Absent but still here .....

It has been an amazing, frustrating and emotional time since my last post. I am back on deck and working hard to have the new shop up and running as soon as possible. So lets recap on whats been happing here at Casa Fabulous shall we?
We left Moranbah on Sunday October  13th and drove through the night to arrive at Ballynde Street in the early hours of Monday morning ~ around 3am.
With mounting trepidation and excitement we opened our shiny new front door and walked inside to finally ~  after 18 weeks ~ see what all the money, drama and stress had become......
Both of us walked around for about 30 minutes not saying anything as we were in complete and utter shock.

The house was dreadful and while there were no tears or tantrums ~ the disappointment was literally crushing. Remember Hesham from Brisbane Floor Sanding & Polishing beautiful floors?
They were white ~ covered in plaster dust and boot prints, sneaker prints and various other prints I could not identify ( remind me never to become a CSI as I would fail miserably identifying clues)
The kitchen benchtops were smeared and coated with the same white residue. The rubbish and CRAP in the front and back yard was indescribable.......

We set to work at about 3.30am after discovering the hard way that the Downstairs Toilet was still not finished or working after 18 weeks ......... and did not stop till late evening when we fell into bed. It has been a very very long week and a half but we are finally making some headway. Endless cleaning, endless Tradies finishing "little jobs", endless tip runs to clear away the mess and rubbish.


*sigh*


I could go on and on about how horrific the whole thing has been and continues to be ~ I could go on about responsibility and finishing a job properly ....... but you know what? *shrug*

Moving on ........

How bout some pics?

Before Kitchen

AFTER ~ Kitchen

Kitchen After

Best thing I ever did was remove the Dining Room.

 

Dining Room ~ Before

Dining Room ~After

Still learning how to use the new camera and trying to take some worthy pics to show you what we have done. I have also been revamping the old furniture and should have some before and afters tomorrow.

Yesterday Mr Fab said:

"Enough ~we need a break from all this so lets take Dexter to the Beach "

Dexter

 

We did and it was beautiful .....

Stay Fabulous

fs vintage

xx

It's Time to go ..............

Yep ~ 3 days left here in The Bah ~ It has been an interesting 7 odd years in a small town I can tell you! Made some amazing friends and learned some very very valuable lessons.
I like to think ~ those lessons made me a better person?

I hope so!

The final days are here and our Trades are running around making sure it is all done to perfection. I was chatting to Mat The Painter last night and asked him was he proud of what he had done?

I asked him how he felt about taking a tired old girl with good bones and a huge heart ~ and turning her into a Supermodel!

Check out these quick snaps!

 

Black & White

Excited to try the Rain Forest Shower!

The Welcome to Our Home!

One of the main reasons we decided to begin The Long Distance Renovation was because this house is a GOOD house. The rooms are slightly bigger than the average standard high set 80's Queenslander and it was fully contained underneath. The area is very nice and our views from the ManDeck are brilliant.
Since the first day we walked through our Old Girl 14 year ago we just felt ....... well we just felt like we were .......

Home.

Our latest update tells us the Rangehood has been fitted / Electrician is finishing on Friday / Jase The Tiler just has to grout the Kitchen splashback / Downstairs Floors go in today / Last of the Blinds today / Screens are finished/ Doors are on and Mat informed us the only shoe print marked part of our beautiful  floors is in the lounge section. He actually wiped the stairs down to make sure they were all ok ~ Bless him.

We have learned so much and while I am quick to say I will never do it again ~ I have a feeling I may change my mind. I love seeing how our Home has changed.

Sunday is almost here ......

Stay Fabulous

fs vintage
xx

Last of the Packing

The last of the packing is almost done. We will be finishing the back yard today and cleaning up the empty Pots and outdoorsy type stuff ready to go on Saturday ..... Yes ....... Saturday .......
I cannot believe it is all so close to being OVER.

As of 7am today we have had no dramas but the day is young and yesterday all concerned absolutely assured me they would be done when we arrive next Monday 14th at some ungodly time of the morning.

Jason Our fab Tiler doing his thing

Had to show you our Upstairs Toilet ~The Marble Border runs all the way round the Bathroom as you know ~ I continued it into the toilet for a flow effect .....

(*snort* I love to pretend I know I what I am doing ...)

I am loving the little step down bit ~Jason made the decision to do that and we applaud him as it looks fabulous!

Blinds should be finished today and the Downstairs floor started .....

I am really really trying to not stress and

Stay Fabulous

fs vintage
xx

Week 17 ~ End of Hell week

Thats right ~The end of Hell week although with this morning shenanigans it is shaping up to be worse. As you would know it was Kitchen Install week. Before I begin my waffling ~ Let me be PERFECTLY clear. We still think the Kitchen company we chose and have paid a large sum of money to ~ create a high end quality product.
What has done our head in?

We were dissapointed to find that they also use the "Thats not our Job" catchphrase.

I was stunned!

See the torn ceiling and gap in the left corner?

More Gaps

We are NOT gap people. We wanted stylish and seamless

The kitchen went in and WOW is all I can say ~WOW! It looks amazing in the pictures but I noticed a tear in the ceiling at the top of the cupboards and of course worried myself into a flap ~ as ya do. To be honest I am pretty sure I was thinking ..........
Pfffttttt it will be nothing and I am a sillybilly ......

Then the phone calls started .... yep it seems that while we paid $862 to:

" To Fill the space above your cabinets and extend to the ceiling" ..... apparently that does not include Cornices.

Whats your take on that statement Reader? They made MDF Bulkheads and installed ..... with a gap around the whole thing and cut out bits near the Cornices. When asked by our Builder about what was going in ~ he was told ~ That's not our job to do Cornices. We then feel stupid that we obviously misinterpreted what we agreed to.
I called the Kitchen People and were told they had discussed this ~ Ummmmm no ~ I am absolutely positive I would NOT have paid $862 for MDF strips and a gap. POSITIVELY positive on that one.
Once again it is a lesson ~ DOUBLE and then TRIPLE check everything. Even if you think you might be annoying people? Remember it is YOUR hard earned money so make sure you TRIPLE check everything. Also remember we are doing The Long Distance Renovation so maybe it is easier when you are on site all the time?
Bottom line is ~Our Builder called the Kitchen People then they called us to inform us they would pay to have the Cornices replaced.....

*Blink*

Provincial kitchen starting to come together

Our Blind and Floor chap arrived this morning and called to say he could not do the Floors downstairs because of the rubbish ~ *sigh*
Another round of calls with everyone blaming everyone else ~ of course that is the ones who actually answered their phones.
It also appears our Rangehood did not go in as planned last week and is sitting downstairs on the floor. I had to call to find out.
A simple email or text message or call to advise what is happening. We are starting to believe that unless you have actually done a Long Distance Renovation you cannot empathize or understand how awful it feels. That must be the reason why people seem to dismiss us when we try and find out whats going on!
The above picture was kindly sent to us by our Blind chap to show us his work. You can see the Cornice chap has been in and put the Cornices up as we thought they would be and I am thrilled with how much better it looks.I am pretty impressed with how it is starting to look and cant begin to describe how excited we are about arriving home in 6 short days. We know there will be massive amounts of work ~cleaning up and moving stuff from both balconies (Thats where the Trades put anything) ~there will be hosing and sweeping and preparation as we have a day full of deliveries and all of them will be coming up through the Back Man deck so that area must be cleaned of all the dust from various workmen.

So the update in the last week is:
* Final Grouting in upstairs Bathroom and Downstairs Laundry
* Splashback in Kitchen
* Ceiling in Bathrooms/Toilet/Kitchen
* Stairwell Painting
* Shower screens and Downstairs toilet
* Downstairs Floors
* Security screens

When we arrive next Monday 14th ( we are leaving earlier to ensure we can get the work done before the movers arrive so will arrive about 3am and start work) we will have to:

* Clean Mandeck and hose down
* Clean Zen Balcony and Hose down
* Start cleaning up the garage and moving rubbish outside to load in trailer
* Mr Fab will collect trailer
* Clean down each room including washing the shoe prints from the newly polished floors even after Trades were asked NOT to wear shoes ..... (we have pictures)
* Collect lighting from Carseldine
* Unload car and start to unpack in preparation for the Movers arrival

I am feeling overwhelmed .....

Stay Fabulous

fs vintage
xx

Awww come on ~ you are kidding right?

So it has been another couple of days where I have spent hours on the phone sorting things out.
But lets recap.
Finally had all the Tradies return my calls and messages and tell me they are all on track ~ hope it stays that way.They are all telling me they will be done by Monday.
Kitchen Stone Tops have been confirmed AGAIN  for this Friday along with the Bathroom and Downstairs Laundry / Guest Bathroom.

Our Floors have been finished and OH MY GAWD! They are seriously fabulous and we are super impressed with Hesham from  Brisbane Floor Sanding & Polishing  He not only calls on completion, he also sends you text messages to update during the process AND in our case with the whole Long Distance thing ~ SENDS PICTURES!!

Before

Before

The floors were an absolute mess when he arrived as no drop sheets or protection was even thought about because the Trades all assumed they were being repolished so why worry?

*sigh* 

To Heshams credit he took it in his stride but a pretty easy job with minimal damage ~ maybe a light sand and re coat? ..... Turned into a monumental job with a massive amount of sanding and then coating. He has signs everywhere and I have sent long and boring / nagging text messages to all concerned and asked them to Become Fairies ..... To float like Fairies .... to think like gentle delicate Fairies. I also suggested maybe they could pretend it is THEIR floors they are floating Fairy like above and being Fairy gentle and using Fairy dust drop sheets and covers on their tools ......I have also made it very very clear ~ Damage it? Then YOU pay for the repair ..... look at the next pictures and tell me it is seriously not the most swoonworthy floor .....

Leading into the Guest Bedroom near Toilet and Bathroom

  

Our Bedroom

   

The lounge looking into Book Nook

The Stairs *faint with joy*

The Stairs initially caused a bit of a ruckus as I said I wanted them "Hamptons Style". We had brand new stairs installed so why not make them Fabulous? This will be the VERY first thing you see when you come in for a visit to either FS VINTAGE or ~ have arrived to simply sit on The Mandeck and relax with a beverage.
The Painter now has to go back and do the Stringers as he thought we wanted them polished ..........
I will now spend the next 5 days worrying myself sick and it could have been avoided ~ if everyone had stuck to their time frames ......

But it is a Renovation and none of it is meant to go smoothly is it? All the above pictures are with the first two coats applied and the next one is with the final coat which will dull down to a semi gloss which is what we wanted. 

*Blissful sigh* The Kitchen Floor.

Tonight has also been interesting. We were looking at The Lounge Looking into Book Nook picture when I said to Mr Fab ....

Me: Hmm wheres the plug for the TV?
Mr Fab: Should be on that wall *makes picture bigger*
Me: There is no plug or TV Ariel socket
Mr Fab: *scoff* There has to be
Me: Nope
Us: *blink blink*

I sent the Sparky a text message after checking the multitude of fully paid invoices and it now appears there are Two Phases of Electrical work ~ Phase One is putting in the wires and Phase Two is pulling them all through and doing the plugs / outlets ........ 

 Awwwwwww come on ~ you are kidding right?

Our Electrician had changed the appointment we booked and confirmed so basically we would not have been able to set up the TV or DVD player for another three days after we move in ..... not a biggie in the Grand Scheme Of Life but we were both a bit excited to have finally brought a little luxury ~ a new TV for the first time in 7 years ......

Rebooked for him to go to the house on Friday .........

I have to hose down and clean the Zen Balcony because of the dust and dirt before I can go out there and be Zen .......... Just sayin

12 Days to go folks ~12 days to go.

 Is it ok to buy wine by the case?

Stay Fabulous

fs vintage
xx