Well its been 5 weeks since we moved into the house.The first night sleeping there i had to pinch myself just in case i was dreaming,, its funny over the yrs ive had a recurring dream where i was in a old delapitated house and as i moved around the house suddenly i was in a newer part of the house with nice decor and furniture i recon the dream has come true. Its great having my own home again. and enough storage space. I have unpacked 98 percent of the boxes and what is left i cant find a place for.

I had the driveway laid. Exposed aggregate $ 5,500 . im running out of money so the next important job is the front yard. People in our st are already landscaping but seem to be copying each other . I stones same plants. i love the stones but wait for when they have kids i reckon there will be a few broken windows. So i think i will build the garden up and add rocks and mulch depends on my funds.

I bought 2 burgandy blazed pots form Berwick pottery last weekend , they had a few faults so i got them for 60 bucks each they were selling for $90 each and2 saucers $15 each .four bags of potting mix. They were damn heavy. i managed to get both out of the car but dropped one and it chipped and cracked one of the saucers i nearly cried.. but can be fixed with some strong glue.

So i planted my Daisie and tulip bulbs in the pots near the front of the house. as i could plant them in the garden as its not ready yet. will be interesting to see how they turn out when they flower.

As for window coverings sheets are doing the job at the moment. Im thinking i might order the window coverings for my bedroom as it faces the st. I had various quotes and spotlight seem to be winning so far. But they are expensive but like the material for the blinds.

My bedroom came up nice. i bought 2 lamps from Target on sale $33 each they are a coffee color and match the decor in the room.. im loving buying accessories for the house.

Another bargain,,I had two 50% off rug vouchers from Carpet call given to me when i ordered the carpet and flooring in march.Well decided to spend them and went and chose to rugs last week i made a killing and gave the poor sales guy a major coronary when i showed him the vouchers , his face turned pale and i thort he was going to pass out and i thort theres something wrong here and started to panic. he said he needed a stiff drink. One rug was $1650 wool nylon hand made.with voucher $825 and the other a shaggy type was $1000 on sale $800 with voucher$ 400 i saved myself over thousand dollars. Im sure they can afford it.

I have to get Carpet Call back as im not happy with the laying of the carpet especially in the doorways and around the edges of the walls.
I had a old retractable cloths line which i got installed under the Alfresco area and para line installed on the back of the house. The cloths are drying well under the Alfresco.

What i have noticed since moving here people are very friendly they will say hello as they pass you so different from were ive come from.

house clean

I PACKED MY BOOT TODAY WITH MY CLEANING GEAR AND HEADED TO THE HOUSE. THE HOUSE WASN'T CLEANED PROPERLY AND SEEING AS THE CARPET WAS BEING LAID TOMORROW I VACUUMED ALL THE AREAS THAT WERE GOING TO BE CARPETED. I RECKON I WOULD MAKE A GOOD BUILDERS CLEANER . IT TOOK 5 HALF HRS TO CLEAN THE HOUSE. MOP, DUST EVERYTHING EVEN THE WALLS. INSIDE OF THE CUPBOARDS, BENCHES , BATHROOMS SWEPT OUTSIDE ALFRESCO SO NOW MY HOUSE IS NICE AND CLEAN.

2half metres of our fencing came down the day melb had the high winds. mind you we were the only ones in the st that had the problem.. all the fences are the same and erected by the same fencer. so i caught up with the fencer butch lady works with her hubby erecting fences wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley basically told me they will fixed it but it will will cost me and my neighbor $50 each. i thought what its a new fence and the only fence that came down why should i pay for it to be fixed... something must have been wrong structurally for a small part to come down like that.. $ i know arguing over $ 50 bucks is petty but its the principle. my neighbour spoke to me to day about it shes not happy either had the same opinion as me.. think we will fight it.

our float lam is down

Our floating laminate has been installed ,took a day and half and im very pleased with the result. Now the carpet is next

more pics

OUR FLOORING STARTED TODAY AND GOT A BIG SURPRISE THE ROOF TILES HAVE BEEN SPRAYED. LOOKS MUCH MUCH BETTER A TRUE DARK CHOCOLATE. LENNYS BEEN HARD AT WORK FIXING THOSE OUTSTANDING ISSUES.. HES BACK IN MY GOOD BOOKS NOW.
one uninstall ed water tank. one installed oven.
one blue splash back /when i first saw the splash back i felt like jumping in lol the color reminded me of a pool.

we had handover

Well its nearly over cant believe all this started back in dec 2006.. thats when we thought of building and started looking at displays. It all started when a friend built with pd and thats where the whole idea came from. and the fact that the other house was feeling a little cramped and was over it.
One day i went for a drive to Pakenham to look at some pd displays at cardinia lake wasnt wot i was after so the sales lady said to go to Delfins development at Lakeside i drove there it was a lovely sunny day and i fell in love with the place .
So in May2007 we picked a block of land at lakeside pakenham the house heywood28 design colours and tender, sold the old house and now Yes the day finally arrived we have our house as of Monday 7th April.
I was driving down to meet the site supervisor at the house and the excitement started to kick in. and another feeling came over me when i got there, different from when you just go and check the house and leave.. i finally felt at home.. and in a area i like.. nothing worse than living somewhere where u hate ,, you just don't feel settled.

by the end of the day i was absolutely exhausted and thats not even moving day.. i reckon you somehow run on adrenalin during the building process and when its over the tiredness kicks in.Really i didn't find the building process painful at all i think picking window coverings and carpets ect was painful process as im absolutely color blind. had to wait around for spotlight to come and give me a quote on window coverings so i went up to the cafe that overlooks the lake at lakeside Pakenham and had a bite to eat. ( thats where you will find me when i move there as its a nice place to sit and relax and have a bite to eat)

So anyway getting back to the handover i had gone there sat to check the house and had noticed that the corner of the guttering had been damage . i also got a roof tiler to check the tiling he said there was a few cracked tiles.. now why wasn't that picked up. Also the painter were there doing touch ups and painting the newly fitted front door( which is the second front door.. the first had been damage by tradies going in and out that the site supervisor got me a new door. I went around checking the areas that where pick up at pre handover as needing to be fixed some still hadn't been touched. i guess i wasn't happy with the cleanliness of the house the toilet wasn't cleaned still had pee stains over the rim yuck plaster dust over the benches and skirts, dust and building grime in the cupboards paint marks and runs on the bricks, over all the house is good and will go and clean it when all the flooring goes down.. In the arvo went and picked up the keys at their office and was presented with a nice over night bag actually i was rapt because it will come in handy for those trips away.

Flooring starts to be laid tomorrow and carpet next Monday cant wait to see it all come together... then its move time.. and the rest.

Went to the flower and Garden show on the week end totally enjoyed my self bought some bulbs ( tulips and daisies) for the new to be garden.. might even buy some nice pots and plant the bulbs in them

not happy

Met another concreter down at the house this evening . i had him concrete our pergola area at our old house 10yrs ago and he did a pretty good job. He gave me a price for Aggregate $4690, colour concrete$ 3520 and stencil$3850. I dont know wether these quotes are reasonable until i can compare others, but he said he will do me a good deal if i am willing to allow him to put a board up detailing his company and contact details.. he trying to get more work in the area.

Anyway im not happy i found my house unlocked tonight . front door unlock, sliding door wide open, internal garage door unlocked. i have a suspicion someone has left them unlocked on purpose , maybe planning to do a bit of thieving over the easter break.. well they cant now i locked the place up.

The good part about it i could go and have a good look inside and take a few pics.

some pics

home run in sight

We are getting excited now home run is in sight the dunny and wire waste cage has been taken away . went to the house today as i had to meet a concretor there to discuss the driveway.that was a first quote.. be interesting how much he will quote. when we got there the pest control guy had just turned up to do the second spray for termite proofing he was proberly there 20min not even that.. got a long hose out and sprayed the perimiter of the house and fence line.

Could only look through the windows all the shower screens have gone up, door handles, and the quantum quartz bench top, the alfesco fan ,light switches lite fittings the panel lift door and remote

updates

We went to the house on the weekend and discovered we could get in.. naughty as my son was climbing thru the window one of the PD workers came over and was having a look at us sprung bad lol.. i said to him we are the owners and i thought he said to me i will be talking to them next week and such and such is ur superviser thought now im going to be dobbed in.. well i heard him wrong he had said im corking your house next week.. i felt like a idiot.

Anyway they have grouted the tiles and installed the chinese hats (lights) and we have flood light outside our back door is that normal thought it would be a normal globe. NOW thats going to be bright will stung anyone who goes up the side of the house at nite.

We have the square basins installed that sit on top of the vanity top.Well i think that was a mistake getting them has they had to be postioned back against the wall so the spout could reach have too stand on tippy toes to lean over the basin.

tiling

Our long awaited addition

We are heading towards the finishing line very quickly . This is where i will be heading too after moving day.. Champagne ...bubbles.... candles.....:))

carpet and floating laminate flooring selected

Finally one item on the list has been selected carpet and flooring. The carpet is from Carpet call and the colour is rohan from their Solutions range.The flooring is floating laminate Parador.Its a unique laminate and the textures in the laminate blend in well with all the wall colours Carpet and Cabinets.

PICS

painting and installation of cabinets

Had a site inspection today and quite pleased with the progress of the building so far....In retrospect i think PD have done a good job . The painting is almost finished .The quality of the painting is very good but prob wont pick up imperfections until the liteing is installed. Noticed today the cabinet maker had stacked the doors against a wall.. you can guess damage to the paint.The painters will come back later to put another coat of paint on the feature walls . they do this because the feature walls can become dirty from the other tradies who come thru the house.. This morning the cabinets had been delivered . i went back this arvo to take more pics and they were already being installed. The mouldings have been installed on the front of the house. My s s is still dirty on me getting Kev through. Well wot can you do if a frame is passed with a few defects. Wots worse had to keep on justifing my self. Beware of excuses.

So my next job is to go and look for carpet and flooring as this will have to be installed after handover.. Really not long to go looking at mid April for handover.

painting

painting has started surprise ....surprise i thought it was going to be the feb 27th.. well thats what PD said. But they havent painted the feature walls. Painters have used the same paint as what is being used on the rest of the house. We have a site meeting tomorrow morning so will question the site super about it.

internal garage walls painted 1st coat.

updates

Nothing much to report. Went to the house on sat and everything is locked up .. so had to look through the windows, saw they had delivered the doors. I had been left a nice slab of bricks and had plans for them... well some nice thief came along and took nearly all of them.. left me with a row isnt that nice of them.

Had a call from my site superviser he wasnt happy with us coz we got a independent inspector through the house and he said he should have been at the house the day the inspector came through.. well he was on hols and i needed to get the house inspected before the plaster went up... plus he questioned why we needed to have one in the 1st place as they have their own quality inspectors.. and pay for one.. doh its for our protection and peace of mind. Any way hes going to meet me on site to discuss the issues that the inspector picked up.

Had a email from our csr our fixing is due to be completed 21st feb and painting starts 27th yippee now will be good to see the house come to life.