What were you thinking??

This came from one of the younger carpenters very early on when this window went in -

and at the time I had to agree with him - the enormous picture window wasn't what I was expecting at all - but it did give us a magnificent view of our lovely new neighbour's laundry, washing line and west wall - ok not great. But hopefully with the aid of our landscape designers, they have plans to turn it into a Japanese themed garden with weeping maples and a metal screen so one day it will be a highlight to look at.

Now this bath has caused us more stress than any other fixture - it is in our ensuite and the initial plan was to tile the horizontal surface with the same mosaics that are on the vertical surface. The tilers were against the idea for a couple of reasons, mostly that the tiles were glass like and could not be cut on an angle which would be needed to go around the curves. And they couldn't guarantee that the surface would be flat and all in all would look a bit rubbish.  So back to Helen we went. She spent the afternoon looking for a reasonably priced replacement and came back with a dark brown tile with dark grouting so it matched the mosaics - giving the bath a floating look.

 And this is it -

Not quite. Looks fine (and I do love the mosaics) but not even close to what we wanted. So we pointed this out politely to our builder who replied that because we didn't move the bath out the 5cm the builder wanted to make the tilers job easier (at the cost of $1000 thanks very much) that obviously we didn't want the change of tiles either. And he saved us $100 in the replacement cost. Geoff saw red (and I agreed with him)- it all  got a bit tense to say the least. 

So without asking the builder just used the tiles from the floor, and if we want to replace it with what we had chosen, then that would cost us close to another thousand - because we would have to rip it all off and start again. He would not admit he got it wrong despite a very clear email trail. Things were very frosty for a while.. (ok, this may not look like a big deal but that is what months of building will do to you - sense of proportion gets blown away)

Anyway - this is our lovely shower, with a rain soaker hanging for the ceiling (It is a cave like shower)

and the taps are in -

And for those of you visiting, your shower etc are waiting - (proper posh this room!)

 And the kitchen is just about done - we think this is our first really big mistake though -

The return/breakfast bar at the end is enormous - it takes up a lot of bench space

and is very close to the sliding door out onto the alfresco.

 It does look good though...

The splash back went in - silver and all in one piece - no grouting to clean- happy about that.

Oven and induction cook top - again easy to clean (this is more important than how it functions at this stage..) with our pull out drawers for oils etc located handily)

       steamer and microwave - located just in the entrance of our pantry. They will put all the cupboard doors on last thing as they don't want them scratched.

Nice big double sink and pull out tap

 If you want the name of an excellent local joiner then we would recommend Caliber Joinery without hesitation - just been wonderful to work with - we will be using them again to fit out the lounge room and rumpus room after we move in.

And our entrance light went in - really, really like this. You will be able to see it from the street.

Three weeks to go until handover, then a week to do floor coverings and decking - It's all coming together now.

Well, I don't have to wake up every morning and look at it...

One of the joiners when we told him the colour that we had previously chosen for our walk in ward robe. I still don't think it would have been too bad (it was a dark brown ) and I am a bit disappointed in the blandness of the shelves in the now finished robes. But I guess they won't date and let's face it - they will be covered with clothes all the time any way.

The outside hasn't changed so only inside shots today - scale is a bit hard to judge, you all just have to come look yourself...

 We are getting close - about a month away from finishing - all the main painting is done (kids got to choose s feature wall each), we  have finally selected a finish for the front of our bench and the carpet colour is chosen (charcoal).

 Study nook

 Meaghan's room (it is actually a bit brighter than this)

 Henry's room - notice the two plain white plastic covers in the bottom right hand corner? The electrician cut out the holes for the power point and data point in the wrong spot (behind the heater) and decided to cover them up rather than, I don't know, patch them up maybe??? All should have been done before the painters were in...

And Matt's room - looks so good. What you can't see is that each window frames the tree tops so it is a natural gallery, changing with the seasons (And Matt probably won't even notice - outside exists in only in theory.. 

and the lounge room - the carpet will be the same tone as the wall - just a bit darker - and there will eventually be joinery along the bottom of the wall.

 Finally have gotten our glass panels next to the front door

 Stair lights are in

 old picture of kitchen but hasn't changed yet - still waiting for the bench front to come in (have settled on a diamond shaped brushed satin stainless steel)

The downstairs light switches  (ok getting dull now..) - still hoping the switch for the fan will appear on the far wall and the electrician puts in the dimmer switches we paid for in the lounge room...

It's all the little things that are adding up to be really annoying at the moment - it doesn't help that the main electrician is an idiot....

Decision fatigue has set in and it will be a relief to move in just so we don't spend our night debating the pros and cons of taps, power points, bench finishes etc anymore.

Having a second meeting with a landscape designer this week - he is very excited to get a chance to work on our block, hope we can get some enthusiasm up for him.

Look dear, they're building a fort...

I have decided that all my post titles from now on will be quotes from friends, builders or any one really...

This week quote comes from an old family friend talking to his wife, who was viewing the pictures for the first time. The kids would have loved turrets...

And the front door is finally in position - just waiting for the side window panels now -

two weeks ago -

Then last weekend when we visited the house, we weren't expecting anything to have happened but turned the corner and found this waiting for us - nice and solid, the handrail to be added near the end of the build.

Love the Ironbark wood

All the silver paper went on to protect the front door during the rains, still waiting for lockup

And all the internal walls are done, giving us a better idea of the space we have -

this is our bedroom, with inset above the bed -

This is our walk in - walk past really - wardrobe - yep, it is way over the top and amuses us in an embarrassed sort of way every time we see it

Family room, 

Kitchen, the waste pipe is in the wrong place by a few centimetres, meaning the bench has had to be altered a little (extending feature tiles down the front of the bench and no kickboard at the front), will await judgement as to how that will turn out -

Rumpus room, nice and bright and sunny, a good size we think at this stage - I'm standing in Meaghan's bedroom, also facing north with great views, probably the pick of the bedrooms.

 We have found a number of these leaf imprints in the floor in the family room, it seems a shame that they will be covered up with tiles..

And this is our new backyard, still lots of room, just need a garden designer to help plan it all out- I have no idea.

The tilers have been in this week, internal doors have been hung -

                  then the painters and the joiners are next up, all happening very quickly now.

We have a front door!

Granted, it is sitting in the garage rather than it the big hole at the front of the house but it will make those last important steps this week!

 

Our  ensuite bath -framing

 and then initial gyprocking - our original tiling (mosaics on the top) isn't going to work so we are currently deciding what to do - but there will be mosaics on the vertical curving bit -

 

 Some of our wiring (eep) - this is Geoff's play cupboard where all things data/audio visual will run out of

 And the scene of our first theft on site - someone wandered in (and we have our suspicions..) and grabbed a handful of speaker wire and snipped them off at the top.  I suppose we should be thankful that was all they wanted but will mean that there will be joiners along the wire, not sure how that will affect things later down the track..


My walk in pantry and kitchen - Henry is now officially bored with the whole thing -

 Initial plaster work on the ceiling is all done, starting to get a feel for the room now

  And the front entrance is getting higher and higher -

The gyprocking as all done now, so they have to get it prepared for painting next, still very rough at the moment.

Everything is ramping up, We saw the joiners yesterday, they are going to start on the laundry (the easiest) as soon as possible and then they are hoping to start on the kitchen in the next three weeks. They are keen for the stairs to go in so they don't have to haul cabinetry up the ladder, I get that...

 It is all on track for a September finish date, maybe even sooner. Will have better photos next time as Geoff has taken most on his iphone and my computer log in does not like them at all.

All Unwrapped - for the moment

Ok, this all happened a month ago, we've been a bit busy moving to update the blog, the house is coming along nicely now.The scaffolding came down and then went back up again to do the roof etc. But for a few weeks, the house was showing some of it's potential...

 We keep referring to the finish as crisp, but that seems to be the best way to describe it. The work so far has been top quality and we are so pleased with the results so far.

 

 The front door and side windows are still coming, can't wait for them to arrive.

 The side of the house, meaghan's room upstairs, guest room, bathroom and laundry and door into the garage down stairs

 The entrance hall. the photo is taken from where the stairs will start, the landing is already there and the rest will remain open - it is a wonderful space (I still can't believe how high the ceiling will be here)

 The back, the cocky's have had their autumn fun, hence the greenery on the ground. Happy there is still plenty of backyard.

 The front, the tree is still hanging in there.

The roof is now on, the electrical and plumbing has started going in and they are currently rendering all the red brick areas. Winter has set in this week so glad they have all but finished all the outside bits. We've been very lucky with the weather only losing a couple of days, but now it can rain (please).

We are not sure what the rules are about putting the plans up with regards to copyright etc so I won't put them up here. You will just have to come and visit if you want to check out the floorplan (there will be a nice guest room for you...).