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.