Who woulda thought bathroom fittings could almost lead to divorce...

Okay, well it wasn't that bad, but while we've managed to get 'a second opinion/quote' on most things, we ran out of time for our bathroom fittings quote...

Low and behold, the husband gets the call today saying we have to confirm our selections... Panic! We only have the one (quite expensive) quote and really wanted to check out some other options - especially as we'd actually seen some 'stuff' (online) that looked a LOT like the other 'stuff', but at a fraction of the price... That said, the quote was still in our 'contingency budget', but you know, if the other stuff looks as good, why wouldn't we at least check it out?

So, the husband and I enter into an 'over-the-phone-at-work discussion' (you know the type! The type where you don't really want to get 'into it' at work, but you really have to, 'cos we need to confirm this stuff... Today!)...

After nattering and firing back/forth some emails with preferences/price variations, the husband gets a bit shirty cos it's all a bit too hard, too 'complicated' as he doesn't want to have to use two different suppliers, run around at the last minute OR moreover, ring our builders' supplier contact to change it... On the other hand, the wife is adamant to check out option b. If they're available, suitable and cheaper, why the hell not? It's not just about price though, because some of the price differences aren't 'that' much, but a) it all adds up and b) some of the products are actually nicer...

So the wife agrees to ring 'option b' supplier to see if they have the 'stuff' in stock, to which she receives a resounding 'yes', followed by a, 'er, we usually do'... A little contradictory, but we should at least have a look at them... Now...

The wife confirms this with the hubby, arranges to pick him up from work post haste and we high-tail it to the 'reputable bathroom fittings supplier' in our sudden 'lunch break'... The husband is visibly unimpressed when the wife pulls up, but the wife is adamant to keep smiling and give this a go. At worst, we can walk away and say, 'nup, we'll just go with the original quote'... At best, we can get some awesome tapware and save some bucks...

So I'm guessing you can guess what happened? Oh yes! 'Twas worth pursuing, even if it was a little rushed/under pressure... and perhaps had we realised we needed to confirm 'today', we may have spent one of our Saturdays doing this at a more leisurely pace...

But alas, most of it was sorted in the one swift visit (a lot swifter than lighting guy!) (shower mixers had to be ordered, and will hopefully be received 'in time' for the plumber's 'roughing in' next Friday - another issue that brought sheer panic to the husband) and we got a few quotes for 'other' things to 'think about'... at least for the next 12 hours...

In analysing the situation 'after the fact' and 'knowing my husband as I think I know him', I think it was more about the urgency of it all that got to him; he's a man that needs to think about these things and process it and was therefore quite happy to let it slide due to the lack of time. Me, on the other hand, thinks, 'if it's too late and we don't have a choice, fine, but if we can still do it, I say do it'...

By the time I got home, the husband had calmed down, was cooking dinner and when I walked in, said (before I said anything at all - I wasn't even going to mention it!): 'Munchkin, I worked it out, you saved us $1500'... Sweeeet! So yes, he'd gone back to work, done the maths, appreciated that it was still 'possible' and I was on side again. Apparently it was worth the effort... Furthermore, he is now keen to go with all the other 'alternatives' we got quotes for today... (He was ready to leave the shop, while I was running round comparing the rest of the quote - ha!) Well, kill me for doing a bit of homework, eh...

I'll spare the details (eg what our toilets, laundry sink, plug holes and other such exciting things look like!) and just post the funky fittings we decided on... And just for an example, maybe you can tell the difference between these basin mixers, but they're pretty similar, huh?! One was $430; the other $199... And when you're ordering a few of 'em... you can guess which ones we went for!

This funky spout (not part of the set above, but again, matches pretty well!) will go in my, I mean, 'our' funky corner bath in the ensuite...

In continuing the chunky, square theme, the shower mixers:

Toilet roll holder/towel rail:

Bath spout in main bathroom:

Second storey frame

We stopped by one night to see that the second storey frame is on... w'hoo...















The next time I dropped by, the boys were busy adding 'my' balcony... Pauly loves the way I keep referring to my favourite parts of the house as 'mine'... 'my balcony', 'my spa', 'my walk-in wardrobe'... in the same way I seem to refer to 'my wedding'...















When I asked them if I could take some photos from the back (ie go on site w/o safety gear/in me high heels ;)), they stopped what they were doing and said, 'if you ask us, we have to say no, but if you just sneak past, we won't know'.

Righty-ho then, done. View from the back, patio, stacking doors, etc...



















































On my next visit, I discovered the roof trusses had been added (and we're now higher than our neighbours :)) and just how damn big my 'spa window' is! Pauly scaled the frame last night and was in awe of how big 'our' walk-in wardrobe is - cool! 'Bout time I had enough room for all my shoes!!

Ging in the Big Blue House...

I was wrong; the second floor frame goes on on Monday... But, since I last left you, the flooring has been put in on the second floor - the husband even climbed up the frame (naughty!) to get a bird's, well, a muscat's eye view.

And while we didn't manage to carve our initials into the concrete before it hardened, I did notice a very cool little incidental way that we have 'made our mark' in our first lovely home together as the 'Muscats'... it's a bit cute:















I did a bit of a walk-through... and the husband, well, he got so excited he made little videos, complete with commentary a la, 'now we're in the garage... this is the front door... laundry, kitchen, etc....' :)

So, from the front...















Looking through/standing in double garage...















Front door/foyer, in I go...


































Looking through front door to spare room/study...















Looking from the back to the dining/kitchen...















Looking from back to built-in book 'nook'/stereo and lounge...















Looking to back from kitchen...

Blue Steel :)

My puns are getting worse aren't they...

Hanyways...

So the first floor frame is up - as you can see when I dropped by, the boys were 'very busy' - having a cuppa tea and foreman's meeting I think (sitting in our would-be garage)... I did overhear some muttering about 'the trusses' and 'no, this goes here' and 'they'll have to wear that cost'... so not sure what that's about, but will leave it to the husband if it gets, er, 'tricky' ;)

So, here it is - ground floor...

The front door:

A splash of green (and a lesson in customer service...)

Okay, enough of the boring dirt and concrete, already...

Meanwhile, back at the 'fittings selection branch', we had to pick our lighting... gee, it was painful...

After three attempts with our 'referred' (as opposed to 'preferred' for reasons which will soon become obvious) supplier (I won't mention names), the horrible little man finally attended to us... The first time we went in, they hadn't returned our calls to confirm our appointment, so we just turned up as we were 'in the area', and while there wasn't another customer in the place, they told us to come back when we had an appointment! The guy was a rude little shit who seemed annoyed we'd ruined his Saturday morning by coming into his workplace and didn't really seem interested in dealing with customers... My 'first impression' was that he should reconsider his choice of career in retail - er, where customer service rates pretty high!

When we asked a question, he said it was his first week, 'but I've had 20 years' experience in lighting'. Whatever, mate, if you need to flash your credentials at me, then they're obviously not apparent...

Next visit (bearing in mind, this isn't 'just down the road' - it's a half hour drive, early on a Saturday am!), we got there and the bastards didn't have our electrical plans! Our builder had emailed them through, but noooooo, same lazy shit (that I was getting less and less fond of), couldn't be arsed finding them... Another guy there was reasonably helpful/cheerful and when I asked if we could use their computer to download them from our email account, he said we could try. The other lazy little shit looked at us like we were ruining his morning again as if he'd rather be at home playing computer games eating Burger King... You know the 'type'! Their system didn't permit gmail, so we were out of luck... Grrr... So we made ANOTHER appointment... Another early Saturday morning drive...

Third time 'lucky', we were delayed slightly (15mins?) by our bathroom fitting appointment beforehand. We get there and on apologising for being 'a bit' late, FLS (fat lazy shit) says, 'yeah, well, it was meant to be 8.30'. Charming. Way to treat your customer! It was actually 10.30 as our previous appointment was 8.30, and as I said, we were about 15 mins late... Sheesus...

I'd already mentioned to Paul in the car that I was probably going to want to throw something at this eejit or spear him with a fluoro, but said I'd just play 'the silent partner' this week and bite my tongue... So the delightful beast finally treated us as 'customers' and took us through our extensive list, sharing his OPINION, I mean, '20 years' experience', about what we should/shouldn't select, beginning each sentence with, 'In my personal opinion...' *NB, I really HATE it when someone says that. ie if 'you're' saying it, then clearly it is YOUR opinion... and therefore it is personal. Idiot.

Hanyways... I bit my tongue, acted so unresponsive to his repulsiveness that Pauly thought I genuinely didn't care what we picked... it wasn't that; I commented on stuff I 'really' had an opinion on and went with consensus where I didn't. I was just being careful with my words - a rarity for my usual verbose and opinionated self, but I just wanted this to be as painless as possible... AND, I knew if I didn't, I may end up punching/piercing the FLS.

We got there in the end. Mind you, while we were making a few last decisions, bozohead buggered off to see other customers and took forever to come back and finalise our order. By this point, I went and sat in the car... again, to minimise the potential to cause personal harm...

Pauly thought I was being a little harsh on the FLS, but now that it's, oooh, about a month since we were out there and the FLS still hasn't sent our quote through, Pauly is now on my side about his 'customer service' skills... and said, 'uck him, we should just go elsewhere.'

In the meantime, we checked out Beacon Lighting just out of curiosity/comparison (as the other place didn't seem to have an extensive range), who delivered excellent service, sourcing stock from other stores, and communicating with us regularly. Within a few days, we had some lime-ish green pendant lights for the breakast bar and a big leafy green one over the a dining room table, both of which were on sale - hurrah! As they only had floor stock left in the breakky bar ones, they ordered us new 'kits', but gave us floor stock covers, so they were further reduced!

So, a little bit of 'colour' in the kitchen/dining area, which should still go with the neutral/taupe colour scheme...

I'll add the rest of our selections later - if we ever get our quote back from FLS...

The big pour...

Well, despite being two days after they said they'd do the pour, it finally happened in the wee hours of Saturday morning...

Ta-da... a lovely concrete slab...

And seriously no yard - yikes!

When ma baby, when ma baby smiles at me I go to Rio...

Just trying to jazz up the titles a little...

So once I again, I 'stalked' the block to get some snaps of the rio, before the big pour tomoz...

A bit more bricking since yesterday too... so we can finally see the house perimeter - and just how much backyard the poor wuppies will lose... eek!

Very exciting though, it's looking good!