Slowly getting there

So much has been happening and with no internet still at home posting on here is very hard.
The front yard is starting to look great, the big dirt piles in front of our bedroom window are gone, and only yesterday I moved the pallet of bricks away from the house too.
There is still an unsightly pile of wood and pallets (which were our 'boardwalk' pathway) which we hope to burn off this week, as well as a pile of broken pieces of blocks which are to be removed hopefully tomorrow, then we just need to do a bit more levelling and wait for the grass to grow...lol. We still have to order the stones for between our new pathway and the house too, we have chosen them at least though.
Stu also spent many hours slashing and whipper snipping the entire block the last few weeks as we received a notice from the council. It's all looking pretty darn good now I think anyway!

No dirt pile or pallet of bricks!!

pallets and brick soon to be gone..

close up of the path

the path, end not done yet as we will be extending the
driveway a little more

Settling in..

Apologies for the long delay in posting, and thanks to you for still regularly checking to see if I have updated yet. The unpacking was actually completed relatively quickly - it was done in less then 4 days, but what with our holiday, Frey's birthday and lack of internet connection at the house, it's just been very busy and a bit too hard to update any sooner.
Due to the government deciding to dramatically cut back solar power feed in tariffs, our hand was forced to get our 4kw system now rather then waiting a bit longer, so we scrambled to get that done and had it installed 2 weeks ago, just waiting for the paperwork to get finalised so we can start reaping the benefits. It's good that we had already done all the research and knew what we were getting and where we were getting it from, that saved us lots of time.
Stuart has started spreading out some of the dirt piles but there is still an awful lot to be done. Every time it dries out a little we get a downpour again which isn't helping matters. The 'lake' out the front of our window just keeps growing and growing.
The garage is finally cleaned out enough to fit both cars in, and we have even started organising the big shed, by building shelves and so on.
We finally got the home phone connected this week to....still to get internet yet though.
Anyway time for some more pics.

Dining furnished, lots of space

kitchen 

back of the 3/4 book case wall

master with a water view..

alfresco

living

bookcase filled, I have plans for that top shelf..

powder room with mirror

new solar PV system

front view

the 'boardwalk' to the front door. So much for having
the path done before we moved in!

The house is ours!

Well we have already started moving in. It looks great, it's a shame to spoil it with our old furniture lol
We have a huge landscaping job ahead of us, but it's just so exciting. So take a squiz...

bathroom clean and shiny

my kitchen! love it

drying cupboard

laundry

living room

air lock entry

book shelf 3/4 wall

dining

ensuite

ensuite with blind down

the floor

more floor..

and more floor...lol

kitchen at night

4 more sleeps

It's been pretty busy at the house. The weekend saw the carpenter back, fixing cupboards, installing towel rails and toilet holders and so on, also the plasterer kept popping in and out to fix things.
Today our carpet was installed - and looks pretty good too - along with more internal carpentry and the flyscreens are now on as well.
Tomorrow the electricians will finish their part and the floor will receive it's final polish and buff - providing the polisher turns up - and the house clean is set for Wednesday, I can't wait to see it after this.
Curtains and blinds are supposed to be coming some time in the next few days as well.
It is looking very much like a house now which is pretty good seeing as we move in soon.

Freya's bedroom

contrast with the polished concrete floor

craft room/study nook

One week to go

The house is progressing so well. Every time I turn up now there is something new to see, it's so exciting.
The external painting is really coming along fast, all plumbing fit off has been completed, lots more electrical done, cooktop and rangehood installed and today the window washers were doing their thing as well.
Hard to believe that this time next week we will have the keys to the house - and hopefully have already completed some unpacking.

Stainless yet to be added between the cooktop and the window
as a safety measure

kitchen tap...now with running water!!!

breakfast bar pendants

Busy busy busy

So much is happening it's all so very exciting.
The panel lift door did get installed on Saturday. At first the colour choice seemed wrong, but after getting used to it,  I think we have done the right thing.
Yesterday the tiler finished- at last- and the plumbers began their fit out. They got lots in, although there was a slight mishap with the kitchen tap - which is now sorted, and the ensuite toilet of course couldn't go in due to the tiles just being laid. They will be back on Thursday to finish up. I so want to run a tap, but don't want to waste any of our precious water.
The electricians were back again today, and have been fitting off the pre mounted lights and also lots of the power points. Also today the door handles have been put on, the shower screens installed and the remaining shelving for the WIP is also up.
I forgot to check the external painting, it's so easy to get distracted looking at what has been done!
Still no sign of the AC people hopefully they turn up soon. Electrical will be continuing on tomorrow, windows to be washed Friday, and carpet due to be laid on Monday. So so close now...

Bathroom shower

Bathroom 

WIP

ensuite

Garage door

2 weeks to go, countdown is on!

The tiling is almost finished. It would have been finished by now but the quantity of tiles required was underestimated so we have been waiting for more to come in. They finally did late this afternoon, but KB couldn't get on to the tiler so looks like they won't get finished until Monday which is a shame as the plumbers are coming on Monday to do their fit off. It is only the ensuite toilet that hasn't been finished, plus both the shower niches still require some waterproofing.

bathroom shower. More painting has been done since this was taken

Ensuite 

The painting is coming along and looking pretty good too. The final coat for the passageway will not be done until after most of the other trades are finished - which looks like happening at the start of the week. On Monday we have the heater people, the plumbers, the electricians and the painters on site! It's going to be madly busy there. Although the painters should be starting on the external rather then doing more internal.
The panel lift door for the garage is supposed to be installed tomorrow, and the last few minor touches for the cabinetry should be done next week too. All that is left there is some adjustment to the kitchen cupboards and drawers, and a strip from the benchtop in the walk in pantry needs to be added plus the extra  shelving in the pantry too.
We now have the inserts for all our cupboards and wardrobes and they have come up pretty good. My linen cupboard looks absolutely enormous!
Looks like handover will be occurring around 3:30 on the 31st. Can't believe we are only 2 weeks away from getting our house.  We still have so much we need to do, apart from landscaping we also really need to get going on installing a temporary fence to keep Ruby in the back yard. I'm also really looking forward to topping the driveway with some more rock, and can't wait to get a path to our front door sorted. Going to be a very busy few weeks that's for sure.
Stuart plans to be out there again this weekend, sorting some stuff out and fitting off the phone and data. Not that it looks like we will have phone connection out there for quite some time yet.

Electrical fit out started

The painting is going well despite only one person doing it all. The ceilings are now all finished and hopefully the interior will all be done by the end of this coming week, our painter will have someone working with him this week which will help speed things up.
The tiler has started and seems to be going pretty quick. He thinks he will be done by the end of Tuesday at the very latest. We couldn't quite put the feature tile where I had pictured it, but I think it should still look pretty good.
Most shelving for my walk in pantry has now been installed, as has the shelves above the fridge cavity. The handles have also been installed and I think they have come up pretty good!  Only waiting for the final shelves and the bench top in the pantry and the cupboard doors for the powder room then all cabinetry will be complete.
Electrical fit out started yesterday. Stuart worked along with our electrician, by doing some mounting of the lights which the electrician then connected. In a few hours they managed to do 11 lights completely. Stuart then went on later to mount 3 more, but these ones still require connection.        

ensuite - the line in the shower is for the feature tile

WIP shelving. Another wall unit for left  side still to come

lights in the passage

bathroom tiling

kitchen with upstand, handles and one pendant

So this week tiling, internal painting, A/C fit off all to be completed, and hopefully a bit more electrical fit off too. Builder believes that handover should happen on the 31st August.

Paint started

Paint finally got started on Friday of last week, but when we looked on the weekend, they hadn't even managed to undercoat all of the ceiling which was a bit disappointing. They have now done undercoat on all the ceilings, most walls and lots of the skirting and archs as well. Stu thinks the walls are coming up a bit yellow, but he said the same thing of the benchtops which were installed over the weekend, which I think look pretty good.

taken with my phone so not the best quality

looking very long from this angle

dining looking through to kitchen

Loving the light streaming into the living room

Before Stuart left the house, he saw the tiles being delivered. I have no idea when they will start to be laid, but probably won't take too long as we don't have a lot of tiled area.

We are hoping that the electrical fit out will start this weekend.