Using Your Points

One thing to remember when you are making all of these house purchases is to redeem your points on your credit card or even on your Fly Buys card.

You may be surprised at how many gift cards you can get for different retailers!

We have cashed ours in for Bunnings Gift Cards!

Feeling The Lock Up

When we visited the house last weekend we are now in full lock up stage with the garage door on!

Looking good!!!!!

We seem to think we have another 4-6 weeks left – coming in earlier than the contracted date if all goes well!

The Block Ep1

Well as previously blogged so happy to see that Channel 9 has come to its senses and made another season of The Block.

I seriously wonder if some of the contestants have ever seen the previous seasons – some really seemed like they didn’t know that is was going to be a complete dump and really bad?

The Pie Warmer brought in by Mark and Duncan totally cracked me up… Also 10 points for the boys doing some market research before starting – good idea!

I also really like Neisha &John – they seem down to earth and ready to give it a real go. Neisha had some great vision and loved that she thought outside the square to get some bargains out of the Trading Post!

Erin and Jake may be the under dogs with little experience of having a trade – but at least they are the first to admit that…. Although perhaps if were going on a reno show I might have thought about doing some DIY courses before starting????

I haven’t decided on Chez and Brenton yet…. Couldn’t believe Chez didn’t think it was her problem that her floor was leaking down into the Mark and Duncan’s Unit – HELLO I think it might be just quietly! Brenton seems like a hard worker!

Good luck to them all – it will be full on!

Looking forward to next weeks room reveals!

Anyways if you missed the show you can view full Eps online at
http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-au&brand=ninemsn&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a6fa89d9-2a00-4f62-9ab7-635ba5653f2d&showPlaylist=true&from=entertainment&fg=channelnine^showtheblock

New Construction Administrator

Well we had some bad news on Tuesday….. Our Construction Administrator “W” has taken a promotion within Plantation Homes….. which means with less than 6 weeks to go we get a new CA……

Congrats to “W” for the promotion – she was great and on top of everything so she will be missed.

Our new CA has rung me today “R” and luckily while “W” was away early on in our construction “R” helped out…. So we aren’t starting new from scratch with everyone.

The Block 2010

Well to say that I am excited that the new series of THE BLOCK is on would be an understatement!

I totally loved the first 2 seasons although all the promo clips I have seen indicates that everyone might be very nicey nicey…. Let’s give that a week and see if the claws come out!


I think watching Mark and Duncan will be a bit of a treat – they are both carpenters so they should be able to build but I can’t wait to so what décor items and elements they use – could be a blokes paradise??

Website http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/theblock/

Get ready for action, drama and plenty of tears and laughter when the hugely successful realty-renovation competition The Block 2010 premieres on Channel Nine on Wednesday, September 22, at 7.30pm.

Hosted by Scott Cam, The Block 2010 introduces four couples who are taking on one of the toughest but potentially most rewarding challenges they will ever face. The couples will move into four identical and near-derelict apartments in the same building, with little more than the clothes they are wearing. http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1070838

Heading to DayDream Island

Brett and I are heading to the Whitsundays for the next couple of days to celebrate my 30th Birthday (on Thursday).

Looking forward to the break!

DayDream Island http://www.daydreamisland.com/ is our Destination via Hamilton Island.

Will update you on the trip and on the house when we get back!

Painting the Town Manhattan and Athena!

Here are some drive by pics of the house – which is starting to get some colour!

Downpipes will be the same colour as the house.

The inside has also been painted in Martini!

Here are some drive by pics of the house – which is starting to get some colour!

You can see our neighbours have cut their block – so things are moving along in the street.

Good News on the Chip

Was informed that the SS had already picked up the issue of the 20mm chip and it will be rectified!

Fingers crossed that it isn’t long to go now.

Bellini Food Processor

Got this great Bellini Food Processor for the kitchen!

The old one I had wasn’t stainless steel and I had it for about 10+ years so I thought it was time to upgrade!

The Right Decision

Do you want to know what were originally looking at?

Mossvale on Manly (Mirvac) http://mossvale.mirvac.com.au/

I had found a 5 year old home that was up for sale in the Mossvale on Manly estate – we went to have a look at it…. It was obviously a ex-rental and needed a massive amount of work inside and out to get it up to scratch.

What struck me as weird was the price they wanted for it – High 5’s even into the 6’s (tell them they are dreaming)!

We left that house dumb founded and went to have a look at the new stages display homes.

We could get a house and land for nearly the same price as the run down rental in the earlier stage.



We loved The 1209 house which was designed for contemporary indoor/outdoor living and entertaining.

http://assets2.mirvacdevelopment.com.au/assets/mydQZkLuxLEOcj2/1209.pdf

With Mirvac houses you can only build on Mirvac Land and we wern't 100% sold on the location.

That is what lead us to Plantation Homes. We like the style, finish and transparency pricing and it didn't matter where the land was located.


I think in the end we made the right choice and we are overall very happy with Plantatin and the process thus far.

A Lick of Paint!

The house has had its first coat of external paint!

The front door has had its first coat of black paint!

Render Over Reaction?

Brett and I visited the house over the weekend and noticed that right at the front of the house there is a about a 20mm chip in the render.

Are we over reacting to think that we will not accept this?

The issue we also face is that they have done the first coat of external paint – so we have no idea if this can be fixed without looking like a patch up job?

Good News

The kitchen cupboards above the fridge were meant to be in Burnished Wood as per the contract so we are getting that fixed up and the bizarre door that opens onto the kitchen cupboards is being switched over for an extra $100.00.

In the scheme of things I am happy with everything; however, I would have thought that if a customer wanted to add a door someone in this whole process of building a house would have thought…… it seems weird that the door opens onto the kitchen cupboards?

It’s a little disappointing that through all the checks of plans in drafting and meetings with interior designers and even the guy that actually hung the door didn’t stop and think – that isn’t going to work on that side?

Anyway good result to be able to get it changed over and it should be done by today.

Gatekeeper

We really like this style of side gate/fence the Horizontal Slat style!

Our 4th Anniversary

Today 4 years ago Brett and I got married in Vanuatu! http://eventthis.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-very-own-destination-island-wedding.html

It’s hard to believe that 4 years has gone by so quick!

So tonight is dinner and a movie (The Killers) and no doubt continual talk of the impending build!

Pipin Hot

Love these cast iron casserole pots..... Not to mention the colour of them!