Exposed Aggregate...

Thanks to Russell and the guys for such a great job. We used the 'Buchan' mix from Mentone Premix. This was initially scheduled to be completed in September/November, but for all sorts of reasons was delayed, supply issues, then ultimately the weather!!!

Anyway, it's finally done and we're really happy with it. Scroll down to see the progress shots.

Maintaining Merbau...

Melbourne has had some serious hot weather, and it was without doubt going to have affects on our new boundary fence. It was given its first coat of natural oil when the wall was constructed, but as soon as the heat subsided, I headed down to our nearest Bunnings and got myself 4Lts of Cabbots natural oil with Merbau tint, an applicator, and got stuck into it. Applicator worked great, and oiled up the redgum sleepers with a nice fat brush. 2nd coat all done in a couple of hours.

3rd coat will be done in a month or so, then it should be fine for once a year maintenance with top quality oil (PPG).

Stairs off rear verandah constructed

After initially thinking of making these steps out of merbau, we decided that we had enough merbau to maintain, so decided to construct these out of concrete. At least they will last forever, not have the same maintenance requirements etc. We'll just use the same external tile that we've used in the alfresco/verandah to tile the stairs. The guys that did our exposed aggregate driveway did this for us also.

Darnley coming to the Party!!!

I received a call from our Supervisor today advising on an issue we raised with them on final inspection. Basically, our tiling in the Alfresco/Veranda has some 'fall' issues, water pools in places when it rains etc.

At the time of the inspection, we said we'd see how we felt about it over the 3 month maintenance period. Well, it didn't take long before we saw this as a real hassle and something we'd have to deal with for rest of our time in the house - which is long term. So I advised our Supervisor and Darnley's Construction Manager that we'd really like this issue brought forward and options discussed.

Now that they are all back from holidays, the call I received today confirmed that they are going to rip up all the tiles and redo the levelling and retile for us. A whole batch of new tiles were delivered today!

Well done and Thank you Darnley!

Lucas is really happy with Dad..

Well the landscaping has been on the back burner for the last month or so as our landscapers had some time off. So with a less than attractive, comfortable backyard/play area, we had to do something for Lucas.. we ended up buying a nice big SpringFree Trampoline!

Lucas, 3 in May, just loves it! It is so safe (for a trampoline) and because it's the bigger of the SpringFree Tramp's, even us adults can have a great time.

Assembly was a bit of a mission, but we had it up in a couple of hours. Will get some pics up soon.

We're in... Landscaping underway!!!

Well here's a long overdue update! We received the keys to the house on Nov 13th '08, the same day our little Olivia decided to arrive into this world! 10 days early!! right on time for moving in!!!! Well we still got in as soon as we were out of hospital!

Lots has happened since then, lots of my items that were separate from the Darnley build have been completed. 3 split systems installed downstairs, I've color sealed the garage, painted the side fence at the front, but it's mainly the landscaping that's been the major works. lots of retaining walls, fill, leveling etc has happened.

Here's some pics of the progress so far!

The new outdoor setting

Construction of lower play area completed.

Created full length steps into play area rather than more retainers. These will be filled with crushed rock, and eventually could be paved.

Corten Black porcelain tile completed as entry feature. Also used surplus tiles to tile the base to entry.

Close up of Corten Black

4.7m Crossover constructed.

Driveway and entry path boxed and prepared for aggregate in mid Jan.

Constructed screen out of black bamboo.

24 meter long retaining wall and gate completed. Besa block center section tiled with Corten Black and rendered top to suit house render. Rest is oiled redgum, merbau & Cyprus uprights.

Handover around the corner

Well it's been ages since the last update, thought I better get this site updated before we actually move in. Wouldn't want an outdated blog of our building progress!!!

Plenty has happened since the last update, kitchen and cabinetry is basically all done, plastering finished, Tiling done, 3 coats of paint to the internals finished last week, plumbing fitoff is basically finished, electrical fitoff done, doors hung and installed then removed and sent away for emporite finish, ducted vac fitted and lighting pretty much all installed. Carpet to come next week, splashback and appliances to come in the next week or so also. All should be ready for handover by early Nov.

Still got plenty of work to do after handover, getting aggregate driveway (and crossover) in the next few weeks done, 3 split system air con units for downstairs getting fitted off end of Nov, landscaping to start tomorrow with our retainer/privacy wall (~24m long) on the corner boundary, and getting other various decking/paving/landscaping quoted at the moment.

Enough of the talking, here's some pics...

House looking nice and clean. These pics were taken today, saw the guys there removing all the protective plastic off the windows and giving them a good wash!

Our shiny front door!!

The main ensuite

Main ensuite. Can see cutouts in mirror for mushroom lights to be installed.

Stain yet to be applied to top of dwarf plaster wall hand rails

Guest powder room basin

Guest powder room

Looking up from downstairs to staircase lights

mood lights in theatre room

Theatre room ceiling lights

Kitchen all lit up

Kitchen cabintry lights

Garage door installed

Alfresco lights and fan installed

Laundry shute from upstairs bathroom

Cabinets in powder room getting installed

Cabinets in upstairs bathroom getting installed

Cabinets in main ensuite