Colour Appointment #1 - a success!

Yesterday we had day one of our colour appointment days. We came prepared and with a fair idea of what we wanted, and I think that has made the experience MUCH easier. First we went upstairs at HOG and met with out Colour Consultant, Rikelle. She was great. The others in the Home Options Gallery sounded just lovely as well, but Rikelle made everything so easy. She offered honest and useful advice and was very helpful. I will add photos of the colours later today or tomorrow.

 

We finished with Rikelle early, so while a couple of other people were delayed, we were moved in to see Nicole from Abbey blinds. Again we had a vague idea of what we were after (just wanted to get a quote for shutters for our main facade), so that made her job a lot easier too I'm sure. Again, lovely consultant! You're going to see a trend here :) She seemed to know her job very well and offered some good suggestions and assured us of the quality of the product. At this stage I'm thinking that it may be worthwhile to get their shutters for the front, and a couple of translucent (??) rollers for wardrobe and ensuite. We used blinds online for the last place and I think if there's a big price difference, if they offer very similar products, we will probably just go with them. As long as we can sort something out for the main and secondary facade windows, we'll make do. There are a few things that are a higher priority than blinds for bedrooms not in use (fridge etc!). Quote should come through next week.

Next up, we went to Jenni from Outback Landscaping to discuss driveways. We went in thinking there was NO WAY we would get pavers. Weeds, buckling, yuck! But she talked us into it within a couple of minutes. Less maintenance, less major problems to deal with in future. As long as we don't put the removalist truck on the driveway, there would be no issues! They've got some fencing contacts too, which will be useful when it comes time to fence. Being a corner block, we'll be needing some contacts! Oh, did I mention Jenni was lovely!? All the staff we saw really had our trust.

Our next visit was to Cooks Plumbing (all these people so far are in the same building). We sat down with Dana (South African I think? LOVE that accent! Anyway back to what I was saying...), and discussed a few things. Didn't have to worry about much as the kitchen appliances were taken out. She explained what was standard, and we were happy with the range. We're in the Lifestyle range and upgraded to the Living Essentials package. Water filters were explained - the prices weren't too bad but it's not something we need, so we opted not to add one. The only thing I wanted to take out were soap dishes in the bathrooms. We don't need it if we have a niche, and if you could see my current soap dish, you would understand why I'm not a fan! So we used the credit for that, to get a hand towel rail in ensuite and bathroom. We need to add a further $29.55 to our bill. Shouldn't break the bank! That was the extent of our bathroom/kitchen upgrades. Dana knew her stuff and showed us examples in the showroom wherever possible.

By this point we were running two hours early. People must come into these appointments with literally NO idea!? Headed to Castle Towers for a bite to eat and be annoyed by crappy carparks.

At 2:30 we had our appointment at DiLorenzo with Ann. Turns out she was the first woman we spoke to at DiLorenzo. She made a great first impression and I am SO glad we got her yesterday. Most of our choices were in the builders range, we just need to pay a few surcharges. Some of our extra costs will be:

• Approx $38 for the nicer floor waste, below (2 per bathroom, 1 in laundry)
• Cost for laying tiles over standard size
• Cost for laying mosaic feature tile

We're also getting a quote to get the external tiles (same as internal, but with grip) post-handover. 

Also if you are planning on doing a splashback yourself, apparently we need to have this mentioned on a PCV so DiLorenzo can cover their asses. We are looking into this at the moment. Hoping it's not an additional cost. Paying $500 for a PCV for a tiling credit that would probably be minimal kind of defeats the purpose. So we'll see what the go is there.

So here's the placement of the house on the land. Oran Park have unusual fencing guidelines, just to make exposed fences look more appealing. You can go down 1/3 of the property, step it in a metre, then continue to halfway. It does look good, but to be honest it pi$$es me off a little bit. My interest in the corner block is the added yard space, and natural light, I just wish the yard space didn't end up in the front yard. At the end of the day, I think it will still look great. We also moved our water tank. The architect had put it up near bedroom four, which I have crossed out. We want it near the garage. We added extra space to the house (shaded areas) so the space near the garage seems to make the most sense. When we get a shed, it will go up near the crossed out water tank. Air con and clothesline along the back wall.

We made very small changes, other than the added space throughout the house. Took out a wall in the kitchen near the fridge, and we made the study into a wardrobe. Storage shouldn't be a problem in this house!

So that's it! All up we have spent $750 on upgrades - mostly on the front door (but we don't have the tiling details yet uh-oh!). Colours will be added when I've got more time :)