Week 18 update

With the house being locked up and with protective film on the windows it has been difficult to keep track of the progress of late. However, since my last post about the lighting and electrics, the following items have been ticked off the list:

• Quantum Quartz bench tops have been installed. We can only see the kitchen ones but I'm guessing the bathrooms have also been done. The kitchen one looks lovely!
• The baths, basins and toilets are no longer in the front living room, so one would hope they are now installed upstairs rather than missing!
• The kitchen and laundry taps are installed so once again I'm guessing that upstairs has also been done.
• The hot water service has been installed.

We have another progress meeting with our SS tomorrow morning so hopefully I can get some photos then. 

In the meantime, we have sourced a fencing contractor and are finalising our rear deck dimensions. We've also been given the contact details for the guy doing our exposed aggregate driveway in case we want to add in any matching paths etc, but that will all depend on the budget. 

Hopefully we'll have our handover date confirmed tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Happy Easter everyone!

Week 17 - Let there be light!

I think today has been the most exciting day of the build for me since the frame was assembled. Early this morning we dropped off all of our pre-purchased light fittings to the house as the electricians were ready to fit them. Both our cars were full (not hard given their respective sizes) and I had to come back for a second trip to get the last and largest one. 

This afternoon I called around to drop something else off to the electrician and they were 80% done with all of the lights and power points. Please forgive the less than great quality photos once again.

I am totally in love with our kitchen island pendants!
 Andy's choice - great job Babe!

The tiles either side of the splash back window will also be black.
Benchtop is a speckly white colour.

Family Room

Over the Dining Room table

I was so worried this would look too
big but it's awesome!

LED Downlights are scattered throughout.

Our Indulgence. Clipsal Saturn Light Switches

Research indicates that this type of light is the best kind for
shaving and makeup application.
We have them above the mirrors in the main bathroom and ensuite.
Apparently downlights just cast a shadow on your face. 

Both garage doors have been installed but the large one
was retracted so I couldn't get a photo.

Our fancy lights are going to need some fancy new things to match them. But not until we have paid for essentials like fencing and window coverings. It is going to be an expensive year. Baked beans on toast for dinner perhaps?

Painting Update

As scheduled, this morning we met with our site supervisor to have a look at the painting progress and find out what to expect for the next few weeks. The paint colour looks great! It looks either greyish or light beige depending on the light and has a nice warmth to it without looking yellowy or old fashioned. It looks a bit brown in this photo, which is a bit misleading.

Dulux White Duck - Half Strength.
It looks it's warmest here with a North East aspect.
It looks like the painters have set up camp!

The feature wall in the front living area has also been painted. We love the colour and can't wait to see our light coloured lounge in front of it. I think the contrast will be lovely! 

Dulux Malay Grey feature wall to front living room and master bedroom.

Believe it or not the wall on the left in the photo above is the same colour as the wall in the top photo but this room faces South and the light quality is very different. I'm sure the dodgy camera on my HTC One doesn't help! (I take back my comments about user error with the camera in previous posts. It turns out it is a software problem!)

This pendant will go in the room above.

And a couch in this colour - 3 seater with a chaise on the left.

Next week we can expect to see:

• Plumbing fit off for baths, basins taps, toilets etc. We can't wait to see the freestanding bath in place. (I'm not sure if that includes mirrors and shower screens. I think they come a bit later to minimise damage).
• Stone bench tops to kitchen, powder room, main bathroom and ensuite will be installed.
• Electrical fit off. We have to drop all of our light fittings off for the electrician on Wednesday morning and explain where everything goes including the height of the pendants etc. My current office will look double the size when all of those lighting boxes are gone!
• Garage roller doors installed - large at the front and a single at the back.

Also between now and Easter we should see the outside render touched up and painted and the block retaining wall out the back finally done. The brickies have been hard to pin down to a time to come back for that task apparently.

The driveway, carpet and timber flooring are all due by the end of April. Not long to go now!

Week 16

The rain has finally eased, which makes it easier to get to the house, but we still can't really see anything because of the protective covers that the painters have put on all of the windows. I peered through a hole in the front door and apart from feeling like a complete desperado, I could see that they have done at least one more coat of paint. I still love the colour! 

I can also see that some vanity basins have arrived ready for installation. No sign of the stone benchtop yet but that won't be far away.

We also finally have signs of some neighbours starting their builds with one block cut late last week, and another done either yesterday or today. One is the same builder as us but our site supervisor said he won't be looking after it as they are getting him to focus more on a huge estate out West which is apparently going gangbusters. It will be interesting to watch the progress of the other homes, but I'm sure the sound of saws and nail guns will get a bit tiresome once we have moved in and I am working from home.

Our SS said he might be able to give us a target handover date when we meet with him on Friday. We have started getting some fencing quotes in anticipation of getting them sorted as soon as we have handover.

I'll try and take some progress photos on Friday. Its not as easy as I expected as I generally find that I want to concentrate on everything the SS is explaining. Maybe I'm not such a great multi-tasker after all!

A very soggy Week 15

Given the heavy rain all week it hasn't been very easy to check on progress of the house without getting drenched and caked in mud. So there are not many new photos but I have managed to retrieve more from my dodgy phone so here are the main bathroom ones from the other week.

Shower with simple feature tile and
storage niche

Awaiting quartz benchtop, basin, mirror,
powerpoint, lighting, bath, taps...........

Bath Hob in a dark charcoal to match the floor.

We figured the last of the minor plasterboard jobs had been completed as we received our fixing stage invoice yesterday. It really feels like we are on the home stretch now. 

Today during a break in the rain I headed out to see what I could see in the way of progress. The painters had wisely used some waste materials to make some stepping stones up to the garage so I tiptoed in to meet them and see how it was all going. 

They have finished preparing all of the surfaces, covered all of the windows, cabinetry and shelving with plastic and sheets and have done one coat on most of the walls. They expect to be finished by next Friday. That includes the last of the outside painting too, which is minimal. Hopefully they get a dry day to work on that. 

Painting underway.

The wall colour looks great so far, although it will be easier to gauge it more accurately once the other coats are on. Hopefully the painters got the variation we did a few weeks ago to add in a second internal feature wall. They have done a great job of the outside painting so far.

Outside rear - our lovely cladding over the alfresco in Dulux Stony Creek.

We've got an appointment with a fencing contractor on Sunday morning to start getting some quotes. Hopefully they are in the ball park of what we are anticipating. 

I also started getting some removalist quotes this week. Whilst I wouldn't say they are cheap by any stretch of the imagination, they are certainly better than the price of my recent interstate move - thankfully!

Tiling Photos from last week

After some remote guidance from our IT guy in Melbourne I have managed to restore my phone (for now). That means my tiling photos have been saved. We love how the tiles have turned out. They look fantastic. I can't wait to see them all clean and sparkly. Sorry about the poor quality photos! I'll take the proper camera next time.

Main Bathroom floor with Bermuda Tile Insert Drains

Powder Room with 450mm x 450mm Belga Charcoal porcelain tiles

Laundry - same tiles as the powder room which is next door.

Kitchen splashback tiles around splashback window will be
installed once benchtop has been installed.

Stacker stone is coming up a treat!

Feature tile in ensuite shower.

Storage niche above the end of the bath.

Storage niche in the shower

I'll try and get some photos of the main bathroom on our next visit. 

Andy and I spent Sunday evening sorting through our light fittings and working out what height our pendants should hang at. We have done some research on this and have come up with our preferred heights. We just hope they look good once all the furniture is in place. 

Hopefully the painters made a start on Monday. I might have to pop around tomorrow and see if I can see any colour on the walls.

Apart from the painting, the next couple of weeks will see the plumbing and electrical fit offs. Bring on our lovely freestanding bath. I have no doubt it will get a workout on the first day we move in. Mmmmm lovely! 

A Friday update

Given the stress that has been going on at work, its nice to have something exciting to focus on at home. This morning we had another meeting with our SS and got to check out the finished tiling in the bathroom, ensuite, laundry and powder room plus the stacker stone on the front facade. The kitchen splashback tiling around the window will be done once the stone bench top is in place.

The benchtop has been measured for the Quantum Quartz. It takes about 7 working days to arrive. The kitchen sink has been delivered and a few other boxes of unidentified bits and pieces are sitting in the fridge cavity. I didn't get a chance to take a close look at them but am guessing they are either tapware or door handles etc from the sizes of the boxes.

The tiler has done a fantastic job. We are really impressed with his finishes. I can't wait to see everything all clean and shiny. It's going to be beautiful!

The painters are due to start on the internals on Monday and will take about a week and a half and then all of the fit offs begin. We have been given the heads up that we'll need to supply all of our light fittings in about a fortnight. The spare room is full of boxes of lights. We might reclaim some of the bigger boxes for packing once the lights are installed.

Unfortunately there are no photos today because my phone has been having a conniption this week and wont let me access anything on it. It might be visiting a Telstra Shop on the weekend. What fun that will be!