DH Home Project # 3 - Ultimo Al Fresco

DH's 3d-3dhan design.



The almost finished Al Fresco. Can't wait to invite friends over to have a cuppa!



Excited to buy this too and a good book to go with it.

DH Home Project # 1 - Shoe rack and MORE...

DH's first major project. Our shoe rack that costs more than all my shoes combined. DH's defense is that it is a shoe rack and "more". More...as in more expensive? =p







But I must admit that for a first project, it is quite impressive. Yeah? =)

Fresh Harvest

What's between our walls and the fence? Well, we are planning for some garden beds, a love bench and a playground. Yeah another major project. Since we still don't have the budget for it, MyPapa scattered some pumpkins seeds on it. He said so that at least something will come out of it sooner than what we are planning. He really do have faith in me and hubs. LOL

This is our pumpkin patch. Planted by father dearest.



Our first harvest.


Add some veggie oil and some eggs.



Tadaaan! Healthy breakie. =)

My SilverPine and BlueBonnet Kitchen

This is my fave part of the house.



The color consultant after recovering from shock asked me 3x during the color selection - "are you sure?" and before they installed it, the cabinet supplier called us 2x to confirm!!! Irritated, on their last call I already asked them "IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY KITCHEN?????" Finally they installed it. LOL

And when the builder saw it during inspection, he said -- "whoah! you're kitchen.... it's colorful, it's unique... been in the business for 30years, this is the first time I saw this." But what I saw in his face is this 'What in the hell were you thinking girl?' hahaha....

DH Home Project # 2 - Our old but new portal.

DH Project #2.
(His project #1 will go with project #3 so I'll just blog about in future posts.)

Hubby was given some old timber from an old establishment that was to be renovated. Exactly the type of wood that we were looking for as we both like the old charm that comes with old used timber. When it arrived, we were so confused as to what to do with it. We thought of making it into a table, a bench, a book shelf, a pathway and as decking for his "ultimo al fresco". Yeah, we had so many plans for those 4 planks of old wood. =P

Then he came up with a brilliant idea...a PORTAL! For less than $70, we now have a unique and sturdy portal. And I love, like, love it!

The details by DH.



Made and crafted by father dearest.


BEFORE:



AFTER:

House to Home. =)

And I'm back to blogging about Emma. Finally.

Been so busy with this and that (holidays and all) that I have totally neglected this blog. Hopefully, I'm back for good.

So, what's up or down in our not-so-new-place...

Well, the kids have settled. And what I meant with that is that trucks has ran over the freshly painted bluish walls, toys are all over the floor and food has already stuck on the carpet. The house is now their "home". But that is what's great about owning your own home, you don't faint when they spill the oh-so-red cranberry juice on the carpet, your heart don't stop when the truck wheels scrape the beautiful paint and you don't shuush them when they want to jump and run and run and jump all over the place. In short, kids can be kids! =)

As for DH (Dear Husband), he is more and more becoming a fan of Bunnings. Bring him there and you can see his eye twinkle and shine like a kid on a candy store. He's been doing bits and pieces of improvements around the house which I will be documenting on my next posts.

And Me?? Well, as I've said above I've been busy. As to what? Well, that's the thing I don't even know for what. =( Anyway, that's not important now. What's important is I'm back and I am here to stay. =)

We've moved!

May 26 was our move in date.

Packing was bad, unpacking was worse! After almost 6months, most of our stuff are still in boxes. And I think they are going to stay there for a very long time. =)

The kids have already painted the walls and scratched the floors, so I think we can officially call this our home now. (Oh well, bankwest said after 29 more years!)

Initial Walk Thru

Bisor called and scheduled our initial walk thru. Yey!
It'll be on Tuesday at 1030am. Hired a professional inspector, cost a bomb.
Actually paying for the peace of mind here. hehe.

Excited! Hope there are no major issues!

Mailbox!

Our mailbox is up!

Shall I redirect our mails now? haha, too excited! :p

Vandals!

@#$@#% Vandals!

Somebody broke our outside lights. When we went to the site the back lights were missing. Then we saw it on the lot beside our house, smashed.

Grrrr!

Oh well, charge to the builder. :p

Feeling blue?

They have already painted the house...and it is in Murmur color.
Yeah, what the heck is a murmur color. Well to put it simply I think that color is what they call sky blue in layman's term. And true enough you could almost feel heaven when you are inside our house. :p

My silverpine and blue bonnet kitchen!

They have installed my blue bonnet and silverpine kitchen.
And I lav et! It looks like a very happy kitchen. =)
If only I could fit my bed in the kitchen so I can sleep there! haha!
Will be posting pictures soon!

Stop it!

Yesterday, supervisor called hubby. To let us know that our issue with the arhitraves is still not resolved. He said that if we are to insist on the architraves, they have to stop on building our house since it get resolves.
What the #@$#$??? Trying to scare us huh? Well, since we ain't gonna be the one who is gonna be fined if the house doesn't get handed over to us by May, hubby told him 'okay, stop if you need to. just call me again if you have already figured out how to solve my architraves.'

duhhh! this builder, i don't know why they can't resolve a simple architrave.

He called hubby and told hubby that he will just put it straight on the wall....again, duhhhh??? Hubby told him, 'ello? nobody does it that way. look, i have sent you a drawing on how to do it, why don't you look at it and let me know what you think.'

So, he called again to ask for a meeting on the site on how he's gonna do it.
We thought that it'll be a struggle with them again, hubby and I are already deciding what are we gonna ask in exchange for the architrave. Haha! Of course, if we had to let it go then we had to have something that will pacify me, right? Anyway, when we got there, defeat was already written in their faces, they just wanted us there to confirm that what they are planning to do is right and acceptable to us. Way to go builder! That's more I like it! Wohhoooo! +2 points for you this time. :p

Frame, Roof and Bricks!

The frame is up. Yup, just after a week when the slab was poured, when we went back to the site, the frame was already up.

Then one more week after, the roof was there! Man, they are fast!

And when we went there yesterday, the bricks are already there ready to be laid up!

But yeah, our problem with the architraves is still not yet resolved. We have already spoken with the supervisor and his manager and still they couldn't come up with a resolution on how to do it. They are refusing to do it. Well, we just have one line to give them.... IT'S IN OUR @$@%#$% CONTRACT!

Oh well, let's see how it goes.

And yeah, I already have plans on what to do with the garden/open space. =)

Initial Meeting with our not so super visor.

We had our initial meeting with our Bisor. It went well except for some minor disagreements. We were left with 3 major things to follow-up.

1. The lighting. We were surprised that they are going to put batt lights when we have a dimmer on the living and dining area. Batt lights and dimmer doesn't go together you see. We were surprised cause it was their sales agent who suggested for us to have dimmer lights, so hubs and i thought that it'll come with downlights. so hubby said,in order to settle that we will just provide the downlights, they just have to put it in the plan and fit it. Bisor said, he can't agree to that because we can't just add something into the plan. So he said that he will just have to remove the dimmer. And I said, 'hep hep, stop it right there.! And I will not agree to that. If you can't add things on the plan, you also can not remove things. My dimmer will stay according to plan.' So he said, he need to ask his electrician if the dimmer can go with the batt lights. Hubby already told him that it doesn't go together. He asked hubby, 'Are you an electrician???' To which hubby replied 'No, I am an Electrical Engineer.' So bisor said, 'Okay, discuss your downlights with the electrician.' =P Dimwit! Trying to be smart!

2. Our beloved architraves. They won't agree in putting up our beloved architraves. As to why, I dunno. They have reasons like the structure was already up, thus it can not accomodate the architrave. I wanted to tell him, 'If you ain't one and half of a nincompoop, why did you put up the structure without giving space for the architraves?' Since it is in our contract, and we have already paid for it, hubby and I are fighting for it. Since he is outnumbered, bisor called in his manager. And arrogant manager told us that they won't be doing it. And so we told him, how can he not do it when it is in our contract. And he was surprised. He looked at the contract. Looked at the price, shook his head in disbelief and asked us why they only charged a small amount for the 4 architraves, I gave him an innocent looking smile and said 'I have no idea.' So he said, he will just refund our money and they won't be doing it. Period. Hubby stood up and told him that that is alright if we agree to that. And as of now, we are not agreeing to it. We want our architraves!!!

So those are the 2 things that we need to settle next time... Hmp!! This builders, they think they can just walk away with everything. Let see how it goes, building just became interesting.

Yey!

Yep, I wanted to see it for myself.
The following day, I went to site just to see the slab with my own two eyes.
And yes it's there...Yey!

What, where, when?

Arrrggh! These what, where, when thingie just doesn't end.
Hubby went to meet Agent S to discuss our architraves. As the builder said they can't do it. ( That is after they have already quoted us and included it on the price.) What the @#$#@4! They couldn't decide on where to put it. Well, we know where to put it, they just don't know how to put it there. It is so frustrating cause we have already discussed this sooo many times.

Anyway, Agent S said since she couldn't understand what we want she would let us talk to the builder directly. Okay then. See how.

Hubby went to site once more as Agent S said that next week the slab will be poured in. And guess what? Yep! When he went there, slab was already in place.



As to when it was poured, we have no idea... nuninuninu...

So it begins....

Got the first billing from the builder.
10% of the total cost for the slab. Ouch.
Dream is fading, reality is starting to sink in.
I am not a home owner, I am a debtor!
And our 25year loan begins.. timer starts now.

Slabbity do, slabbity da!

After receiving the good news that our land was already settled, Agent M called me and told me that our slab will be poured in next friday. or this friday. er next friday.

I was so excited, I didn't understand her. Ahahaha! So I had to text her to confirm. She texted back and said that it will be next Friday. Wohoooo!

Finally!

Our land has been settled yesterday! Finally!!!
After all the hullabaloos of our beloved conveyancer! Grrrr!

Then our agent(M)(who has been so helpful in following up our case) called and informed us that slab will be poured on next Friday. This is to beat the November 11 deadline for the FHOG. Wohoooooo!

Then after so much rejoicing, got an email from agent(S) and she said that one of our change request couldn't be done as it doesn't look right. It took them months to realize this? When that change was already in our contract for ages and included in the pricing? It was part of our initial change and they charged us extra for that, and now they are saying it can not be done. Only after we told them that we need the detailed drawings to see on how they plan to do it. What the @#$@#%!


Arrrgggg... this building process is making me crazy....