Rock my world

This weekend hubby and I visited Rocks Plus in Bayswater North to choose some rocks to be placed around the retaining wall that is getting built this week.

We were given a can of spray paint and had to spray a mark on the rocks that we wanted. After choosing the rocks they were loaded up onto a truck and they delivered them to us the same morning. It doesn't look like it but we have a total of 11 rocks. We chose honeycomb rocks of varying sizes and shapes. I can't wait to see these in place by the end of the week. 

Zebras are.... well hung?

I finally purchased our first picture for the house. I didn't know exactly what I wanted but I knew it had to have hints of green and orange. When I stumbled across this zebra canvas artwork I couldn't resist it. 

We hung it in on the wall between the front spare room and theatre room. It's visible from the kitchen/meals/family area. At 120cm x 90cm it's the perfect size - or I thought so. 

Now I have to finally get some pieces for the hallway niches. 

I'll be floored!

I haven't updated much the last 4 four weeks but we have had little bits and pieces happening. The floor in the man cave is finally finished! We used Gerflor brand vinyl planks for one side of the man cave plus the games area. We chose the Pecan colour from their Senso Rustic range. I love how they look like timber but are easy to maintain. The planks are only 2mm thick and have a self adhesive back and stick right down onto the sealed concrete slab. Hubby put the skirting board back down on top of the planks and now I have to paint the bits where the nails were shot through.

For the lounge side of the man cave we laid carpet tiles. Photos for another post :)

In other news we have had our spa delivered **yay!!** but we can't use it until the deck and fence is built. Permits have all been approved so now it's down to construction. 

We have also booked the retaining walls for the front yard next week and hubby has started the small garden bed retaining wall between the house and driveway. 

Hopefully several more updates with pictures soon! 

Stairway to... heaven!?

...nah. It's just the stairs from the lounge door of the man cave. This is another project hubby completed, he is so talented. Anyone want to hire him ;) LOL

I'm thinking of painting the side of the staircase in Monument, which is the same colour as the door. I figure it would look better than the naked pine but I'm not too sure whether Monument would look weird :-/ I'm open to suggestions here. 

Here is what the guts of it looked like before he nailed the merbau down. This thing is so damn solid it ain't moving anywhere!! 

Well gated

Hubby finished building the side gate!! I think it looks amazing and a very good job by someone who hasn't welded in a very long time, nor ever made a gate in their life.

The actual gate door is 1 metre wide and is locked by a keypad. We even have a remote control to unlock the gate. He's so clever :)

He used 140mm wide merbau decking for the timber and steel for the posts and gate frame. 

Sealing: shower grout and concrete

This weekend hubby sealed the concrete floor in the garage. We also sealed the concrete slab in the man cave in preparation for floor coverings. The concrete sealer was easy enough to use, simply clean the floor and apply the sealer with a roller. After 30 minutes apply and second coat and you're done. In a couple of hours it's completely dry.

GroutPro came over on Saturday to colour seal the grout in the ensuite shower. We had this done at our old house and it was awesome, the grout always looked so good. Very happy with how this turned out. I have asked the guy to come back in a few weeks to seal the other shower too. 

A closer shot of the wall tile grout. You can't even see that it has a coating on it - bonus! 

We met with the head builder on Thursday night. We have now received our final invoice, minus all the appropriate adjustments. We are glad that that worry is finally over. 

Builder arguing the final invoice

Well, things are starting to get really interesting now! 

We received the final invoice from the builder last week - the full invoice! We are owed 22 weeks of damages and that wasn't deducted from this invoice. We have since spoken to the head builder who will meet with us later this week to discuss the adjustments... Apparently the builder has a list of "extras" that they did for us and are trying to use that as an argument to reduce the amount of damages they have to pay. It's amusing really because there is only one variation where we owed them extra money which we signed and agreed to (for the non standard tiles) which has already been paid in a prior progress payment. 

I really can't wait to see this alleged list of extras. There were a number of things the builder had to do but they were to cover up errors by his trades or things he offered to do, they weren't things which we requested. 

My husband and I are willing to take this matter to the Building Commission if they do not pay us our owed damages, as well as other reasonable things we are requesting. At this stage there are actually a lot of defects and incomplete work that we haven't even raised with them. If they want to go down the Building Commission path then we will raise every single grievance and defect with the commission.

Both my husband and I want this resolved quickly. In fact, we have already arranged for the bank valuer to come out and inspect the property so that once we receive an appropriately amended invoice we can arrange final payment ASAP. The only person delaying their final payment is the builder. 

To top it off we still have some items sitting here that belong to the builder. Not sure when he's planning to collect them. We have a wheelbarrow, ladder, hose and I think a few other things. Not to mention the skip bin that is still sitting on our nature strip which our neighbours have taken full advantage of! 

I guess by the weekend we will know whether we have to prepare a case for the Building Commission.