30th October 2013

We finally have turf! Looks so much nicer now and hopefully the dust that keeps making its way inside eases up. We are really happy with the outcome. It took a few hours to lay and am definitely now feeling the after effects. Feeling tired, sore and sunburn't. Can't wait to put the gardens and retaining wall in. Two of our boys were so excited they decided to have some fun under the sprinkler.

Our front windows were also tinted today. They look really good and will apparently block out 60% heat and 99% UV, which is great. If anyone is interested in knowing which tint we got, we went with Ultravision 40 from Premier Tint. It cost $375.

Thinking about painting the facade tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be too sore from todays efforts.

Some pics:

29th Oct 2013

Big day today! We got a bobcat in to level our land, spread a bit of fill and finish with some turf underlay in preparation for delivery of our turf tomorrow. It took about 8 hours. It was a nightmare of a job as our soil is basically clay, so in some areas it was like cutting through concrete and in other areas it was soft and boggy. So glad its over. We cant wait to get turf!

I ordered Sapphire turf, which will arrive tomorrow morning. I had Sapphire at my last house and I loved how soft, thick and lush it looked. We are hoping we win lotto soon so we can get our front and rear deck done, get the retaining walls up and put in some garden beds. There is still so much to buy, but with both of us being out of work things are becoming extremely difficult.

Our lounge ended up coming back from Nick Scali's upholsterer's, only to arrive in the same condition with dirty marks all over it. It actually looked worse because whatever they used to clean the upholstery has scuffed it and now it feels rough and you can see the scuff marks. Unfortunately, we have asked for a refund. We loved the design of this lounge, but unfortunately it just isn't what we saw in the showroom. It has been a really disappointing experience. I guess we were one of the unlucky ones. Now we are just waiting to hear back as to whether we can get a refund or not.

We aren't having much luck with Milan Direct either. I ordered some bar stools last week, but two of the stools were missing rubber feet when delivered so can't be sat on. I also order two office chairs and one of the boxes was missing a whole set of screws so I can't put one of the chairs together. I have been told that they just ran out of screws and that it will take a whole 10-12 weeks to get some new ones in. What a joke! Not impressed at all. Waiting to hear back from them too.

Needing some luck and money :(

Some pics from today:

21st October 2013

We are making some progress!

We finally had our flyscreens installed today, so we are now bug free and am able to enjoy the evening breezes we get. It also means we can let the kitten out of the laundry and stop having to dive for our 1 year old and save him from falling out the sliding doors. He was unlucky a few days ago though as we missed him by about a second, meaning he face planted the ground in the alfresco area. He was lucky to only have received a few scratches. It could have been a lot worse.

We also had our Basswood plantation shutters installed. They have totally transformed the house. They look amazing. So glad I chose Basswood and not white. We love them so much. They are worth every cent. A shout out to Ritchie and the boys at Shade Elegance for the great job they did and their fantastic customer service. If anyone is interested in shutters, make sure you call Ritchie.

His details are:

Ritchie Jayasekera

Shade Elegance NSW

Sydney NSW 2768

( 02 8824 9951 / 0431 928 109

* info@shade-elegance.com.au

8 www.shade-elegance.com.au

Gemma, our Electrician also popped in for a visit today to check out what lights need to be installed. Hopefully this will happen early in the next few weeks.

Pete has spent the last 2 days outside in the heat digging 14 x holes for our retaining wall out the back. We need a wall about 800mm high to retain the soil. We ended up hiring an auger, but the soil is so ridiculously hard (like concrete) that even the auger couldn't cut through the soil. He had to use a crow bar and whatever else he could. Tomorrow we will start putting in the posts. It is supposed to be a scorcher though, so we will play it by ear. Can't wait till the backyard is done. It still feels like we are living on a construction site.

The colour of our facade is still bothering us. Its too white looking, so we bought some paint from Bunnings a few days ago. I am going to try and brave the heat tomorrow and repaint it. We picked the Colourbond colour Dune. Hopefully it looks good. If it doesn't I guess I'll be painting it again.

We also have Premier Tint coming out in the morning to give us a quote for tinting to the front windows and rear sliding doors.

Some pics of our shutters, screens and backyard:

 

Laundry Door Flyscreen

 

Dining Room Sliding Door Flyscreen

 

Dining Room Sliding Door Flyscreen (outside looking in)

 

Master Ensuite Shutter

 

Bedroom 4 Shutters

 

W.C Shutter

 

Media Room Shutters

 

Activity Room Shutter (looking in from the kitchen area)

 

Master Bedroom Shutter

 

Hall / Activity Room Shutters

 

Activity Room Shutters

 

 

Activity Room Shutters

 

Hall / Activity Room Shutters

 

Main Bathroom Shutter

 

Bedroom 2 Shutter

 

Activity Room Shutter (over study nook)

 

Hall / Activity Room Shutters

 

House Front

 

House Front

 

House Front

 

 

Retaining Wall Holes

 

18th October 2013

So the lounge ended up being taken away for the upholsterer to clean and fix. Hopefully it comes back looking brand new. Apparently it will take about 7 days, so we aren't without the lounge too long thank goodness.

I ended up ordering some 'ghost' bar stools. I really wanted the chocolate timber ones, but I figure because the kitchen cupboards are chocolate and the floor is walnut, then having a chocolate chair too might be too many different browns or my blend in with the cupboards. I figured the ghost bar stools would match the splashback and work nicely with the stainless steel appliances and handles. I might be wrong though. We'll have to wait and see. They should arrive next week some time.

Flyscreens are getting installed on Monday which is a relief.

I will start making some enquiries about getting the windows at the front of the house tinted and our rear sliding doors, because we have full sun at the back of the house in the morning and full sun at the front of the house in the afternoon. The tinting should keep the place cooler and will also protect the basswood shutters from the sunlight.

Speaking of the shutters, apparently they arrived at the warehouse 3 days ago, so we are hoping next week they get installed. So over looking at newspaper covered windows.

I bought a new quilt cover for our massive bed this week. I would have posted a photo of it, but our new kitten decided to wee on it this evening...damn cats! So annoying!!! I've put him in the laundry for the rest of the night to teach him a lesson.

I've booked in our electrician to come and check out what lights need to be installed on Monday. Can't wait for them to go in. The place could use some brightening up. Our electrician is getting married in 3 weeks though, so she won't be able to install anything till after then. So hopefully the lights will go in in about 4 weeks time.

We have put our dining table on hold for a little while as we need to get a few things done in the backyard first like the retaining wall and fences and will try and get the front yard sorted too. We have our old dining table at the moment anyway, so its not like we are desperate for one just yet.

9th October 2013

The upholsterer ending up coming out and inspecting our lounge. His words were "this lounge is unacceptable". I am hating it soooo much. I just wish Nick Scali would come and take it away. So we are now waiting to hear back from Nick Scali as to what the plan is. The upholsterer said his report would take approximately 24 hours to get back to Nick Scali and it has been a few days. I thought we would have heard something by now. I might chase them up tomorrow.

I found out yesterday that our shutters are due to hit the warehouse on 15th October, which is exciting. We are dying to get them installed. It should mean we have shutters by the end of next week.

I also ordered our fly screens, laundry door screen and one of the sliding door screens yesterday. They take about 2 weeks. We are dying to get these installed too as we get so many bugs here at night if we open the doors and windows. It will be so nice to be able to open the windows and doors and enjoy the breeze without the house being bug central.

Next on the list is our rear retaining wall. We really need to get the back fence sorted. We will try and speak to the neighbours in the next week or so and see what we can do about getting the fence raised. Hopefully they'll play nice and we won't have any issues.

After the retaining wall goes in we will look at getting a bobcat in to level the front yard. We are also going to need about 40 tonnes of fill so will do it all at the same time.