Moved in - Phase 1

I know that this is going to sound like an excuse, but because of commitments and trying to squeeze the unpacking of our stuff into our new house into what has been a hectic time we have had 8 hours sleep in 2 days so am feeling slammed! I never had a chance to take proper photos. By the time I did - we had people pop around for dinner - I had like 3 minutes to quickly snap a few so excuse the quality. This is Phase I - just moved in, nothing is finished yet back at work tomorrow and still a heck of a lot to do!
Good nite!

The hallway -some paintings hung but others we can't until we know exactly where furniture is going.

Carmen's study -awaiting a white gloss cabinet before we hide all wiring and her printer will also disappear. The painting in the background has still to be hung - but needs to be centred on cabinet so will await that.

Again some furniture changes due - bookcases are out of the picture to the right and once supplementary bookcases arrive, I can hang the painting centred to my work desk. Scale difficult to judge from a photo, but the room is a nice size - for term of reference the monitors in the pic are 24 inch ones.

We are very happy the way the kitchen turned out. Excuse the clutter - Carmen was preparing supper.

You can't see it very well in this photo, but the oven is really cool - no buttons :-) Our convection microwave was our existing one and fitted in nicely- only a pity the display is green, and not white like the oven's.

The hob looks better in real life than when we chose on the net. And yes there on the right of the picture is the star of a previous blog - Toaster himself! Have not test driven yet. Will do so this week.

The sink - that is a real flower and I wished it could stay like this, but we are going to have to clutter this picture with a soap dispenser for practical reasons. :-(

Looking out towards the Alfresco - still awaiting timber inserts and the old barbecue which has started to rust will be replaced with a more permanent one.

The dining table set for our first dinner - no lights in the Diningroom - we have the fittings, but need to fit them still - on the list to do asap.

Driveway

Ok surely the internet or this blog has reached a new low when the most exciting pic I can post is of my driveway, but it is finally finished. The aircon covers are on and the fireplace is gyprocced up. The tradies go in on Tuesday and the carpets on Wednesday so on Thursday and Friday we move in. Phase I is the move in. Phase II will take about another 6-8 weeks to get the furniture and other stuff sorted and Phase III when everything is done should be within about 8-12 weeks. We spent the weekend packing, my brother and fam moved into his rental as they prepare to commence building so it was a busy weekend. I will post a full summary pictorial next week of the result of the end of Phase I. And with Thursday and Friday off, that makes it a 3 day week! All good!
Cheers!

Toaster

Ok, so I get excited about well-made stuff - even kitchen appliances :-). Our current toaster is one that we bought about 12 years ago and somewhere along the way, a plastic bread packet brushed up against it in the midst of toasting operations and melted onto the metal side. It didn't affect the performance but old toasty was known to be a little bit temperamental and the bright red birthmark on his side didn't improve his appearance. Anyway he still worked so I couldn't justify getting rid of him. Somebody however just bought us this machine below - I hesitate to use the mere word 'Toaster' for this marvel of modern engineering. I don't know if you are up with the latest technology in these bread crispers, but this surely has to be Toaster - the very definition of what all toasters dream of being:
1. First of all you will notice it has 4 slots - no more jostling for position between Carmen and me.
2. The slots are extra wide and go extra deep to accommodate oversize slices.
3. Do you see the gap between the top of the 'depressers'? that is so that if you have a small slice of bread or a crumpet, you can lift it that extra bit higher so that you don't have to waste time digging around with a knife (which is unsafe not to mention frustrating as your toast gets cold (sacrilege) while you poke around and hack the blasted elusive thing to pieces.)
4. Independent temperature controls for left and right pairs of slots! I know! - awesome, hey? I mean can you believe how civilised that is? Cars have independent left and right climate controls - so why not toasters? Imagine - you and your wife chatting happily, relaxed, sharing a lovely breakfast, no que for the toaster and each one able to perfectly toast slices to their own taste to perfection, side by side without interfering or disturbing the toasting of the other. This has to be, at the very least, part of the secret of a long and happy marriage! Sheer genius! I don't think I am overstating it, am I?
5. A special crumpet button
6. Of course the standard temperature settings as well as a defrost function
7. Personal opinion, but boy she looks good.

As you may have gathered, I hate clutter and appliance clutter on kitchen counters is no different, but I am seriously giving consideration to allowing this technological masterpiece to grace our counter tops...

Showers in and Driveway prepped

Well it looks like I am going to have to have a whine at the builders - they seem to be losing speed towards the end. This week the driveway prepwork was finished, reinforcing laid and the actual concrete will be thrown on Monday. The fencing will also be completed next week. They put the shower frames in and the study floor went in this morning - we have booked the carpets for the 16th so as close to moving in as possible. Apologies for the quality of the pics - I forgot my camera and these are taken with my iphone.

Shower in main bathroom - we went with semi-frameless as opposed to frameless as I have never seen a frameless shower that doesn't leak water. Function here over aesthetics.

Mirrors are in as well and place is beginning to feel more 'finished'.

Ensuite shower - the builder and the shower guys really didn't like my idea of sliding doors as they said it is old-fashioned, but a swing door always drops little bits of water when the doors swing out - frameless or not - which irritates me. In Sydney all bathrooms I have seen are wetrooms with floor drains so even if you get a lot of water on the floor, it doesn't matter, but it makes a mess so I honestly just don't see the point.

Shower door sliders slide from both sides fully open so the tracks at the bottom can be cleaned very easily and there is no place for any soap buildup to occur. No soap dishes or recesses as we have mounted dispensers for shower gel, shampoo, etc.

My study - floor looks really nice in real- life - not a great pic. It is quite textured giving a rustic effect. Cannot wait to give the place a proper clean!

Till next week. Cheers!

Quick pic

No not the lotto - I was on the way back from Wagga Wagga today and popped in at the house - the driveway has been started and the alarm is in - it is a free inclusion on the golf estate. The decking on the patio Alfresco was also done so I took a quick pic with my trusty old Nokia phone so apologies for the quality! Cheers.