Totally WAC!

My sister and I took at trip to the Woolloongabba Antique Centre (WAC) in Brisbane.

To get inspiration, to see what antiques were priced at (for our ebay shopping experiences) etc.

Some really fab stuff there – worth a trip! They even have a café.

The set up is that of individual sellers under the one roof.

Check it out http://www.woolloongabbaantiquecentre.com/






- Posted by Jazz's iPhone

Yuck Grubs

Brett noticed these little suckers in the backyard in a small area.

He rang up Jimboomba Turf as they give a 3 month guarantee against Lawn Grubs with Sir Walter Turf.

They were great came out the next day – the Green Keeper and Rep armed with their lawn grub spray they use which is worth approx. $600.00 (yes) for 500mls! It is their product that the developed. On closer look at the grubs they had tried to eat the turf but were very sick.

The turf dudes were happy about that as this spray stuff they have put a lot of time and money into research and development its working!

Brett said they gave the backyard a spray with their spray – which is good news (those grubs don’t have chance).

It is expected that the grubs have come from a neighbour as they are in a small section towards the back of the property.

Will have to inform those neighbours they have grubs and can they keep them to themselves LOL

Kitchen Woes

You may recall a post The Big Bin Quest…..


We searched high and low for a bin draw that was big enough for us….



The designers advised that it would be better for them to purchase and install the bin that was it comes with the kitchen and less drama for us to install later down the track.


When Brett and I were out on site last week – Brett remarked that he thought that the place for the bin draw looked too small…


I thought well they are the professionals maybe it is right?


We received a call late last week saying that “drafting” had stuffed up the kitchen plans that then cupboard was too small by 7cm!!!!!!


The first option that was suggested was that they find a similar size bin draw – I said…. Yeah Good Luck With That!


Turns out that the space that is there would only accommodate half the size of a bin that would want.


So I said NO!


The next option was to re-do the whole Island Bench – stone top, tiling, pluming, cupboards etc… Which is not ideal! Not to mention time consuming!


Yesterday SS rang up and wanted to know my thoughts on changing the bin draw to the cupboard to the right of the dishwasher (under one side of the sink).


I am open to the idea as long as:

1) it is a bin draw (not cupboard).
2) it is enclosed and not open to the other side of the cupboard.
3) that we get shelves and cupboard door back on where it was originally to go.


I hope this can be sorted out….


I did raise that perhaps the bottom of the sink may be an issue with regards to the internal workings of the bin – I guess we will have to wait and see.


Our build has been so great up until the end of last week with the paving colour issues, paving pattern problem and the bin debacle….

SS and Admin have been good trying to mitigate the situation.

Paver Pattern HELP!!!!!

I just got a phone call from “S” the paver dude asking why we have picked the 45° Stretcher Bond with flat header course pattern?

I asked why?

His response was that the has only laid that pattern ONCE in 16 years and the solders (border) isn’t strong with only being 1 brick wide?

To which I say – well why do Boral have it down as a popular pattern?

He has told me to meet them out onsite to have a look at another one they are doing tomorrow. He says that that the pattern can look too busy and they we should look at either the Basket Weave or 90 degree Herringbone.

He also asked me to look at the one 2 doors down:


I am not a Herringbone Fan – it seems like everyone has Herringbone… I told that I like to be unique – hell I have a black water tank!

The concrete driveway has been poured today.

These are the options we have – would love some feedback....

Any feedback would be great – feeling uneasy about the choice we made…..

Black Tank!

Check it out our black water tank has been installed!

Before Plumbing:

After Plumbing:

Next Stage?

We have heard around the traps that the next stage for Torville Heights Estate may be starting in December 2010 (sub diving etc).

This is our guess as to where it might be!

Nearmap

We have been using http://www.nearmap.com/ to monitor the ariel progress of our sites transformation.

Nearmap seems to be updated more frequently than other web based map sites.

This map was updated on 20 July 2010 – and the roof is half on!

Tiles + Kitchen + Bathrooms + Laundry + 2000 Hits

TILES

Met our Tiler “AD” onsite today – he wanted to show me the shower tiles set out at 45 degree – which apparently is better for water run off etc.

He has also started the some of the tiling in the bathrooms.

I do really love the colour of the tiles!!!!

SURPRISE KITCHEN, BATHROOM AND LAUNDRY

I was very surprised to see the kitchen and laundry cabinets delivered (wasn’t expecting them until Friday).

Can’t wait to see the stone bench tops for the kitchen and bathrooms!

2000+ HITS

Thanks to everyone that is reading the blog we have now passed 2000 hits!

Drop us a line and say hello – don’t be shy!


It would appear that skirting boards, architraves and cornices are complete! All the doors have been hung expect for the garage door which goes in towards the end.

Naked Front Door

Our Corinthian Front Door has been installed – it does look a bit naked at the moment.

Can’t wait to see what it looks like in high gloss black!

That Sweet Render + Plaster

Brett went out to have a look at the house yesterday and we have an almost completely rendered house! Whoo hoo

Not sure on the grey cement colour look LOL - It will be painted in a few weeks!

The house is also now at lock up stage which sucks in a way because of the “goop” that is on the windows (to protect them) it actually means we can’t even see into the house to a “look see”!

The inside of the house has been totally plastered with cornices and skirting to come.

A carpenter has been onsite this week and all kitchen and bathroom measurements have been done for stone bench tops, glass splash back, mirrors, cabinets etc….

Thanks to everyone that is keeping up-to-date with our blog we have hit 1831 hits today!

IKEA PS Cabinet

We have decided on this funky TV Cabinet from Ikea for the TV Area.

We love the “school locker” look – which is going to go well “pop-art” pictures and bold design elements we are using in this area of the house!

Key features:
Lockable doors for safe-keeping of things that you are extra careful of.Cord outlet underneath; keeps all cords in one place.Tall legs make cleaning easy.

Designer: Nicholai Wiig Hansen

Assembled size:
Width: 119 cmDepth: 40 cmHeight: 63 cmMax. load: 60 kg

Care instructions:
Wipe clean with a cloth dampened in a mild cleaner.

Wipe dry with a clean cloth.

RRP $199.00

Termimesh Installed

Our Termimesh has been installed!


Termimesh is a unique physical termite barrier using a simple concept of woven stainless mesh to stop termites entering homes through concealed entry points.

The Termimesh Termite Control Barrier is considered by many to be the most effective of all termite barriers for new homes and has been a trusted name in the construction industry for over 17 years.

WIR Mirror

I have found this STAVE mirror from Ikea (RRP $89.95) for my walk in wardrobe.

Sir Wally

We had Sir Walter at our last house and it worked well.

It doesn’t require a lot of water and has a great green colour.


At this point in time I am not which supplier we will getting it from – keep you posted.

Knock on Wood

Brett and I decided to go with the Urbanstyle PURB4 Corinthian Door http://www.doors.com.au/Product/Show_144.aspx for the house entry.

I just have a thing about glass panels – they look fab but they aren’t for me – so solid it is (and then we can add a peep hole)!

As we are using Colourbond Monument (black) for all of our features and accents of the house we want to have a high gloss black front door!

The strange thing is…. we had to sign a waiver in case something happens to the door because its being painted in a dark colour – fine by us our porch is almost as big as a room so we doubt any sun light is going to damage it!

Window Furnishings

As you can probably tell by now Brett and I aren’t afraid of colour, so when picking out window furnishing we wanted something pretty plain so they other features in the house can do the “talking”!

We loved these roller blinds that are a mocha colour and are rouged (Smart Blinds from Bunnings) – these will bee used in Bedroom 3 & 4 (dark brown blind in the middle).


For the Master Bedroom we picked these damask patterned curtains.


In the lounge room and kitchen area we picked these black block out curtains from Curtain Wonderland. We also picked the Bondi curtain rod (the one on the very bottom).


For the Dining room we picked a light weight stain (shiny) curtain in black (Curtain Wonderland).


TV Area we choose a black roller blind (Spotlight).

Bedroom 2 is having a mocha roller blind (Spotlight).

The two windows at the entry will have black roller blinds (Spotlight).


Both bathrooms will be having white eco-blinds.

Talk about a Monopoly!

Just got off the phone from Telstra regarding new telephone connection to the house.

The fee for a new connection is $299.00, however, what is not really spoken about is the fact that you have to sign up as a Telstra customer for 3 months on one of their phone plans.

If you don’t want to be a Telstra customer you have to $100 for the privilege of leaving!

The lowest plan is $20.60 per month.

I asked why do I need to pay for the privilege of moving away from Telstra, the answer was (after a long wait on hold) apparently it costs Telstra over $2500 per connection and by charging an exit fee of $100 it helps to re-coup the real cost???

If you wondering what the Telstra Term is for exiting early it’s called Temporary Connection Charge.

The Telstra dude told me that I may need to pay Optus a charge to switch from Telstra back to Optus!

So all in all it would appear that Telstra have the monopoly on the market as there are no other service providers have the infrastructure.

* A temporary connection charge applies if your home phone service is connected for three months or less. If you cancel your service within three months, then you will need to pay the $100 difference between the standard and temporary connection charge to correctly reflect your connection type.

Telstra New Connections Information:

http://www.telstra.com.au/movinghome/newhome.cfm
http://www.telstra.com.au/movinghome/docs/building_new_home.pdf

Rug Problem SOLVED!

Had a call from “A” at Deco Rug and he has got his hands on the last striped rug in Australia and it’s on the way up to Brisbane!

Yeeeeessssssss!

We have also ordered in the same techno coloured striped style in a smaller size rug to be put at the door on the way out to the alfresco area!

Pavers

We have gone for 45’ Stretcher Bond with flat header course in Rumba and Birch (Boral).

This is for our driveway and alfresco area.

Lounge Rug Dilemma

I am waiting to hear back from Deco Rugs, but the Esprit Rug we had
our heart set on maybe out of stock in Australia!


We are looking at this rug for an alternative.


I guess we will have to wait and see.