Photos!

Main bathroom








Family room - looking across to our MASSIVE tele!!!!!











Dining area










Master Bedroom











Kitchen

Well it's been bedlam around here for the past week but we are slowly getting there! Not as quickly as we would like, but with Dave working full time and me chasing after the wee ones, unfortunately it's going to take a bit of time until we get it looking the way we want! Nevermind, we have loads of time!!!!! So here's some pics of the action so far!

xMel

We're in!!!!!

No pics yet though, 'cause the place looks like a bomb's hit!!!!! We are slowly getting through all the boxes but it is taking time because I only have small windows of opportunity when I'm not feeding or tending to the baby, Kobe or myself!

We moved in on Saturday, with the help of my dad, brothers and dad and mum-in-law. My Mum had all the grandkids!!!! My sisters-in-law came to help unpack boxes and one of them, Tracey, put on all our door stops and put up all our curtain rods and curtains. I must say I'm pretty excited that we've got curtains straightaway this time; it certainly didn't happen last time!!!!

We have also had to clean up the rental property we were living in, so we have been being pulled in two directions - hanging out to 'nest' here but knowing we have to get the other place back to its former glory. Thankfully Dave has done most of the work and we handed the keys back today, so there closes another chapter in the lives of the Marshalls!

So now we will just concentrate on settling in and setting everything up the way we want. I will take pics as the rooms become presentable!!!! We have a huge job ahead of us with the outside; we will be going for years me thinks!

So it took Rawdon Hill just under 6 months to build our Mansion and we are absolutely rapt with it! The quality of everything is fabulous and we are yet to find any faults (and hopefully won't)! We love our new house and look forward to enjoying it for many years to come!

xMel

Oohhh Yehhhhhh!

How beautiful is my portico???!!!!!!!! Celebratory pics of the house taken just minutes before HANDOVER!!!!!! YES!!!!! We have had handover!!!! So very excited and we are all set to move in tomorrow, along with, unfortunately, the rain I think! Nevermind!

So that's the end of the building of the Marshall Mansion! Next comes the 'beautifying' of it!, which will take time and money, none of which we have at the moment!!!!!!!


I will keep posting as we go!

xMadmel

Latest update!!

Well it's coming right down to the wire! Finally had our walk-through this morning. Our supervisor was great and picked up things we wouldn't have :) Very minor stuff; mainly paint scuffs etc. By late this afternoon, all these issues had been fixed :) Gotta be happy with that! The valuer from the Bank came (forgot about him and how we need him before they'll give us the money!), and by all accounts, and every finger and toe crossed, we should have the cheque in our hot little hands by tomorrow lunchtime. Handover will occur after that and then we move in on Saturday!!!!! Well, that is how it is meant to happen, and my god, I hope it does!

In hindsight, we should have allowed more time for the "behind-the-scenes" stuff but ah well, we can put that down as something we have learnt for next time! Because I reckon we will do it again one day; we've had a ball this time round and are so happy with our new Marshall Mansion!

So what else? The appliances are booked to go in tomorrow, as are the flyscreens and....da, da, da - our portico was painted today!!!! And I must say, it bloody well rocks!!!!! Can't believe I forgot to take a photo to put on here!!!! Will have to do it tomorrow! I was so worried about the colour I'd chosen but let's just say - you know the Colourbond Roof ad where the man is standing outside in his underwear admiring his roof??! That was me today admiring my portico! But not in my underwear of course!!!!! It looks SO ace and I am massively happy with it!

But still no red kettle :( I am trying to remain calm! I must have my red kettle! (See previous post if you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about!)

Anyway! Off to bed and hoping against hope that all falls into place tomorrow! And that the rain doesn't fall on the weekend like it did the last one! Now that would suck!

xMadmel

Just some random pics!

Our Spiderman boys!










Our sweet Lexi Rose who is now 10 weeks old and weighs 8pd 90z!












A dodgy shot of our carpet!

Are we in this weekend????!

No we're not! Luckily for us, our real estate agent has let us stay an extra week. God forbid if we haven't had handover by then! Unfortunately things haven't moved as quickly as expected. Carpet was put in yesterday and looks great (through the windows!!!!). The downpipes have been connected. Cleaning was done early in the week but will be done again next week. Portico still not painted but the weather is a bit unreliable at the moment! We are hoping to have our "walk through" either tomorrow or Monday, with handover following not far behind. We have had an "issue" crop up that needs to be rectified, which I won't discuss on here, but hopefully it can be fixed quickly and won't affect our handover or move-in date.

So really all we are waiting on are the painting of the portico, appliances to be put in, including the ducted heating and hot water units, another clean and a Certificate of Occupancy!!!!

Fingers crossed everybody!!!!!

xMel

P.S. My red kettle has already bloody died....:( So very sad and they have no more in stock and don't know if they will be getting any more.....:( So I have told them I will wait a while just in case, so I am currently boiling water on my stove every day!!! Worth the pain if it means I get my red kettle in the end! Note to self: Do not throw away old kettle if it is not broken!! (Or is that called hoarding?!!!!!)

Short and sweet! Today we discovered the shower screens, mirrors and the kitchen tiling has been re-done and looks great!

xMel

Move-in date???!

Dave spoke to our SS yesterday about what things were left to do and to get more of an idea of when we will be moving in. Saturday, November 22nd appears to be the lucky date at this stage, but that's not in writing, so we still don't really know!!!!

The dodgy kitchen tiles have been ripped off ready to be done again. The electrician has been back and put in the power points that are to go on that wall. The shower screens are being put in as I type!

Carpet has been booked to go in this week. Hmmm, what else? The plumber needs to come back and connect all the down pipes? Gas needs to be connected? Appliances need to be put in, but I think that gets done closer to when we move in. Oh and portico still needs to be painted.

SS said we will have "walk-through" sometime next week. And the cleaner will be there either this week or next! I cannot wait to move into a beautiful brand new, clean house! What a treat!

So that's about it for today!

xxMel

Portico!

Here's our rendered portico! As yet unpainted but very exciting all the same!

Also noticed that the cornices have been done and painted in the alfresco so that's all finished now too!

xMel

Look at our beautiful garage door!!!!

It's really sad to be so in love with a garage door, isn't it??!!!! But I'm having a bit of a love-fest at the moment - I am having the same relationship with the new toaster, kettle and microwave I bought - they are all bright red and black! Will look ACE in the new kitchen!!!!

The painter was at the house on Saturday! He painted the lintels above the garage, in the alfresco, under the eaves of the portico and the small section above the front door. I also noticed a bit of dodgy painting on the front door, so will need to speak to the SS about that. Also noted that all the chrome door furniture is on! Looks unreal!

Drove past today to see the heating vents getting put in! Yey! We'd forgotten about those! So as far as we can tell, all that needs doing now is replacement of the kitchen tiles, sparky to come back and do the powerpoints that go in those tiles, shower screens, carpets, cornices in the alfresco, render and painting of the portico and a good clean! Could that really be it? Doesn't seem much at all!

xMel

Odds and ends!

Very noice!!!! More external plastering has been done. Lintels?? (not sure if that is what they are called!) have been done in the garage, around the portico and the alfresco. I love our portico!

Two lots of steps got built in the garage. The garage door is in!! But it's up and I'm dying to see what it looks like down and over the past two days, a little digger has been scooting around, moving dirt and generally cleaning the place up!

Shower screens have been ordered, as have the replacement tiles for the kitchen. Taps have also been installed.

So things are definitely moving along!!! We gave notice to our landlord this week, so it HAS to be ready in four weeks now!!! God let's hope it is or we'll be lobbing on Mum's doorstep!!!!!

xMel

Loos and lights!

Well today brought the sparky and the plumber! I'm sure there are things that got done I didn't notice, but now the toilets are in, as well as all the downlights, power points and switches!

I've also finally measured the windows, so now I can order our blinds! Better late than never; the speed of the building caught us off guard - not that we're complaining!

xMel

Well hello Mr Site Supervisor!!!!!

We met our Site Supervisor for the first time today! Very nice bloke! The main purpose of our meeting was to discuss the kitchen wall tiles - the tiler was concerned they were from different batches - the 'whites' were different. And were they? "Ah, yes"! So they will be coming down and replaced with new ones! Kitchen cupboard handles will also be re-aligned.

Here's the bathroom with pic of the bath and the shower. Colours and border tiles are the same in the ensuite.

We discussed rough timings for the remainder of stuff to be done - estimated time of move-in date - 3-4 weeks!! Looks like we could be giving notice to our landlord very, very soon!!!!

We also confirmed our choice of render colour - we are going the Colorbond Manor Red!!! Yee haa!!!! Cross your fingers everyone!!!!!! God I hope it doesn't look crap!!!!!!

xMel

More tiles!

Kitchen tiles are stuck on and awaiting grout....!

Floor tiles are all stuck on and being grouted as we speak!

I actually went in and spoke to the tiler this morning, to ask him a few questions about sealing the tiles and what to use etc. We didn't do it with our last house - big mistake! He said there wasn't much point sealing the floor tiles because the grout is dark and a stain resistant one too, but highly recommended doing all the

bathroom wall and kitchen tiles because of the white grout. Good-oh!

Also there was our bricky - a really nice bloke - who had come back to brick the pier? in the alfresco! And that's all bricks done!

So the tiling should be finished today - what comes next?! Time will tell!

xMel

Tiles!

Tiles are being laid!!!!! Not a great shot but the best I could do - through the front door!!!!!

Looking good (I think!) - hard to tell until the grout is in and they've been cleaned!

The tiler called me this afternoon and talked to me about the grout and said they would be finished tomorrow! Fantastic! Lovin' it!

xMel

This and that!

Our funky front door!

So what's been going on??!!! Dave spoke to our SS on Friday, who told us we would be looking at moving in in the next 4-6 weeks!!! Very exciting news; but not in writing, so needless to say, we won't break out the champagne just yet!!!!!

The painters have been going great guns and have pretty much finished aside from some small bits they can't do because of some small things the plasterers haven't finished!



Our garage - all painted!


And on the floor of our bedroom, big piles of......TILES!!!!!! I must say it's a huge anti-climax not being able to walk through the house and take pics anymore :( Just not the same through the windows.

xMel

Painting!

Here's our painter!!!!! Working hard when I dropped past this arvo! I couldn't resist ducking my head around, because as I drove up, I saw that all the front windows were covered, and I thought, "That can only be a good thing!"!!! They were just finishing the ceiling and the first coat was on the walls. How exciting!!! I didn't go inside because I didn't want to annoy them, so can't wait to go up on the weekend and have a squiz through the windows!


And here's a pic of our groovy front door! Can't wait to see it in the right colour! Looking good!

xMel

Doors, architraves and ......?!

All sorts of little bits and pieces have been going on, unfortunately no pics 'cause we can't get in!

From what we can see through windows, all the doors have been hung and architraves done.

Fit-out of the wardrobes/cupboards are mostly finished.

The doors in the garage (through to laundry and study) have been fixed.

Plaster work in master bedroom has been finished (there was an issue with our power pole).

Plaster nearly finished in garage.

Which brings us up to today. I drove past this morning and there was a van parked out the front with a Bristol sticker on it. "Isn't that paint?" I said to myself. Rang Dave, just a tad excited. He suggested I go inside and have a chat and find out! Now that's big stuff to us, because until now, we haven't spoken to a single tradie on site because we don't want to get in the way! But now that we can't get in.....! So in I went and had a lovely chat with.....the painter!!!!!! Yee haa!!!!! How insane is that?!!!! Unreal! He was prepping, getting ready to start! Let's hope the colours I've picked are ok.....freaking out about that a bit because of the colour muck-up with the kitchen......

So there you go! Don't know what's next; we love the surprise of turning up and trying to work out what's been done! There's always something! Getting down to the pointy end now I think!

I've also made an executive decision to go with the 'Manor Red' render colour - fingers crossed it's not a decision that comes back to bite me on the bum!

Oh and our groovy front door is now on; albeit in that lovely aqua colour!!!!

xMel

Bricks are finished! They look fabulous if I do say so myself! I love the pillars at the front - now just have to decide what colour render to do - should we be practical and safe or take a risk?! The garage and front doors will be Woodland Grey. My "high risk" colour choice is "Colorbond Manor Red". Practical safe choice would probably be similar to the colour of the mortar - sandyish, I think! Might hop onto the HomeOne forums and ask for opinions!

Anyway, the carpenter was there today hanging all the doors (from what I could see - we are now officially locked up!).

Our sweet babe is three weeks old today and she is just gorgeous! Such an easy girl at the moment! Fingers crossed she stays this way!

xMel

I've been slack!....

Yep. Slack. No pics but I can tell you that the whole house is now bricked and the brickie was there today doing all the window sills, so it might even have been his last day today! I will take some pics tomorrow!

xMel

Front finished, apart from under the windows! I love it! I'd say they're about just over half way through with the bricks. I must say I'm having withdrawal symptoms not being able to drive past every day!

And I'm afraid I will be boring you with baby photos for quite a while to come! Note the new headband that Granny just couldn't resist!!!


xMel

More bricks!

The front

Down the road side

Our sweet cherub pie!

A great effort from the brickies this week! Looking fabulous!

xMel

Back to the house stuff!

The brickies have started!!!! The colours in the bricks are great - even better than what I expected (from memory they look quite different from the display!!) Very happy indeedy! Pics are of down the left-hand side and the front (complete with 'Spiderman'!).

Little Chick is one week old today - god it's going too quick already :( and she's just had her first bath at home! Slept through the whole thing! She is a divine creature!!!!!

xMel

Little Chick has hatched early!!!!!!!

A whole week without a post - very unlike me - but there is a very good reason why - and here she is!!!!! Meet Lexi Rose Dianne Marshall - born Wednesday, 10th September at 9.20am - 4 weeks early - 5 pd 9oz. No idea why she came early; my waters broke at 4.30am that morning; I guess she was just ready to come! She spent three days in the Special Care Nursery, just because she was little, early, and couldn't regulate her temperature properly, but good as gold otherwise. We came home yesterday and have been nesting ever since - we weren't quite ready for her!!!! Daddy is proud as punch, biggest brother Jett is absolutely besotted with her and Kobe - well let's just say we will be keeping a very close eye on him when he's around his sister! Hopefully things will settle down over the next few months as we get used to having her around! As you can see, she's not the most photogenic baby in the world - and this is the best picture so far!!!!! Thankfully she is actually a lot prettier in real life - or could that be the mother in me coming out?! So there you go - pretty exciting news huh?!

House-wise, well, I couldn't really tell you what's been going on! I know the brickies weren't there last week but all the internal doors had been delivered. My little birdie told me that she saw brickies there this morning, so I have told Dave to go past on his way from picking Jett up from school, so I may post later or I may not!!!!

xMel

Brick preparation....

There was a little bobcat going busily along this morning! On arriving this afternoon, we found more piles of sand and sawdust had been put all along the front and side of the house. Lots of pallets of bricks had also been put around the house, ready for the brickies to come!

xMel

Here are the pics!!!!!

Here it is! The island bench, full frontal shot, and the ensuite cupboard. I didn't bother with pics of the bathroom or laundry ones because as you can see, our colours are the same throughout! Very boring I know, but I wanted to be able to put any colour accessories in each room!

My only issue - which is entirely my fault - is that the white of the overhead cupboards is a fair bit 'whiter' than the benchtops - they look almost creamy in comparison.

So hard to tell when you are only dealing with those little sample pieces. But not much we can do about it; Mum said she couldn't tell; could be she was just being polite!, but hey, I can definitely live with it! I love it, love it, love it!!!!!

xMel

Oh my god - I just have to post early!!!!!!

Did the usual drive-by this morning, no one there so I thought, "Beauty, I'll quickly race in and check out the lights"! Ducked in through the study, saw the hole in the roof for the light, yey, but noticed a wooden ramp on the floor leading up over the split level. "Hmmm, what's that for?" I turned the corner into the main family area - bloody hell - we have a KITCHEN!!!!!! Yes, a KITCHEN!!!!! And the cabinets are all in the ensuite, bathroom and laundry too!!!!!! Oh my god!!!!! How excited was I?!!!! It looks fabulous!!!!! Damn it though, I didn't have my camera with me! So we will pop up again later and take some pics! Didn't notice any of the electrical stuff after that!!!!!

Will post again later with pics!!!!!! Yee haa!!!!!!!!!

xMel

Electricals!

No brickie today, but there was an electrician's van parked out the front! It's hard to tell sometimes if it's for us or not, as there is a house getting built opposite us, so there are always utes, trucks etc parked all over the place! Our big boy was sick today, so stuck at home - thank god for Granny who came to the rescue and gave me a chance to nick out for an hour and find out the above info!

Then hubby called to say he'd had a call from our CSR regarding the downlights in our hallway - yey, it was our electrician! They're doing our lights!!!!! Because our house is split-level, the roof trusses in the hallway have ended up being right in the way of where the downlights were supposed to go, ie., down the middle. The electrician suggested we have four lights instead of the original two; two each on either side so it doesn't look silly! Sounded good to us, so all sorted! Easy peasy! Can't wait to take some piccies!

xMel

We drove past yesterday morning and there was a ute parked out the front with a little mixer on the back! "Brickies", I squealed! Fast forward to 1.00pmish and we thought we'd scoot past again! Ute still there, mixer still on the back. Brickie sitting inside, chatting on the phone. Bummer!

Drove past this morning - no plasterer or brickie - but noticed that bricks had been pulled out and put in piles, so it was our brickie at least! But alas he was not there today. Nevermind! I poked my head in for a quick look and saw that most of the cornices are done and all the edges on walls have been finished off - beautifully I might add - to my untrained but fairly fussy eye!!!! Plaster has also been added to the alfresco and garage ceilings - they look great!

Well hopefully we will see our brickie back there again this week; if I wasn't so fat, I would have offered to help considering the weather is so beautiful!!!!!

xMel

Cornices!

Just a short one today! Very neat piles of cut cornices were laid out on the floor today, ready to go up! A big pile of sand and lots of bags of cement also delivered. Now all we need are the brickies!

xMel

And just for something different.....!

Yes, the plasterers are still going! From what I could see, they have been doing the finishing touches on all the joins (bogging???!). No cornices or architraves as yet; I don't know whether they can do them until the bricks are up?! Only time will tell!

xMel

More plaster....and bricks?

No photos today unfortunately.....because.....they've locked all our doors!!!! Big boo hoo! We drove past this morning and the plasterers were there again, doing the inside of the garage. Good work boys!

We drove past again this afternoon, to find the doors locked, but as I was having a chin-wag with our neighbours (who coincidentally have just had a baby girl last week!), another big Austral truck with bricks arrived. "I wonder who they're for?", I thought. Next thing, this nice bloke comes up and double checks the address - more bricks for us! 14 pallets to be exact. "Good luck finding room for those!", I said! "Yeh", he agreed, as he walked around the place to see where he could put them (there isn't much room!) I had no idea all our bricks weren't there! Goes to show how much I know about building a brick house (not much!).

So there you have it! I think that will be all for this week. Don't know where the brickies are; hopefully doing Arkraider's house!, but I have to say, we are delighted with how it is all going so far!

xMel

And again!

More plaster and it is pretty much all done! All walls and ceilings are done, apart from our bedroom, the ensuite and the bathroom! Looking fabulous! The boys had their first walk-through this afternoon and were so excited about their bedrooms, now that they actually feel like rooms!

These two pics are of our main kitchen/family/dining area.

xMel

Wow! More plaster!

Loads more plaster today! We have ceilings all the way through now!! Some rooms are completely finished and others are not far off! It's amazing the difference having walls and ceilings make!

The first shot is from the lounge looking through the feature wall to the study.

The second shot is the hallway looking to the front door and the third shot is the ceiling of the kitchen/family area.

The only error I could spot was that the study is completely walled in - it's supposed to have a door into the garage, but I'm sure someone will realise that eventually and rectify it! If not, we'll mention it when we next talk to the supervisor.

On another note, we saw Little Chick again today (ultrasound!). She is still a 'she' and currently weighs 2.6kg!!!! Great to know everything is going well in there! Exactly 4 weeks today until she comes! (I'm having a caesar, that's why I'm saying 'exactly'!!!!!! We are booked in!)



Anyway, as always, we look forward to what goes on tomorrow!!!

xMel

Insulation and plaster!

I was preparing myself this morning, prior to visiting the house! The bricks had been delivered and we were quietly hopeful the brickies might be starting today, beautiful weather and all, but we are also aware (from building the first time!), that what you want usually doesn't happen! As I turned the corner into our street, the house across the road was literally covered in brickies (they must have had brick issues too, as their building stopped for about three weeks and their bricks were finally delivered on Friday). Only one little ute was parked in our driveway. Didn't look like a brickie's ute to me! There were a couple of tool boxes in the back with 'Gyprock' stickers on it. "Hmmm, plaster", I thought, "maybe just dropping more stuff off".

Boy did I get a surprise when I dropped in this afternoon!!!! All the wall insulation had been put in, and a fair bit of plaster work had been started, namely in the study, lounge room and walk-in-robe! I could not believe my eyes!!! I didn't realise that this sort of stuff could still be done even if the bricks weren't! As is my favourite catchcry of the moment, "Yee haa", I yelled!!!! Can't wait to see what happens next!!!!

xMel

A little light relief....!

Yes. Here she is! This is me! Thought I'd give you all a laugh and put a shot of the preggy chick on the blog! Admittedly, hubby was standing on a chair so I could look up, hence ridding myself of the three extra chins I have acquired, not to mention a nice J-Lo butt which fortunately doesn't show in this pic! Five weeks to go!!!!

xMel

Yee Haa!!! We have bricks!!!!!!

Well how damn excited were we on our trip to the house after school! Rawdon Hill were as good as their word!!! Wednesday the 20th for delivery of bricks and here they are!!! What fine specimens!!!!!!! We sat and watched the unloading - very exciting stuff you know, especially for two small boys!!!!!! A big wave and a clap of hands was given to the wonderful Austral man who did the hard work!!! We are so excited!

xMel

Elves!

As usual, we have been slack and didn't visit the house this weekend - we had Jett's 6th birthday party, amongst other things, and I'd been doing my usual drive-bys and seen nothing out of the ordinary. My dad and brother both made mention last night about the ducted heating (they'd been up on the weekend!) and I'm going, "What ducted heating?"!!!! So up I went this morning and made the effort to haul this 8 months pregnant body out of the car! Sure enough, the ducted heating elves had been, along with the plaster board elves!!!!!! Very exciting!

So this brings us to Tuesday. Our bricks are hopefully "fingers crossed" due for delivery tomorrow! How quick has that gone? Let's hope they arrive!!!!!!

xMel

Shower bases and bath!

Lovely to know we haven't been forgotten about even though our bricks haven't arrived! Discovered the lock-up door, shower bases and bath installed today! Yey!

Our eldest turned 6 yesterday, so it's been an exciting week for us so far, which will culminate with his big party on Sunday with his school friends! He's been a very spoilt boy so far! Six weeks until Little Chick arrives too!

xMel

More tiles and electricals

Well the roof is almost finished and all the electrical cabling etc., was done today too! What a shame we now have to wait for the bricks....roll on the 20th! Everybody keep your fingers crossed that the issue is resolved by then!

xMel