We have been soil tested!!!

Since I've been on holidays my daily routine has been, get up, meet a friend at the gym, run some errands, drive past the block on the way home. Today I got in the car and thought... Maybe I'll just go straight home, surely nothing has happened there.

Something has happened there!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I was driving up the road I saw some little mounds of dirt and started to get excited as I realised that they were on our block, not the one next door. Who would of thought it would be so exciting. At least this should mean we get a proper tender, very happy and excited. Imagine once we actually have real work starting down there!

A soil test - there were 5 altogether


Another soil test

This is the view looking out from our block

Looking at the block from the other side of the road, you can see the little mounds from the soil tests.

Soil tests are booked

I got an email from my admin on Friday night to say that our soil tests have been booked in so hopefully will see them happen sometime this week. We were down at the block yesterday having a look around and there was someone doing soil tests on about 7 different blocks. I wonder if they are all being built by the same builder... I really hope ours get done this week so that we can have a normal tender, not a provisional.

Our admin also said that the earliest she can get us an appointment for contract signing is May 11th so I have asked if we can just sign them and post them so that all paperwork can be completed by the end of April when we will hopefully get the titles and then we can get started ASAP!!!

Other good news is that we found the perfect curtains for our theatre room at Spotlight so now we will wait for them to have a sale! We also got a Wiltshire cutlery set from Target that was $50 off and has 10 of everything as well as salad servers and other bits and peices. A great find! I threw our old $20 cutlery set out when we moved out so have been keeping an eye out for a sale.

Other good news - I am on holidays!!

Soil Tests in Sight

I called the engineer today who said that they inspection on the estate is tomorrow and then after that we are free to do our soil tests! He also said that he thinks titles may be ready by the end of April, so keep your fingers crossed. Lately I am hearing so many stories of blocks that just keep getting delayed...

I have emailed our admin to let her know that we are ready for the tests and hopefully will hear back soon. Would love to see something happen at the block even if it is just some holes drilled in the ground!

Home Theatre and Survey Pegs

Last night on our way home from a lovely night away in Melbourne on the Friday we stopped at the block in the pitch black and saw that the road was all open and that the poles marking the blocks were back in. We shone the headlights on and had a look and our proper pegs are in so I am hoping this means that soil tests can be done very soon. I am going to give them a call on Monday to find out and then I will be straight onto Henley! I will head back in the daylight at some stage this week and take some more pics.

Today we were running a few errands and looking around, we stopped in at Harvey Norman and ended up with all our home theatre equipment on a 6 month lay-by! The sales guy was great too, we were there for about an hour and a half. It all happened out of nowhere. We got a fantastic price, half of what we were quoted at another place and all we will have to pay for is someone to install it. It's very exiciting and a great feeling to know that something else is out of the way and we can just make payments as we go. A very successful day :)

Land Update

On my way home from the gym tonight I did a quick detour to check the block and it's looking great. I'm hoping that we will be able to get soil tests done soon and then really get the ball rolling.
We will be on the left hand side, it's looking much smoother and less fall.

Looking down the street, there is a round about down there that you can just make out in the pic.

Opposite us is a water catchment/reserve type things which means that no one will ever build across the road which will be nice.

Again, we are on the left, there is one block on the corner by the round about and then us!

Bring on titles!!

Colours completed and tender booked

Today we were off to Cosham again. I must admit I didn't sleep very well last night with everything running through my mind. Was a great morning though. It sure makes a world of difference when you have a consultant who listens and seems to care. She gave us a much better experience and we left feeling really happy and positive. Here are some pics of things we changed and others that we chose. Enjoy!

All of our flooring. Carpet is Ashton Twist - Nightingale. SOOOO soft - Love it. The tile on the right is the bathroom and ensuite and the left is laundry. Also our timber laminate in the middle there.

Our floor colours with our wall colours.

This is the best one that I have of the new laundry colours. The cabinets are the same as before in burnished wood. The bench tops are Jerusalem stone (this is different to the chip I had on the other photo), the wall tile is white gloss and the floor is a darker brown called Chalet Mocha. Very happy with the changes.

This colour will be in the dressing room instead of a dark - dark colour. It's a really nice light charcoal colour.

Beige Royal will be on the other walls and quarter will be on the doors and skirts.

Henna Red will be in the theatre room.

And just a nice one to finish off with. This was the sunset on mum and dad's farm the other night. It was beautiful, my camera didn't do it justice.

Tender is booked for the 20th of April, the day after my b'day! Now we just have to keep busy until then and hope that soil tests can be done before then.

Answers to Questions

I'm really not sure on my wall colour. I want something that's darker than a white, with a beigey type tone. I really need help here and I'm hoping that they will be able to make suggestions for me next week. Please let me know if you have any ideas!! It's Dulux btw.
I have gone back to my original colour of beige royal full strength and kept the quarter strength for the doors and skirts. The girl really liked it with our other choices and it shows that you should always follow your gut!!
Are my stained doors (front, both laundry doors and dressing) stained on both sides or are the external doors only stained on the outside?
Not sure if they were before, there was a little bit of confusion, but they will be now as she put a note on the end of our selection document.
I need to double check my handles and the way they will be positioned on the kitchen drawers and vanity drawers if they are going to be horizontal.
Yes, they will.
I was going to query about making the toilet/ensuite/bathroom windows obscure/translucent but have decided to do this just with the loo and leave the bathroom and ensuite (thanks Fel!). As the ensuite looks out to the front, I will always have my shutters closed when I am showering or what not and this way they will look uniform across the front.
Our ensuite W.C window is now a translucent type of glass.
Is the bath square or round? (some of these questions are probably eye rollers!)
Square! I also really want to add the bath to the ensuite, so I think I will ask our admin to add it and then if we go over budget at tender we can always take it out.
How will the tiles be laid in the shower and around the bath as they are brick shaped but I don't want them laid like bricks, I would like them to be stacked.
They will be stacked.
Add a privacy lock to the main W.C.
Done.
Change the laundry tiles, this has been a main concern ever since we left Cosham last time as we sort of rushed into it and just agreed with something for the sake of it I think. So I am looking forward to making this change.
We are really happy with the changes made and I will post some pics in my next post.
Query laundry bench tops as I have written down Jerusalem Stone but my sample chip is Petra Stone?? Hmm.
We looked at both samples today and definitely liked the Jerusalem Stone which was what we had written down but not the one in my picture.
Check out what the fly wire door is going to be like on the laundry, is it mesh or those cross type things?? (another eye roller!)
It is just a mesh and we aren't sure about it now either as it is going to be a glass door and this may detract from the look. Something to think about before tender.
Are the fly screens lockable?
Thank you Erin for already answering this one for us :)
What is the difference between translucent and obscure glass?
She did show us two different examples of what we could choose from for the toilet window and we went with the one that looks like the translucent that we are having on the front door.
There is something I need to query about the front door handle but I can't understand what I have written down here, so will have to go and check that out!
I still couldn't figure this out - who knows what I was thinking!
What are the doors and handles on the butlers pantry?
They will be the same as our other standard doors and door handles.
Does tiled skirting need to be in the contract, or is it and I am blind?
Yes I am blind, it comes standard.
Smart wiring packages (this may have to wait until tender)
Tender
Can they do phone points? (again may have to wait until tender)
Again, big thanks to Erin!
Where is the fuse box, if they know? I can't seem to see it on the plan. (Again may just be me!)
Tender
Carpets - look at the new range and pick one!
Love the carpet we chose, so soft and a great colour.
They also have new timber laminate so will check that out too.
It was a little nicer and shiny but with a higher price tag so we stuck to our original.

Thanks Annie and Erin for helping me out before the appointment too, muchly appreciated.

Questions and Queries

Since we are back at Cosham next week I have started my list of things that I need to query or question, or just find out about full stop! I thought I might list them here so that I can see how I go next week and hopefully will have them all answered. I am quite nervous about colours this time as it was not what I expected at all last time, but we will see!

• I'm really not sure on my wall colour. I want something that's darker than a white, with a beigey type tone. I really need help here and I'm hoping that they will be able to make suggestions for me next week. Please let me know if you have any ideas!! It's Dulux btw.
• Are my stained doors (front, both laundry doors and dressing) stained on both sides or are the external doors only stained on the outside?
• I need to double check my handles and the way they will be positioned on the kitchen drawers and vainity drawers if they are going to be horizontal.
• I was going to query about making the toilet/ensuite/bathroom windows obscure/translucent but have decided to do this just with the loo and leave the bathroom and ensuite (thanks Fel!). As the ensuite looks out to the front, I will always have my shutters closed when I am showering or what not and this way they will look uniform across the front.
• Is the bath square or round? (some of these questions are probably eye rollers!)
• How will the tiles be layed in the shower and around the bath as they are brick shaped but I don't want them layed like bricks, I would like them to be stacked.
• Add a privacy lock to the main W.C.
• Change the laundry tiles, this has been a main concern ever since we left Cosham last time as we sort of rushed into it and just agreed with something for the sake of it I think. So I am looking forward to making this change.
• Query laundry benchtops as I have written down Jerusalem Stone but my sample chip is Petra Stone?? Hmm.
• Check out what the flywire door is going to be like on the laundry, is it mesh or those cross type things?? (another eye roller!)
• Are the flyscreens lockable?
• What is the difference between tranlucent and obscure glass?
• There is something I need to query about the front door handle but I can't understand what I have written down here, so will have to go and check that out!
• What are the doors and handles on the butlers pantry?
• Does tiled skirting need to be in the contract, or is it and I am blind?
• Smart wiring packages (this may have to wait until tender)
• Can they do phone points? (again may have to wait until tender)
• Where is the fuse box, if they know? I can't seem to see it on the plan. (Again may just be me!)
• Carpets - look at the new range and pick one!
• They also have new timber laminate so will check that out too.

At the moment that is all that I can think of and def won't be a whole three hour appointment required. I'm sure Kris can add to that list too!

Stay tuned for answers this time next week :)

Visualising

I had great fun this evening playing around on a website that allows you to put in your colours and see them together which I think is great. Of course it's not 100% what we will have but I thought I would share what I put together as it gives a bit of an idea.

Facade -

Kitchen -

Bathroom -

Living -

Most of them are actuslly very similar layouts to what we will be having. Bit of fun for a rainy afternoon anyway!!

Just waiting...

Not much to report but I want to post something!! The block seems to be coming along well, the footpaths are in on one side and it looked like the ones on our side are ready to be poured, this was on Monday night. I called our engineer on Friday to ask how it was coming along as Henley will do our soil tests as soon as the construction is finished and they are now saying the end of March. They previously told me end of February so that's a bit of a bugger. The guy still thought that we would have titles by the end of April though so that's ok. Will just have to wait and see.

We have another colour appointment booked for the 14th of March and I am actually quite nervous after our last one. I have my list so I will just go through that and hopefully will be a little smoother than last time. Once we have done that, we can do a provisional tender 10 days later to find out the prices of everything other than site costs. This means that once we have the site costs, we will be able to send everything off as soon as the land settles, so should speed things up a bit. Fingers crossed anyways!

I'm thinking we will go and check out a few more Henley displays this weekend before we go back to Cosham. See how we go :)