Randomly purchased stuff

I've had a lot of free time to burn over the forced-holiday period, so have done a lot of window-shopping... and a little bit of actual shopping.  Plus side it looks like couches and beds have been selected, but we can't order them until we have a target completion date.
The biggest problem here is that some furniture can take 6 to 8 weeks to be made, but on the other side of that they don't want to hold it more than about 3 months.

Once we're back from the holiday period I'm going to put a bit of pressure on Metricon to at least come up with a target so I know when I can start placing orders for furniture - the massive pile is starting to look quite substantial of all boxes of gear to be moved in.

In the meantime I grabbed a few other little useful bits and pieces:

I saw these in EB Games - they're actually sour candies (in tins), but when I saw them their use was immediately obvious - they will be waterproofed, a spike drilled through the base, and them placed strategically in the front garden.

Sockitz powerpoints.  They're an Australian company who have gone and created powerpoints with two USB ports for charging things like phones.  Thtere's a major difference in these any many you might find at places like Bunnings - when the dust-cover on these ones are closed, the transformer for the USB ports are actually electrically disconnected, so there's no 'leakage' or standby power being drawn.  There's a 1A and 2A port (devices like iPads need 10W/2A ports).

Ah yes, rugs.  There's been a little stall down at Knox for most of the year, but I didn't want to have rugs lying around being stored, so the plan was to wait until they're closing up - which is now.  What I didn't expect was that they'd have 50% off everything as their lease expires.

Result is I ended up with these two matching ones for just $130!  The smaller one (first two photos) is a 120x160 one, and the larger one is 230x160 - one for the entryway and one for the lounge room.  They're really nice and plush - they don't feel cheap at all... and Casper loves them ;p

And lastly, I couldn't resist.  A fourth Animaniacs cel to line the walls - this one will be what goes outside the master bedroom doors, in the entryway.

Lock-up

And then the call on Thursday arvo - we're basically at lock-up, which was confirmed on Friday.

The site supervisor has told me he's looking to try to get someone to do the first layer of render before the Christmas break, and is also looking for a painter who's willing to work over the break so we can continue to have at least a bit of progress in those three weeks or so.

Achitraves have been installed, and of course all of the external walls are finished; small issues with the door locks also fixed. Most significantly it looks like cabinets will be installed on Monday and Tuesday right throughout.

One thing I've noticed is the glass that's on the front door - it doesn't appear to be what was ordered.  I was reluctant to have glass on the front door as because of the design of the house it would mean you could see straight down the entire length of the house - so I wanted some kind of translucent or frosted glass.  It looks like what's currently in the door is regular transparent glass, so I'll mention it in the coming week or so - it's entirely possible they already know about it and it's going to be replaced at some point... though I kinda think unlikely.  I'm not too keen on on people being able to rock up to the front door and see exactly what's going on inside.

Lastly, the camera company are still having fun with the delivery company - those cameras that were missing?  They sent a replacement package, and that package too was claimed as having been delivered but never showed up.  We've checked the security cameras here 30 minutes either side of the time the driver claimed to have delivered them, noone came in to the street, let alone near our house.  Not only that but the driver never showed at the depot that night or the next morning for more pickups.  That's gonna be a funny story to see played out.

Since it's now getting to the point where stuff is getting installed inside, I might start delaying posts by a week or two - just in case there's any opportunistic types who go "ooh, a blog telling us when everything's getting delivered that we can rock up and pinch".  Because we know how popular construction sites are for break-ins.

Anyhow, progress photos.

Oh yeah, the photos are 16:9 now because I switched away from the god-awful iPhone 4S to a Nokia Lumia 920.

More Hebel to facade

No pier yet - the small bits of Hebel that need little custom cuts are all still to be done.

Some Hebel done

Quick picture update:

Even security isn't secure

A few weeks ago I ordered one of the camera systems to be installed after handover.  It was taking it's time being shipped out, but I got told it arrived this afternoon... with a twist.

In an amusing twist, the security system had been cut open and two of the cameras stolen from the delivery.  The manufacturer/reseller have been really good about going through everything item-by-item to list what is and isn't there, and what needs to be sent out to correct this, but I find it amusing that of all things that get tampered with in the mail, it was a product which would monitor activity of tampering and theft ;p

Maybe they should ship them connected to a UPS, recording the whole time? :D

Plastering done

No Hebel up today, instead it looks like they've decided to work from the inside out.  Internally the plastering is all done, so all the electrical cabling and insulation is hidden both in the walls and roof.