Thought I better follow up on the issues I had

I just want to say that I know I posted negeative things about the ensuite tiles. Geez was I on a rampage over those tiles but  I am happy to say that after living in the house our ensuite tiles look amazing. They match the feature tile beautifully. I like them better than the master tiles now that we are living there, they hide all the hair, not that I leave it there for long and they don't mark easily. The problem is they don't photograph well but IRL are beautiful.  Also the soap dish that I worried about doesn't even get noticed.

The concrete looks fantatsic(when clean, damn dirt) and the concrete path that the concreter created for us works perfectly well and looks great. I am very happy with the job he did.

The brick colour is much better now after the treatment and looks perfect. I am pretty sure the chips were fixed as well.

They were the only concerns I had with the house this entire build and none of them apply now...humblest pie being eaten.

The End

Well this blog was supposed to be about our journey building our new Casaview home not about us living in it so I guess this is the end.

You can follow our house transformation and that journey here.

Thanks for reading this blog and going on this fun and sometimes nerve wrecking adventure. Our builder was great but I won't be jumping in again any time soon.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...finally!

Day 12

Today it's one week since we moved into our house. Day 12 since handover. 

The past two weeks (can you believe it) have been so busy and a bit of a blur since soooo much has happened.

Since my last post we have had air cond, fans, lights, intercom and a letterbox installed and that was in less than a week. Lots of action.

We had our official move on Tuesday of last week. It was such chaos...boxes everywhere, stuff everywhere. Toys and dogs and cats and cleaning our rental to contend with. It's a bit of a blur with aching bodies and late nights. We have so much STUFF it is ridiculous! We had a big clean out as we unpacked. Be brutal I said. If you don't love it or use it, let it go. We have so far given 5 boxes of things to charity. Five BIG boxes. Books, glasses ornaments, wall pictures, frames, you name it. I have also recycled three boxes of old magazines from as far back as 2007! What was I thinking storing those. What is even more ridiculous is the fact that we had a clean out when we moved to the rental. I'm a bit ashamed that we have so much that we don't need or use. Chloe has accumulated so many toys over the past year that she has two rooms! I have a Xmas layby for her and half of that is getting returned I tell you, the child has too much. One word...SPOILED. We are all spoiled!





Our letter box is in but all dirty here. Driveway got very dirty OMG. Thankfully all that dirt came off! Looks good cleaned up.

family room chaos

laundry chaos. We have installed a cupboard for all that cleaning who ha! Now we just need a clothes line.

master bedroom chaos

kitchen chaos. There is still a few bits floating around my kitchen that are unwanted. Like a box of tools.

I know we got rid of so much but we did have to buy new lounges for both living areas. We also bought a new book case to house all of Chloe's things. Otherwise our furniture has fitted really well. We are pretty much completely unpacked now and poor Michael had so many boxes to remove that he never wants to see another. Most of the rooms are looking tidy and we have a place for almost everything. There is still the odd thing here or there. We still have wall shelves, mirrors and pictures to put up. We don't want to be knocking holes in our lovely walls until we are certain.

Amongst all the chaos we managed to entertain my mum and aunt for Mum’s birthday, which was a great motivator for me. I took Chloe to my baby cousins birthday party and we had a swish lunch and rest day for Father’s day. Although that was after a hospital visit for me in the middle of the night. That’s another story.

The house is starting to look really nice. Well it looked really nice empty and then was filled with stuff so looked terrible and now it is starting to look really nice again. More photos will come soon.

fan up and bed made. Temporary sheet window coverings are up whilst we await our shutters. Which disappointingly have been delayed by three weeks. At least the sheets are white.

Outside view. Nope you can't see much. Oh and our outdoor front lights are here too.





The playroom has a nice sunny aspect which gives a wonderful vibe. We had to buy that shelf to house all her stuff. Mum bought the 1-2-3 poster for her new room.

The family room is coming along nicely. Again missing shutters. We bought a rug yesterday which isn't shown here.

This week our retaining wall is going up, in fact the timber section is almost complete. The fence is being done next week. Then we can get into gardening. Still so much to do. I can't wait to start the garden.

Handover happened today

We got the keys this morning and we're so pleased with our house, it looks amazing. Casaview have been fantastic. We got a nice welcome gift pack with all the usual paper work but we also got some wine and other tid bits which felt really special. I think it was a really nice touch. Best of all though our house looks great. My fav has to be the kitchen. I did a happy kitchen dance more than once today. 

Welcome pack...loved it.

Michael managed to put up all the blinds that we decided to do ourselves and he also got most of the curtain rails up. I got to work moving over the smaller items, removing any stickers, filling cupboards and later put up the curtains where possible. I still need to steam them but they look good. It's going to take a bit of getting used to as we have never really been big curtain people but we felt the room could take them and we wanted a bit more sophistication adding to the space.  Michael also didn’t want blinds on the large stacker so curtains it is.  

Looks a bit like a reception lounge but looks better IRL. Not as cream, this is night time. They will also shrink a bit when I wash them so we needed to make sure they don't look short later.

Tonight we got together a tonne of stuff and took down the beds ready to put up tomorrow. We have a fair bit of paper work to read but we are so tired we can’t possibly tonight. Anyway it was blog or read, of course I chose to blog about our first day. I have lots to learn about the house…it took me almost half an hour to figure out how to turn the oven on! Now I just have to figure out all the other fan dangle features because it has a few. Chloe touched it this arvo and I was worried it would turn it self on and cook a chicken so I turned it off at the power. That should stop little fingers and you smart oven. The next two or three weeks are going to be full on. No nanna naps for me for a while. It’s just begun and I am sooooo happy even though my body already hurts!

My favorite bit so far. My kitchen with the welcome pack

 A final note...thank you to our builder Casaview, you guys rock! You built our home in  5 months and 14 days with rain. Especially our SS(you know who you are) and now I know you have been reading my little bloggy, I hope I didn't stress you out too much with my stressing and noting every little concern. Our home is awesome, you're a legend and I thank you.

What a difference the treatment made

Here is a photo taken on Saturday showing the bricks. The nice grey area under the garage window is where they treated. You can see the obvious difference it made.

PCI Done...very pleased indeed.

PCI was done early, long story but the bank recommend it be done prior to them doing the evaluation and paying the final payment. Our SS was very obliging and changed it to today.

The only thing we were worried about was the bricks. They had started to turn a rusty/yellow colour(instead of the grey they started out as) and they looked, well, not right.  Anyway our SS had recognised this and got PGH out to check the bricks and advise. They said the issue was iron in the bricks reacting with acid(I assume from the acid wash). They trialed an area with a chemical neutralizer, which worked, so the whole house was done this morning.  We could see improvement in the colour already and this should continue to get better. The test patch is perfect. We are more than happy with how our SS and Casaview dealt with this. After handover PGH will also come out to touch up any large chips etc in the bricks. This attention to detail is very pleasing.

So besides a few minor nicks and paint touch ups(to be expected) there are no issues with the house. It looks amazing. The ensuite I worried about so much, looks great. It really does. I stressed over nothing. Our kitchen and caesarstone top looks awesome, even without appliances. Someone stole two kitchen cupboard doors. Why? I haven't a clue...idiocy. I just looked at my photos and they went somewhere between 25th and 30th July. No need to worry they'll be replaced. Master bathroom looks great, walls, floors, windows, overall fittings, exterior, concrete patio and driveway all are fabulous...really we couldn't be more pleased. As a topper the house has been completed two months before the contract date even with some rain. You can't ask for more than that. We are very happy with Casaview and will recommend them.

I would have taken some photos but like a dunce I didn't have the SD card in the camera and I didn't think quick enough to use the camera's small memory. Oh well only a week or so. We can't wait to move in, we are so excited.

10 more days and counting

Soon we are saying goodbye. Our rental is sweet, although a tad expensive. No more country view, no more cows or rabbits. The morning light this past weekend with my lovely daisys.

Soon we will saying hello and enjoying the morning light in our new home. 10 more days...

Overall view. Still needs some repairs.

The fence has been removed. Now the neighbours will have to find another access instead of walking all over our unsealed driveway with their muddy shoes! Here's me tip toeing on the corner so as not to mark it. I was spuing.

Chloe checking out her playroom yesterday arvo.

Bed

I hate our bed, wish our old bed was a queen size. It was gorgeous. Our current on is a hand me down which was very handy when I was pregnant and needed more room. I was going to make it over but I'm not sure it will work out now. I can dream.

I love this one

and this one. Sprayed black or in the white.

While I'm at it... I LOVE this wallpaper. I didn't notice the similar bed until now.

Check

So we've been busy bees...

I sorted out teh final credit with the builder
wrote letters for the bank and forwarded for final payment
spoke to all neighbours about the fences, they're all on board
arranged a fence quote(a neighbour is getting one or two as well)
checked on process of shutters
arranged three quotes  for screen doors
Booked removalist

M has booked dates with air cond and landscaper.

Still need to arrange second blind tradie and book aerial guy.  I need to sort out mail re-direct too.

Busy, busy.

Am I crazy?

I was speaking to my SIL(they are also building a new house, PCI on same day strangly enough) and she and her hubby are totally overwhelmed by the building process and whats ahead. M is also quite overwhelmed by it too. It's giving him major stress with all the things to think about and all the jobs to do. So that brings me back to my post title...Am I crazy?  I'm not feeling overwhelmed at all. In fact I feel energised by it. I do have a lot to think about and am acting accrodingly, writing a list where appropriate, watching the budget and making all the calls I have to but I'm pumped.  I know all the utilites will be on, I know all the bits and pieces will get installed or built and I know it will be great. In fairness I have done it before so that maybe makes it easier. Then again maybe I am crazy!

Fences

Today I'm talking fences with neighbours.

Contenders are

Grey Ridge

Summershade

Riversand

Driveway laid

It was dusk but I drove past the house last night and the driveway looks awesome. Really nice job from what I could see from the front fence. Yah!


I have a photo but can't load it yet. Maybe I should wait for better daylight pics. One will come soon.

Our house looks awesome.

I'm feeling a shift

I've just been "visiting" one of my fav places of all time - pininterest and I'm noticing a shift in my style, a revertion(a word?) if you will, back to the more modern of old. I got hooked up on the hamptons vibe for so long(dream house LOL) but with my new haven almost complete and it being a modern space I am feeling a shift.

I'm loving a bit of black with my fav white and clean lines. The black and white kitchens on The Block last night really did it for me. I'm so happy with my modern white kitchen.  I can't wait to decorate, oh new catch phrase - style my new house. Decorating is so passe!

Concrete patio is all good

We went past the house this morning to look at the concrete. It rained over night and seemed to have cleared away all the white stuff. Yah! And...it looks good. Maybe it hasn't been sealed yet.Anyway the jagged edges are hardly noticeable now. I am more than relieved, I was panicking. M thinks we should check it out once it drys, just in case.

Now the question is will lay the driveway tomorrow as scheduled. Normally I welcome rain but not at the moment. At least our tree got a good watering.

the last remaining bit of white, it was much brighter than this and all over the top and sides.  

up close

 Overall view.

I have a name

Ages ago I posted I knew my style but didn't have a name for it. I was talking with one of my friends from swimming the other day and she said she liked federation style...not my cup-o-tea and then  I said it I like modern beach cottage. So my style has a name...modern beach style. Now I don't live near the beach, can't afford that but I love the beach and beachy things. I don't go too beachy but I do like a touch here or there and that feeling of light and airy. Took a while. I might start a new blog when this build is done. Oh I better do it now and secure a name.

Concrete patio

I went past the house to look at the driveway form work. Looks good and will work for the bins. Concreter and SS were very accomodating. It's a good resolution.

I had another look at the back patio today. I really hope this is not the finished product. As I mentioned the edges are jagged. The stencil pattern has been lifted too quickly or late or early or not carefully enough and now there is white stuff leaching all over the concrete. It highlights these imperfections.  The edges alone are passable but highlighted like this they look terrible. M has not had a chance to see any of it yet so we are going past tomorrow.  I have no pictures. I just had a mini brain freeze when I saw the white stuff so forgot to actually take photos.

Bunnings

Ahhh beautiful Bunnings. I have not spent time with you for so long. Today we did a marathon of two hours with Chloe in tow. She was a champ. We had our obligatory sausage sandwich and then dove right in. We picked our clothes line, front lights and letter box. Bought the number 6 for our house and lots of little butterfly screws and other hardware so that we can get fixing straight away. The letterbox and clothesline are under budget even with the quickset. M will install those, well the clothesline at least before the big move and the letterbox once the retaining wall is done.  We looked at lots of plants for the front garden, which Chloe loved and the prices are pretty good. I told M the other night I want to get him a BBQ for fathers day so we had a look at those too. He liked a couple of beef eaters.

We have also arranged the air conditioning, aerial and retaining wall installation.

We have to follow up with mortgage broker, neighbours re: fence  (I need their input style, colour etc)  and I need to call fencers. Hmmm what else...

Hand over date...Yippee.

We got a handover date of 24.8.11 and we are thrilled. This will give us just over a week to move out of the rental and get ourselves sorted. This is awesome. The house has been built in no time and we can't be more pleased. PCI is on 18th I think. Hopefully there won't be too many things to fix, it all looks pretty good. Splash of paint here, finger marks in wet paint there...whoops. There's a pool of water that needs resolving, although the brickies next door have finished their work now so that may help. I think they used our water and it's a low spot. Water was about 20-30cm deep the other day. Anyway I'm sure there is nothing major to resolve it has been a great build. Yah, yah, yah we are moving.

Tiles resolution

I never mentioned the resolution for the tiles in the ensuite. The feature tile was cut from its body because whilst it was supposed to be the same white as the other tiles, when it arrived it wasn’t. It’s baked separately to create the feature and that changed the white. So, the best thing was to cut the tile.

In regards to the mis-coloured soap dish. It is white, just a different white. Casaview know about the difference in colour so I hope they make mention of the colour difference to future clients, it's the right thing to do. Saves any disappointment and the time discussing it. I spoke with the guy from the tile shop and he said that they could remove the dish and tile, replace it etc. I thought about it…would it be worth disturbing the water proof membrane? Maybe not. So I didn’t take it further.

In relation to my ensuite gripes I guess my issue is not with the tiler but I keep saying that. I should clarify that I really mean the tile company/consultant. They/he was pleasant in person but I think the tile company could run a tighter ship. They took ions to get back with quotes for extras, didn’t return my calls so I had to chase things several times and I believe they ordered the tiles too late, which is why a couple of days before the install I had to change the floor tiles. I still think the tile consultant should have advised me better. In fairness they did look a better match in the show room, I don’t know...old samples or whatever, otherwise I wouldn’t have chose them. All in all I did find myself saying to M "they're a bit slack". All these things plus the colours, then the soap dish, cut tiles etc all contributed to my overall experience.

I guess I might give some feedback to Casaview later and suggest to them that if anyone notices that tiles don't really match at any stage, they could as a very personal touch and courtesy give the client a call and say “look the feature you chose in this situation doesn’t match the floor, do you want to go to the show room today and pick another tile?”. I would have been there in an instant! It wouldn’t have been too much of an inconvenience to gives us the option to change that small amount of tiles before they were laid.  We would have been thrilled at this attention to detail instead of disappointed and thus worrying over every little thing in that room and annoying them about it.

At the end of the day, yes, the tiles could match better but it's not the disaster I was thinking it was. Like I said yesterday the ensuite with the other fittings looks nice now and I may even be happy once it's all finished and clean. Ouch, did I say that!

So much to do and follow up

Last night I was looking through our paper work looking for details about something and I noticed a couple of things. The toilet suits that were originally pictured as part of our package are different to what has been installed. The bowl was nicer and would have looked much better in our master bathroom. I looked at the written details and the model wasn’t mentioned, just the brand. Drats, that other loo would have looked fantastic.
As part of our upgrade package we are meant to get a Caesarstone chopping board to match our bench top. There may be one on site, I wouldn’t know. I need to chase that if there isn’t.

In the construction certificate it states that no bricks should be used with chips or damage and there are a few about the place. Hmmm…honestly I haven’t even looked closely.

We also need to now re-do our garden plan as the concrete paths and patio have changed. We need to  consider railing around the patio or some sort of safety barrier. Chloe is the main concern, I don’t fancy her breaking an arm. Jordan’s also a concern as he can’t see, he will walk straight off the edge and really hurt himself.

Oh and I have to start a new list of people to contact for address changes or whatever. Another job. This can be it.

• Re-direct mail from old house and rental
• Licence
• Bank
• Animal registration
• Medicare
• Salary sac
• Heath fund
• Utilities need changing
As the other companies roll in via re-direct I will change those as well.

I have to start packing. I’ve been sick for almost two weeks so I am BEHIND! Chloe has so many more toys now than she did before.

I have contacted the removalist for quotes. That’s gone up in a year. Will chase.

Oh gosh so much to do and remember. The lists are endless.

On the up side, the days are rolling on by and we will be in the house soon. Yippee! I can't wait to walk through it and see all the new bits and pieces.

Retaining Wall Blocks...Good news.

We ended up speaking to the engineer(??) at the company who issued the construction certificate and they have said that we can in fact use a different block for the retaining wall as long as we supply the specs sheet to them. M seems to have sorted that and we are now waiting for the landscaper to get to us with the written quote. He was going to do that last night but has done so yet. This is great news and is going to save us a bundle.

Concrete

It came to light that the concrete path that we paid for as an extra needed to be changed. It was going to be on too much of an angle I guess so a step would have been necessary. This defeated the purpose of the path as we would have had to drag bins up a step. M met with the concreter this morning to discuss our options. They came up with a solution that M is happy with. Apparently at no extra cost, thank God. We have already paid nearly $1700 extra for concrete. Our driveway is being formed up today as well and may be poured if things go well with another job in the area, otherwise it gets poured Monday. I hope when they remove the stencil they do it a little earlier or more carefully as I did notice that the patio is a little jagged in places.

It's getting close

back patio laid but not yet cleaned and sealed. It was well worth the extra money we paid for the raised drop edge beam concrete and no step. Driveway gets formed tomorrow and poured Friday or Saturday.

The shower screen in ensuite. IRL the tiles look like a better match than before which is what we suspected may happen once the entire room was fitted. I am much happier with it's overall look now. Once I add towels etc my initial dislike??/concerns will be a distant memory.

Kitchen with ceasar stone top and splash back tiles complete. I am loving the white but it needs to be moved into before it will look homely. It looks a bit stark now but I know my vision. I am going to Martha that baby up. Appliances will come last minute of course. OMG look at how filthy our tiles are. Clay mud all over them! That better come off the grout or I will be so annoyed. Stupid rain.

M moving the council tree. Took him a few hours.

Posing for a shot half way through the job. I'm going to have to get used to his workman look because he is going to be wearing that gear a lot for the next few.

On Sunday we visited the tree, yes visited(any excuse), to make sure it was still standing and secure. The mulch and gutters need a little tidy up but we'll do that when we move because there are still trucks etc visiting the site so it seems pointless right now.  That's my gorgeous shadow figure.

We met one of our neighbours

We went past the house on Sunday and our neighbours were on site looking through their house. They are a young couple and seem very nice.

House is almost complete

All systems go. I went past this mroning and there were 7 cars out the front and tradies everywhere.

The exterior painting is complete and the exterior looks awesome. They only need to do the driveway which is going in this coming Friday.  M has to go and move the council tree tomorrow as it is in the way.

all painted including front door etc. M was dubious about my choice of window and doors colour but let me have it( he wanted black). I got my way and he said he sees what I was meaning and envisaged now and thinks it was the right choice because he loves it. I love it too. The painted and bagged feature was a good choice and lifts the facade. We are really pleased with the result and colour 

The back patio was done today. Looks good so far although the concreter hadn't removed the stencil yet. Apparantly he got delayed as someone stole, that's right stole, the stencil out of our garage so he had to source another really quickly.

All the remaining tiling in the kitchen and bathrooms has been done. Kitchen tiling looks really nice, plain and simple, which is what I wanted. Looks nice with the stone top although I was only looking through a window.

I think we will be moving in about three weeks as there is only three things to be done now. Driveway, cleaning and carpet. Yah! Can't wait.

This is how I envisaged the playroom

How sweet...

This room is so similar to Chloe's playroom, furnished and decorated in a similar manner to what I want for her.

Caesar Stone is in

I only got a very quick look from the outside because the casaview guy on site was a stickler. Bench top looks nice from what I saw and quite white. I can't wait to see it for real.

The house is almost done

All the painting is now complete it looks awesome both inside and outside. All that is left to do is...

• add shower screens, towel rails, mirrors and tile above vanity
• add kitchen bench top, appliances and tile splash back
• clean house
• lay carpet
• lay back patio(which is already formed up) and driveway

The exterior is looking awesome. Looks a little blue in the pics but it's not.

New paint



Chloe's pink wall. She loved it when she saw it. I quote "Look Mummy a pink wall in my room, oh it's beautiful. I like it!" Well that was a sucessessful choice. It does look good, cutting in is really good and it saves me the trouble. It will look fantastic once the carpet is laid and the mirrored doors are installed, they will bounce alot of light around the room.

Bagging painted - love it. Great contrast. All down pipes, meter box, under eaves etc painted. M and I need to talk about where to put the back gate because the natural place for it has a window. Hmmm hadn't thought about that before.

Bagging looks good.

the concreter was also there forming up the back patio

Spoke to SS

In response to the soap holder being off white and not brilliant white he said that has been an issue for years. My response to that is well they should advise you of that. Not sure is anything can be done about it but he will let me know.

In response to the tiler cutting the border off the feature tile he said he will first make sure that the tile was in fact one entire white tole with feature attached(which it is) and then he will find out why the tiler did it like that because you wouldn't normally. I advised that the feature tile looks rough like this. He is going to get back to me.

The way I would rectify this is to take those dreaded tiles off the top and replace with plain white tiles. Poor workmanship and wrong colour gone. Remove a vertical stripe and add a vertical feature instead and insert the soap holder on the vertical stripe where the off white won't stand out like a dogs proverbial!

I'm going to have to wear the soap dish in the master bathroom possibly but at least all those ensuite issues would be gone.  Alternatly they could maybe replace the soap holder with a tile and then insert a different soap holder.

Landscaping quotes

Just had our second quote come in. $8500 for retaining walls as opposed to $12000 for retaining walls plus $6000 for other minor landscaping and I mean minor. The $8500 can be reduced to $6500 if we can get the certifier to agree to a different concrete block. We emailed them to discuss. Praying, praying, praying.

A few issues

Mostly minor but still

Oh this ensuite M hates me to say but it is the BOME. Yet another issue with the tiles. The feature tile was originally a white tile with a border on it. One tile. The tiler for some unknown reason cut the feature part off the top of the tile and laid it as two pieces. It looks stupid up close, not to mention the more grout, the more mould can grow and the more I have to clean. I think the cuts may even be crooked. That tiler is a real a worry. I have no confidence in them. I only noticed this today. The tiles are all dirty as well making it look worse I think but and the overall room isn't doing it for me. Again some guidance from the tiler would have been appreciated but I guess you can't expect an idiot to advise you well...I have more issues to raise with SS. This photo shows the mismatched floor feature colour. Don't get me started.

 

The toilets got installed. The master toilet looks a bit unsightly. You see we changed the bathroom layout meaning the vanity was pushed back, that meant it showed more of the toilet bowl. Oh well can’t do anything about that. It doesn't really bother me that much it just would have looked better with a different bowl. Otherwise I like the overall look of that bathroom. Gee I love those doors. I like the vanity too. Taps are all in.

Oh except this. brought to my attention today because my SIL is building and was telling us that their tiler has put a ceramic soap holder in the shower. They have white tiles and the soap holder is off white. Doesn't match. Today I had a look at ours and it’s the same, doesn't match. The tiling around it doesn't look to crash either here. Hmmmm Disappointing.I have to keep in mind that there is dust everywhere which makes the tiles look all dirty and not as nice. Still have to raise that one with SS. He's gonna love me!

Upside...The kitchen looks amazing with the bulk head painted and new cornice on. The cornice is coming away slightly in one spot but it is easily fixed. The caesar stone top goes in on Wednesday. It was to be done Friday gone but the rain and mud held it off.

All the electrics are done. Down lights etc. Looks great.

 More upsides...and there is always an upside. The family room is awesome. Love the giant space.

Love the gorgeous light and large windows.

Love our kitchen

We noticed when we went through today that there are quite a few dings and knocks in the doors and architraves. I don’t know how they fix those. Also the floor tiles are filthy because the tradies have been dragging mud through with the recent rain. The grout is all dirty. I really hope they can get that off.

The paint looks a bit thin in places, especially in Chloe’s bedroom but the painting isn’t finished yet so it will most likely be fine. We are also getting a feature wall in her bedroom now. We are paying the painter directly. He was there today and offered to do it for us. He's a nice guy.  It will cost us the same for me to do the job as it will be to have him do it. I chose Taubmans Bronte Pink. Love it.

Overall I guess there could be worse things but I have a couple of things to raise with SS.  My only real disappointment with the entire build to date is that ensuite and it all comes down to the tiler. Hmmm.

The latest

bathroom vanity looks great.

I'm saving the ensuite pics until later. The vanity is the same as above but at the moment I am a bit disappointed with the tiles. The workmanship looks great BUT the floor tile and feature tile don't match colourwise. I feel the tile company should have advised me that they really didn't go but they didn't. It's my fault ultimatley as I chose them but guidance would have been more than appreciated. I had dreams of ripping them out but M reassures me they will be fine in the end so I am reserving judgement. Maybe they will look different with all the fixtures in place. In real life they are more closley coloured than in pics (in which the floor looks really brown and the wall tiles really grey and black and I hate the pics of it)but they are not the perfect match like the master bathroom which I LOVE. Oh well. I keep telling myself to reserve judgement but I have to say I am a bit worried. M hates me for even thinking it. So in saying all this dribble no photos until it's complete.

is it possible to be in love with a door...all shiny and new.

I noticed when looking at the pics that the door handles are wrong. However I am glad for the builders stuff up and like them lots. We were going to get the same style but in satin chrome which would have matched the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. The main reason I chose them was that they don't get prints on them from little fingers. Anyway I have informed the builder of their error but also advised that we want to keep them. I really like them and the cost is the same to the builder plus I don't want them wasting a day changing them. I mean all this rain has already stalled our rear patio being laid and we don't need delays! NO MORE RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh pleasssse. 

Kitchen Cabinets Installed

We LOVE our kitchen! It is quite big and has heaps of storage space and looks fantastic.

This is our family room. Well half of it anyway.

This is the other half with DH looking very happy about the space.

The master bathroom tiling looks fantatsic as well. Very happy. Very!

Master bedroom has great light.

We are loving the house and are so excited.