All we need is ... dirt

The back yard garden beds are finally finished but unfortunately a couple are still empty:

the alfresco corner

 

across the back

 

down the side to the garage

Another brick in another wall

Now that the front yard is done, it's time for our landscaper to start on the back yard ... yay soon to be no more sand!!

We tidied up the yard a bit and tried to work out whether we wanted curbing or actual blocks and decided on blocks to make it easier to take care of the edges.  Once that decision was made, it was straight into the clearing and construction:

The alfresco corner

Across the back fence

Down the side to the garage

And this is why you should be there when the concrete guys are mixing the colour through...

I asked for the liquid limestone to be the same colour as the cream bricks.

This is what they gave me:

Now I know that in this photo, it doesn't look too bad but believe me, this is very orange in real life. When I spoke to the concreting guys, they assured me not to worry and that the 'pink' colour would fade as it dried.

I don't see pink .. I see orange and if it doesn't fade to a nice creamy colour, I will see dead concrete guys!

Prep work done for the driveway and alfesco area... check!

The formwork all ready for the liquid limestone to go in:

And for the driveway and crossover too:

Shame about those huge piles of dirt on the recently cleaned front yard ...

Change in plans...

We've decided to not move into this house and to use it as a rental instead.

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Just kidding! Too many late night 'discussions' to give up on it now!

Seriously though, we were originally planning on moving in mid December based on several factors:

1. 
   
   Based on when the roof went on, we should have expected the first Practical Completion Inspection (PCI) at the end of November which meant we would have the keys around the 10th of December.


2. 
   
   According to Peter's current roster, he would be home on the 15th December so despite me vowing to not move in the week before Christmas (again!), it was either move then or wait until mid January.


3. 
   
   Waiting until mid January would have meant a longer period of time paying both the mortgage and rent, so the earlier we could move, the better off we would be (financially anyway).

Then the site supervisor threw a spanner in the works by telling us that we should be able to do our PCI at the beginning of November and get the keys two weeks later (provided there was nothing major wrong). So it looks like we're moving in 24th November.

Now I'm in a bit of a mad panic trying to organise a driveway (didn't like the paved one the builder offered) and a tiler to lay 120sqm of floor tiles through the whole house, both of which have to be done before we can move in.

Aaaarrrggghhh!

Windows and doors are in and we're (almost) locked out

We went out to check out the local spring fair and found windows and doors as well! Luckily they hadn't locked all the doors so we were able to get in and have a look at all the pretty new cornices and painted ceilings (there aren't any photos of the inside 'cos the camera battery died).

The front of the house:

Down the alfresco side from the back of the garage:

The games room and family room's sliding doors:Woohoo! Getting closer and closer to being finished!

Is it just me or does this look really stupid?

The ceiling is up in the alfresco area and due to having to have different material for the eaves than the ceiling, there is a bit of an issue. I know that the cornices are made of the same sort of stuff as the ceiling sheeting and need to be protected from the weather (hence stopping at the edge of the ceiling sheeting) but this just looks plain stupid.

Especially this:

Why put a piddly little amount of cornice on one corner of a post? Looks like someone forgot to chip extra plaster off the pillar.

Maybe stupid isn't the right word. This just looks wrong ... unfinished ... tacky ... crappy ... unprofessional ... I could keep going but I think you get the message.

Off to make another call to the customer liaison ...

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Oh wait, it's just the ceilings...

Yep, the ceilings are finally in. Most of them don't have cornices yet but what a difference it makes. Now I can actually see how much more area of wall I'm going to have to paint because I thought raised ceilings were a good idea.

Seriously though, the ceilings look great and I'm so glad we raised the height of them in the family/kitchen/dining ... it makes the whole area look bigger and seems to let more light in (even though the windows are exactly the same size as they would have been if the ceilings were lower .. go figure!)

Here's the kitchen:

(with Drew photobombing again! He popped up from behind the wall just as I took the photo)

From the back alfresco corner:

Looking in the front door:

The roof sheets are on at last!

The view from the front:

And from the back alfresco side:

Looking back towards the kitchen from the family room door:

A couple of very cheeky boys trying to avoid having their photos taken and failing miserably!

Once they've got the ridge capping on, we just have to wait for two weeks to let everything dry out enough for the plasterers to start rendering.

Hmmm .. might start looking for other internal decorating ideas while I'm waiting.

Look out bank account, here I come!

And now we have gutters.

No roof; just gutters.

And the occasional downpipe ... right in the walkways:

We do have some plumbing (both water and gas) as well as

some electrical wiring starting to happen:

And an almost swimming pool in the alfresco:

Hope the rain stops long enough for them to put the roof sheets on.

Bricks are finished and roof timber has been delivered ...

It's starting to look like a real house; not just a pile of bricks!

From the very front:

Front door frame is in:

We have pillars in the alfresco:

Brad checking out the size of his built-in-robe while Drew tries to look cool:

The roof should be started soon and then they can start on all the inside stuff!