Saturday 22 December 2012

Tradies back Saturday morning!

So I was worried the slab was gonna look messy over the break so we went back again this morning. No need to worry the tradies were back and had leveled it all back again... So glad it looks like this again.

Tradies still working 3 days before Christmas!

Last night I drove J to see the slab, he's been busy at work and hadn't seen it... OMG! When I pulled up in front of the block I was devastated.our beautiful slab had been covered in mounds of dirt. I thought someone had dumped several loads of fill on it.

When I got out of the car I noticed trenches had been dug next to the slab and the rain and storm water pipes had been dug. I thought EB had closed for Christmas break so imagine my surprise.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

We have a slab!


We had our new neighborhood Christmas party Monday night. It was a great opportunity to meet the community, hopefully we will be able to continue the tradition. 

I logged into EB this afternoon, and noticed our status had changed so I knew the slab had to be laid. Sure enough, here is what I found...

Sunday 16 December 2012

No more access

Yesterday afternoon the fence arrived... We received an email from our ss 8:30pm on a Saturday night advising us. J replied with a question and we had a response straight away... So from now on, my photos will be from behind the fence or between the gaps.

Friday 14 December 2012

Thursday 13 December 2012

Pipe work started


Today L and I saw  workman on the block. They were digging to place the water pipes in our place... L was excited to see their machines, and pipes. I think he would have had a hundred questions to ask them if they stopped work.

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Form work started

When I got to the block today I noticed form work had been started and that the sediment fence had been put up... No pipes yet, so we are a little behind the other block. They also had their waffle pods and wire supports for their slab delivered, so I am now feeling a bit more confident that we will have a slab for Christmas!
Sediment fence is now up.

Form work started

You can see where our water tank will be, that's the jutting out on the left hand side.

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Piers dug..

 
View from the street.


 
View of our back yard.


From the back corner looking back to the street.
4pm seemed like forever but I picked up L and we made our way out to the block.  They dug the piers today. Seeing concrete dots all over the block helped me picture how big our house is going to be. The backyard will be the perfect size for us. Easily maintained and will be used for entertaining.

Finding it hard to concentrate

Supposed to be busy at work but my mind is elsewhere, wondering what time I can leave today to go see if anything has happened on the block...wondering if we will have the piers like our neighbour's, wondering if the neighbour's block will have more work done... They are also building with EB. Hoping the weather stays clear. Roll around 4pm!

Monday 10 December 2012

Site scraped

J rang and said EB had rung today and advised we were in construction and gave the named of our site supervisor. We had discovered that over the weekend as our EB portal had already been updated. They indicated work should start tomorrow, but this afternoon J had another phone call from our lovely land developer to say we had our site scraped today. I can't believe how excited I was to hear a pile of dirt was dumped on our land and leveled out... Woohoo!



Wednesday 21 November 2012

Red pegs!!

The little man and I went for a drive to our block today... And we have red pegs!! Site start appointment tomorrow, it's all very exciting!

Saturday 10 November 2012

Love love nearmap

Can you believe nearmap updated their maps again, twice in a fortnight... I hope they do this when our build starts... Here is another photo of our estate, look more progress!

Friday 9 November 2012

Getting closer

Eden brae sent the final Pcv today, this was as a result of the da check. We have also got a date for the site start appointment. All our documents should come next week, we are to go through these with a fine tooth comb and then we sign them. Administration will be complete!! Edging closer to something happening on our block, something other than the grass growing lol

Saturday 3 November 2012

Mixed feelings

EB rang today and said that we are looking at mid December  before our slab will start. They can't guarantee it, but will do everything they can to get this to happen... Beginning to think I should say, the slab will be down in February.

On the other hand, nearmaps have updated their maps this week. Look at the progress in our estate!!

Thursday 25 October 2012

Kitchen,bathroom and wall colours

Just realised I never shared my kitchen, bathroom or wall colours. I went into home option gallery back in July before we signed our contract and looked at the standard range for essastone bench tops for our kitchen bench tops. We had the choice of 20mm New Cairo or Sable Lux. I wanted a neutral kitchen and selected New Cairo. That just left the cupboard door colour. I took lots of samples home and in the end selected Pumice in a natural finish.

For the wall colour, I selected Taubman's Endure paint in Pebble Bay... All wood work will be in Pebble Bay Quarter strength.

As I have said before I went to DIlorenzo a couple of visits before selecting the bathroom bench top and cupboard colours. I wanted to have an idea of the overall look. So I selected my tiles first, and them started to think about the squareform bench top colour. In the end I choose Platinum Micro squareform for the bench and Smokey Sapelle with the lines running vertically for the cupboards in both the bathroom and ensuite. The tile has been discontinued but I think the tiles I have chosen will still look great with this selection. 

Monday 22 October 2012

Lighting for main living areas

I am stuck for ideas for the lights in our entry and multi. I will also need one up the hall outside the niche. I am considering this style for the living, family and meals area.


Which do you prefer? Top or bottom?



Waiting

Patiently waiting for some info from EB... Our approval is on the local council website... Waiting to hear what happens next... I'm not very good at waiting lol

Friday 19 October 2012

ACC received and DA check to begin

Very excited, received the authority to commence construction from the bank this week and sent it off to EB. Signed all PCVs - we needed to raise another one to allow our own independent inspector to do his inspections. So today we sent back the letter so they can start the DA check. Can't wait to see red pegs on our block, watch this space for a photo!! Hope it's soon!

Thursday 18 October 2012

Lighting for the bedrooms

I have been thinking about the lighting for our bedrooms, I was thinking of a special light for the master, maybe something like this

And for bedrooms 2, 3, 4 and kids room, something like this...
Still pondering the lights for the living, family, dining, multi, entry... Our rumpus will have dimmable downlights.


Wednesday 17 October 2012

Some lighting ideas

Before our electrical appointment we went to beacon lighting and had a look at some of options for lighting.

These pendants are what we are thinking of using for above the island bench. We will also have 2 downlights in the ceilings and 2 under the bench downlights for our over head cupboards. That will hopefully make my kitchen well lit!

Flooring pcvs... Admin nearly finished

We got the pcvs for our carpets today... Just over $3990 for the upgrade... I didn't realize we are having nearly 150 square meters of carpet in our dream house!! Tile upgrades to the bathroom and ensuite total just over $350.  They are our final variations... One stage closer to construction! Just waiting on the bank now for the ACC...meet in at Eden brae again to sign off on all final plans and we should be then in construction!!

Friday 12 October 2012

Floor selection for the dream house

We will be having this mosaic as a feature in the bath and ensuite.
 This is the floor tile for our bath and ensuite.
The plain tile on top (below) will be our main tile in the bathroom.
This dark tile below will be our kitchen splash back colour.
Our main floor tile and carpet... The lovely Ecofresh carpet by Godfrey hirst.

I was disappointed when I arrived at DL as I had already been on two occasions and selected the tiles, the laminate for the bathroom was then selected on with my tile preference in mind, and then when we HAD to choose the tiles, they had discontinued my original selection... A bit of a dilemma, but in the end, here's what we picked...

Upgrade from plumbing appointment

We were pretty satisfied with the taps, basins, bath and toilets that came as standard with EB. We did upgrade to double towel racks for both bathrooms, and J fell in love with the idea of a rainwater spout for the ensuite whilst I prefer a removable and adjustable hand held shower. The compromise was an additional $450. Can't wait to try it out!

Some pics from electrical appointment

Yeah!! I just figured out how to post pics to blogger using the iPad.... I have been a bit lost the last few months without the laptop.
These are some pictures from the electrical appointment...

Our strobe light and internal siren... The sensor in the pic was an upgrade.

our key pad... We also upgraded to get key fobs to remotely turn the alarm on and off.
We upgraded and organized a door bell to be installed. Our button is the silver one.
Here are our slimline switches and power points.
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Land changes

Love visiting nearmap.com.  It regularly updates its maps unlike google maps. Anyway here is our block over time.

 Our block is at the top of the new road and left of the house in construction.  Can't wait to see a picture of our house in construction next to it.


Thursday 11 October 2012

Getting closer to construction...

We have been very busy the last month... Electrical, and flooring appointments are done, and nearly all pcv's are finalized. Prior to our electrical appointment, I had gone to beacon lighting, and priced some lights that I was thinking of using that helped me work out how many light points I wanted. We also went to the display home and did a walk through thinking about placements of powerpoints,  tv points, light switches and 2 way switches. I think this helped with our electrical appointment. We managed to get all our electrical choices. It was $6400 but we are getting dimmable downlightsin the rumpus, normal downlights in the kitchen, more alarm sensors, door bell, a few more cat6 data points and a tv antennae in that price as well. We will provide all lights except downlights and they will put them in for us...another less hassle after handover!

We got our fly screen, melamine shelving, external gas points, privacy door locks quotes as well and signed off on them.  These were raised in the colours appointment.

When we went to DIlorenzo, the tiles I had picked in the previous 2 visits to DIlorenzo were discontinued... This threw a spanner in the works as I had already chosen laminate to the bathroom and ensuite based on those tiles. What we ending up choosing was a plain coffee latte tile and a mosaic strip to go down the wall in the shower as a feature. This added a upgrade as labour for laying mosaics is extra. We choose floor tiles for the main areas of the house, kitchen and laundry splash back tiles.

We then met to go over our carpet for the house. I was happy to go with a standard carpet until I saw the standard underlay... Very flimsy and I could see it wearing out very quickly. I knew we would have to upgrade it, otherwise we would need to replace the carpet within 7 years.  J then asked about upgrading the carpet... We ended upgrading to a Godfrey hirst ecofresh carpet in peppercorn. It has a lifetime guarantee for stain resistance and 25 years guarantee against wearing. We went to the top of the range upgrade for underlay which compliments this carpet.

We have signed off on our 3d drawings of the kitchen, bathroom upgrades, electrical upgrades, all that is left is the flooring pcv's and the ACC from the bank.

We got our quote back from abbey blinds, and have paid our deposit, so the blinds will go in before we get the keys... I can't wait!

Sunday 9 September 2012

Colour selection day

We went to Home option gallery on Friday. It was a very busy day! First up we had to do  external colours. I had already selected bricks- vanilla, roof tiles, monier horizon in barramundi. Gutters in monument, fascia in paperbark, water tank - paperbark, electricity box in paperbark, down pipes in paperbark, garage door in monument. I hadn't thought about eaves colour, but we ended up selecting taubman's Persian mist. The front door we upgraded at tender to the Eden 3G, standard is painted so we selected monument. Windows will be slate grey.

Next we did internals, internal doors, handles, we upgraded to some privacy locks in the bathroom, toilet and master bedroom. Chose wall colour - pebble bay and trims will be in pebble bay quarter. Kitchen bench tops will be in essastone new Cairo,  doors in pumice laminex. Chose kitchen handles. Looked at our cornices cove for wet areas and garage. Symphony for all other areas. Bathroom bench tops will be  platinum micro, and doors will be in smokey sapelle.

Our next appointment was plumbing. We upgraded to double towel racks in bath bathrooms' and a fancy shower head for our ensuite. Next appointment was abbey blinds.

I was no where ready to chose blinds, but I managed to select thick slat wooden venetians for the front rooms in bone. Roller block out blinds in the bedrooms and rumpus. Panel glides in the rumpus and meal area sliding doors. The rumpus will be a block out but the meals areas will be sheer. Roller sheers in the meal area, laundry and living. I am so please with this. Can't wait for the quote to come through.

Just before lunch we did the driveway, I was thinking of coloured concrete, but the sales lady told us about the sealing needed for coloured concrete every 12 months. So we chose Baine's charcoal pavers. These are laid on 90 mm concrete base covered with sand,  then silicone sand is brushed over and watered in to help them set. The only maintenance required would be weed killer every 12 months. As a promotion we got an area paved for our bins at the side of the driveway.

J and I then walked to a quaint little cafe for lunch. Just what was needed!

After lunch was our kitchen appointment. I was so pleased at this appointment!!! We got the pot drawers and light boxes for our overhead cupboards. Our kitchen will look just like the display home... Just not the island bench.

Lastly, we reviewed cverything... We added a fly screen and security screen door quote, melamine shelving in the pantry, an external gas point and moved the gas point for internal. And changed the front door to frosted glass.

Saturday 11 August 2012

Contract signed

Another day in at Eden Brae... We looked over our plans, only modification we made was to the shower niches. I wanna be able to have my Pantene shampoo pump bottle in that space.  We also saw that we had cladding on the outside at the front of the house but we didnt want that, so we had it removed. Here are our plans and elevation pics


Next step for us Colour and Kitchen appointment on the 7th Sept, Electrical and Flooring on the 5th October!!

Saturday 28 July 2012

Tender presentation and Brick Selection

We were very happy with our tender presentation... slab was classes as M but will require some extra piers or something like that so the  funds allocated to the H class slab will be put towards that.

There were two questionable items - Landscape plan prep $705. Seriously we dont need this for our developer and I hope to have this removed and secondly they wanted to charge up $1400 to have a bushfire report done. I am in the process of following this up, because our 149 certificate from council and the map from Council  signed by NSW Rural Fire both say we are not in a bush fire prone area.

Overall though very happy and no real surprises.

Today we went to PGH bricks and selected our exterior colours Bricks Vanilla, Roof tiles, Barramundi, Gutters, garage door monument, Fascia Paperbark, Window trims - woodland grey... still deciding downpipes either paperbark or monument....

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Dream house

On the 30th June, J paid our $750 to begin the process with Eden Brae. We liked the Hawthorne 31. We decided to go with Essentials package - this included 'm' site costs, standard basix and council fees, sarking, stenciled driveway, wool blend sisal carpet, standard range of tiles to living areas, alarm system, remote control garage door, plain concrete to alfresco. We added on the Lifestyles promotion and the 3 x $1 promotion. This means we get Actron air reverse cycled ducted air conditioning, 20mm caesarstone in the kitchen as well as stainless steel 900mm oven and 5 gas burner cooktop, dishwasher, microwave and glass canopy rangehood. We also choose Monier Horizon roof tiles.

Included is shower niches, eaves, cornives, skirting, stacker door to alfresco, termite treated timber frame.

We have upgraded to higher ceiling all over, as well as 3m ceilings in entry, a longer bath in ensuite, tiles to both walls of shower, above bench cupboards in the kitchen, a fancy wide front door, doors to the WIR, and rumpus, cavity slider in ensuite.

We also took up the big space promotion so that means we will extend the rumpus, linen and alfresco by 1.4m and split this so that Bed 4 and the Breakout room also get an additional 0.7m.

Our tender presentation is booked in for the 26th July. Can't wait!

Dream Suburb

J and I bought land on June 9 2012 at Harrington Gardens.


We were originally looking at established houses, but nothing out there was perfect. I knew what I wanted, an area for L, an area for J and an area for me. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, double garage and not on a main street. In the end we took advantage of the stamp duty exemption by buying land and building.

So this is where the story starts - Lot 112. The block was fairly flat, had no easement, and we knew that on out northerly east side we would have a single story block as the neighbours had already started building.

We orginally decided to build with a different builder, but after several hesitations we changed. Mainly the layout of the design was not exactly the best use of the land, and we were alterating it a lot... more $$$

When I went through the Eden Brae display home I was impressed. The sales person gave me the options list up front, so I knew exactly what was upgraded. The layout was perfect - 4 bedrooms, space for L, J and me, a linen press and a pantry - both walkins. Best of all the alfresco and laundry were at the back of the design so it would use the block the best.

When J walked through the house - he loved the entry door, high entry ceilings and double door to the master bedroom. He like the bath in the ensuite, and the alfresco area.