And we're in! (and so is the kitchen)

We could tell you how we managed to get into the house on todays visit, but then we'd have to kill you. Instead it shall remain a tightly held secret...

But anyway, today we managed to get into the house to have a look around and I would like to declare that the visit today was THE BEST YET!

It was great to see such progress since we'd visited two weeks ago - our amazing super-wide front door had been fitted (still to be painted); the gorgeous 'Espresso' kitchen units had been fitted and looked stunning; the beautiful 'Fudge Stream' bathroom units and basin had been fitted; and my favourite of all our 'Olympia Red' ensuite units and double vanity basins had been fitted and look stunning!

I will let the photos do the rest of the talking... PURE AWESOMENESS!

Banished from our own home!

Today we popped down to check on progress. Since reaching the official lock up stage about a month ago we've been reliant on a top secret way into the house that until yesterday had never failed...

However yesterday, for the first time, we were well and truely locked out. Of course this is actually great news as it means our house is nice and secure and it will be much harder for things to go walkabout. For us however, it means we're banished to substandard update photos and beer in the garden!

I hereby declare this meeting underway...

We've had a sudden realisation that we're on the final countdown of our house build (well, another few months to go but it's closer than its ever been!) so today we held a meeting to discuss the key things we need to do in the coming weeks.

For those of you with an interest in the build (as opposed to just the gossip) the key things we are currently pondering over are

1) Stormwater provision - we need to get this installed but not sure at what stage (we think it's now!)
2) Retaining wall - where to take it up to, how will it impact on our future garden design
3) Rainwater tank - how big, ground prep required
4) Fencing - contacting neighbours, getting quotes, liaising with our neighbour who is willing to do the work
5) Driveway and paving - getting quotes, contemplating design etc

It's all getting very serious now!

Now that's what you call progress!

Have just returned from a visit to a place I think I can officially now call our HOUSE! The guys installing the plasterboard have been working very hard all week and we were overwhelmed to see such progress. They had pretty much finished all of the plasterboard and it looks like the next bit for them is fixing in the coving!

This was such an EXCITING visit as we finally had the opportunity to get the 'feel' for our house and each room... We LOVE it!

Can we move in now?

That warm and fuzzy feeling

We made a special mid-week trip to the house today to see the insulation that had been installed. This will be our last chance to see this as the next step will be plasterboard! Yeah!

Render and doors!

We were really pleased to see that a lot had happened on site since our last visit a week ago. We have a temporary front door (at least I hope it's temporary!); an external door from the laundry; the door from the garage into the house; a lot of wiring and metal plates ahead of sockets; and the baths have had more prep work done!

Very happy Dan and Becks...

Making better progress

Todays visit left us feeling slighly more upbeat than of recent times! We were pleased to see the brickies have almost finished and that the carpenter had been on site putting 'bits' above the windows and installing the frames for the two baths.

A new feature to The Build Build!

It's amazing what a morning off work and a spirit of 'I'm not going to do anything particularly productive today' does!

We've just signed up to an online forum where every intricate detail of house building is shared between fellow peeps and it made me realise just how unaware I really am of the time line we're following, delays to our build, and where we're up to with payments etc.

I promptly started to put together a list in MS Word and half way through the mundane task of pulling the information together thought to myself "surely there must be a more intersting way to present this information". Moments later, by the power of google I had discovered an online timeline application! And better still, it can be embedded in blogs! Perfick!

It's at the bottom of the page and I will update it as we continue on this journey of house building!

Ps. Make sure you use the zoom function as there is a fair bit of info in that timeline!

Nearly there with those bricks!

We'd had our weekly update via email which told us that the brickies would be finishing up this week, so today we tootled off down to have a look! I wouldn't say they'd finished just yet but are certainly not far off! It feels good that they are back on site (after both xmas and the heatwave) at least.

Dan also took the opportunity to dig up and spray some weeds!

The Two Extremes...

Whilst we've suffered 40c plus temperatures for the last 5 days (not dropping below 35c one night!), the UK is covered in snow!

I love the two extremes of these reports...

Arghh
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24973504-5006301,00.html

Brrr
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7865370.stm