Current pics

Excavation around the pool and rock placement View from the back (the new 'hill' - the water tank!)

Driveway ... love the shape!

Bikeman and the kids getting their feet wet. Looks so much better down that side with the excess dirt removed, a much more usable area.

So close but yet so far.....

Everything seems to have ground to a halt. Mentally that is. It all started when we had a sleepover (which was great fun, I might add!) but ever since that day I no longer see this place as a construction site that has work to be done but instead I see it as a home. And I want to clean it and live in it! 'Who cares if we don't have skirting boards anyway' I find myself thinking. I see now why everyone says 'finish it before you move in or you never will' - it's that mental step that you take from giving you the drive to finish and just wanting it all to be over. Although the interior has stalled a little (yes I'm STILL painting... egads!) the exterior is looking absolutely brilliant! Dean the Digger has been here many days now shaping the driveway and the back yard around the pool with some granite rocks sourced from another building site and they look fantastic! How that man can make that huge machine carry and place those massive boulders like they are light as a feather I will never know. He is brilliant at his job (and a great guy to boot)! Photos to follow soon - to top it all off both my computer and Bikemans computers died within a week of each other so I'm using a borrowed laptop and I'm missing my Photoshop for minimising those photos! Oh the timber floor is finished and it looks fabulous. Not too red at all, it's just perfect. And the timber floor layer was excellent, a 'devilishly handsome irishman' (self proclaimed) who was quite cute, I might add, although I could only understand about half of what he said his accent was so thick. Gorgeous, but who knows what I could have agreed to??? We all stayed over again at the 'block' tonight as Blue has his new school orientation tomorrow morning, and Pink has her last day of kinder (and I've volunteered for Kinder Duty - she's been bugging me all term to do it!). So as we were here for basketball tonight anyway thought it was just as easy to stay. This really is a lovely house and I'm so looking forward to moving in here. At night in particular it is just so lovely to sit and look at the view, the lighting inside is just perfect and it feels like HOME. Mind you a real bed and some more furniture would just be the icing on the cake! So when are we moving in .... well moving date has been pushed out a little to be the week between Christmas and New Year due to a few 'hiccups' and also that we are having the carpet laid on the 23rd Dec. Nothing like leaving it til the last minute! And we need time to get motivated again.

Let there be light :)

It finally happened ... we have electricity. No more plugging in 3 extension cords and having to turn off the floodlights when we want a coffee. No more having to go home when it is dark. No more going to the toilet with a torch. Let there be light!! And yes that shadowy figure is me, working working working .... sweeping at 9pm ready for the flooring to be laid the next day. Rumpus room looking back toward the front entry way - can just see the bottom of the beautiful chandelier KQ suggested ... love it! Don't have a very good picture of it yet, bit hard to photograph with a camera phone. Best to come visit and see it in all its glory!

I LOVE the way the house looks from the front. The front lights that Bikeman suggested look just perfect with the front of the house. And with the chandelier on it lights up the little triangular window above the door. Fantastic!!

When are we moving in again? Seems like a real house now.... click! Lights off, goodnight...

Flooring, Tank and Verandah

Well we have flooring! Delivered on one of the wettest days I've seen in a long time. The poor delivery guys, it poured for 5 mins before they arrived then the whole way through the delivery, and then promptly stopped about 5 mins after they finished. I helped them to avoid too much mud being transferred into the house and got saturated in the process. They attempted a few runs with their normal shoes - anyone who has been the Block on a rainy day will know that is not a good idea - and finally accepted my offer of gumboots. All good fun! Our lovely tank... just waiting to be hooked up and filled with water!

The roof is now on the verandah, and it really finishes the house off nicely. Gives a lovely bit of shade to the front area of the house, I can just imagine sitting on the deck sipping a nice cuppa and looking at the beautiful view.

Splashback!

It's in! After much deliberating and thinking about it, it was installed today. I can't say it's instant love but I'm sure it will grow on me... It is supposed to be 'superclear' glass (without the green tinge) but it does appear to have a bit of a green tinge ... but anyway, the glass provides a beautiful reflection of the external area and you can see the pool reflected in it. So I do like it! Really, I do :)

Tropical Cyclone Romsey

Ok well it wasn't quite a cyclone. But there was one helluva lot of water!! And unfortunately our downpipes aren't quite connected yet so the water coming off the roof near the pool was spewing straight into the pool hole, and thus the pool. And although Blue exclaimed 'Oh there's water in the pool we should have bought our bathers' it wasn't really swimming weather or clear water for swimming! The first photo was taken when we first arrived at the house this morning, after heavy downfall of rain most of the night: And then approx 4 hours later, the water was continuing to rise. I thought Bikeman might actually have a conniption.

Thankfully our new friends the 5D's down the road had a pump that they very kindly offered for us to use. So off Bikeman went to collect....

...and as we had to get it into the deep part into the water he went. And it was c-c-c-cold! First swim in the pool, not quite as he expected. I had the camera trained on him in the hope he would go a-over-t and I would get some great 'falling in the water' shots. But alas, not this time.

This was taken right when it was absolutely pouring down. Everything was absolutely saturated and there was a river flowing outside in the street. You can see the water pouring into the pool hole on the LHS of the photo.

This shows how much water there was on the other side of the house - out the laundry door. Drainage not in properly yet, but even so I didn't see it get that high even during winter. Why did we spend all that money on a swimming pool when we could have just used this side of the house???

Wet old Romsey. Rain is good but not in such titanic proportions and not when we're waiting to finish our pool! Oh and having our tanks in would have been great .... never mind... at least our tank at home is full now.

Another busy week on the cards - electrical, more plumbing (outdoors) and flooring towards end of week. It's actually starting to look like a real house!

We have a real, working toilet!!!

Ok, so perhaps toilets aren't all that exciting for everyone else. But if you'd been using a portable toilet for the last 6 months you'd be excited too! The plumber was in last week, doing all the internal fitoff. We now have: working toilets, showers, basins, sinks! Very exciting to have running water and not have to leave the house to take the kids to the loo. Showers are in but were still waiting on showerheads (have since arrived). Shower screens not up yet. Basin in our ensuite

Toilet

I also finished painting the main living area. Love love love the colour. Not too much longer now.... hopefully....

And while the plumber (Jnr) was busy doing his thing, Dean the Digger made an encore appearance on a hot 36 degree day and set to work flattening the big pile of soil up the back of the house, and moving the soil from the pool dig to the driveway. So we now have (kindof) a driveway - bit more soil needs to go in to make it a bit wider, then concrete, then we'll have a real working driveway. Didn't stop bikeman from driving his car up into the garage the other night though!!!

On the neighbours block looking back towards the back of our block...

The back where the pile of dirt used to reside ... now nice and flat ready for our big 22500 lt tank to be delivered sometime this week.

Pink was creating her very own 'Where's Wally' - every photo I took this little blonde head popped up in and more often than not struck a pose. You can just imagine how dirty her legs were from all the dust at the end of the day!!!

The pool is a-happening!

In the stinking heat of last week we had two very important visitors to our little patch of dirt - Dean the digger and Ze Pool Man (aka Mr Baird from the Sandhurst Crew). Dean worked like a navvy, removing a whole heap of dirt from the hole and creating just the perfect size to fit the pool. There were a few rocks along the way, but nothing that needed the rock breaker, but enough that he sheared through two of the bolts holding on the arm at the end of the loader - not good! So he was hampered a little while waiting for replacement bolts. Meanwhile our good friend Ze Pool Man was busy plumbing the in-floor cleaning system ready for it to be dropped in the ground. I, having suffered my little fall just a few short days before, wagged painting and just ran to hardware store as required, made some followup phone calls and made sure the boys were fed and watered.

So, in the end ... the pool was placed in the ground the next day with a minimum of fuss (well apart from the big tipper truck nearly ending up in the hole - but that's another story)... ready for some more plumbing this week and then some water! Woo hoo!! Photos to come soon....

Chocolate, anyone? Mmmmm I just want to EAT it!

Well last week I finished the feature walls in both the theatre room and the rumpus room and I LOVE the colour! It looked just like chocolate in the can, and although I admit when I first rolled it on the wall I had an 'eeeek what have I done moment' .... the finished product I just adore. Both walls need a second coat, but don't look too bad to start with.

And of course our Laundry was installed last week, which looks fantastic. Really happy with the look and the massive number of cupboards - now for the fun part, filling them!

Decking: check! Stairs: check!

Bikeman has been working hard this weekend gone, while the kids and I travelled interstate for our gorgeous nieces' dancing concert. He was able to finish the decking ... nearly... just two pieces short! Never mind, we had to get more anyway to do the edges and down the front. It's enough to be usable and to get us C of O! And he finished the small stairs, from the dining to the rumpus room (near the sliding door)

... and the big stairs, in the entrance way. All ready for timber flooring at the end of the month!

Another big C of O tick! He also did the stairs in the garage but I forgot to take a photo of them. So he worked very hard, and I'm very proud of him. Back to the real world today - subcontractors to harass and painting awaits!

Tiling, cabinetry and decking in!

Well the tiler has been slaving away, even over the long weekend, and we really appreciate the time he has taken to do such a wonderful job. And he was such a nice guy! Bathroom: (mirror to go above vanity basin hence there is no white tile on top) Butlers Pantry

Kitchen (love it!) - going with a cream splashback (Buff It 1/2 strength)

The front decking which looks FABULOUS! Bikeman had a few days off and worked his fingers to the bone doing this and starting on the fixout (doors/architraves) and stairs.

Someone please remind me WHY we're getting a pool again .... this was taken yesterday, on Wednesday 4th Nov in the morning. Brrrrrr!

So still more painting to come .... up to the top colour in most places though, which is great. And Bikeman worked out (not a moment too soon) that it would not be a good idea to do the final coat of paint just yet as when they put up the doors/arcs etc there are grubby little finger prints all over the place. So that suits me just fine and dandy! Better to know now rather than later.

Current update - where are we up to?

Well I've been painting now for what seems like an ETERNITY and it's getting closer (albeit slowly!) At least one coat is on all rooms except study and spare rooms (they'll be last - they're housing all the doors at the moment!), and I'm going to finish the final ceiling coat in the kids room, hallway and theatre room tomorrow. Then I will be able to paint the kids walls (they are really excited!) and the hallway, as well as the family/dining room walls. Bikeman has finished painting the verandah out the front ready for the roofer to come in next week and finish the roofing as well as all the guttering (yay! no more puddles on the ground when it rains). Verandah painting (now finished)

Painting the bulkhead above the cabinetry

Tiler has been in today to do the waterproofing, ready for tiling next week.

Painted hallway (undercoat)

So what's to come.....

Tiling - tiler (Daniel & son) to be back on the weekend (he's a good man, working weekends to get the job done!)

Electrical - Sparky will be back in tomorrow to pretty much finish the rest of the electrical. I don't even care at this point that the painting isn't finished. Just need to get things moving!

Plumbing - Hopefully Snr and Jnr will be back in over the next 2-3 weeks to finish off the plumbing fit off and installing the rainwater tank and associated plumbing. Will all depend on other subbies and when they are able to finish their bits and pieces

Pool - yes, where is the pool? Pool shell manufacturer not very forthcoming as to when shell will actually be delivered (was supposed to be this week). Hole will most likely be started next weekend, so hopefully it will arrive sometime around then! Driveway will also be started when the pool hole is dug (soil to be transferred) and big pile of dirt up the back to be spread out ready for the tank to be installed.

Timber flooring - mid-end November, once all the other trades have finished (and we have Certificate of Occupancy - $$$$!!)

Laundry Cabinetry - mid November

Farewell Dad

I haven't posted for a few weeks as we went to Lorne to farewell my dad one last time, and to celebrate what would have been his birthday with our extended family. We had a wonderful weekend, doing what Dad would have enjoyed (drinking wine, eating mum's slices and walking around Lorne). We then scattered Dad's ashes together, it was an absolutely perfect day and it was so lovely to spend the weekend with everyone. So thanks to our wonderful family and friends for making it just perfect, and bye to Dad - enjoy your final resting place where I'm sure you are at peace. x

Kitchen and cabinetry is officially in!

Well the kitchen is in and it looks absolutely wonderful! Just as I'd imagined, (luckily! :)). Colours are great, go really well with the wall colour. Wasn't without some little dramas - had to move the L shaped bench over a little as it was just too close to the sliding door to be comfortable, and also decided not to have the 300m overhang on the same side - just a little too much pinch! Jim the cabinet installer was a great bloke, with good suggestions as required and he did a fantastic job of the installation. Some of the handles weren't quite right but they're being fixed, and the microwave space ended up being a white carcass rather than the brown colour I was expecting. So we're thinking of getting a door put on, or a surround for the microwave. Probably won't even notice once the microwave is in there! Anyway enough chatter here are the pics: Ensuite Kids Bathroom

Butlers Pantry

Kitchen!

Kitchen

Obviously the lovely chipboard on top of the benches is not the final benchtop .... the template was created and picked up a couple of weeks ago, and so the stone should be arriving any time in the next couple of weeks. Can't wait!