Nothing is ever easy.....

So we knew that we had to relocate our crossover, and planned to do this after handover so it stays looking all clean etc. We have spoken to council, got the approval that this will be ok. Went out to the block today and Barwon Water have installed the taps - right in the middle of where the crossover is to go!

Speak to Barwon Water, get on to an approved plumber, who says to move it the distance we need (1.5m) will be about $2000! I nearly died. At this point I can just see the dollar signs racking up....and up....and up......

After some further discussion, marking out where we wanted them and pleading, the plumber agreed to move the taps the distance required for the price of moving them 1m - $350. Bullet Dodged!

So we are all happy, get the taps moved, email it all off to the builder and developer and the next day the developer puts a tree in our nature strip - right where the relocated crossover is going to go!!! Beginning to feel like the forces are against us. Hubby has decided to leave the tree for now, and when we need to move the crossover, we will relocate the tree at the same time.

So you would think that is the end of the drama - you'd be wrong!  We go out today and the nature strip has tyre tracks over a FOOT deep. The block next to us has had their site scrape, and for some stupid reason the excavator has decided to drive OVER our nature strip to access the block instead of using the crossover. Thats fine - but no attempt to fix what they have done - they have just driven off.  I will be contacted Dennis Family Homes on Monday to complain...loudly.

Our Gallery appointment selections

On Monday 27th April we had out Gallery appointment at Simonds in Geelong.  We had the help of an amazing girl, Rebecca, who was able to assist us in bringing together our dream home.  We took in some pictures of bathrooms, kitchens etc that we liked, talked about our budget, and she showed us our options, which were spot on!  We are so happy with what we have chosen and can't wait to see it become a reality when we begin building.

This is our facade selection.  We picked Austral Access Chestnut for our main brick, Praline for our front stack/peirs, woodland grey for our roof and window frames, Blood Diamond for our front door and Fossil for the cladding. Both bricks were an upgrade from Category 1.  The Access Chestnut was Category 2, and the Praline was Category 6. 

Austral Access Chestnut

Austral Praline

Woodland Grey

Our front door (blood diamond) - but each side will have a panel of glass. 

For both the Ensuite and the Main Bathroom we have Ceasaerstone Urban for the benchtops and Laminex Sublime Teak for the cupboards.  The Ensuite is a darker grey tile, and the Bathroom a lighter grey.  Both Bathroom and Ensuite have a window to lighten the room, and a long wall that is not tiled and will be painted the same pale grey as the rest of the house. 

Both the 600x300 tiles and the stone benchtops were an upgrade. 

Ceaserstone Urban Grey (kitchen and bathrooms).  We ended up changing the bathroom, ensuite and powder room to a white stone so that it didn't look all so dark

Laminex Sublime Teak

Main bathroom 600 x 300 tiles to floor and shower. The two paint samples show the wall colour and trim colour. The smaller tiles are the feature ones to go in the niche. 

Close up of the feature tile for the niche in the Main bathroom

Bathroom handles - standard. 

Bath in main bathroom - standard. 

Ensuite. Same Urban benchtop, sublime teak doors, darker grey 600 x 300 tiles to floor and shower and the round paint samples are the wall colour and trim. 

Close up of the feature tile. I love all the texture in it!

Ensuite handles. We have also purchased black towel rail, black toilet roll holder and hand towel holder. 

Standard toilet for bathroom, Ensuite and powder room.  

Sink in bathroom, powder room and Ensuite - an upgrade. 

Shower - standard. We will upgrade this when we move in. This was one area that was expensive to upgrade. 

Bathroom mixer - standard

Bath taps - standard. 

Shower mixer - standard. 

 Undermount sink - upgrade

 Accessories that come with the sink. 

Kitchen mixer - standard. We plan to replace this when we move in. 

Overhead cupboards are in Alaskan Nuance. Bottom cupboards are in a white winyl wrap. No handles on the overhead cupboards. 

Oven - upgrade. 

Back splash is these grey hexagon tiles. They have a slight pattern/swirl through them. Wanted glass splashback or mirror, but had to choose between an extended kitchen island bench that was extra wide, or the backsplash - so I made a tile work!  Hopefully it will look as good as I am picturing in my head!

Carpet - Cat 2 (small upgrade).  We really wanted a lighter grey, but there was no choice for this colour in the lower categories. To get the light grey we would have had to go up to about Cat 5, which would have cost thousands. 

Handles throughout the house - standard. 

Front door lock - standard. 

slider door handle in to the laundry - standard. 

Laundry sink taps - standard. 

Our Land has settled!

On the 28th April 2015 our land finally settled! It is now ours!  Hubby and I were beyond it with excitement - it felt like Christmas as a kid again, yet our poor girls couldn't quite understand the level of excitement! They are just happy they will each have their own rooms again when we finally move in!

I never thought a big block of dirt could make me so happy!