8 Months in...

Well we've now been in our beautiful home for 8 months. It's so lovely! We've been working hard outside mixing concrete for our footings for out retaining wall which will wrap from the left side of the house around the back. Eventually, and I hope very soon, there will be a deck off the back of the house that will wrap around to our bedroom. We haven't had the best of luck with rain. Every time it looks like it's ready for us to do some work we get more rain. We have clay everywhere and once it gets wet it is soooo sticky and you sink into it. Very annoying!!!

We love our big lounges in our living room. We've had many naps on them because they're so big and comfortable!

I am enjoying weekly shopping trips to Kmart to find bits and pieces to style the house... And the monthly trips to the trendy homewares places for bigger/ more expensive things. It still seems empty though!  We are still hunting for a large rug for our living area and the dining area. Although, I like the thought of not having a rug under the dining table... I would hate to ruin it with food stains! Big problem, I know! I'm a bit of a clean freak.

This weekend we finished our laundry. We installed some cupboards and a gorgeous Ash gum bench top. I love the white gloss cupboards in there. One day we might even have them in the kitchen...what an effort it all was.

Last week we worked hard to sand and paint the wall around our fireplace. I'm so happy with the result. The plan is to install floating timber shelves on either side of the fireplace. I've already been collecting things to put on the shelves! I'd really like some nice pieces of oak to match our flooring for the shelves.

Basically the inside is finished now. I still have bedrooms to style and furnish, we'll get there though. I can't wait for everything outside to be done. More pics to come!

Lights and shutters

We've been living in our lovely home for six weeks now. We have loved every minute of it! We now have all of our electrical fittings done except a fan for the alresco as we want to find one that we really like. It's so lovely having all of the lights in and the tastics in the bathrooms are fantastic for the cool nights and mornings!

We've been keeping warm now that our blinds and shutters have been installed. We were so happy with the service and thought that it was fantastic that they were installed on a public holiday! We have shutters on all windows except for the separate toilet. We installed white timber venetians in there today. We have roller blinds on all of our sliding doors. They are fantastic and they keep the light out in the mornings for a great sleep in!  They really make the house look like a home now.We put up a couple of sheer curtains today in our master bed as I like the look of sheers in a bedroom. We're pleased with how it looks.

Our wood fireplace was installed on Thursday. We are waiting for it to be built in with a new wall built around it. It is a work in progress but the heat is amazing! Only a couple of weeks and we will have the fun of painting the wall and the skirtings!

Our two four seater lounges with matching ottoman will arrive in a couple of weeks. We are looking for a nice rug to go with them. Finding one big enough is a problem! It will make our living area, which is in the same big room as the kitchen and dining area, look finished. At the moment it is very empty and bare!!

We are loving our house and we haven't had any problems...touch wood...yet! We have had such a great experience and would definitely do this again if we had to!

Our home!

What a week! We moved into our new home last Saturday. We are so in love with the house!
There is still a heap to do. Blinds and shutters will hopefully happen next week. Electrical stuff will happen the week after. Our fire should be done in June. We have been surprised by how good the insulation is in the house. We haven't really needed a heater which is great for the power bill!!
I am really happy with all of colour choices and our shower is amazing!! I'm hanging out for the blinds and shutters just to make it feel a bit more cosy and like a home. At the moment it feels like we're staying at a nice hotel!

I have lots of decorating to do and shopping!!!

PCI on Monday :)

Not a lot to report. It feels like everything is taking forever at the moment! We can't see all of  the changes inside. We had big storms in the Maitland area this week-luckily our house was fine, there are some water views for some of the other homes down lower in the area! We were stuck for a couple of days at our current home because of roads being cut off by water and power lines being down across the front of the property including the driveway. We cut a couple of fences and managed to get out through the neighbouring property though.
Because of the weather, PCI was supposed to be on Friday, PCI got pushed back to Monday  (tomorrow) so that things could be fixed up etc. We went to take a look yesterday and could see the blue tape everywhere. They had found most of the problems that we had on the outside. Only one of us can make the meeting...and it's not me unfortunately...I really really want to see inside! We would rather be in sooner than delay anything just so that we can both go to the PCI.
Driveway is set to be formed up tomorrow too. We're hoping that the council can inspect it ASAP so that it can be poured this week. Fingers crossed we have a driveway by the time handover comes around! I would love handover to be this week, but we will see. I can see that the painters haven't been back to paint the skirting in the areas where the gerflor is...which is most of the house! They also have quite a few touch ups inside and outside. I hope we don't just have to wait for the painting before we can move in:(
Hope to have some pics from PCI to post tomorrow, and some idea of a handover date!

Flyscreens and carpet

Today the carpet was done in the bedrooms, kids activity room and the theatre. It looks great.  We're happy with the colour and can't wait to walk on it!
We spotted that the rangehood had been put up too. Nice!
The flyscreens were put on all windows and doors. We like them too!
I can see the finish line getting closer!!

Splashback in, fence down and Gerflor done

We called in today to take a look around the house and to tidy up our back yard. We got the brush cutter out and the mower. Everything looks much better and tidy now. I am so excited about the fence being down. It doesn't feel like it's all that far away now!

I am loving our choice of Gerflor flooring and I'm happy about the trim around the kitchen cabinetry where the two meet. Our splashback looks awesome, I'm sure it looks much better up close...I hate being locked out!!! Although,  I'd hate it even more if somebody could get inside and ruin anything!

Carpet will be done tomorrow and I am excited about seeing that too!!! We can see a few things that we will need to bring up at PCI if they aren't picked up this week when the Mc Jones people do an inspection. There's still a heap of rubbish and junk around the yard that we would like removed.

I got a few terrible pics through the glass doors and windows.

Carpet and flooring this week!

A quick update from our SS today- wardrobes etc were finished over the weekend. A cleanup is booked for tomorrow with the carpet and Gerflor set for installation on Thursday, Friday and Monday. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong there!
Electrical and plumbing inspection the 15th and fence down on 21st. We know these dates could change, but I hope that they don't!
Some rough PCI dates are in the last week of this month, so if all goes well, handover in the first week of May....woohoo! Hope to get some pics soon!

 I will start packing... now!!!