She can't do much, and I can't go anywhere for any length of time becasue she can't take the dogs out to the toilet with one arm. It's been fun. lol

Add to that the construction, dust flying everywhere all the time.... it's a losing battle trying to keep the place clean. A quick sweep everyday, a quick dust everyday... that just has to do for the time being.

Splashback at night with undercupboard lights... they finally work now!

Family room... all the furniture will eventually be replaced (except the lounge suite). Just need to find the right coffee table, then side tables and a new entertainment unit will be bought to suit. It's a struggle to find just the right coffee table, so that has to be bought first I think. Our redi-shades are working wonders in this room for the time being. And that little fan is all we've needed on the hot days. High ceilings are awesome for keeping the place cool.

Dining area... until we get window coverings, I've had to chuck a table cloth on the table as the sun was going to damage the varnish. I'm looking for some high quality fake Birds of Paradise for here... can't seem to find any though. Note our sparkling clean windows! lol

Pantry... I haven't been able to set up my stuff under the bench. They still have to come back and install a support beneath the bench to the floor. We'll probaly add another higher shelf as well.... didn't even think of getting the builder to do it to be honest.

Internet/phone nook.... random junk collection point... at least the crap is off the kitchen bench though!

Second TV area... my son had free reign over this area, he picked the furniture. There still a little bit to be unpacked here, but that's his job and problem. lol

Apparently this is a lounge room... under all the crap. Apart form the boxes of books in the study, these are the last boxes to be unpacked.... until we get all the crap from the storage place.

Another new pet...

This table was wiped the day before believe it or not.... dust city here!

All because of these guys... this is apparently where our driveway should go, except they collapsed it and flattened it so the earth movers could go acrosss our yard.

We can't put a driveway in until it's all finished....

Back on-line to see some really classy stuff.

2010-01-12T19:56:00.003+11:00

I am back on-line. Thanks for some of the lovely comments after the previous post from most of you.

As for the two anonymous comments...... it must take an amazing amount of bravery to post such comments under the guise of Anonymous. What fortitude, what integrity, what guts it must take. I wouldn't know. I have made many comments on the internet, some may have been harsh, some may have been out of line, some may have been unfair.... but ALL of them had my name or moniker attached. I was willing to stand by and discuss my comments, discuss in person if need be. I have never, on the internet, or in any other medium, hidden behind the tag of "anonymous". I may be a bitch, but at least I am happy to be me all the time.

If you are going to post on my blog, have the integrity and guts to attach your name. IP adresses are traceable.

And for the record I asked to be removed from the forum. I wasn't banned. And this kind of crap was the exact reason I asked to be removed. **insert rolling eyes emoticon**.

A Finished Kitchen.... Finally!!!!

2009-12-18T18:04:00.003+11:00

Our kitchen is finally finished. This is pre-clean, so it is a bit messy looking..... oh let's be honest, it'll be this filthy most of the time. The splashback is Dulux Army Issue and I love, love, love it! It has really pulled everything together for me. The Stipple Hemp has taken on a slightly green/grey tinge now it is wedged between the tiles and the splashback. The bench is Quantum Quartz and the colour is Coral Reef.

And our drainerless sink is in. This was a stupidly priced upgrade, but it couldn't be done afterwards and I am so glad we bit the bullet and did it. The sink doesn't dominate the bench and we have more stone and more usable working area.

Definitely not everyone's idea of a perfect kitchen, but I am really happy with it. The colours don't seem to show up properly.... the splashback is quite green/grey in person.

Lots and lots of little things have been done.

2009-11-19T15:40:00.002+11:00

The roof has been fixed up, we have mirrors, laundry tap, the correct downpipes and carpet!

We took the flooring promo with Porter Davis. We are not expecting this carpet to last forever. We'll get a few years out of it then install something of higher quality. Most likely a pure wool Cav Brem. But this is more than adequate for now and I love the charcoal colour.

Bedroom 2.

Lounge

Master bedroom. Looks like it has a slightly blue tinge, but the tinge is actually greenish.

We have scribbles over the wall and ceiling where things need to be fixed up.

The joins in the playroom are the worst. But they have picked up pretty much everything I could find.

Full width mirror across the vanity and bath. Tiling still needs to be fixed up here, but the tilers will be back to do the pantry splashback after the stone bench goes in, so they'll do it all at the one time. They have been back to finish off some grouting though.

Laundry with vegie sprayer. Much easier to clean the animal's dishes and also to clean the sink itself. So glad we did this.

Laundry now with grouted tiles.

Fixed up roof. The pointing stuff just needs to be coloured.

All I can see to be done is benchtops, sink and splashback.... and minor fix up bits and pieces. I'm looking forward to seeing the kitchen completed.

Lots of fit-off pics.

2009-11-12T20:09:00.007+11:00

We are getting there slowly. The cupboard fit-offs are done.... robes, linen, broom and butler's pantry.

Nearly all of the plumbing fit off has been done and the plumbers have managed to smash a heap of tiles. Some necessarily (back of the toilets), some unnecessarily. We are running very, very, very low on tiles and there are none left to purchase anywhere. If anyone by any chance has grabbed a sample of Ricocco Mocha and they no longer need it, could they please let me know? I am that desperate. :(

Powder room toilet. It will have to be replaced, the lid is attached to the toilet out of alignment. It is very noticable in person, not so noticable in this pic.

Powder room.

Ensuite toilet. Lid is also attached out of alignment, but not as obvious.

Ensuite shower with dumper rain head and also rail/hand held shower head. We have mixer taps everywhere. The tap shown at the basin we have in the bathroom and powder room as well.

Main bathroom shower with rail/hand held shower.

One of the minor bedroom robes. All shelves have been raised to 1950mm to allow for easier double fit out later.

One of the WIRs in the master bedroom.

Walk in linen.

Other side of walk in linen.

Butler's pantry shelving. We definitely didn't want the support pole here as the bench will be Quantum Quartz. Our SS was very good in ensuring we got the under shelf supports instead.

Sink space in the pantry.

Our render colour has been applied.... and I despise it. It's Self-Destruct, but I have a feeling it is wrong. Didn't have my sample card to check. But whether this is right or wrong IT IS GOING!!!!

Our handover will not be November 30th. My SS was not happy head office had forwarded that date. It looks like second week of December now, but that's not a problem as my son has to finish school down here anyway.

Oh sh*t!

2009-11-06T19:40:00.011+11:00

I went up to the house today as the kitchen was to be rectified. Well some of it is rectified.... and some of it isn't. Our kitchen was delivered on the 10th of September and installed on the 11th. I informed everyone straight away that there were problems. They have not left enough clearance for the pot drawers to clear the oven handles. I was very specific when we did the kitchen plans.... and they were still wrong.

The drawers underneath the bench for the internet nook are far too deep. So deep that it is impossible to use for it's purpose.... they have raised it by 10cm.... this is not an answer. I cannot use a laptop at 900mm with a 15cm drawer underneath (try it at home.... NOT comfortable). I want my my 800mm high benchtop with around 7 or 8cm deep drawers. I could handle the 900mm height, but then my chair would have to be higher, so the deep drawers have to go.

They have also failed to alter the cut out for the sink... and the wrong sink has been delivered. I will let them know again before the stone is ordered and cut too big.

On the bright side, the bulkhead is in over the appliance tower. The cornice needs to be added and it needs to be painted.... and they'll need to repair the cornice they chipped putting it in. The under sink cupboards have been altered to the correct size in the pantry. Looks so much better.

I'm just a little concerned that it has taken this long for part of it to get rectified.... I can only hope they get the rest fixed in the next three weeks.

And I have been thinking about my Tri-Locks since I posted earlier and something wasn't sitting right.... and suddenly it has hit me. They are the wrong ones.... all of them. They have installed the Precise Leverset instead of the Angular Leverset. At least they got the satin chrome part right. lol

You can see the difference between the two in this link...
http://www.gainsboroughhardware.com.au/hc_TrilockSeries.aspx

We picked the Angular to go with all our other internal door handles and because we preferred the look. They will have to be changed.

Lots and lots of pics.... and an official date!

2009-11-06T08:01:00.004+11:00

We have been given a handover date of November 30th. Porter Davis have changed their procedures, and now handover happens on inspection day as long as nothing is wrong. My SS has said he likes to do an inspection with the clients a few days earlier anyway, just to make sure handover will be smooth.

We are nearly finished, render still to be painted. The garage door almost looks like Surfist in this pic.... it isn't. lol

All the staining has been done. French doors from the ensuite.

Bi-fold to the alfresco... the ensuite doors are further around to the right of this pic.

Bi-folds from inside.

Front door. As we have higher doors, I got them to put the door handle a little higher so that the handle went over the wood rather than over the glass.... OCD much?? lol

Another Gainsborough Tri-Lock. We have four in total. Front door, French doors from the ensuite, laundry external door and this one on the pedestrian door from the garage to the mud room.

All our internal door handles are Lamaar Mecina. I absolutely love them.

Shower screens have been delivered.

These lights will have to be altered... the two in the kitchen are too close together. The one closest to camera has to come this way a bit and the pendant over the island has.... ummm, missed the island. lol

Our extended garage with workshop storage area. Worth every single penny. I'm thinking of picking up a cheap second hand kitchen off ebay to fit out here along the wall. Much, much cheaper than installing shelving. Something to think about.

The rear garage pedestrian doors and laundry door have been painted Evening Haze. Eventually the rear doors will be changed to metal colourbond doors. Mum had that at her house and we like the security of them as opposed to the cheap wooden ones. Our downpipes still have to be changed over from zincalume to Colourbond Evening Haze.

The back yard from the rumpus room.... what the hell are we going to do here?? Whatever we do will just have to wait anyway. lol

Electrical fit off done!!

2009-10-24T18:25:00.002+11:00

The electrical fitoff has been completed. No pics... just boring little shade things and energy saving light bulbs.

There's a few little problems.... a junction box instead of a flood light (I'd say the sparky was one flood light short.) A double in the pantry where there should be a quad.... island bench light not really over the island.

Little easily fixed things. All getting closer now!!!

Is it wrong to be in love with a tile????

2009-10-22T10:09:00.006+11:00

There are a ridiculous amount of tiling pics to follow. I love, love the tiles. I really do. The upgrade price was scary... we got flooring in the promo, but to go to these tiles which were not standard was a lot of money. But they are worth it. I love them. I love the feel they give, I love how the place looks... I love how they go with the other selections. There has been a little bit of anxiety as to how the tiles would look, so I am very happy! All the floor tiles have been grouted, but the wall tiles have not.

We may have achieved what we wanted, a green/grey colour scheme that actually has a little bit of warmth and isn't too cold. I'm very, very happy with that.... so far!
Still the splashback and the carpet to come.... we'll see how I feel after they are installed! lol

Sorry some of the pics are so dark.

Ensuite toilet. There is a concealed cistern here. Behind the toilets is the only place the wall tiles and floor tiles don't match up. The centred the grout lines... I guess it would have looked odd with the grout line down one side. Hmmmmm.

Pantry with tiled skirting. The fridge is going in here with a water point, so we decided to tile the skirts in here as well.

Powder room toilet, again with the concealed cistern, and again with the grout line centred.

Powder room vanity.

In the bathroom, there ends up these weird gaps between the splashback tiling, the shower tiling and the bath tiling. As we were getting the tilers to do the tiled skirting and we were using the same tile everywhere, we got them to just do the whole wall between the three areas. The mirror will extend right across the bath from the vanity.

This area has been left, except fot the bit of tile to hold the top tile while it dries. The mixer for our bath tap was faulty.... the SS has been waiting for a replacement part for quite a while now. When it comes, it will be installed, wall will be plastered and the tiling can be completed.

Between the vanity and the shower.

I love how it looks. Cannot wait for the mirror to go in. Even though it's greeny/grey, the room will lend itself to a lot of accent colours. Orange, red, purple, yellow... not all at once though! lol

Grouted tiles from the entry way looking towards the rear.

Meals, family, kitchen and through to the rumpus. You can see how evenly the tiles have been laid. Absolutely awesome job. We've been extremely fortunate with the tradies we've had.

Kitchen.

Laundry... with a different tile! hahaha

They have not been grouted yet... this pic is the truest representation of the colour.

The laundry is actually one of my favourite rooms in the house. I absolutely love it.

Some render options.

2009-10-21T09:51:00.004+11:00

We officially have Self-Destruct as our render colour. I was reading an interview with the Dulux colour head and she was saying this colour has subtle green undertones.... we will see how it works.

I'm thinking I want something a bit darker, but not too full on. I definitely want greeny grey, even if others think it won't look very good.

Here are some pics with some options... one is Dulux Barnfloor, it is one shade lighter than Army Issue (my original choice and my splashback colour). The other is double strength Evening Haze which is a stronger version of our guttering, fascia, downpipe and garage door colour. Tonally, these go really well with our bricks. Paperbark would be very, very wrong. hahahaha

I'm leaning towards the Barnfloor, which is the darker one.

Overview of the facade with the two colours.

Against the uncoloured render.

Against the bricks.

More tiling pics.

2009-10-19T20:03:00.002+11:00

Some pics of the tiled skirting. It is standard to have the normal skirting in the wet areas with Porter Davis. I have that in this rental... and I hate it, it's all starting to rot and looks disgusting. Fro this reason, I wanted tiled skirts. I organised it with the tradies to have the normal skirting left off and the tilers are doing the skirting in both bathrooms, powder room, mud room and laundry.

Powder Room

Ensuite

Ensuite

Facade with the garage door. It's Evening Haze, but it looks very light here!

Floor tiling pretty much complete.

2009-10-16T21:33:00.004+11:00

The floor tiling is basically all done now. Wall tiling still to come. We are particularly boring.... the floor tiling will be on the walls in both bathrooms and the powder room. No feature tiling whatsoever.

We have a different tile for the laundry splash which I think will look fantastic with our selections. It's just a standard tile... a bit speckly and textured, but I don't have a sample unfortunately.

The pantry splash is Wet Cement which will almost perfectly match our glass splashback in the kitchen.

The tilers have done an absolutely awesome job. I have run my hands over the tiles and there is no height difference at the corners where the tiles meet... they have been laid so smoothly and so perfectly. Can't wait to see them completed with the grout. Looks like I will be the one and only PD client to get these tilers. They will only work for my SS and his houses are all out in the outer North... the tilers told me today it is a bit far for them to come, and when they told me where they live I completely understand!. I am so pleased with their work.

Anyway... some more pics. And regardless of what some dodgy people (they know who they are!!!) would have you believe, the tiles are greeny/grey.... NOT BROWN!!!!!!! lol

From the front doors looking down the hallway.

Kitchen.

Looking from the meals across to the family room.

Powder room. We have a concealed cistern in here and the tiles will come up the wall behind the pan.

Main bathroom across to the bath.

Shower in the main bathroom. It is 1200 x 900 in size, as is the shower in the ensuite.

Ensuite looking across to the shower and the french doors.

Some crappy tiling pics.... (the pics are crappy, not the tiling!).

2009-10-13T21:53:00.005+11:00

I couldn't help myself and went up to the house today. They actually got quite a bit of tiling done yesterday.... no sign of them today, but I know they are fixing up a few jobs for my SS, so no big deal there.

I just took some pics through the windows, so they are not the best quality.

Meals area to the kitchen.

Meals area across to the doorway to the minor bedrooms.

From the front door, looking through the entry way and down the hallway.

Lounge room (which will be carpeted), to the hallway and the bi-folds.

Bedroom 2 and the little area outside the powder room beyond.

The garage door is in and is Colorbond Evening Haze in colour. Not quite as light as it appears here.

Close up of the staining on the front doors. The colour is actually darker than it appears here and should be darker again once the second coat is applied.

Tiling begins, garage door in and some stained wood.

2009-10-12T17:31:00.005+11:00

We had a meeting with the tilers and our SS today. This is their first job for PD. They actually did all the tiling for my SS for the 7 years he worked for a different company in the bush. They moved down to Melbourne not long ago, ran into my SS and are willing to do the odd job for him as they build their business in Melbourne.

Again, we are pretty lucky to have them from what I can gather, my SS took them to another house he is in charge of so they can fix up the work of some other tilers. My SS knows the guys really well and says their work is very good. They will be fixing up those jobs for the SS in between ours, and have told the SS that other trades can start from next Wednesday on, so they expect to be finished by Tuesday at the latest.

The tiling is probably the thing I'll be most fussy about. We spent a fair bit upgrading to rectified porcelain tiles and they will need to be layed very well.

The front doors and the ensuite doors have had their first coat of stain. Hard to get a clear pic, but I tried. The garage door is on, but the tilers car was in the way so I couldn't get a clear pic.

Front doors with first coat of stain.

One of our tiles against the kitchen bench back and the wall colour.

A pic of our tiles from the PD Francis display at Mernda. Ours will not be layed brick pattern though, just standard.

This is a pic of the type of fencing I'm thinking about. We will definitely have some type of post and wire. This is just a little different. Rather than a run of wire off a roll, it is an individual sheet of hard wire between two posts. I bet it's pricey though. lol

These fence pics were taken out at Eynesbury. Such a gorgeous place to build.

Painting all done.... next, tiles!

2009-10-09T08:25:00.004+11:00

I went up to the house yesterday and the painters were almost finished. A half day today, and they'll be done. Pretty much all the internals were done, just finishing off some doors. They still had a bit to go on the externals, finishing off the quad, eaves, garage doors and laundry door.

I am so happy with the colour. It is Wattyl White Pepper, and I've been a little worried it will be too dark, but it isn't. It's just beautiful. While still a neutral, it is greeny/grey but it is very warm and welcoming. Not cold at all.

I really love it.

Kitchen... the bulkhead still has to go in over the tower, but it will be done when the cabinetry is altered.

We wanted the overheads to blend in so that the glass splashback goes in it is the standout feature. It will be such a strong colour, we didn't want to have too much going on. We are really happy with how close the colours are. There is a PD display with our wall colour and they've matched the overheads but they used a different colour (Laminex Paperbark from memory). I checked the two samples and I thought our Rock Salt was a better match, turn out it was! Very happy with this.

From the rumpus through to the family room, dining and beyond.

From the island bench back toward the rumpus.

Lounge room and feature cutout.

Master bedroom looking towards the ensuite.

From the front doors looking down the hallway.

The beautiful front doors and feature entry ceiling.

Adn the tiles have been delivered!!! There's a lot of them!

Painting, well half of it.

2009-10-03T21:13:00.003+10:00

The first coat of paint has been done. It is Wattyl White Pepper, a warmish greeny/grey. I was a little worried about it, but am really happy with how it is turning out and how it looks with all of the other selections. Only the first coat is on so the cutting in hasn't yet been done. It will be a little darker than this once the second coat is on. All woodwork is also White Pepper but in gloss.

Painting should be finished next week, then tiling will begin. Can't wait, I'm more excited about the tiles than anything. I really, really love them.

Kitchen, with altered bulkhead above the internet nook.

Kitchen again.

Family through to the rumpus room.

Retreat wall.

Master bedroom.

I love, love, love my front doors!

2009-09-26T09:58:00.006+10:00

I'm very, very excited to say that my front doors are on!!!! These were a bit of an upgrade and we were not quite sure how they'd turn out. We went to double doors from single, increased the height, and picked doors that were not in the promo. We wanted glass for light and a certain feel. Due to our curved hallway, the living areas of the house cannot be seen from the front door, and we are in a court so privacy wasn't really an issue.

But after some worry over whether they were a waste of money, I'm happy to say they are worth every penny we paid and I am so glad we did it.

Overview with some very wet render.

Gorgeous doors.

They are still to be stained (not painted) black. The bi-fold in the alfresco and the french doors from the ensuite will also be stained the same colour.

From inside, still to have the mushroom stop installed to cover the gap.

The bulkhead has been altered and the electricians have been to alter the wiring. Plasterers still to come back.

The wrong cupboards in the pantry. They are two 450mm wide cupboards intead of two 300mm wide cupboards. The sink position on the bench template has not been cut out as they wanted to wait for the correct cupboards. This sink will primarily be used for washing and draining coffee cups (with a rack insert) and for thawing meat, etc (so the cats can't get to it) so the tight position isn't an issue. We wanted more bench space along the back wall. We have splurged and are having QQ Coral Reef in here to match the kitchen.

This is a feature column in the front entry way. As standard they have lots of decorative stuff around the bottom and a bit of decorative stuff around the top. Porter Davis display home regulars will know what I'm talking about. Ours are going to be like this, just with the skirting around the bottom. We felt that with the decorative cutouts in the study and the lounge, the beautiful front doors, and the overall "casual bushretreaty feel" (read wanky) of the house it was best to keep it simple. The Sandhurst display at Mernda has the columns just with the skirting and we liked the look.

Almost completely fixed.

2009-09-22T17:11:00.004+10:00

We are almost fixed up.... our fixing carpenter has been doing a bit on other jobs but we will be done by the end of the week... early next week at the latest.

I am busting to see the front doors hung so I can get a real feel for the externals.
The downpipes have been put in, but they are zincalume..... we paid for colorbond so they have to be replaced. The misplaced downpipe on the front of the garage has been moved to the side.

We have a few issues with the kitchen.... most minor, one that's a bit more fiddly. The space left for the fridge in the pantry is too short and will be increased. Bench isn't in yet, so no biggy. The cupboards under the sink in the pantry are the wrong size and will be replaced, and the drawers under the bench in the nook are too deep. All to be fixed.

The bigger issue is that the space left on the sides of the pot drawers is too small. These drawers slide out in front of the oven, the spacer was supposed to be 55mm (to allow for 40mm oven handles) but the space is only 35mm.... so they won't open past the handles once the ovens are installed. A fair chunk of the kitchen will have to be ripped out and replaced.

From what I can gather, an earlier set of kitchen plans have been sent through to the cabinet maker and that is where all the problems have arisen.

All will be rectified, so it is not a big issue. But the sheer wastage through mistakes bothers me.

Anyway, a couple of pics.

Our bigger than standard bath. I cannot wait to sit here and soak!!

Vanity... not as light as it appears in this pic. One of the things that sold us on this house was the large main bathroom. Nearly all the display homes we went into had small main bathrooms.... even if the house was 35 to 40sq. It would be a struggle to bath kids in half of them. We loved that this was spacious, room for a chair, with a 900 x 1200 shower and a full sized vanity that could have drawers. The bathroom size is 2400 x 3490..... hard to find that size main bathroom in most project homes. That and the powder room were big selling points for us.

Pic of the skirting... half on! Can't remember the name of the profile but it was the only one I "loved". For some reason it doesn't come in the higher size, but as our woodwork will be the same colour as our walls and we are not having floorboards, not a big deal for us.

Some pics of the fix!

2009-09-16T16:42:00.006+10:00

Our fixing carpenter has been hard at work. He is on his own, and is very particular. A real old school tradie. He is definitely not rushing through things and things are being done right first time.

This is our laundry door. Double glazed with the internal blind. This is a Corinthian door... the internal blind is not a new innovation... regardless of what someone, somewhere would have you believe.
We went for this option because the door faces west and the cats would play with a normal venetian. I know them too well! lol

Half open, with the blind half tilted.

Blind fully down, but with slats tilted open.

Study doors with feature voids. Still deciding what will go in the voids. This room had to have doors to keep the dogs and cats out as this is where my son will paint and assemble his models.

Master bedroom doors from inside the room.

And the master bedroom doors from the front entry way. The temporary front doors are still on to the left. I'm so glad we've gone for front doors with lots of glass to make the entry way brighter. It is so dark and uninviting currently.

One of the walk in robes to the right and the ensuite to the left.

Our bath has been delivered. As our bath hob area is so large, we decided to increase the bath size. It only cost $40 to do so. We are all relatively tall and my son will be very tall and plays a lot of sport, so it was a good move.

The wardrobe in one of the minor bedrooms. We increased all doors, including robes, to 2340mm high. That upgrade along with the 9ft ceilings are something I'm so glad we did.

The laundry sink is in. In this pic the benchtop almost looks a different colour to the cupboards, but it is an illusion. They are all Smoky Sapelle.

The support is in for the bench on the other side of the laundry. I am so thrilled with this room. The benches, the doors, the cupboards. Quite a few upgrades, but all worth the money to us. We will truly be able to utilise this room efficiently for us.

Site meeting, some back panel pics.... and tentative dates!

2009-09-11T14:54:00.005+10:00

We had a site meeting with my SS today. And went through my list of issues.... all 6 of them. Yep, I seriously can only find 6 things. Everything has been addressed before I could bring it up usually!

We have some very slight overhang of bricks on the rear of the house that will be fixed. The facade needs to be tidied up where the beam was altered.... and one window needs to be looked at. Apart from that, the pantry cupboard under the sink needs to be altered because it is too big, two downpipes are in the wrong place and that's just about it.

I have some pics of the back panel of the island. I was a bit unsure of this yesterday, but happy now! As E&R said in the previous post comments, it just adds a little texture to the kitchen.

The back panels are Laminex Stringybark.

Our SS also said that he expects to be finished in around 8 weeks! 8 weeks... that's not long at all!! Woo hoo!

An installed k-k-k-kitchen!!!

2009-09-10T17:49:00.009+10:00

We went up there today and the installers were well on their way. They had set everything out and were in the process of fully installing all the cabinetry. The bulkhead hasn't been altered yet, but the overhead cupboards over the stove are actually sitting lower than the plans show, so they line up now. It looks pretty good and not so noticable. Will have a better look tomorrow. On to the pics!

Laundry with the space for a front loader and a condenser dryer. The washing machine taps are hidden underneath the sink.

Other side of the laundry. The middle support still had to be added. One half will be the cat's domain. The other half will hide a laundry hamper on wheels.

Main Bathroom

Powder Room. It was a conscious decision not to extend this vanity to the corners. Where I current live, the vanity is fully built in, and the corners where the tiles meet the vanity top are a bitch to keep clean. I also didn't want the top to be big enough to accumulate junk. The basin, hand wash and that's it! The crap can stay in the bathrooms where guest dare not venture! lol

Ensuite

On to the kitchen!!!
Extended bank of drawers, cupboard and dishwasher space

Dishwasher space, pot drawers, sneaky corner cupboard. The hole for the sink was pre-cut at the factory and it is too big. They have cut for the standard sink, ours doesn't have a drainer. It will be altered accordingly.

We have been left with two little, tiny cupboards because we chose the option of two ovens rather than the 900mm semi-commercial cooker. It was a better option for us, but apparently we are the first people that built this house that took that option. lol

Around to the appliance tower. The splashback will wrap around from the back of the cooktop and extend along this wall. It will be Dulux Army Issue, a deep green/grey. I'm hoping it won't be "too much".

The internet nook. The bottom drawers are deeper than they should be. I'll have to check if I can fit the chair comfortably underneath them (remembering to allow for floor tiles), if not they'll have to be altered to be shallower. They are clearly shallower on the plans.

Sorry Kylie, I completely forgot to take a pic of the back of the island bench with the Stringybark. We have a site meeting with our SS tomorrow. Will take some more pics then.

And I'm still not liking the Smoky Sapelle. lol

K-k-k-k-kitchen!!! And other cabinetry!!! Woo Hoo!

2009-09-09T22:12:00.008+10:00

Well not a fully installed kitchen, but something nonetheless. I went up to the house today and we have had all our cabinetry delivered.
The kitchen is Stipple Hemp with Rock Salt overheads and Stringybark back panel. The laundry is Smoky Sapelle with Rock Salt overheads and the vanities in the Powder Room, Ensuite and Bathroom are all Smoky Sapelle.

It was really hard to get a true representation of the Stipple Hemp.
Here it is for the appliance tower. This will eventually be altered to house a steam oven and possibly a coffee machine with the cupboards moved to the top. To start with it will house the crockery, the microwave and cookbooks up the top.

The cupboard at the rear is Rock Salt, it is a close match for our wall colour White Pepper.

More cupboards. I absolutely love the tab handles we chose. Definitely against the trend of long bar handles, but I love that they don't dominate the cupboards.

Lots and lots and lots of drawers. We have 14 drawers in total in the kitchen area.

This is the traditional bank of four drawers. As standard they are 450mm wide with a 300mm cupboard next to them. We simply asked if we could absorb the cupboard and make the bank of drawers 750mm wide. It didn't even cost anything. :) I hate narrow cutlery drawers! The following two pics are also the best representation of the Stipple Hemp.

I wasn't sure how they'd configure the top drawer, but I like this. Standard set up, but with an additional area for other stuff that seems to accumulate in the top drawer.... can opener, my favourite wooden spoon, pizza cutter.....

This is the Stringybark for the back panel of the island. I particularly wanted something with some texture to hide footmarks from kidlets on the bar stools. But as the kitchen colours are so light, nothing too overpowering. Hopefully, it will look ok.

Smoky Sapelle for the ensuite.

More Smoky Sapelle....

.... and some more. I have to say, I'm not entirely hapy with the selection of the Smoky Sapelle. It was the one I was most unsure about.... and it will be everywhere lol. I wish I'd gone for something darker such as Blackened Linewood, Burnished Wood or Licorice Linea. We'll see how it looks with the other selections.

I walked 1000 miles for these photos... (well it feels like I did!!!)

2009-09-07T17:30:00.004+10:00

I finally managed to get up to the house today..... on public transport. And what fun it was! lol
Left home at 8.10, walked my son to school, then kept going to Kensington station for the 8.55 train. Got off at Broadmeadows, caught the V/Line Seymour train and got off at Wallan East. Then had a lovely 1hr walk to the house. Had a look around, took some photos and turned around and came home. I walked in the door at 3.10!!!!

Oh well, I need the excercise! lol
On to some pics.

Overview

From across the road with the render applied. The front doors will be mainly glass and will break the render up a bit.

Another view. As standard the render is only applied to the area and pillars around the window. For some reason on our drawings they had added render to the pillar on the garage side. I'm assuming this is because we extended the garage and added a window. This now means that the entire area around the portico is rendered, not just the bedroom side. The area above the window where the render meets the eave is quite messy. This is where the beam had to be altered so the eave wouldn't step down. Will chat to my SS about what is happeneing here.

The one and only chipped brick. Can you even see it? It's on the side of the garage, not worth worrying about. There is a chipped one in the alfresco, but will be covered by an outdoor powerpoint.

A little bit of greening on the bricks. This is the only spot where this has happened and it is minimal. It is on the facade but can easily be rectified with some neutralising solution.

This was the area in the alfresco I was once worried about.... can't even see what the problem was now.

We also have a step-up to the alfresco ceiling. I assume this is due to our higher ceilings and eaves. Another unexpected little feature that I am happy with.

A couple of tiles to be straigtened and some pointing to be fixed up.

This little corner of the guttering is leaking a little bit. Will mention it to my SS.

Skirting, etc delivered. I can't remember the name of the profile but it was the only one we really loved. Unfortunately it didn't come in the higher size, but I wasn't too fussed to be honest. I really wanted this profile.

All doors have been delivered! These are the front doors, to be stained in Solver Black. All doors are 2340mm high. Can't wait to see them all hung!

I know I've posted before.... but I just love this area of the house!

Now I'm going to have a long bath and probably an early night! lol

A different photo fairy today!

2009-09-06T19:54:00.004+10:00

Thanks Jacinta for taking some more pics for me today! You are a legend along with Lisa! Yay!

Facade with the first coat of render applied. I was so in love with the bricks that we were talking about deleting the render.... too late now!!!! I've never had render before, so it's something different and should look ok.

Looking from the family/dining down the hall towards the lounge

Dining room

Family Room through to Rumpus

Tempo cornice in the living areas

Master Bedroom

Garage

Thanks again Jacinta and Lisa for the photos after the last few days. Much appreciated by me and my family. :)

Some new pics from the photo fairy! lol

2009-09-05T19:03:00.005+10:00

As you all know I haven't been able to get up to the house, but today someone fantastic went up and took some photos and sent them to me!! First of all I thought it was Jacinta (CiNnY) but I think it was Lisa (Lisanne)!! I knew it was one of the lovelies! lol

No cabinetry, but I'm guessing that my SS has held them back until the bulkhead is altered to avoid damage.

But I do have a bi-fold door! Woo hoo! I'm strangely excited by this.... we only have it because it was part of the promo, and we even considered deleting it. lol But I'm glad we stuck with it and it will be stained Solver Black along with the French doors from the ensuite.

Thank you so much Lisa for taking the pics for me.xoxoxo You have alleviated my withdrawal symptons! hahaha And you certainly do know how to do it..... door open, door closed, inside shot, outside shot, different angles.... the house photo pro!!! lol

My SS is the best!

2009-09-04T19:49:00.002+10:00

My SS rang me early this morning, (in fact I was still in bed lol), to let me know that he is going to get my bulkhead altered! I am so grateful and impressed. This is not the builder's problem, and it is certainly not my SS's problem, but my SS said he could tell that it was important to me and he wants me to be happy with the house.

I have heard over and over from others that have built that the SS will make or break the build. Mine is professional, organised, conscientious, approachable, personable and as has become increasingly evident to me, genuinely concerned that we are happy with and enjoy our build. We are fortunate to have him and I wish everyone had such an SS.

This is definitely above and beyond as far as I am concerned. At the end of my build, head office will be hearing from me and I will be glowing in my praise. My CSC has also been fantastic ( I heard that kek!!!! lol)

I have a kitchen and cabinetry. It was all delivered today apparently. I am busting to get up there and have a look but I do not have a car at the moment. Might hire one over the weekend I think, I cannot stand it!!!! I need to see it all!! lol

So my meltdown is over. All of my other issues away from the build that piled up this week are also sorting themselves out.... as much as they can anyway. Thanks for listening guys. :)

I have really f*cked this up..... but still took 30 pics of plaster!!!!

2009-09-01T14:55:00.010+10:00

First the good news, I went up and took some pics of the plaster today (Matt drove me). They have done a great job and have pretty much hung it all. Heaps of pics.... some look a bit wonky because they are taken on my phone.

The interesting thing is the plaster board is similar to what our paint colour will look like so it gave me a good feel. The whole house is much lighter than I thought it would be. It was a sunny day though and we were there around 11.30. The kitchen will be much darker later in the day.

Master bedroom and retreat.

From the ensuite.

WIR 1

WIR 2

Ensuite

Ensuite toilet with concealed cistern in the wall.

Looking in to the house from the front doors.

Feature ceiling in the entry way.

Looking back towards the (temporary) front doors.

Study with feature voids. They were columns as standard but we filled them in at the bottom so the dogs and cats won't play chasey around them. This room will have double doors, so I am looking at etched glass panels from an Aboriginal art gallery to go in the voids.

Mud room through to laundry and door to garage on the right.

Laundry with the double glazed door with internal blind.

From the alfresco looking into the lounge. Once again we filled in the columns at the bottom.

Lounge again. This room will most likely serve as an open library.

Kid's Play Room

Bedroom 4

Bedroom 3

Bathroom

Walk In Linen

Looking down the hallway past the Play Room to Bedrooms 3 and 4.

Bedroom 2

Powder Room with the concealed cistern yet to be covered up.

Walk In Pantry

Looking from the Family Room to the Rumpus and to the back yard. Still so glad we opened this up. Watching 80 hours of DVD's a week in a theatre room isn't for me so to keep it closed up wouldn't work for us.

From the Rumpus back to the Family Room.

From the Rumpus to the Kitchen. My son is under the impression that he will have a bell in this little void to ring for food. Err.... I don't think so!!!!

Kitchen. There will be overhead cupboards on the left hand wall and the glass splashback will wrap around both walls. The opening is the doorway to the pantry.

Alfresco

Garage

On to the bad, bad news.
The problem is I have f*cked up the kitchen. It's my fault, I signed off on the plans. We altered a lot of cabinetry in the kitchen and it took days of emails back and forth between my CSC and myself and multiple lots of plans to get it right. The problem is that I was concentrating so hard on the cabinetry, cupboard and drawer configuration that I didn't notice the bulkhead until I signed off on the plans.

I thought I'd get it fixed on site, but it just didn't happen even though I mentioned it a couple of times and before I knew it, there was wiring running through the bulkhead. And that made it all too late.

So I will cop it,as it is my stuff up, I signed off on the plans and tried to avoid a variation fee by not officially changing them and trying to get it done on site. The bulkhead over this little void is lower. There will be overhead cupboards and a shelf to create a computer nook/bill station. The main overheads over the stove will have a bulkhead the same size as the doorways... we had the feature void changed to suit the doorways.... but this just looks revolting.

I'm so angry at myslef it isn't funny. I will not get used to it and it will make me miserable every time I look at it, so it has to be altered. I cannot expect the builder to change this as it is my fault and I signed off on it.

I'm currently ringing around getting quotes to get it changed after handover. I'm going to need a chippie, an electrician to move the wiring, a plasterer to replaster and a painter to repaint. I'm going to ring my SS to see if the overhead cupcoards can be left uninstalled so that at east it is a little easier to do and they won't get damaged when we rip them out.

All I know is that I am sick of feeling like I want to cry, I'm sick of being stressed out and I'm sick of the 100km round trip up there all the time...... and this is all in a build that is actually going really smoothly.
At the moment I have no car as both of them are stuffed and it will have to wait a while until I get them fixed because it is going to be expensive so I can't even get up to the house anymore.

So in short, I've just had enough and it's a bad week. BUT I will take two tablespoons of concrete and harden the f*ck up... and will be a much happier blogger next week. Hopefully!

Drama, tears, tanties and..... plaster!!!!

2009-08-31T15:29:00.005+10:00

Overview of my fully bricked house.

Well I've been through approximately 47 personalities in the last fews days. Poor Matt and Mum have copped the brunt of it... you know "Woe Is Me", major cracking of the shits and all that comes with it.

I was a bit concerned to be told by the eaves carpenters about another issue with the facade. The beam across the window projection was is too low by around 100mm.... so the eave would come in and then step down 100mm. WTF???? No it friggin won't! It would look deplorable. So I had a big drama queen teary (really a culmination of a lot of stress surrounding other issues) for a couple of days. All in the privacy of my own home, so my builder doesn't know how nutty I am! lol

Anyway, today I rang my SS, he said he'd go and have a look. He rang me back a few hours ago and said they have a rep from the truss company coming out to approve some modifications and it will be fixed. (Just like Matt told me it would be. lol)

It's a little hard to see, but the beam that sits between the two pillars is the problem, sitting slightly lower than the eaves. Easier to see it in the second pic.

On a brighter note, the step up ceiling in the portico is in and I am thrilled with it! It looks as though it is an intentional feature, not a last minute modification. I was very hard to get a good pic, it looks a bit wonky in the pics but is all square.

From the front it looks as normal.

From underneath.... it's not wonky, just appears so in this pic! lol

From the doors looking out.

All the eave sheeting has been installed, just has to have the quad added which I assume is happening today.

Inside we have gone for a raised ceiling in the entry way, it will match our raised ceiling in the portico! The insulation guys forgot about the bit above and around the doors and the wall adjoining the garage has bit that have fallen out. My SS was getting the plasterers to add it in. We also couldn't get in some batts around the concealed cisterns as they weren't installed. My SS is also getting the plasterers to add some in for me.

They couldn't get some batts into these walls as the plaster delivery was in the way. Again the plasterers will add some in.

Last week all the electrical mistakes were rectified and the sparkie changed a light point for me. Stupidly I had the pendant switch on the edge of the kitchen with the main kitchen light. He changed it so that it is with the under cupboard lighting switch, so in reach of the sink. Means I can just lean over and switch the pendant on when need be, much easier. I'm hoping the tank plumbing went in today with the cisterns, my SS was fully aware and onto it, so I'm sure it was done.

The plastering was started today, I'm busting to go up there but will contain myself until tomorrow and will have lots of pics then!

So this week or next I may well have a k-k-k-kitchen!!!!! Woo Hoo!

Everything is wet.

2009-08-25T19:48:00.002+10:00

All bricking is now finished! Woo Hoo!

Little hole in the roof courtesy of a chipped tile. Will need to be fixed.

Cornice has been delivered. Tempo to the living areas and Cove to all other areas.

The plaster board has been delivered. For some inexplicable reason they have placed it across the width of the master bedroom and retreat. Firstly, how the hell are the insulation people supposed to install the insulation in the walls? There is not enough room at either end of the pile to get around it. Secondly, this is the one place where the weather can get in and under the eaves as they are so big on the facade..... on the night of the biggest storm that there has been warnings for all over the radio/ TV. It was already soaked on the side closest to the windows when I saw it. The wind is so strong it was blowing the rain in under the eaves and into the room itself.

Insulation delivered into the garage..... was reasonably dry when I left, hopefully it will still be dry tomorrow when it is supposed to be installed.

Plaster is supposed to start on Thursday, insulation installed tomorrow. Hopefully the electrician will be there to rectify their mistakes tomorrow. The plumber also has to install the cisterns for the toilets into the walls and add in the pipes from the future water tank to the toilets (which were missed at rough in). Th gas point to the alfresco also has to be pulled through the bricks as they have left it in the wall cavity.

The week ahead and thank God the weekend is behind us!

2009-08-24T18:25:00.002+10:00

Spent the weekend moving a lot of bricks to the back of the block.... 15 at a time in the wheelbarrow. Painstaking, painful work. But worth it to have so many bricks to do what we want with later on and it is done now and behind us, thank God. And there is a LOT of bricks.

I spoke to my SS today for an update and this is the week ahead.
Lock-up carpenter back to do a few minor things picked up during the inspection.
Plumbers back to put in the plumbing from the toilets to the future water tank and also to install the cisterns for the toilets (concealed in the walls).
Electricians back to fix up the few misplaced power points and light switches.
Platered will be delivered on Wednesday and installed on Thursday.
So a lot happening internally!

As for the externals, I'm really liking the bricks and toying with the idea of telling them not to bother with the render. But I've never had render before and it might be a nice change. We'll see.

Bricking is done..... almost!

2009-08-21T19:27:00.004+10:00

Bricking is almost done...... They just have a couple of sills to do tomorrow and then that is it!! I am very happy with the bricks and the brickwork.

Can't see plastering happening on Monday, we have had the independant frame inspection and there are a few minor things to be fixed up. The lock-up carpenter was there checking out what needs to be done and will be back on Monday to do it.... so that pushes plaster out til at least Tuesday.

But the sparkies haven't been to fix things up and the plumbing to the toilets for the future water tank still isn't done and the concealed cisterns aren't in..... and all of that will need to be done before plaster..... so late next week or possibly the week after. I'm not concerned, I just need to know when it will happen so I can get the sound batts in.

A couple of pics of the almost completed brickwork.

A couple of little hiccups..... and an unexpected bonus "feature".

2009-08-18T16:09:00.004+10:00

First of all the electricians.... a few power points/light switches in dodgy places. I had a long conversation with my SS over phone yesterday afternoon and he had a copy of my electrical plan and I went through my list of mistakes and he marked off on his plan and will get things changed.
Just silly things like putting light switches on the wall directly above a TV point..... hmmmm, I don't fancy moving a TV every time I need to switch on the light. lol
A few points were in different places to the plan, but I could see the logic in that there was timber in the way of the original location, etc, etc... but some of them... hmmm.

In fairness to the sparkies, I called in when they were on-site and the younger one was there on his own, the boss had disclocated his hand on my job and was in Wallan at the doctors, so I can see the potential for things to get missed. The boss was probably full of pain killers when he got back and they would have rushed a bit. Understandable, I've been hurt at work before and done exactly the same thing. No biggie, everything will be rectified before plaster next week.

The other problem is an interesting one. Apparently no-one has built our facade with the higher (2340mm) front doors. Works perfectly on paper...... but in practice, the 600mm eaves sit lower than the top of the front doors, which creates a bit of a problem!!! Solution?? My SS has suggested that on the portico the eaves will come in the normal 600mm but inside the portico itself, the roof will step up, like a coffered ceiling. I actually am really pleased with this solution! We are not having downlights and I sort of envisioned that our portico light fitting would stand out like you know what from the street... now it will be concealed from the street in a step-up ceiling.

I'm looking at it as a feature and an unexpected bonus!! Hope it looks as good in reality as it does in my head!

The lock-up carpenter was on-site yesterday. A lovely old-school carpenter and he was very particular as he went about his business.
The bricking continues and I honestly could not be happier with it! Looks absolutely awesome. It is one thing that you want to get right and I'm so grateful that our brickies are so fantastic.

With the exception of the electricians (who I will give a free pass to considering the circumstances) I'm honestly so happy with the trades we have had to date, we have had legitimate tradesmen who take pride in their work and I hope to continue to be so fortunate.

We should be locked up at the end of this week and plaster will start on Monday. Very, very exciting.

Roof pointing, bricking continues and some internal shots.

2009-08-15T11:17:00.004+10:00

The pointing to the roof has been done and bricking continues! I'm not sure how interested everyone is in bricking pics, but anyway. lol

They will be finished with the bricks this week. The plasterers were booked for Monday, but the SS has pushed them out to Monday week as he said he'd prefer to have the bricking finished first. I'm not at all fussed by that and looking forward to seeing how dark/light different areas of the house will be once the plaster is in.

Overview.

The dead side of the house from pretty much the top of the hill. We have a 6 metre wide easement between our block and these ones. They are for sale but not currently developed.

Front of the house with the window to the garage installed.

Lots of plumbing and future powerpoints to the Ensuite.

Laundry, with the washing machine taps under the trough. Much easier for the future front loader.... and easier access to turn the tap off in an emergency.

From the Kid's Playroom looking into Bedroom 2, then the Lounge and Laundry/Mud Room further along. From the Mud Room there is a door to the Garage and the front doorway can just be seen on the far right.

Kitchen through to the Linen Cupboard, Hallway then Bathroom further back. Butler's Pantry to the right with the Kid's Playroom behind.

Rumpus room through to Bedroom 3 and then Bedroom 4.

Roof, electrical, ducted heating... and a brick decision.

2009-08-12T17:12:00.004+10:00

I have a roof! Woo hoo! Finally! It hasn't had the pointing done, but all the tiles are laid and I'm pleased with how it looks. I'm glad we went with the lighter Salsa colour rather than the darker Paprika. I think the Paprika may have been too strong a colour for the bricks. I love the Evening Haze guttering and fascia with the roof..... I haven't really had a bad moment concerning the colour selections. I'm pleased with how things are coming together..... remembering we had to have a red roof. :(

The electrician was there doing the electrical rough in and the ducted heating rough in had been done. Didn't want to get in the way, so no internal pics yet.

These are the gorgeous little dogs from some of the houses in the back of ours. The little Jack Russell is known as "The Inspector" because he goes around checking out all the new builds! lol The Staffy (possibly Pitty) is the most adorable, gorgeous, friendly, little creature I've come across! They run amok in the paddocks and check out all the builds. They may be in for a big fright when my dogs move in! But mine will let them come in the yard and play if they want to.... so we may have two extra visitors most days!!! lol

I've decided we'll leave the bricks in the alfresco. Now that the mortar has dried a little more, they are less noticable, and the pics actually look far worse than they do in person. The other side of the alfresco is not bricked yet, and the green sisilation wrap is throwing green onto the bricks and making it look worse than it is. lol

I've put comparison pics.... the ones I posted the other day, and then the ones from today from the same angle.

Sunday

Today

Sunday

Today

Random pics of house related stuff.

2009-08-09T16:06:00.004+10:00

I went up this morning (managed to get out of my pyjamas Lisa and Cinny! lol) to find the roof tiles set up on the roof ready to be laid. The bricking has continued and looks great, I'm really happy with how it looks.

A couple of small issues.... they've forgotten to plumb the toilets for the future rainwater tank, a couple of the brace boards have popped and will need to be fixed and I have some funny bricks.

There's a couple of funny discoloured bricks in the alfresco of all places. I would not give a flying f*ck if they were anywhere else, but they are in the alfresco. They are the only discoloured bricks anywhere... in the one area of blank wall in the alfresco. And one random discoloured on the side of the doors through to the ensuite.

Half of me thinks that they add character and it's all part of it and it's a quirk of my house and that makes it kind of cool. Another part of me wants it to look perfect. And there's another part of me that is thinking of rendering inside the alfresco after handover anyway.

What do you all think????

Overview from "the spot".

Discoloured bricks in the alfresco.

Close up.

Rear of the garage. There will be double outward swinging pedestrian doors here. Laundry to the right.

Bricking continues on the facade.

From a little further up the hill. Roof tiles ready to be laid.

From a little further down the hill. Anyone want to buy the block next door? Must like dogs and lunatics!! lol

The park near us has had a delivery and a temp fence. They must be about to do something there. You can see my house through the trees. lol

Err...... nothing exciting.... just more bricking and roof tiles delivered!

2009-08-06T20:35:00.005+10:00

More bricking has been done this week. I'm no expert, but it looks pretty good to me and the brickies seem quite particular. I'm really pleased so far.
Really happy with how the Evening Haze fascia and guttering goes with the bricks. I'm not sure if it's all a little samey... but the black windows and the red roof should stop that being the case.

Tiles have been delivered so we should have a roof soon. Woo hoo!!!! Monier Elabana profile in Salsa colour.

Alfresco. Study window to the left, doors through to the ensuite on the right.

Alfresco.

The side of the master bedroom.

Portico. This wall will be rendered.

Master bedroom and retreat to the right. The pillars and brickwork around the retreat window will be rendered.

I absolutely love these windows. A little bit different but not too out there.

Overview. I take a pic from this spot everytime I go up there and they will eventually form a slideshow.

Bricks!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

2009-08-04T13:09:00.003+10:00

Bricks have been delivered and the brickies have started already!!! I thought that we would have a bit of a wait but the SS has brought in a crew that he uses in Mernda/Craigieburn. They have done a few houses in HV but my SS's normal HV crew are working on the Marriott down the street from me.

They are expecting to take around 2 weeks to finish the bricking. I must admit I find this particularly exciting and I do love my bricks. This is a pic of my bricks from another house.

The tiny little but they had done looks good to me! lol Only the one pic, but I will have more later in the week or on the weekend.

All wrapped up in green stuff.

2009-08-03T18:07:00.004+10:00

Still no roof, but the house has been wrapped. Most houses I've followed have been roofed then wrapped. Mine has been wrapped first and looks a little nude without a roof! lol

The roof was due to be finished over the weekend and the tiles are yet to be delivered, so I'm assuming there is a slight delay from the supply end. No biggie, they are moving forward in other areas as the plumbing, gas and hot water provision have been done. Bricking due to start this week also.

Luca checking out the bathroom. The only time he'll be allowed in the house that dirty! lol

Looking through a minor bedroom through to the rumpus room and the gorgeous view.

Kitchen with a bedroom behind and the doorway to the butler's pantry on the right.

From the back fence.

Towards the back of the garage. No roller door on the rear, it will have double pedestrian doors instead.

The alfresco and the opening that will be the double doors into the ensuite.

From the back. Planning on a terraced retaining wall set-up along this side.

The dogs checking out their new backyard. From a little town house to this. They are very happy and looking forward to the move! lol

The dog's favourite "space" at the moment. The mud pile at the edge of the alfresco slab.

Pics and guttering and fascia.

2009-07-27T22:55:00.003+10:00

Looking from the back towards rear of the garage past lots of rooms, bedrooms, bathroom, kid's playroom, lounge! lol

Across the back of the house, 2 minor bedrooms and the rumpus.

From the front master bedroom, past the rumpus, alfresco, meals, family and rumpus.

The meals and family.... so thrilled with how these windows have turned out as we changed them around a lot!

View from the rumpus... we added this window, best thing we did! I love this view.

Our beautiful Evening Haze fascia and guttering..... I absolutely love it and thrilled with myself that I picked it without being totally sure about it! hahaha I'm sure now.... I love it!

And installed..... I'll get some better pics next time I'm up there.

Windows!!!

2009-07-23T23:03:00.004+10:00

I snuck up today and got a few pics. Frame just needs a few bits and pieces done. Most of our wondows are in which is a surprise. Only the garage, one facade and one sliding door are to be installed. Sorry for the quality of the pics, it was getting dark.
On the way home all the electrics failed on my car and I had to limp home with dim headlights. It's not the battery.... far more serious!

We have a meeting tomorrow with the SS, more pics then.

Overview.

One of the feature windows on the facade. I love it.

From the lounge looking out to the alfresco. We filled in the bottom of the pillers so that they became voids, otherwise the dogs and cats would play chasey around them... you can see it on the right. There's one on each side of the lounge and each side of the study.

Bi-part sliding door to the backyard.

Family room.

The offending void.... the bulkhead has been altered from 2100 to 2400 to line up with the doorway on the right next to it. Big thanks to my chippies.

Kid's play room. Hard to see, but there are a heap of roos up under the tree in this pic.

More frame pics.

2009-07-19T22:13:00.004+10:00

I had my first "Oh Fuck" moment today. I'm going up there tomorrow to talk to the framers and see if they can fix my stupid, stupid mistakes. I have a bloody alcove with a 2100 bulkhead next to a 2340 door. It looks positively shit and I'm hoping they will alter the alcove to a 2400 bulkhead like every other bulkhead and opening in the entire house. How the hell did I miss this????

The overheads in the computer nook are going to sit lower than the over heads in the kitchen. WTF??? So in a line there will be normal overheads, a 2340 door to the pantry, lower overheads, a 2100 bulkhead over an alcove then a 2340 doorway. It looks shit and I was almost in tears. And it's my bloody fault I missed it all.

I will see what a slab can do tomorrow. lol

Anyway... some pics of my half finished frame.

A minor bedroom.

Bathroom

Kid's playroom.

Rumpus.... I love how we have opened this up and added the window and sliding doors.

Where the kitchen will go.

Family room will have two slim windows.... the TV will sit in between.

Another angle of the family room with a big north facing window we added.

Dining room will have a sliding door to the alfresco.

A little bit of a frame.

2009-07-18T20:49:00.003+10:00

The beginnings of the frame!!! Yay!!!
Matt came with me to have a look and he said that the guys looked really professional and particular. Their work looked great to him.

On Monday it will be two weeks since the slab was laid and I have been happy to wait for my SS's preferred framers. They've done most of the PD houses in my street and they all look great... Matt and I snuck through most of them at frame stage.

I'm expecting most of the trades to follow on from the Marriott down the street and if that is the case, we could be waiting for bricks for a few weeks. I'm not at all worried by that... I'm more than happy to wait for my SS's preferred trades and if that means going a little slower in the early stages, that's no problem.

Random slab pics!

2009-07-07T18:52:00.002+10:00

Went up today to check out the finished slab and actually walk on it... and they had done the site clean.
Lots of random slab pics!!! As sad as it sounds... it's so much fun to walk around on it knowing which room is which and what will be where! I felt like I was about 5yo! lol

Slight problem here... this ensuite vanity pipe is exactly where the frame will go.

Powder room toilet and vanity plumbing... and kitchen and butler's pantry plumbing.

Main bathrooms plumbing.

Newly cleaned back yard.

This spot used to be home to the excess soil (specifically top soil) from our cut. It was supposed to be stockpiled and left.... but it's gone. We are not happy because we needed it. We may need to bring in soil now... and will definitely need top soil. GRRR!

Some of the crappier soil from our cut we were going to use to build up over the plumbers rubble over the 30m of aggi pipe... then cover with Lilydale Toppings. We'll have to look at other options ot build it up now.

The big ass slab! hahaha

One big slab!

2009-07-06T18:28:00.002+10:00

No hot tradies..... but some absolutely lovely ones!

They were there setting up and waiting for the trucks when we got there. Trucks were due at 8.30am so I did a coffee run at around 8am... it was bloody freezing and they appreciated it.
The concrete trucks just kept coming and coming and coming...... I think around 10 or 12 all together??

The guys (and girl, Carol) were really great. Explained stuff to DS and kept him entertained. We threw coins in as they poured. And heard some stories of different superstitions and stuff involving slab pouring (fresh goat's head anyone?? )..... our coins seemed quite tame!

They checked if we wanted to inscribe anything in the slab..... DS wanted to put his handprints.... they poured the garage first and when it was ready they organised a bit for him to do his thing. It will be in the workshop for ever. They brought out the buffer thingy and they left the corner with his prints so that it remains as is.

Got the details of the crew and they may do my driveway and pathways at a later date.

All boxed up!

2009-07-04T19:32:00.004+10:00

We are all boxed up ready for our slab. I can't imagine that they'll pour the slab tomorrow on a Sunday would they???

From the rear.

From the dead side behind the garage.

The extended garage and the dead side behind which we will be our utility area. Bins, water tank, clothes line, we've moved the hot water here.... anything we want to keep away from the dogs. We'll fence the back of this area level with the rear of the house.

The entertaining side, with the alfresco to the right.

Alfresco area.

Feature area of the facade with the pillars. These two deep strip footings will be filled with concrete.

Overview of what will be the slab..... I have to admit I said to myself... F*** it's big! hahaha

Holes, a box, waffles and metal.... building sounds kinky!!!

2009-07-03T18:46:00.003+10:00

I went up today just as a very, very beautiful man was finishing delivering my waffles.
He said if I'd gotten there half an hour earlier I could have helped him offload! OMG!!! What could he have meant?? hahaha

He was very chatty and we, you know, chatted!
Then some other guy turned up with these....

The holes that hadn't been filled have actually been dug out and will be deep strip footings for the big pillars that project out on the facade.

This gives a pretty good indication of how big the slab will be.... the red stuff basically shows where the slab will go. It also shows my big metal box.

I don't know whether I'll have the best workers/tradies in Melbourne.... but so far I've had the hottest. hahahaha
I love building!!!

Holes and pipes are done!

2009-06-27T17:36:00.002+10:00

Pics of my pretty, pretty pipes!! All done!!! Yay!!!
Caught the plumbers just as they were leaving and the guy got out and had a chat and explained a few things which was great.

My lovely son (known as klx.... to a couple of you) doing..... err...... something!! lol

Even though we've got considerable slope..... the backyard is pretty much level with the house which is great. All the other houses on our side of the street have needed retaining walls at the rear. The contours of the land really favour our block! Woo hoo!

Some pipes to go with my holes!!!!

2009-06-26T20:04:00.007+10:00

I have plumbing.... well half of it. Some of the trenches haven't been filled in and there is one big motherflucking hole in my backyard in the far corner!
Missed the plumbers though, bet they were hot too! lol
Of course that means I'll be forced to go up there tomorrow to make sure there is some more plumbing done. lol

Ummmm, it looks totally random, but I'm sure they know what they're doing...... don't they??

From the back corner.

From the other back corner.... that's a big long pipe!

Some piping that will eventually connect something to something else I'm sure!

Aggi pipe and what will be a silt pit in the front.... (well that's what my plans say!)

One of my filled holes!

Two of my holes only got half-filled...... sounds like a typical weekend! lol

Obligatory dunny shot! Everyone has to do at least one dunny shot don't they??

First offical casualty. Poor little thing.... he was still with us, but had lost a limb or two so I squished him.

I have lots of big holes.

2009-06-25T16:50:00.002+10:00

I got up there around lunch time and these guys were there....

And they were drilling these.... 41 of them!!!

My piers!!! Some of them are around 2.5m deep.... and they are BIG! They had to be inspected and then the concreters were heading up around 2pm to fill them. There was some concreters just finishing of the slab of a PD Marriott on my street, so I'm thinking maybe they were the ones that would do my piers perhaps?? Would make sense.
Had to head home for the school pick up so I missed it. Oh well.... I know I have piering, I just haven't seen them yet!!!

I won't be able to help myslef and I'll go up there tomorrow!! hahaha

A tap and a fence!

2009-06-23T16:00:00.003+10:00

Here's a few pics of our little bit of progress! A water metre and our temporary fencing. Even though I'm fully aware of the size of our block, to actually see it marked out with a fence made it look a bit different! I'm so happy we perservered on this project and with this land. I really do love it after almost feeling resentful towards it after all the previous dramas.

It's interesting that they've fenced the whole block though, to just inside the back fence. We have 30m from the back of the house to the back fence, so I expected them just to fence across the back of the house.

As we were about to leave our SS turned up to introduce himself. I'm really thrilled we have him, I've heard nothing but great things. He looks after all the Porter Davis Lifestyle and Prestige homes on our estate and they have all been quite quick builds with satisfied clients. He stopped in at two other homes on his way up the hill, one of which was finished months ago. He always seems to be around the place and that's fantastic to know.

We started!!!

2009-06-18T19:57:00.005+10:00

The pictures say it all.... the boys doing their thing!

From the front, garage to the right, portico next to it and the alfresco further back. They've stockpiled all the nice topsoil at the back of the block for me.

The deepest part of the cut.

Looking over the block from the side.

Here is our plan!

2009-06-13T18:32:00.005+10:00

I've edited out all of the dimensions, but this is basically it along with the elevation of the facade. Very happy with the plan. Not too different from the standard really. Just been tweaked a bit.

The facade I absolutely love. I wasn't 100% sure it could get through estate covenants but it did no problem so I am absolutely thrilled. You can also see the line of our cut and fill in the drawing of the front elevation.

Next week.... it's all on!!!

2009-06-12T15:21:00.002+10:00

We are officially at construction! As of Monday it will all be happening and we will definitely start next week. Woo Hoo!!! PD are expecting site cut late next week so I'm hoping for a tap, a cage and a builder's sign early next week!!

Hahaha I'm excited about the prospect of those things! Does that offically make me a loser?? Hahaha

Building permit recieved.

2009-06-10T16:12:00.000+10:00

That's it.... nothing else to report! lol

Construction drawings signed, admin completed, site start imminent.

2009-06-04T18:22:00.003+10:00

We signed off on our construction drawings yesterday. Happy to say that there was no mistakes, everything was spot on. We just had one small selection clarification that went through as a Building Variation. Then it was done. Admin is now completed and we will start late next week or the week after!

Very exciting and a bit nerve wracking. I've never had a mortgage before, and although comparitively small, it's still scaring the crap out of me to be this much in debt!!

Matt the chippie, or he-who-never-bothers-to-look-at-my-blog, had a look over my construction drawings last night and apart from his sooking about where the carpet and tiles meet, he thinks my house will be great. Hope that means he'll be prepared to travel up the Hume to visit me! lol

They are here!!!!

2009-06-02T11:35:00.002+10:00

They arrived this morning! Thank God I don't have to go into head office and demand my loan docs.... that would have involved getting out of my tracksuit pants! hahahaha

I'm off to the branch now to sign, etc, etc!

Thanks you so much to everyone for all the messages here, on homeone and by email. It makes it so much easier to know people care about the stress you are going through.

So this is it..... it's really happening now! Woo hoo!!!

Apparently one day I'll laugh about this.....

2009-06-01T20:48:00.003+10:00

If you are offended by colourful language don't read this.... I'm beyond being rational or polite.

My mortgage broker called me today wondering if I'd recieved any correspondence from the bank. WTF????
Apparently they've sent the loan docs to me on Friday. What??? Why??? Why the fuck would they send them to me when I'm supposed to pick them up from the city??

Sent them on Friday??? Well they didn't because I haven't got them!!! How fucking hard is it to get this right?? We've jumped through all the necessary hoops, we've not complained or hassled or done anything to drive anyone nuts. We've been patient, we accepted it would take a while because of the increased applications due to the FHOG..... but as of Thursday this slack-assed attitude will cost us money.

I just want some documents, I just want to sign them..... so I can start to build this bloody house. I'll laugh one day.... but at the moment I just want to punch something! Grrrrr!!!!!

Loan docs update..... or lack of one!

2009-05-30T09:46:00.004+10:00

We still don't have them!! WTF??? My mortgage broker was out of the office for a few days due to a family tragedy. Porter Davis rang to say that they were going to charge a 3k fee for running into June. Bloody hell!

So after a bit of discussion and some great work by our CSC, we have an extra week to get these bloody loan docs signed. We have until Thursday, and as long as they are signed then, there will be no charge from PD. If we have nothing by Tuesday, I will be in at the bank at Williams St at 9am.... and I won't be leaving until I have loan docs.

The bank has had our paperwork since we signed the contract, that's almost two months. Enough is enough. I'm mighty pissed off, that's for sure!

But there is one positive... and that is our builder Porter Davis. I can honestly say, after over two years of going through this.... concerning time frames and deadlines, we have been fed bullshit by our land developer, our two previous builders and now the bank. Porter Davis have done everything they said they would, when they said they would. We have not had to deal with anything from them whatsoever as far as feeding us crap about getting things done.... it just gets done.
And that makes me very happy and hopeful looking ahead to our build.

It's Tuesday.....

2009-05-26T12:43:00.001+10:00

... and we still don't have loan docs. I cannot get onto my mortgage broker having left a message yesterday and today. WTF????

We are unconditional!!! Site start??..... Sometime soon!

2009-05-23T14:34:00.007+10:00

Thanks to everyone for worrying about it and crossing things for ridiculous amounts of time! lol How are your toes J?
We got the valuation back on Thursday night, a bit short, but I expected that, and nothing to actually worry about.

The bank signed off and we went unconditional on Friday morning. We will have loan docs to sign on Monday apparently. PD are prepared to go to site start based on that, even though it could take anywhere between a day and a week or so for the money to be available for drawdown. We don't actually need the bank money til a few payments in, but usually Porter Davis prefer not to go to site start without all funds being available for drawdown.

My CSC said that they had already moved us to the first week of June (not October thank God) but we may get moved back to this coming week.

So it is definitely happening, either this week or next. There's still a part of me waiting for something to go wrong... but hopefully it won't!

Thanks everyone for all your messages both here and on homeone. We always knew there was no problem, it was just a matter of actually getting it done in time. Only took just under 6 weeks... lol

29th May site start..... but we may be running out of time!

2009-05-14T11:24:00.003+10:00

We have until the 22nd of May to get this finance organised or we will miss our site start! It is all approved subject to valuation, which won't affect us anyway as we have more than 50% of the total house and land cost in cash.

Porter Davis have us in for a May 29th site start and if we don't make it the next available site start is......... OCTOBER!!!! And a $3,000 price increase. Not happy at all with the time being taken by the bank to organise this!

If we miss May, that will be it. We won't be waiting that long to start, we can't. We'll buy established instead.

Surely it isn't supposed to be this hard is it? It's one disaster after another and we haven't even started building! lol

Waiting on the bank.... like everyone else!

2009-05-08T20:11:00.004+10:00

As the title says... waiting on the bank. There was a stuff up with the paperwork.... and it all had to be resubmitted. We were supposed to be unconditional by today. Now it will be Tuesday. The loan is a no-brainer, it is for around 40% of the total value. It's just a matter of them actually doing the checks on the paperwork. The paperwork that they have had for friggin weeks. I am really, really hoping this doesn't make us lose the May site start. We were originally in for May the 15th and the finance has pushed us later into May. I will not be happy if it runs into June.

On a more positive note, after a shaky start, our CSC "S" has been fantastic. And when I say shaky start, I mean more us than her. I guess after all our... err.... "experiences" with builders I have a particularly cynical view of anything that comes out of anyone's mouth. So I was probably unfairly tough on her.

"S" has been super helpful in getting the changes to the kitchen sorted out for us. I am absolutely thrilled with the cabinetry layout. No other Bridgeport will have a kitchen like ours. lol Actually, no other Porter Davis house will have a kitchen like ours! It is certainly not to everyone's taste, and we have had to forgo corner cupboard access in order to have pot drawers, but that doesn't bother us. Mum had a corner cupbaord in her previous home that she despised, and I have one in this rental that I absolutely hate.

We will have an appliance tower with access later on for a steam oven and possibly coffee machine. But for the moment it will have some cupboards. I love it! There's a computer nook/bill station on the edge of the kitchen and a spare wall between the tower and nook that will be painted as a blackboard after handover. We are a family of "notes".... we leave notes for each other all the time.... we make notes of phone numbers.... we write things down on "notes" that are never to be seen again lol! The blackboard wall will be near the phone and computer nook but also in the kitchen. Perfect for "notes".... and perfect for writing down recipes to work from when cooking!

I was really disappointed that we weren't having a galley kitchen, but I am actually getting really excited by this kitchen. And it's the first time I've felt excited about building in a while.

The kitchen cabinetry drawings went back and forth with "S" yesterday by email until we got it right and we were happy. I am so grateful to the effort "S" put into this yesterday, absolutely fantastic! Now it is at estimating for a final price and it will be added to the PCV. Once we sign off on that, we are finished administratively from the Porter Davis end. Just waiting for the building permit and the finance. Then it will be all go!

I've changed my mind..... I want my Army Issue!!!

2009-04-29T14:42:00.006+10:00

I want my Army Issue render! Somehow I want it! I didn't even want render to start with, but after doing all our selections and knowing that they work so well and provide just the look I'm after..... I want it! But how do I get it??

We have resubmitted all our colours as they were, and simply changed the render colour to Self Destruct. Here it is below with Army Issue on the left. The plan is to get these colours approved and get things underway, then lobby the design committee to let me have Army Issue!!

But I don't want to fight them now because it will just hold everything up... we can get building while I prepare a submission! I want my Army Issue!!! Somehow!!!!! lol

Below is the two render colours with all the other selections. The Army Issue looks so much better than the Self Destruct. But everything else is ok!!! So I'm crossing my fingers that over the next few months I can persuade the estate to my way of thinking! lol

Some crappy news from the estate developer..... grrr!

2009-04-24T16:26:00.003+10:00

Hidden Valley Design Guidelines Development Committee Organisation or whoever they are have knocked back the render colour, Army Issue, on the basis it is too green and too grey! Considering there are multiple houses around our estate with Woodland Grey render.... which is both greener and greyer than Army Issue I am not very happy!

Those very same houses are what made me think that the Army Issue would be ok. I've spoken to someone from said Committee and apparently anything with Woodland Grey wouldn't have been approved..... ummm well why are they there then?????

Anyway, after some deep breaths, we have decided to just delete the render. I'm not really into lighter render with our other selections and I really love my brick. Porter Davis actually had our facade on display without render so it will definitely work. Every thing else will remain the same, but I think the guttering will change to Monument. It will match the black windows and the contrast with the Evening Haze fascia will add a little more interest with the render gone.

I'm not that worried, we really only went with render because it was included. Probably wouldn't have added it otherwise. My main concern is that this could slow us down because it needs to be resubmitted.

But the good news is our facade is ok. I haven't seen that facade anywhere on the estate so I had a niggling concern it would be knocked back. And keeping our facade is far more important than render!

Some good news from Porter Davis!

2009-04-16T17:43:00.002+10:00

My CSC rang me this afternoon with some good news. There is no problem for us to revert to the standard appliances which are Blanco and again alter the cabinetry. Logically it isn't a problem, but as we had signed the contract they technically could have refused. So we are extremely happy about this outcome and I so appreciate my CSC sorting this out for us!

We had the choice in the promo between a 900mm semi commercial freestanding cooker or an additional 600mm oven with a seperate 900mm cooktop. We have gone for an additional built in oven and seperate cooktop. We are having a slideout rangehood with overheads and I like both the oven and rangehood to be built in. Again because I'm lazy! lol

So we'll have two 600mm ovens and eventually we'll add a steam oven and convection microwave as planned! Might just have to wait a little longer than expected. lol

Contract..... and other crap.

2009-04-12T15:23:00.004+10:00

We signed the contract on Monday. As all of you that have done it know, it's not all smooth sailing. There were a few "discussions" but overall it went pretty well. We have had to add R4 batts to the ceiling and R2 to the walls at a cost of just under 2.4k, but we expected that as we have added a number of windows.

Lots of changes to the cabinetry to fit in all of our appliances and more pot drawers. We've ended up with 9 overall which I'm happy with. The kitchen is a slightly non-conventional shape so that is all we could fit in with the configuration. I must admit, I'm liking the kitchen more and more!

There's a cupboard that will keep all of our crockery. I've left it as a cupboard, but after handover, I'm planning on putting in some custom pull-out wire shelves to house everything most efficently.

So in general we walked away happy. Then on Thursday night the shit hit the fan.....

Our appliances are Kleenmaid. All paid for in full... all six of them.... and now they will have cabinetry modified to suit and an extra cost.... and we will never get them.

Kleenmaid has gone bust. All monies paid are lost and there is no hope of getting any appliances. Fan-fucking-tastic!

I have to contact our CSC on Tuesday and see if we can have all the cabinetry changed back and take the Blanco appliances on offer. I'm happy with Blanco. We only bought the Kleenmaid appliances because we were unhappy with the appliances on offer with our previous builder.

We'll keep the appliance tower and fit it out with Blanco appliances, such as a steam oven and microwave convection oven, after handover.

It's only money and appliances and things could be a lot worse. I'm being a new age wanker and keeping things in perspective. lol

Wet area selections.

2009-04-04T20:20:00.004+11:00

The pretty basin. Two in the ensuite, one in the powder room, one in the bathroom. I really love that it's substantial but not too chunky.

And this is the tap that will be on all of the basins. All the tapware will be Mizu.

The flickmixer for the bath and both showers.... I much prefer flickmixers to traditional taps.... mainly because I'm lazy.

The shower head on the rail, there'll be one in each shower. The shower in the ensuite will also have the rainhead that is in the top right hand corner. It comes straight down from the roof.... quite wanky really, but I like it anyway... and it was free in the promo! lol

And the cupboard "handles" as I know they were hard to visualise. Matt as shown below for the bathroom, ensuite, powder room and laundry. Stainless steele for the kitchen.

Colour selections.... and lots of pics!

2009-04-03T16:06:00.007+11:00

These are the tabs we have selected for the kitchen and wet area cupboards. Satin (top one) for laundry, ensuite, bathroom and laundry. Satinless steele (middle) for the kitchen. They attach at the back of the cupboard and come over the top and the tab sticks out. I really like them because they are a little different. As most of you know, I like something a little different! lol

This is another shot of the paint Wattyl White Pepper. We've decided to do all woodwork and doors in White Pepper gloss, as this pic shows.

That's the evil 13.5k upgrade floortile. Left sample is Smokey Sappelle and it had been selected for the bathroom, ensuite and powder room vanities and benchtops. Also for the laundry underbench cupboards and benchtops. We may change one bathroom to the Blackened Linewood which is on the right.

These are the kitchen selections. Top is Rock Salt for the overhead cupboards, also for laundry overheads, below that is Army Issue which will be the glass splashback colour. To the right of that is the benchtop QQ Coral Reef. At the bottom to the left is Stipple Hemp for the underbench cupboards and to the right is Stringybark for the back panel of the bench.

External colours. Austral Lonsdale brick, black windows, below the black is colorbond Evening Haze for the guttering, fascia, downpipes and garage door. The top sample is Army Issue for the render... same as the splashback in the kitchen. Our roof tile isn't there, it's an orangey/red colour (estate covenant) so it picks up the splatter of Terracotta colour in the brick.

Our electrical consultation wasn't great. The consultant's morning appointment ran over time and our noon appointment started at nearly 1pm with a different consultant who hadn't prepared our job. She was great, but we felt very rushed as I had to pick my son up from school.

We've found three mistakes we've made that will need to be changed, I'll raise them at contract on Monday. Given the circumstances of our consultation, they should let us make out alterations with no problems.

We came in 2k under budget which was fantastic!

Some things we are doing....

2009-03-30T11:57:00.016+11:00

These are some things we are doing in the house. This is what we are having on the dead wall in the laundry so I was happy to see it in a display. One side of the support will house the big buckets of dry dog food, big dogs = lots of dry food! The bench will be for the kitty litter and cat food. The dogs like to raid both so it the cats will have their space... and privacy lol. It will also be a good sewing area for Mum.

The door handles I really, really like but don't love. So if the price is reasonable we'll go with them but in satin. If not, the standard are really good for us. We need something where it's harder for arthritic hands to slip off, bit of future proofing for Mum. These and the standard both fit the bill.

The pic to the right is our paint colour White Pepper. Still debating whether to do the woodwork in the same or Flokati. Or for something different, do the woodwork in Flokati and the door in White Pepper gloss. But someone.... let's call him Matt.... told me that would look crap. lol

This will give an indication of our cutout, although ours will be much bigger. Ours will start the same height from the ground 900mm, but this one is 2400mm wide and ours will be 2700mm wide and ours will be as high as the opening next to it, 2400mm. It will give us the visual link to the backyard. The rear wall of the rumpus will have a big bi part sliding door so there really is a big link to the yard which is exactly what we are after. It will eventually be a pool room if my son has his way. But I like the idea of it just being a room.... no TV or enertainment devices.... just a room to relaxed in.

New Porter Davis displays at Mernda

2009-03-22T09:32:00.009+11:00

Yesterday, with no homeone forum, I needed some type of house fix. So after going to a mini pet expo in Keilor Village, we headed up to the new Porter Davis displays at Mernda.

I guess the overwhelming term to describe them is understated. While all of the homes have a decorating theme, as all Porter Davis homes do, they have used quite calming relaxing tones in general. After going through all five (2 Lifestyle and 3 Prestige), they felt a little samey decorating wise to be honest.
But, in saying that, they do feel very light, spacious and airy. A lot of inspiration to be found for anyone after that look.

The one that was of most interest to me was the Francis with it's Australiana theme. I'd made a joking comment on homeone that they might be using "our" colours. Well guess what? They have used our chosen tile in the wet areas. I might be not too bad at this colours thing after all. The "bush retreat" style is definitely Australiana. lol

Maybe the next displays will expand on the theme and use all my colours!! Or maybe not, I think their idea is to sell the houses not scare people! lol

Interestingly, they extended the tile from the ensuite right through to the WIRs. I've never seen that done before in a display, and while I think it's a great idea for somewhere like Queensland, seems a bit strange in Melbourne.

Great that they have a Sandhurst on display in the north as the other two are both in the SE.

My son was sooking a little bit, so we didn't stay long. I thought he was just doing a "display whinge", but he was sick all last night so it was legitimate. I'll probably go up during the week and have a much better look around.

Just further to my response in the comments last night. I'd like everyone to feel free to comment on my blog and offer their opinions and please tell me when my ideas may be a little off. What I posted was directed at an individual who chooses to use people's glogs as a way to insult, manipulate and upset people. She has deliberately left comments on blogs that, while seemingly complimentary, are veiled attacks on other people and their choices for their homes. Myself and a few others have had to deal with her lies, manipulations and attempts to cause rifts where none exist, both online and in person.

I have no control over her comments and PMs on homeone or her comments on other blogs. But I'm not interested in having her do it here and wanted to clearly make that statement .

But to those followers who are legitimately interested in the build and following the progress, please feel free to offer any comments and suggestions. Constructive criticism is very different from the manipulations of someone who has very clear mental issues.

I felt it important to put my response in context so that people understand why I wrote what I did.

So if they don't do it... why is it on display??

2009-03-19T19:56:00.007+11:00

Minor whinge. I asked for a couple of things at the tender appointment and was told "We don't do that." One specifically was the pot drawers. I want three instead of two in each bank. That part is no problem. But I want one shallow one and two deep. I have specifically been told that if I want three, they must all be the same size.

Well then, why the hell does the Brookvale at Caroline Springs and the Illoura at Lyndhurst have banks of three pot drawers with different sizes ... two shallow and one deep?? It's not specifically what I want, but it is indicative that different sizes are possible.

If I can't get one shallow and one deep, I'd prefer two shallow and one deep over three the same size. Why was I told different sizes weren't possible? Ok, pot drawers are possibly a tiny bit wanky, but I like them and I'm having them! lol

Everything else seems to be coming along remarkably easily..... external colours are seemingly decided. Kitchen, bathroom, powder room and laundry colours are progressing. Tiles and carpet are pretty much set.

I've painted up some big pieces of cardboard using sample pots of the paint.... and I love what we chose straight off the bat. Still not 100% sure, but close. And when it comes to paint colours, the names are the epitome of wanky.... White Pepper, Kid Leather, Ruffles......

I think I might put a feature wall of "Come Here You" in my bedroom.... lol

I'll shoot off an email to my CSC tomorrow to find out about these bloody pot drawers...

Bridgeport 38 standard plan and land pics

2009-03-14T01:50:00.009+11:00

Here is a pic of the standard plan for the Bridgeport 38. Ours will have a number of changes, nothing too drastic. I won't have a plan of our actual house until the contract appointment. I will post it then. Some of the terminology on the plan is particularly wanky.... gallery, foyer, alfresco... yeah, whatever.. it's a bloody hall and a glorified patio!!! lolNow some pics of our land. The block is 1639m2 or 1/3 of an acre. We love the land and we love the estate. The pic looking out over the estate from our block shows how built up it will be in the background of the pic. Not very!!! There will be houses in the foreground. The other pic is from the front of our block looking to the rear.

We were happy to go a little further out to get a block approximately 3 times larger than average for a very good price. The estate is Hidden Valley and it is approximately 900 hectares but will only have just over 900 lots. We are looking forward to having space both inside and out side!!!! Can't wait.

Tender.... Part 2.

2009-03-13T18:59:00.004+11:00

We completed tender today. Site costs came back as..... wait for it..... 16k!!!!!!!!! Wooooo hoooooooo!!!! Absolutely thrilled with that!!!!!!!

As for the opening to the rumpus, we can't remove the wall, but we'll keep the standard opening and add a massive cut out to the wall. It's a much larger than standard cut out apparently to visually open it right up. That's what we are after, a visual link to the back yard. So we are happy.

We have added and altered windows, concealed cisterns to the toilets, stone end panel to the kitchen, an appliance tower to the kitchen, moved the fridge to the pantry and added a computer/workstation/bill nook to the kitchen, stone to the pantry, overheads to the laundry.... too much to remember.

We are pretty happy with what we've added and feel good about everything. And we are within budget.. for a change lol.
Cannot wait to get my hands on some plans. Just have to wait a few weeks.

Roll on May site start!!!!!!!

Tender.... Part 1.

2009-03-11T23:34:00.003+11:00

Soooo... 30k site costs isn't a good start is it?? They had sited our house in the wrong position on the block and there was 11k worth of retaining walls. We knew this was waaaaayyyy wrong as it can be battened due to the size of the cut and the size of the block. Retaining walls are simply not required.

They had it sitting on the wrong side, it has to be flipped. They will resite, do the cut without retaining walls and get the costs to us on Friday.

Next they are saying we cannot remove the wall between the family and the rumpus. I gave examples and addresses where this has happened, but that's not enough. They just flatly refuse to do it. We have to decide whether we want pillars or whether we want a big void in the wall. Decisions, decisons.

We've reached a compromise on the appliances, and are very happy with the degree of understanding that was shown to the position we were put in. Very happy with the outcome on this point.

But there was some pricing we are not thrilled with, but we'll get over it. It's all about picking your battles. The appliances was a big one. We can compromise on everything else.

Tender Part 2 is on Friday and we will then know what is going on with the site costs. So that all being reasonable, around 20k, we will be going forward.

All in all, not an ideal day, but pretty good. Looking forward to Friday.

Tomorrow all will be decided.

2009-03-10T19:35:00.002+11:00

Tender tomorrow. We will find out all our pricing and most importantly, the site costs. We've had three houses sited before on this block, so we know roughly what they should be. The current allowance is 20k...... we will see.

As for using our own appliances, still a no-go apparently. My CSC wants to know if I had anything in writing. I looked but didn't (yes I'm an idiot and I bloody know better!) BUT, I have found something that I'm pretty sure proves that we had permission. I'm planning to show them this little piece of paper tomorrow and see what they have to say.

I'm trying to be positive and calm, but I've been burnt by builders before, so am thinking the worst. Jaded much????

Bring on tender. Hopefully this time tomorrow I'll be happily telling everything that we're building with Porter Davis. WOW, I never thought I'd say that! lol

Not the greatest way to start things off.....

2009-03-04T10:17:00.004+11:00

Yesterday, I recieved a phone call from my CSC. There is no record of us being given approval to use our own appliances. WHAT?????? We were originally thinking about a Lifestyle house and the consultant checked for us the first day we met him that we could use our own appliances, which are already ordered and paid for. This and to be able to use Austral bricks were our deal breakers. We were given an immediate yes on the appliances by someone in management, and a no on the brick. We thought we'd see if we could work around the brick.

When we realised just how disgusting the Boral bricks are with a red or orange roof, we changed to a Prestige house simply to be able to use Austral bricks. All our paperwork was to transfer over. But apparently no-one has any recollection of the approval happening. The original sales consultant is saying that the answer was no. So the phone call that I sat there and watched happen.... never happened. WHAT?

I'm upset about the appliances, but I am far more upset about the inference that I am lying about being given permission. We wouldn't have signed with them if it meant throwing away 12k worth of appliances. Why would we? Doesn't make any sense.

And we find all this out a week before tender. I'm waiting to see what happens today.

Finally... it's a final decision!

2009-02-28T10:08:00.006+11:00

Welcome to the "The Bush Retreat". The title is a bit of a piss take on the Porter Davis style finder, this is my style, and anyone that knows me knows that I actually have no style. It's also a bit of a dig at the fact that Wallan is simply not country enough for some people. It's not suburbia. It's not country. It's Wallan. It's the Wallan Bush Retreat. Does it get any wankier? Yeah, it probably will if you keep reading. And yes, wankier is actually an official building and designer term and one that will come up quite often on this blog.

So after almost two years of stuffing around and being stuffed around by builders, we have finally made a final decision, if that makes sense.

We, mum and I, will be building the Bridgeport 38 with Porter Davis Prestige. We have officially signed with them for a May site start, which will bring us to two years since we purchased the block of land.

Although it is not what we initially wanted, we think we can make it work. The garage is not on the same side as the living areas, which means the garage extension will pull the dead side off the boundary. But rather than piss and moan, we have decided to use that to our advantage. The dead area will become a utility area. The water tanks, clothes line, bin area and (hopefully if we can changed the position) the hot water unit will all be positioned in that area. That will leave the entire backyard and side area off the living rooms and alfresco, completely utility free.

It also means this stuff is away from the three menaces, otherwise known as our dogs.

Here's a link to the standard plan:
http://www.barrettgroup.com.au/content/Houses/Bridgeport/Floorplans/bridgeport38.pdf

We will be creating a butler's pantry in the study nook and removing the wall between the family and rumpus rooms. We will also be extending the garage by approximately 1.5m in width.

They are the major structural changes at this point. Not many really. The rest is all adding doors, both internal and external, and repositioning windows. I'll post our plans when we get some at tender, which will be on March 11th.

And just so everyone knows, this blog will be deleted at handover. I'm not going to do some pretentious "invite only" thing like I'm the Queen of Wallan. While it's here it will be open to everyone, but once we have the house, it'll be deleted for the privacy of myself, my mum and my son. I'm sure everyone understands.

Hope you enjoy our journey!