Project Regent

Well today was an exciting day.  We received the call saying that handover has been booked in for Friday December 11.  This is right on (our) schedule, so in 11 days we’ll have the keys to our new home!

I spent a bit of time on the phone today booking in fences, blind and shutter installation and a cat door for Hamish.  We’ve also found a landscaper we like and we’re meeting him on the weekend to finalise the plans and book everything in.  Before we move in we’ll have the driveway and fences done.  We should also have a good start on the landscaping before Christmas.  Tomorrow I’ll be onto the water tank people to get that sorted.

Removalists were booked last week for the 19th.  Now we just have to tackle the packing here!!!

We’ve also got some photos we took the other day to put up so stay tuned for them!

Well with the house nearing completion (i.e. it appears most of it’s done - including carpets, electrical and plumbing) - just a few small bits to go. They are having their final inspection this coming week and we should be having ours shortly after that. Very exciting.

So anyway, in preparation for handover, we’re looking at landscaping. We have a decent fence quote, and now just some landscaping queries.

We’re looking at getting some lawn put down the side of the house, and then gravel down the other side and back. That’s the high level description. Then of course there’s the concrete for the water tank and driveway.

Driveway-wise, we went to look at the supplier’s examples and have found one we like - and on asking the guy in the office - it’s the cheapest of the selection too (and yes, this is purely coincidence). But we are looking at the exposed aggregate, and a lighter colour to offset against the dark garage door and light pillars. The one we like has a speckle of dark in it, but not as dark as some others which would make it look too gloomy.

We also looked at some mulch to at least get put down where we want the garden beds to be, with the land underneath prepared, so when the weather calms down in March/April, we can get planting - try not to kill them during the February heat that will no doubt come. So mulch-wise, there’s a nice dark brown mulch with enough life in it to provide good contrast with whatever we end up planting in it.

And finally, our gravel discussion turned into 7mm pebbles. They look clean and simple, and will be very Hamish-friendly - some of the other gravel would not be good for his paws. And, even better, again they’re the cheapest of the range. So hopefully the quote will come in with our budget in mind.

Anyway, here’s a look at the concrete, mulch and pebbles.

Exposed Aggregate #5

Hammermill Mulch

7mm River Pebbles

Just a pity we don’t have the land to put it on yet (well, sorta)… it’s our land, but being fenced off as a building site would no doubt see lots of damage happen to our newest purchases - our letterbox and address plate.

So yesterday we had a special delivery from the Victorian distributor of Polytek and our Antigua letter box. And this thing is huge. But then, also thinking of it in front of a house, will make it appear smaller but at the moment stuck in our narrow hallway, it’s freakin’ huge!

The really odd part is how light it is - it’s a self install letterbox, and something that can easily be done (and carried) by a single person. So there’s a big metal pole that gets bolted on and stuck into some concrete in the ground, you level it out with a spirit level and then wait for it to dry and hurrah - you’re done.

So at least we have that purchase done. And why this letterbox? Well driving around the estates you see a lot of letterboxes - plain, stock-standard off-the-shelf letterboxes that, well, quite frankly, look rather crappy. Some are alright; some look OK; some look like they came from the $2 Shop. And given the style of our house, we thought this would be something unique and make it stand out a little bit - local distribution in Victoria has only started recently so there’s not too many around - don’t go stealing our idea now ; )

And to get stuck on the front (after we’ve figured out what colour(s) we’re painting the Antigua), we also had a special delivery of our address plate in, you guessed it, matching fire engine red. It’s shiny. It’s red. It’s very very cool. So when we have painted our letterbox, we can then go through the process of attaching our address to the front.

You can check out the range of Polytek letterboxes at their website, and also metal address plates from Sign Artist.

Antigua

You've Got Mail

Putting it all together

With lock up come and gone, it’s a little harder to get decent photos inside although when we were out there today, our Site Supervisor happened to be taking a look at the Regent down the street so, naturally, we asked if we could take a peek inside our house.

Our last look around the inside was with painters around so we couldn’t get into the bathrooms and it had that incredibly potent smell of fresh wet paint. Ahhh the fumes.

But the changes since our last update have been that ducts have been put in place (almost) for the heating and cooling, including the installation of our roof-top unit, and internal controller. Michael was itching to find the manual to take and study, but no, we can keep that there until handover - and over what is forecast to be a stinking hot summer, I think the following will be fine: Cool. On. Cooler. On. Yeah that’s about it.

Our painting inside is now complete too - our Kid Leather walls look sensational (bar a few expected touch up areas), and the feature in the bedroom, as mentioned, is spectacular. In the bathrooms, the waterproofing for the tiled areas has been put down and still has a strong head-spin odour to it, but that means we’re ready for tiles which are due to begin tomorrow and take a few days to get installed.

With slightly better light than the last photo batch, the cupboards look superb - and we’re glad to have the same colour - Burnished Wood - throughout the house (except our “Ice” benchtops in the kitchen, which are yet to be installed).

So apparently, from here, we have our tiles, taps, electrical and carpet to be installed, and then we should be at the final inspection leading up to the handover which should be early to mid December, all things continuing the way they are - hurrah!

Neat, trim and compact

Ensuite Shower

Double Vanity, with spunky Basins

Closer up

Laundry Sink

Oooooh Red!

Kid Leather

Inside the Kitchen Cupboards

And even a Kitchen Sink

Lounge, currently filled with tiles

Heating / Cooling Unit

Air Intake

Well a big week this week - both on the inside and outside. This post is collating all that we’ve seen over the last week, with photos taken Thursday and Saturday.

Outside, our bricks have been blasted by high pressure water to remove the excess mortar - and wow they look spectacular. So spectacular that we had to dedicate a photo to just one part of the wall in all its glory - and on Saturday they looked even better after the water had dried from between the bricks.

The cleaning process has made the bricks look lighter than before, yet still do come up surprisingly darker than the same we had seen at Hopetoun so we’re glad the render will add some nice contrast.

Outside, we also have our electrical cabling coming through the front two pillars for our lights, as well as wooden architraves around the alfresco and garage door beam. Neither of us can remember such wooden architraves at the display homes - but then again, a finished house probably doesn’t show them off - but having wood quite boldly sitting there makes them rather obvious. So we’re not sure what colour these are going to get painted - but assuming the Woodland Gray colour to match the window frames and guttering.

And then we start to head inside - and the first thing that grabs attention on Saturday (OK, the second… so the first was actually seeing the painters cars in the driveway so that meant the chance to get inside, so now, the second…) is our stunning red front door - and that looks very striking indeed. The gutters and edging of architraves along the front have also been painted.

So with the doors unlocked and a painter standing in the alfresco area as we explore the changes, we had a quick chat and then headed inside to take a sticky beak around.

Inside the master bedroom, the feature wall has had its first coat of paint, Donkey, and looks so bold and, well, feature-ish - it’s great! We know (by peeking through the windows) that we have double vanities in place in the bathroom, but given the painters were set up in the walk-in-robe we couldn’t take a sticky beak in there.

While wandering around a paint-in-progress house, you get a stunning rush… but that’s probably more to do with the paint fumes. Or it could be the fact that we have kitchen cupboards too. It’s really starting to transform into our house with our selections, and it’s just so exciting to see. This also means the vanities in the bathrooms as well as laundry sink in the… wait for it… laundry… have been installed too.

All doors are off their hinges and scattered around one of the rooms of the house, freshly painted and looking mighty shiny. We both find it a little odd and, well, lazy, that tops of doors don’t get painted. One would assume that the door is painted as a whole, but alas no, tops of doors remain paint free.

With tiles due for delivery any day, we’re both so excited at the speed of the progress as well as the promising prospect of a pre-Christmas handover.

The updated facade

All clean!

Clean (and still slightly damp)

Electrical setup

Ooooh... red...

It's a Donkey

Door Forest

Kitchen Cupboards

Kitchen island cupboards