Kitchen and Vanities are in!

We have cabinets!!

Our site supervisor called late today to tell us the kitchen, vanities and laundry cabinets were in. Very exciting, so of course we had to head straight up to the house to have a look.

And of course, this is the first time ever that we are actually locked out... so some pretty average photos through the dirty windows and taken with the camera on my phone, as I wasn't prepared for a visit.

First couple of shots are the kitchen. I couldn't get one of the big island bench without reflections, but didn't look too much without the benchtop anyhow. The stone benchtops will now be measured up and ordered.

Next is the main bathroom. This is the laminate benchtop that changed and I am very happy with it. You can't see the detail here - so here is the laminex colour swatch.

Laundry.... we have a little problem here. We have discovered our specs and drawings are inconsistent and the build is per the drawings - which are wrong. We have emailed Carlisle tonight and hopefully it will be fairly clear that they need rebuilding. Basically the trough should be to the far right, not left. It is too far from the washing machine space to be workable. But - loving the colours!

Our ensuite. Two cupboards either side of a set of drawers. Can't wait for the ceasarstone benchtop and undermount basins to go in. Should look very speccy!

We also got confirmation today that the painters should start this week, or early next week at the latest. They are planning to have fixing stage complete this week, which means the rest of the doors on tomorrow - including our glam front door.

Next week when we are up there for the curtains and blinds to be measured up, we will arrange to have access. So will suss out all the cabinets properly then and take proper photos.

All coming together very nicely!

Decking and Landscaping

Third post of the day!

We met with a guy yesterday who will quote on decking, concreting, earth moving etc.... He was recommended by our site supervisor (his next door neighbour). We have previously had a decking quote, so will be able to compare. We should have the quote within the week.

The diagram below shows more or less what we are planning to do initially. We would like to put in a pool down the track, which would be at the back of the house. So, for now...

• exposed aggregate concrete driveway
• front fencing on each side of house - same as boundary post and wire fences, with farm gates
• decking from front door, including removal of 'dirt wall' in front of entrance, to be graded similar to driveway
• battening of land on each side of house to lessen the step up from the site cut
• some levelling on 'dead' side of house (ready for our future orchard - well fruit trees...)
• concrete path down side of house, including wider at garage as we will probably put a clothesline on the garage wall
• small deck outside our bedroom (sliding door there)
• and.... the big one - a large area of decking extending from alfresco. We will deck a metre further out the back and four metres out to the side. Total will be about 9.2m x 4.2m. Should be big enough!

We then need to consider planting, but shall probably get all this done first. Wouldn't be a bad start!

Curtains and Blinds

We have been on the hunt for curtains and blinds - as at a minimum we need to have the bedroom and ensuite in place before we move in.

Finally we have found a shop (in the next town) that will be able to do exactly what we want. And they were lovely people too! It is a small family business, but with a great showroom and a million fabrics to select from.

My main problem has been trying to find the right 'silver' fabric for the bedroom curtains. I hadn't found anything that matched what was in my head, until yesterday... and of course it is a 100% silk and costs more than we thought we would need to pay. It is perfect and we have decided to go for it. The colour is a very light silver and will complement the charcoal carpet nicely and have a little shimmer.

We are on leave the week after next, so they shall come and measure all the windows in the house one day that week. We also decided on a roller blind for ensuite and bathroom.

I still think we will wait until we are in to decide on the family and living rooms. Most likely romans out the back and drapes in the lounge. I just need the flooring and furniture in place to be able to decide on colours. We will also organise blinds for the other bedrooms at that time.

So very happy to finally have that part of the equation under control.

Oh, and after being at the shop we decided to go to a local winery for lunch and were served by the mother of the woman who runs the curtain shop. It is a small world up there and everyone knows (or is related to...) everyone. And I mean that in a nice way!

A little progress

We had some hope that the kitchen would be in - but not yet. It will be next week though.

Not a lot to report
- all skirtings and architraves now finished
- more doors on, including pantry doors
- showers have been waterproofed (and the stuff stinks!)

Plus, our lovely front door has been delivered. I don't expect they will put it on for a while though, to avoid damage.

We have been told that they should be ready to start painting in the week following Easter, so a couple of weeks away.

Just a couple of shots, nothing too exciting!

Eaves and skirtings

Well we are into the fixing stage - whatever that means!

Progress this week is
- most doors are on, except for wardrobe doors and the laundry (they are in the entrance way waiting to go)
- all window architraves are on
- skirtings are on for about two thirds of the house
- under the eaves has now been finished, aside from painting of course

Our kitchen and bathroom vanities are being built and hopefully will appear next week. A couple of changes there - the kitchen cupboards needed to be made larger than the standard plan to fit our selected sinks, so the cupboard next door needed to be made smaller. We have asked for this to be two pot drawers instead. Just waiting for final drawings to come through for us to sign off on.

And... we got a call this week telling us the laminate we had chosen for the vanity top in the bathroom and the powder room has been discontinued. I had noticed a while ago that it had disappeared from the Laminex website, so was more or less expecting this news. We have now chosen 'Fudge Stream' which was my original choice way back until I got worried it was too brave! I am happy with it now, will look good I think.

So some photos. Firstly outside showing the eaves.



See architraves and skirtings below!



Looking from the back room up the hallway. Doorway to laundry is on the right.

The entrance to our bedroom with double doors and double doggies.

The other hallway with bedrooms going off. Showing doors and architraves. Looking much more finished now. Surely we can move in soon!

We will probably head out to the display house again this weekend or next - it has been a while and we haven't been since the build started. Given the house is to be finished as per the display, it will be a good time to remind ourselves of some of the finer details.

Hope to have photos of a kitchen next week!

Carpet and Couch

The carpet we had selected a few months ago has been discontinued.... so for the last couple of weeks we have been running around trying to find grey toned carpet - it is very hard!

I am very happy now, and basically happy the first one got discontinued as I love the new carpet. We haven't ordered it yet, but have found two places that can do it for us and just need to decide who to order through.

The carpet is Tuftmaster Romany in colour Ironbark, 100% wool. The pic here from the website does not show the true colour. It is a true charcoal grey and doesn't have the brown undertones that many of the 'greys' seem to have.


Next, our big sofas which I wrote about in January. Well I went back to the shop the other day to show Mum the sofas and the colour. My memory of the colour was different - but ok as I still like it! Below is a more accurate colour swatch than what I posted last time.

Hello!

Not so much exciting progress this week, but still moving along with the plaster more finished and cornices are up. The brickies were back doing a few touch ups today too. The rooms are definitely real rooms now!

We met our site supervisor today for the first time, so that was good. He took us around the house talking through what happens next etc. He will meet with us again in a few weeks when the tiling is about to start.

Some excitement to come soon though - the kitchen is in the middle of being built and could be in late next week or soon after. Yaaaay!

Ok, some photos from today.

First one, Mum (visiting from Tassie for her 70th!) in the back room.

The lounge room. Hard to take a photo and get it all in. This is a nice size and will be great with the carpet we have finally chosen.... will do a separate post on colour updates.

A couple of shots of the bedroom and ensuite. We are planning to wallpaper the bedhead as a feature in here. The ensuite entrance looks good now all plastered.

And, the obligatory shot of a doggie!

We have been Plastered!

We are officially at lock up (we have a very big invoice!) - but we were able to get in today through the garage access door. Oh and then the bedroom door and front door were open too! Anyhow, nothing to steal except leftover plasterboard and cornicing, so not fussed yet.

Lots of photos today - firstly the outside. I could get to the front door today and am totally over feeling disappointed about its position. It is absolutely fine and feels spacious, thankfully.
Next photo shows the bricking complete on the side of the house. It looks like they have done a great job.

We took the dogs for a walk around the walking tracks. This is our house taken from the walking track nearby. Not too close at all - may reconsider if we need privacy as well as blockout window dressings in the bedroom... We went carpet and curtain/blind shopping today and I am totally confused!

Now for the plaster. It is so great to now exactly know how the room sizes feel. First shot is the hob near the entrance. I need to find something to put on this...

Our bedhead with niche. I am thinking that this will be wallpapered - have some favourites, but need to finalise carpet and window dressings first.

A very happy Tess in the ensuite!

Our kitchen. This is looking really big! I can't wait to see it all fitted out.

Our big back room - now feeling really big! It is weird how the plaster makes the spaces feel bigger. We will wait until we are in to decide on window furnishing here, I need to see it with the new sofas etc.

Kirk waiting at the back door to come in! He had already raced in and out the garage door heaps of times. The doggies had heaps of fun.