Sprint to the Finish

We are sprinting to the finish now.  We are all systems go.  We have had the cleaners through for the first clean and the bathrooms and kitchen look amazing.  We have had another brick cleaning company to finish off the outside of the house.  Our fly screens are on and look fabulous.  Our back to base alarm has been installed and is now active - which certainly gives us peace of mind.  Our big news is that the timber flooring started going down today.  It looks amazing.  I love it.  What's left? Timber flooring to be finished off tomorrow morning, carpets going down tomorrow, skirting boards to be put on, cleaner to come back through, driveway to be done (hope for good weather for us) and then obviously stove and hot water system along with air conditioner to be delivered and set up once Phil is staying there.  We are good to go.  We are moving in as a family on the weekend of the 10th December.  We are so thrilled.  We are madly packing and all can't wait to move in.  

There have been some minor hiccups, however Dean is onto them as soon as we bring them to his attention and he gets them rectified asap.  Unbelievably he is even fussier than Phil and picks up most of the things that we mention, before we tell him.  Modernview Homes don't necessarily have a PCI as such, just a handover date.  Handover is expected for Monday 5th December.   

Onto the photos.  Enjoy :)

Looking from the balcony (on a rainy day)

The door to our bedroom from the balcony.  On the left hand side, you can see the aluminium sliding door to the 'quiet lounge room'.

Our ensuite - cleaned and finished.  Looking fabulous too :)

Our shower for the ensuite and our separate toilet.

My dream linen cupboard.  Can't wait to fill this baby up :)

Our kitchen looking from the family room, with all the down lights on.  

Looking through our front door  from the front porch.

Another view of our kitchen and hall way.

Our powder room shower, the edge of the toilet and the edge of the vanity.

Another shot of our powder room.  We are so happy with it.  

Timber floors being laid.  They look fabulous.  This is looking from the front door to the back of the house.  

From the back of the house, looking forward to the front of the house.  

The timber floor in the kitchen in the space where our oven will go.  

Our family room before skirting boards. 

Main bathroom upstairs finished.

Alfresco with the fan and the grass in the foreground, growing like crazy.  Phil will have to mow it again this weekend.

Standing from our pantry door looking out over the kitchen bench and the dining room.  

All lit up

We have been 'turned on'.  Our dream home just keeps getting better and better.  We have lights (and power points and power bills). The lights look fantastic.  Phil and I spent hours trying to decide on the light fixture for our stairs.  Do we go with WOW or do we go with WOW that's practical for what we want.  We went Wow with practical.  The painters have finished inside and out.  The grass is growing so well that Phil had to mow it yesterday.  Painters only finished outside painting today including the staining of our timber finishes.

And now to the photo feast: (some of them were taken on the iphone last night - so are a bit grainy)

The front of our house all lit up for the first time.  This was taken last night before the outdoor painting was completed.  We are so thrilled with how it looks.

This is part of our kitchen splashback before the tiles and bench are cleaned.  The bench isn't really that white.  It's a Caeserstone Shimmer.  We are so stoked with how good it looks.

Our pillar lights.  Phil spent long hours agonising over which lights to put and how to light up the front of the house.  He did an amazing job and his choices look spectacular.

Our front door stained, with our porch lights coming in when they sensed someone was there.  How exciting.

From the edge of the porch.  This porch will eventually be decked with timber.  

Our downlights in our family room.

Looking from our dining room into the alfresco and beyond to the back yard.  Two sides are fenced... one more to go.  We are just waiting for the ok from our builder. You can clearly see our beautiful fence as installed by Michael Jones from Ezy clip fencing.  

Our backyard from our southern neighbours side.  The bare sections along the fence are for the future gardens.  The lawn is Matilda soft leaf buffalo.  We are really pleased with how well it has turned out.

The back of our house from our back yard.  We love the size of our alfresco.  This too will be timber decked... hopefully in time for Christmas ...... 2012. :)

Our entry way from the inside.  One thing we noticed after we started framing was that we didn't have a bulkhead in the  foyer and that our lounge doors were a standard size, yet our front door was 2.4m high.  We changed it so that the doors going into the lounge room are also 2.4m high and we think it looks fantastic.  

Our powder room before the shower screen is installed.  This is the only bathroom that we have tiled to the ceiling.  All other bathrooms have tiling to 1350mm.  (3 x 450mm).  One reason for this - boys.  Need I say more?  Both other showers went to the ceiling.  

Our Wow but practical light.  This has LED lights, so we can leave the LED on overnight and let it give a soft glow in case anyone gets up to go to the bathroom or needs a drink.  This was actually the light that we picked at Sunnyholt Lighting Warehouse months ago and the one we decided to go with.  We found Naomi to be fantastic there.  

A view from the top of the landing of the same light.  These pictures have only got the LED on and not the halogen globes as well. 

Boys' bathroom with their feature tile.  Their niche matches the bath tile.

Boy's Bathroom with feature tile.

Our balcony all tiled and our stainless steel balustrade.  This was another last minute upgrade.  It looks fantastic.

The timber door (before staining) leads to our bedroom whilst the sliding door goes to the communal area.  These are the two entrances onto the balcony.  I can't wait to spend a lazy Sunday morning up here reading the paper and having a beautiful breakfast.  

Our ensuite with all tiles grouted.  This is just waiting for the mirror now for the whole length of that wall.  We are so pleased with our feature tiles.

Our shower.

These are our upgraded drains to all wet areas.  This is the waste drain.  It was about $40 extra per drain, but looks fantastic.  

Our bedroom painted with power points and tv points ready to go.

Our Ezy Clip Fence and gate beautifully installed.  Phil has put down the recycled road base here ready for the weed mat and then pebbles on top.  Phil has worked like a Trojan over at the house recently.  If you're in the area while he is there watering, stop by and say hello.

What's next?
Glad you asked.
This week our wardrobes, pantry and linen cupboard are all getting fitted out.  Hopefully the mirrors and shower screens will be installed either later this week or early next week.  HUGE site clean next week both inside and out.  Fly screens will go on after the windows are cleaned.  Driveway and path to be started late this week to next week.  Flooring going in later this month.  Hopefully shortly after that PCI at the end of this month or very early December.  We are then hoping that the Bank comes to the party fairly quickly and we can get the cheque to Modernview Homes as soon as possible so we can get the keys and move in.  We can't wait to move in and start to live The Ponds lifestyle.

A big Thank you to our amazing builders - the team at Modernview Homes who have pushed for us to get our house finished so quickly.  A special thanks to Dean (our Site Supervisor) who is so patient and considerate allowing us to get the turf down and taken prior to our dogs moving in.

It will be Christmas at our home at The Ponds this year.

I'm in love

In other news,  our painters will hopefully be there to start tomorrow.  We have finally made our final selections with the paint.  We were indecisive about the stain and quite unsure which way to go.  Phil spoke to Ricky, the painter, who gave great advice and recommended that we stain all indoor (or out of the sun) timber in a clear stain to bring out the natural characteristics of the timber in a gloss finish.  Our bottom step will be in a semi gloss finish.  The timber feature posts on the balcony will be done in a UV resistant clear stain to bring out its timber features.  We have opted to upgrade to Taubman's Endure and Modernview Homes were very accommodating with this late change.

Hopefully, our tiler will be back this week to complete the job.  There was a small hiccup with tiles going missing.  DiLorenzo have rectified this promptly and the tilers are expected back this week to complete all tiling.

Our balcony balustrade went in today and looks fantastic.  We will upload a photo tomorrow.

We are still rapt with Modernview Homes and are so pleased with the job they are doing.