Lookin' good!!

Met the fixing carpenter today. He was putting the finishing touches onto the alfresco. Skirtings and architraves now done inside. Not completely finished yet, he tells me, until he's done the balcony floor. Lovely guy - told me that we should be well and truly finished before our July 3 deadline!! We'll see.....

Anyhoo... had a look at my paint today. All the plastic has been removed from the windows and most of it is done. Apparently the painters will be starting on the feature colours tomorrow. I can't wait to see them all together. Bit of a worry, but as they say, it's only paint! I've kept most of the paint pretty neutral (sorry J..) but my current house has been very colourful for quite a while and I needed a change. It won't all be bland though, plenty of colour to come. Here's some pics...

Games room - strange place for a bath, but I suppose I could get used to it. Lol!

Looking from games. All walls painted in Wattyl 'Kid Leather'

Top of stairs, handrail all stained and varnished.

Looking up.... risers still to be painted feature colour.

Harry Potter's room under the stairs.

Kitchen - more 'Kid Leather'. I wish they'd take the plastic off so I can see what it looks like!!

Living room.

Looking out from Rumpus.

Minor facelift..

A little bit more action today. The render has been done to the front study and portico. It really brightens the house up at the moment, but time will tell how it will look once it's painted. It will be light at the front (Colourbond 'Dune') and a darker colour for the portico (Dulux 'Brood')...
Still not finished with skirtings/architraves inside, which must be very frustrating for the painters who are working very hard, but gives us still a bit of time away from the bank and that big 'fix' payment. Don't think I can put it off for much longer though....

Stair lovingly into my eyes....lol!

I really didn't want to post anything just yet, but it's soooo hard to get in to take photos at the moment!! The wonderful man has come in and put the correct staircase in for us. I am in love with my staircase! The plasterer has come back to finish off around the place. He had a bit of a 'whoopsie' when the plaster was hung in the garage roof before the scaffold came off the roof. They then had to cut a huge hole in the plaster to access the scaffold which was still attached...idiots!! All is patched up again now.

Skirtings and architraves nearly complete now, so I guess we'll be paying that big 'fix' bill soon. Our bath has arrived and is sitting neatly in the games room. Painting has begun. The bifolds and stairs have now been stained and the rest of the painting is well under way. Went to peek through the holes in the plastic yesterday and the guys were there who had just installed our Quantum Quartz benchtops in the kitchen!! Yay!! They very kindly opened the doors and let us in for a quick look around. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting to get in and I didn't have my camera!!! Note to self - always carry camera in car!! Anyway, from what I can see of the paint, the colours are looking pretty good.

So here are some photos that I was able to take early in the week of the staircase and the stain ('cedar' if anyone's interested).

The good and the bad news.

We received word yesterday that our ever-so-wonderful SS is very unwell and will not be able to finish the job with us. He had been on two weeks holiday and fell ill while away. We will miss him and hope he recovers well and quickly.

Meanwhile, we have met our new SS, over the phone, and he seems quite reasonable as well so hopefully the relatively smooth sailing will continue.

The painters came in to start on Wednesday. Apparently, they were told the house was at 'fix stage' as well and would be ready to paint. Not so! So they sat around a bit, did a little bit of preparation work, and went home. Waste of a day for them...

The stair man (carpenter??) came in yesterday and started dismantling the incorrect staircase. Today he came back and started putting in the correct one. Unfortunately, I couldn't get in to take photos today, but if he's back tomorrow to finish them I will get some. I have to say though, that looking through the window, they look absolutely fantastic! I can't wait to get in and have a closer look.

It also seems that we have indeed sold our house, with a settlement date of July 3. Our new SS did some quick calculations and estimated that our new house should be finished in time, with maybe a couple of weeks to spare (!!!!!) Fingers and toes crossed now everybody, please.. Lol.

I will try to post some pics very soon.

Garage roof........ho hum....

Well, our SS has been on leave for two weeks, and really not much has been happening on site. Just like J, we received our hefty 'fix stage' invoice extremely prematurely! But once again, after a couple of polite phone calls, PD admitted their error and confirmed that our house is indeed not at 'fix stage' and they are in no position to claim a payment. A bit of interest saved there, thank goodness!

We've had the guys come back to finish bricking up the garage and fitting the roof to the garage and alfresco. The house is almost looking like it should be, but I'm just not that excited about it at the moment. I'm sorry, but I just want more!!! The Easter weekend has dragged by sooooo slowly.... Thankfully, SS should be back at work tomorrow and things might get moving again.

On another note, we had an offer on our house today, but on the condition that we can hand it over on July 3.. Hmmm, our 'official' date is August 26.....could we possible make it to a July 3 deadline??? The offer was a bit shy of an acceptable figure, so if they come back with a reasonable one I suppose we'll sell and hope for the best. Worst case - put our stuff in storage for a little while and move in with Mum (Lol...6 of us and a dog lobbing into her little place...should be very cosy.)

Anyway, here are a few pics of the house with a couple of extra roofs. Hopefully I will have much more to report next time..

Mmmmmm.....Fudge!

Well, we have discovered a way to break in to our locked-up house. Very sneaky....we visited the men installing the cabinets today and yesterday...told them we were 'just measuring up for a few things around the place'....snuck into the study and opened a window just a tiny bit...go home...come back later when they've all gone....insert hand and wind window out all the way....send skinny six year old in through window to open door...voila!! Make sure window is closed properly when we leave.. Brilliant!!

I am waaaayy excited about my cabinets! I have chosen 'Fudge Stream' for just about everything - I love it! I am a bit unsure about the overhead cabinets in the kitchen, though. I have gone for a very light, neutral colour ('Moleskin') which I think looks great, but I'm worried about how it will look with the 'Kid Leather' walls. I hope they complement each other okay. Time will tell, but for now I am extremely happy with my choices. I will let the pictures speak for themselves and I apologise for the blurry ones ( couldn't stand still long enough to focus..lol).

Looking into kitchen from rear.

Other side of kitchen (love my handles!!).

Laundry trough.

Laundry bench and drawers (bench top - 'Stipple Seal').

Powder room.

Upstairs bathroom.

Now this one's tricky. We asked for a 'shaver cabinet' in the ensuite. We thought this would be fairly straight-forward, but apparently not! Porter Davis found it very difficult to draw up and price, and then the installers today said they had never seen one before...?? We were also charged $80 after much deliberation to have magnetic catches put on the doors, but guess what?? No catches!! I know it will be nice to not have to bend down to get the toothpaste, deodorant etc... but I am a bit concerned about how it all looks. Hopefully it will come together a bit better once the mirrors are in... (I'm still lovin' that Fudge!!)

Out in the cold.

Went to have a look at the staircase tonight and couldn't 'cos we have finally been locked out. It was nice to see the bi-folds in but at the same time very sad that we can no longer go in and run around. So here are a couple of shots of the house without scaffolding and with doors, and what we can see of the staircase through the doors .

Bedroom 2

Looking from kitchen through laundry

Looking toward kitchen, dining & rumpus from living

House minus scaffold and garage

Bi-folds and alfresco

Looking toward front doors and staircase from rear