"Honey, I'm Home!"

Well, we made it :)

Apologies it's taken so long to update the blog but we're still running with minimal services. Our mobiles and a 3 mobile key are only connection with the outside world at the moment! The digital tuner on our TV died during the move....talk about timing. We've got the Foxtel installation booked for next Tuesday and the home phone and internet will finally be connected next Wednesday. The local video shop has seen us more in the past week that the whole time we've been members! What else do you do in this rain?? Looking back, we were very lucky to move in when we did. Last Thursday was the final day of sunshine before Sydney experienced one of the wettest weeks in a long time....and it's STILL going. I feel for anyone waiting on weather dependant progress with their builds :(

We spent the week before handover packing up the unit (yes....we packed....and the boys unpacked!), 2 and 3 year olds don't make very good helpers. It's amazing how much you can accumalate in just 12 months, we had boxes upon boxes upon boxes. We're yet to sort through all the other boxes in the garage that had been packed away for a number of years. I'm sure we'll make a few interesting discoveries when we get around to opening them. It will be like Christmas!

Wednesday 21st April was 'Settlement Day', it was touch and go as to whether it was actually going to happen which made for a very stressful few days. Due to the safety railing on our front balcony not being ready, a temporary one had to be erected so that we could get the interim occupation certificate. Had this not been done, we'd have been homeless over Easter. Quick thinking by our SS and the temporary railing passed the test...phew!!

The house was buzzing with tradies during the morning of handover and we met our SS in the afternoon for our final inpection. Just like with PCI, we walked through the house and marked down anything that wasn't up to scratch. We were assured that anything that couldn't be fixed on the day, would be looked at in the coming weeks. We also have a 13 week maintenance inspection, our last chance to have any defects rectified.

The next biggest concern for us was the slight dip in the floor in the leisure room. Without pointing it out, it's not noticeable but it's still there....and still bugs us. It's the slab itself that dips and the only way to fix it would be to remove the tiles, jackhammer the slab, the re-concrete.....not keen on this at all. Our dining table isn' affected (no wobbly chairs) and once we've got a lounge suite, coffee table and rug down, it won't be noticeable at all.
We've got scratches on some windows and one of the sliding doors, some of these were noted at handover and some were not. As much as you try to go through the place with a fine toothcomb, there will be things you don't notice until you move in. I guess thats the game and it's at the builders discretion as to what they will fix and what they won't.

After our final insepction with 'D', we jumped in the car and raced over to Wisdom's head office at Narellan to pick up the keys. We got stuck in traffic and arrived at 4:45pm, for awhile we thought we might not make it! The girls at the office were as lovely as ever and along with our keys, we received a lovely gift basket with some delicious treats and a bottle of Moet....yum!

After a celebratory champers at the house, it was back to the unit for an early night in preparation for the big move at 7am the following morning.

All went fairly smoothly with the move on the Thursday and the boys had a make up day at kindy which worked perfectly. After an exhausting day the four of us collapsed into bed that night, still pinching ourselves that we were finally 'home' !

A few days before handover...

Moving In Day!

Fireplace and feature tiles



Leisure Room - we didn't realise how close in colour the fireplace tile
and feature wall would be. We may change the wall back to white.



Home theatre (work in progress, still need a projector and av gear
before we can fire this one up!)

Study

Kitchen - day 3 unpacked!

View from kitchen over to leisure room

Powder room

Laundry

Laundry

View from landing down to front door

Linen cupboard

Master bedroom looking towards ensuite

Ensuite shower

Ensuite

Main bathroom

Second bedroom

Third bedroom

Boys playroom

Bedroom Four



Water bogged backyard, LOTS of work to be done here!