Warm versus cool

A word of warning for those yet to go through their HSI appointment (electricals) with Eden Brae - if you have a preference for colour of your glow, make sure you state it even if you aren't asked about it. The HSI appointment can be daunting especially if your upgrade list is long. So many decisions are made that can be the make or break for a room or the way a house functions. I was not asked what colour I would like my 100 (yes, 100) downlights. I remember walking into my house when the electricals were done and thinking oh, NO! The cool fluro look was not what I was wanting to achieve. Rough calculations showed me that I was looking at about $2K to change them over - um, no, not in a hurry! I left that issue in the too hard basket.
Fast forward to yesterdays electrical maintenance visit. Apart from waiting at the house in the morning as I was told that they would be there then, the guys were fantastic. A real credit to their company, Quiklec. Pleasant, clean, efficient, accommodating, nothing was an issue even though some of the work was a little more difficult than they first thought (possibly due to work not being done correctly earlier). AJ from re-do my space hung out with me for the 3 hours they were there to ensure the lights were place correctly. She subtly asked one of the guys if there was anything we could do about the LED downlights given we were not given a choice and hence the default option was installed. Chris seemed to think that replacing them was not going to be a major issue as we had not moved in yet and used them much at all. We crafted an email to the company and I received a call today that Quiklec would replace them for me. Oh my! I am ecstatic and so is AJ. For my home, it will be a much nicer tone and it will now be the same as the lamps that we have bought. Thankyou Quiklec for your customer service.

We also experienced a plumbing issue today. The powder room toilet won't flush and the water keeps running. Eden Brae have sent a plumber out early tomorrow to investigate for me and to look at a possible leak in the rainwater tank piping.

Lovely Lucinda ;-)

And a BIG public shoutout to my closest of friends, Lu. She has been there through the ins and outs of the build from dreaming days to now near completion. She has listened, given time when she has no time (unless it is 2am!), offered advice, helped me to maintain the vision when things seemed too hard, helped Brad to see the vision that I have for the home and when I have been feeling flat, she has been my 'RA-RA' girl, my personal fan club. Her oohhs and aaahhs have been sweet music to my ears. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Lu. Here's to many a champagne or good red on the alfresco.

Landscaping BEFORE photos

Last week, on one bushfirey evening I took some 'before' photos of the outside of the house. Landscaping started in earnest this week seeing lots of activity around the perimeter. Today proved rather challenging with the afternoon wind storm. I suspect our neighbours might find dust covering every aspect of their blocks of land.
Progress photos to come soon....

A log of some minor issues that I have found so far

Continuing on from my aim to keep this as a log of the good and the not-so-good, I thought I would post photos of some things I have found so far that I would like to bring up at our 13 week maintenance inspection. These are issues that should have been picked up at PCI but weren't or have occurred since then.

Some more of furnishings

I am risking upsetting my friend, AJ from re-do my space, by giving you all a sneak peek at some of the goodies but I am just a little excited by them. Just loving how it will all come together.

Candle display for a coffee table

Kitchen pendant lights

Very 'me' in colours!

Coffee table and some of the cushions

Side tables (I think)

Just a little fun unpacking homewares

...with my loveliest Lucinda!

I have decided to use an Aussie Skip Bag again as there is so much rubbish from the few things we have unloaded. I have organised for delivery of our Domayne furniture on Monday next week (2 lounges, armchair and a bed)
I really don't know how people do this AND paid work at the same time. Yesterday I had to drive to St Leonards to collect our pendant lights; tomorrow we have yet another bank valuation; Friday is a meeting with New Fidelity for media requirements; Monday is furniture delivery; Wednesday is the electrician and we haven't heard from the plumber yet or organised the delivery of other furniture. Just a little glad I said NO to work for the rest of the year.

Thankyou Eden Brae....

...for a quality home and delivered about 2 months short of contract time! So excited to take possession of the house 2 years after purchasing the block of land with a house on it.
Today went like this - I met Troy at 8am to walk through checking that the items on the PCI list were attended to. Not all of them had been but they were noted to be done in the next few days. We found a few other minor items that have immediately been put on my maintenance list. We finished at 10am with lots of chat ;-) I headed over to Eden Brae office for a 1pm appointment with Rania....and Bev...and Shirley....and Sonia! Lots more chat, signed many documents, took the keys, a folder of bedtime reading and a beautiful bath towel set. I have been asked many times if I would 'do it again'. The answer is YES if I had my super team of Rania, Bev & Troy!

Off for a celebratory dinner on the floor of our new home now...

Love this!

I found this on the WWW last week and I would love to incorporate this into our new home. We need to work out where and how it would look. I have a lovely friend, Jayne, who would be able to make it up in a particular colour scheme for me. I need our children to know this and believe this with all their hearts and even more as the teenage years approach!

Bank cheque

I am the amazed holder of a CBA bank cheque. This is our final payment to Eden Brae and gets handed over to them on a visit to the office next Monday when we pick up the keys. Fortunately the last payment was much easier than the very first payment - probably the most stressful time of the build. We sent off the invoice, a valuer came to the property, we picked up the bank cheque....ready for Monday. As a word of warning, some banks require other documentation (proof of insurance, interim occupancy certificate etc) but CBA only required the valuation.

Today was the final electrical fitoff - outside lights, appliances, aircon unit/control panel, doorbell, hot water service. They were still hard at work at 5pm when I turned up for some photos. I was able to get a riveting photo of the aircon & gas hot water service ;-)

 

I received a call today from Troy informing me that Baumatic (supplier of appliances) are going through some financial difficulties at the moment and therefore there are some issues with supply. The incorrect oven was delivered today (to be rectified) but our dishwasher could not be supplied. Troy offered us a Venini dishwasher which we accepted to get us over the line for Monday. From what I hear Baumatic and Venini are pretty much as bad as each other!
Tomorrow will see the cleaners come through again for a final clean before settlement and Friday, the site will be cleaned ready for the big day on Monday.

Photos from today

My birthday shopping spree

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent the day in a lovely way after a PT session and classroom help for Kindergarten - I went shopping with AJ from redo my space!! I decided to spend my birthday money (and more) on bedroom and bathroom items. We bought towels for the children, toilet brush holders, soap pumps and bed linen for our new King size bed. Oh, we managed to find bedside lamps too!

New bedroom furnishings

Flurry of activity

As I drove past this morning on my way to my favourite cafe to grab a coffee (Curl the Whisker), I was amazed at the scene. Two utes for Outback Landscaping & 3 for Abbey Blinds. Outback are fixing the council footpath out the front that had been mutilated! Pedestrians were a little put out on the way to school and cars found it hard to navigate when there were 2 in opposite directions. Oh well! It will all be over soon...until the house 2 doors down is knocked down, land subdivided and 2 houses rebuilt!

We have a date...

....with Eden Brae Homes to make our final payment and collect our keys.

MONDAY OCTOBER 21 in the morning

A little disappointed that it couldn't be Friday afternoon to give us the weekend to 'play' in it. It probably comes down to availability to meet onsite too.

The last week has been full steam ahead with PCI, purchasing decorating items, loan settlement, insurances, tying up loose ends and creating other loose ends, on top of being sick and looking after other sick family members. A few more dates have been booked in to the schedule  - Shutter/blinds installation October 15 and appliance installation on October 16.

I received an email this morning from EBH informing me that our cooker is out of stock but that they are happy to offer us an upgrade. A Google search revealed nothing on this upgraded cooker so I rang Baumatic in VIC just to ensure we were getting at least a similar product. This cooker has extra capacity and triple rather than double glazed door. I approved the upgrade!

The private certifier has completed his inspection for the occupancy certificates. We have some items that need to be completed

 FOR INTERIM OCCUPATION CERTIFICATE
 1.       Provide a copy of the engineers certificate for glass balustrades confirming that the design complies with AS1170.1 & AS1288-2005
2.       Submit compliance certificates
3.       Site Cleanup
 FOR FINAL OCCUPATION CERTIFICATE

 1.       Comply with condition 23 with reference to retaining walls
2.       Comply with condition 21 with reference to vehicular crossing
3.       Comply with condition 20 with reference to driveway installation
4.       Repair/Reinstate damaged footpath 

None of these items seem to be an issue so the certificates should be fairly easy to access.

HnK Ryan has completed their re-inspection which marries up fairly nicely with our PCI inspection report. Troy has indicated that most items identified by the independent inspectors will be fixed anyway but I will use this report as the basis for our 90 day maintenance inspection.

PCI completed

Today seemed to go remarkably smoothly despite feeling under the weather with a virus. I had spent the previous 24 hours in bed. I went armed with checklists for each & every room, a torch, charger to test power points, cloth to wipe surfaces, the contract, variation sheets etc and of course, I used none of it! Troy was so thorough in his checking of the work. Most of the work to be done is paint/plaster work. Tyrrells and Howard Ryan are both re-inspecting tomorrow. All items noted, together with the items of the independent inspectors will be rectified prior to settlement. At this stage, it should be by the end of next week (7-8 working days). It will be a great way to end my birthday week.

Kids study

Media

Laundry cupboard where they have fixed up shelving

2 VERY happy girls

A fuzzy powder room vanity

Laundry

Adults study

My lovely linen cupboard

Bedroom 1

Another angle - the walls look green?

Ensuite bathroom

Main bath

Main bath

Main bath

Main bath

Fuzzy upper hallway