Shower screens are in

We went for semi-frameless with bright silver frames. We loved the frameless screens but they were LOTS more moolah, and you get a big gap between the door and the frame, so lots of water can get out and splash onto the bathroom floor. . . I think not!

Double shower in the ensuite: Again. . .

Main bathroom shower:

Handover date is 26th Feb - 2 weeks today. Hurrah!

We have the bamboo floors going in on the 25th Feb, they'll probably take about 3 days. . . this will be done during and after handover, as we arranged it ourselves. . . so the rest of the house will be finished on or before 26th Feb and we'll get the keys then! (Metaphorically, as we've had keys ever since lockup). Hurrah! No more rental property!

Painters finished all they can

Also. .. painters finished up today, they even painted the front door, and I think it looks GREAT. . . but I forgot to take a piccie. . . bugger.

Will post pics on the weekend.

Balustrade well-oiled

I took a day's annual leave today so I could shove some decking oil on the balustrades. . . our friendly painter Stuart told me that we really should get the wood coated before it rained again, to avoid the wood getting water-stained. They came up great! Didn't really take that long and was super-easy. . . why doesn't paint have the same consistency as decking oil?

I forgot to take a close-up, but here they are. . notice that the alfresco ceiling has also been painted!

Oh yes. . . we only had two sections of the alfresco balustraded (is that even a word) as the section near the stacka doors is close enough to the ground to not need it. . . however, this looks crap and everyone keeps asking us "when are they going to come back and finish the balustrade? Why didn't they do it all at once?". . . so we've succumbed to peer pressure and have commissioned Boyen to do the other section. MORE EXPENSE!

Laundry cabinets installed.

I'm really pleased with the laundry cabinets. .. we went a bit "risque" and chose. .. A COLOUR!!!! So it'll probably be shockingly out-of-date in about 2 years, but laundries are a lot cheaper to furnish than kitchens, so we thought we'd take the chance. Laminex stipple seal for the cupboards, laminex diamond gloss something or other for the top. We got an extra special surprise when it came with a laundry tub, as we'd already bought one on ebay. Yay! Now we have to sell it again! Anybody want to buy a laundry tub?

We'd really like some extra wall cupboards, but they were about $550 and a bit of a luxury, so we thought we'd just wait a bit (and spend money on lots of other different things instead.) I was quite surprised at the amount of space in the laundry after the cupboards were in. . . I thought it would be really squeezy.

You can just see the laundry vac pan. . . this one's in the right place! (Steve realised that the other one was drastically wrong and corrected it before I arrived on site this morning. . .very good!)

Kitchen cabinets finished

Kitchen cabinets finished today! Here they are. . . well. . . almost finished. .. we're missing a few handles, apparently they're on backorder. . . maybe?

Here we can see where the rangehood will go. .. there're bulkheads above the wall cupboards too. Yay! Now I never have to clean up there!

Wednesday 10th Feb is KITCHEN DAY!

Oh yeah! Kitchen! YEAH!

They started putting it in today, I was there when they arrived but had to dash off to work (as they were a tad late. . . arrived at 11.15am!!!) So just caught a glimpse of the kickboards and explained where the vac pans should go. Here are the half-installed piccies. . . the kickboards look a little HUGE at the moment, as we've had the kitchen raised by 50mm. . . 33mm is to allow for the height of the bamboo flooring that's going down, the other 17mm is to add a bit of height as I hate bending down over the sink:
This is where the cooktop will go. . . rangehood overhead.

Fridge space is to the right (with our lonely little power point). Mmmmm. . . power! Must remember to take the radio on the weekend!

Here's where the two ovens will go, with the microwave on top. Peeking into the pantry to the right of it.

Dishwasher space and smaller space for the warming drawer. Sink goes right in front of the window. (Just in front of where Phil's mum's sitting. . . hello Laine! Obviously so awe-struck with our new kitchen that she needed to sit down.)

Cutlery drawers.

Oops. . . something wrong in this picture!

That's right. . . we're going to have a RAMP up from the floor to our vac pan!!! YEAH! Oops.

Alfresco balustrade installed

It's merbau timber and stainless steel wire. . . looks a bit more understated than the powdercoated steel and wire we were thinking of getting. . . We'll be coating the wood with decking oil soon. . . honest! It only goes around half of the alfresco, as we're adding more fill to the other side to reduce the drop. . . balustrades are only mandatory if the drop the other side is 1 metre or more.

Portico tilling finished

Nice tiles. .. but they really don't match the grey! Maybe it'll look better after the door is painted?

Portico tiles nearly done, painting continues. . .

We got to the house on Saturday and THE PAINTERS WERE THERE! Working on a Saturday, in Australia. . . GOOD LORD! (Not that we're complaining).

Portico tiles. . . . they look a bit brown against the grey of the walls. . . may have to re-think the colour of the bricks surrounding the door. . . Phil has been thinking STACKSTONES!!! Maybe we'll consider it if we win the lottery!

You'll see that some of the tiles are patterned, they have white triangles in the corners. . . courtesty of the painters not covering the tile pile inside with a sheet when they sprayed the ceilings! Oops! Hope it comes off!

So THAT'S how they do the cutting in around the skirtings! Think I'll be getting meself some of that blue tape for when we do the theatre room (the creamy coloured stuff I got is CRAP. . . though it did only cost about $1 a roll. . . hmmm. . . buy cheap pay dear??

Phil was telling me that the doors just look great now they've been painted. . . really fresh and white. The design isn't hip and cool like some peoples' doors (Loretta). . . we thought we'd keep it traditional and simple.

And we got some scotia on the alfresco ceiling. .. now it's all ready to paint!

Painters are GOOOOOO! Full steam ahead.

First coat seems to be finished on all the skirtings, architraves and most of the woodwork. First coat/undercoat of the ceilings and walls also done. Yeehargh!

Front spare bedroom (walls are 1/2 strength Taubmans White Lava). . . the colour's a bit of a funny one, I didn't want your old traditional beige, this has a slight tinge of something else. . . it's not a light brown, it's not a beige, I'm not sure what it is. . . but I think I like it!


Linen cupboard near spare bedrooms:

Rumpus room (also 1/2 strength White Lava)

Laundry (like most of the house - Taubman's Crisp White)

Dining room - Crisp White.

Side spare bedroom - White Lava.

Mosaics in bathroom were grouted yesterday!

Final pics: (no more, I promise)

Rendering of garage concrete walls. . .

Now, we didn't even think about the bits of concrete slab and dropped edge beam at the back of the garage. . . I suppose we always thought they'd put up a frame and gyprock it. . . but today, they're rendering it!

And we have a new pet. . .

Again. . . ewwww! I'd prefer another dog!

Painting has STARTED!

Phil says that all of the window architraves have had their first coat today. . . Hurrah! I think it's quite a fiddly job, they have to fill in all the holes first and sand them and . . . erm . . . stuff.

Stuart said he'd do an extra-careful job of the areas where we've already painted the walls, so our touching up will be minimal . . . not bad eh!

Mosaics in ensuite laid, still to be grouted.

Paint problem. . .

Received a phone call from the painter this morning saying that the colours we've chosen will need 1 coat of sealer and 2 top coats, and Jeff has only allowed for one coat of sealer and 1 top coat.

I've done a bit of painting in my time, and never have I been able to cover a wall in 1 coat! We trusted that Jeff knew what he was talking about when he told us the deal, thought he may have been using some kind of super-premium paint but it turns out it's just a trade-paint he specifies.

Apparently. . . there are colours that will cover with just one coat, but it took me long enough to decide on our colours in the first place, so I'm not going to change them now.

Upshot of all of this is, to do another top coat is going to cost us $1700 for the whole house, to upgrade to Wattyl ID paint from the trade paint (as trade paint doesn't wear as well as the good stuff) is going to cost another $500. . . there's $2200 we could do without spending right now!

Not happy Jan.

Also, due to rains and a highly muddy building site, our kitchen didn't go in today and looks like it won't be going in until the rains stop. . . .next week maybe?

At least the painter started (only two days late). . .

Vac pipes, holes filled, extra stair, supporting post. . .

Here's the finished recess in the bathroom. . . ahhhh. . .


The mosaics in the ensuite are close to being finished. Looking forward to seeing them grouted. . . still waiting for Phil to take a decent piccie of them!!! :)

Supporting post in the garage has been fixed. . . I'm sure I'll knock it down while trying to park.

Step has been installed in between upper and lower floors. . ..

Vac-pan has been pre-installed in the kitchen

And laundry. . .

And the plumber's errant hole has been plugged by the brickies. . . ready for us to paint again.