Locked out!!!

It was a bittersweet moment when we arrived at the house on the Sunday after our wonderful Valentine's Day - we were LOCKED OUT!!! Yep - front door locked, garage door locked, windows locked, patio doors locked... aaghhh!

Of course this was good as well as bad as this means they're at 'lock-up' stage and there is mainly only internal things to do now but it was not so good for the photo taking!

So just a few photos from that weekend... and a bit blurry as some taken through windows...

Click on pic to see full size and click on link below to see slideshow.

Oh and isn't the little white dog cute?! He had escaped from a house around the corner and was sooo friendly - I wanted to bring him home with us!!



http://s464.photobucket.com/albums/rr7/adamandrosieoz/Locked%20out%20-%20February%2009/?albumview=slideshow

Insulation, electrics, gyprock, ceiling and air-conditioning provisions!!!

The build is charging full steam ahead and although it looked as though not much progress had been made from the outside when we first arrived this Sunday, we were actually very pleasantly surprised when we got inside and found out what had actually occurred during the week...

- Insulation - in most of the walls - looks like padded cells - ha ha!
- Ceilings - in most places
- Electrics - all done
- Air-conditioning provisions - done - lots of silver tubes everywhere - very futuristic
- Gyprock - all over the place and you can now see the outline of the linen cupboard, walk-in wardrobe etc
- Bathrooms - strange green stuff around plug holes etc and holes cut in gyprock for the baths
- Flooring to upstairs balcony - done

Pretty amazing huh?!

It's starting to look and feel more and more like a real home as the weeks go by (as I'm sure I've said before). Now the gyprock and ceiling are nearly done - upstairs, at least - you can gauge the shape of the rooms much more and my favourite part has to be our ensuite bathroom which is looking fab - I love the ragged-edged hole where our spa bath will go!

Hope you enjoy the pics - we thrilled with how it's all coming along.

As always, click the pic below to see a full-size version. For a slideshow of ALL the pics, click on the link UNDERNEATH! Enjoy!!



http://s464.photobucket.com/albums/rr7/adamandrosieoz/Insulation%20and%20gyprock%20-%20Feb%2009/?albumview=slideshow

Back roof on!

As it has been a while since I took this set of pics, I will let them do the talking for this post rather than waffle on for ages...!

They were taken on 1st Feb and, as you can see, some progress has been made with the back roof - all good.

The alarm system has also been installed so at least we'll be safe and dry!

As usual, click on the link AFTER the big pic to see a slideshow...



http://s464.photobucket.com/albums/rr7/adamandrosieoz/Back%20roof%20-%20Feb%2009/?albumview=slideshow

Scaffolding down, back roof frame on!

Again, I've been a bit slack with this blog for a few weeks - it's a bit hectic organising a wedding at the same time don't you know?!

Here are some pics of the house when they took the scaffolding down and put the back roof frame on.

We'd had some rain during the week so although it was glorious weather when we visited on Sat 24th, my foot got a bit muddy - check out the slideshow if you want to see the mess I got into!

Here's a pic of the house as at 24th Jan - click on it to see the full size version - and then following that there's the usual slideshow of all the pics - just click on the link and it will take you to it!



http://s464.photobucket.com/albums/rr7/adamandrosieoz/Scaffold%20down%20back%20roof%20on%20-%20Jan%2009/?albumview=slideshow

Bagged & painted!

After the amazing progress made with the roof in the first week of Jan we really didn't think they'd be able to provide us with any more surprises last week and our suspicions were confirmed when Adam drove over on Tuesday lunchtime to get some practice on his bike and there was no change and no-one on site - not a single tradie to be seen! Our first disappointment of the build...

We weren't even going to bother driving over to have a look on the weekend - we thought they must have been taking a break - but we needed to get some carpet quotations from around the area so we stopped by on Saturday morning and I swear we nearly had a car crash as we came round the corner and the house came into view - IT'S PAINTED!!!

Yep - between Tuesday afternoon and Saturday morning our wonderful, wonderful tradies had bagged and painted nearly the entire house - and my oh my it looks fantastic. They were actually there, working away on Saturday morning so we didn't stop for a look and as we drove away I remembered I had forgotten to bring the camera anyway.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a state of shock - how can they have got so much done so quickly - and we wandered from carpet store to carpet store in the blazing summer heat trying to find a more reasonable quotation for carpet in our beautiful house.

On Sunday I persuaded Adam to drive back out there - he is a saint I tell you - and this time I remembered the camera. And here are the pics!

Hope you enjoy. The green preparation stuff under the paint really freaked me out at first but it seals the bricks and makes sure the paint sticks. Oh and we're really pleased with the colours we've chosen too - the cream colour that the main body of the house is in is really fresh and smart and the mushroom brown/grey which covers the feature balcony and columns in front of the garage looks excellent too!

Apparently they're hoping to get the roof on the back of the house on this week... more pics to follow!



http://s464.photobucket.com/albums/rr7/adamandrosieoz/Bag%20and%20paint%20-%20Jan%2009/?start=20

And then the roof was done!

Well... almost!

As I think I mentioned in my previous post, the builders were due to take a 5-week break over Christmas/New Year although our CSR said there was a possibility they would do some work on our site over this period.

Adam is trying to get as much experience on his new bike as poss so rode out West during Friday lunchtime and got the shock of a lifetime - the roof is almost done!!! Yep - our good old builders have picked up their tools and put in some serious work over the past week or so! Yet again... another pleasing result... seems to good to be true!

I couldn't possibly miss out so we hopped in the car yesterday morning, coffees in tow, and made the usual Saturday trip.

I'll let the pics do the talking rather than keep waffling on. As you can see we 'broke in' and managed to take some pics of the inside as well as the out! Please click the link BELOW the big pic to see the slideshow - I can't seem to make it work this week!!

Who know what they'll have done by next week - but please keep coming back to share this wonderful journey with us!



http://s464.photobucket.com/albums/rr7/adamandrosieoz/Roof%20-%20Part%202%20-%20Jan%2009/?albumview=slideshow

The beginnings of a roof before the Christmas break!

On our last trip to the house-build we took Rob & Heather with us in the hope that we'd be able to show them some more progress and boy we were not disappointed - not only is most of the brickwork completed but now the roof trusses etc are up too!

We were v naughty and 'broke in' to the site and even climbed up to the first floor and checked out how things are coming along up there too. It was so weird to walk around what will be our bedroom and ensuite and it becomes more and more real with each visit.

Unfortunately the builders have a 5-week break over Christmas and are not due to start work again til 20th Jan but we're hoping that they might get bored on their hols and decide to pick up their tools a little sooner.

Lots of pics for you this time - hope you enjoy the slideshow. I'll post again towards the end of Jan unless they take us by surprise!