New Years

So I went for a quiet wander around the house, today. More has been done! While the office is closed between Christmas and New Years, evidently at least the brickies are still working. Our exterior window sills are (mostly) in now. They look good!

Also had a good think about the hallway and I have emailed Andrew to see if the wall can be moved. I know it's going to be a pain in the behind, but it's just too narrow and I think it will be much nicer if it is broadened.

Also started seriously thinking about the garden. It's going to need a LOT of work - but I am eager to get on to it ASAP as that will really blend the house into its surrounds, I feel. Have a few books I am flicking through for inspiration, but I am after a cool lush feel out the front and not entirely decided for the back yet.

And that leads to the other things I need to be thinking about:

• Curtains
• Paths
• Fencing
• Driveway
• More light fittings
• Furniture!

Christmas

So today I had a few hours to myself. The kids were at daycare, the cleaner was at our place, and I had finished the bookwork and done the posting.

So I dropped by the house.

It was quiet. No-one there. In fact all was boarded up. But there was still one way in - so I took a wander around the house - enjoying seeing it at yet another time of day!

So far I am so pleased with how it's going. It's coming together so well! I love each of the rooms and spaces. In fact, so far, the only thing I would change is the width in one section of the hallway. Not a big thing, but with the benefit of hindsight I would have done it a little differently. Not bad in the grand scheme of things!

It is a really peaceful home. Quiet. Heavens knows if it will stay that way after we move in, but I can only hope!

Wandering around the garden/compacted earth I can see we'll have a LOT to do there. But that's kind of exciting, too ;) It will be nice to be able to make our own decisions about outdoor spaces and vistas.

So here we are - a few days before Christmas with the prospect of a lovely new home in 2012! Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year to all :)

Lights

So I have been a little stuck on lighting. While I have found a light I like for the front, and a couple of porch lights, that's pretty much as far as I've come. Until this evening!

I have been pondering 3 lights to overhang our quite large kitchen bench. It has really been annoying me. And then I found these:

It was love at first sight :) I can see 3 of these being just the thing above my kitchen bench, much like this:

 

Of course, surfing around the same site, I found the perfect side lights for our bedroom, too!

Pics post

Well it has been a few days, and I know I promised pics, so today I stopped by the site when I had my lovely mother in law with me (she stayed in the car with the kids). I was pleasantly pleased to see inside has been fully plastered! The floors have been swept and it is really starting to look like a home.  So, without any further ado, here are the pics - I will walk you through them...

The front. Almost all bricking has been done, now, except the exterior window sills.

 

The feature surround into my sitting room and sitting room
from another angle. If you look carefully you can see where
our gas fireplace will go.

 

These are of our bedroom and ensuite. Looking in from the
double doorway, standing in a corner looking towards the ensuite,
directly facing the ensuite and then looking towards the WIR.
The opening above the spa is for internal plantation shutters.

 

Almost deserving of a post all on their own - Oscar
and Adelaide's wardrobes. As you can see - they have
a double robe each. FINALLY a place for toys and clothes to live!

 

Mum's study nook. Larger than expected but that's not a bad thing ;)

 

The back family / meals / kitchen area. This space is
HUGE! Now it is in, I can really see how it's all coming together!

 

Standing at the back door looking backwards and forwards.
As you can see, bricking is almost complete, now, excepting the sills.

Plastered

So this afternoon I drove past the house and it looked oddly dark inside. In fact it wasn't until I looked down our hallway that I realised it was dark because we had plaster!

Sadly the kids were asleep in the car - so I could not get out and have a look around - but the bit I could see looked great :D Can't wait to go and have a good look around tomorrow sometime :)

Also went out to look at bathroom fittings today. MAN are they expensive! I priced up what we'd need in my preferred style. $2.5k later.... WOW!!! So might have another look online and see what I can see...

I suppose lighting is the next thing I really need to look at now. I still need to buy:

• 2 x Lights for our bedroom (on either side of the bed)
• 2 x Lights for the alfresco
• 3 x Lights for above the kitchen bench
• 3 x Spotlights (if I can find something I like)
• 1 x Light for between the mirrors in our bathroom

Other than that just waiting to chat with the supervisor about my ducts. Hopefully it's not a big fix.

Can't wait to go and look around tomorrow. Needless to say, photos will soon follow!

Ducts

Not that I am an anal retent... but I am an anal retent ;)

On a visit to the site this afternoon, I noticed the positioning of some of the ceiling aircon vents. Not. Happy. Jan!

I realise it's a relatively minor thing - but it makes sense, to me, to plan where you are sitting / eating / cooking / sleeping when planning heating and cooling ducts.

For instance - in my current home there is a cooling duct right above the kitchen bench. It blows baking paper / cling film / patty cases etc. around - which means in summer if you cook you also cook! And in the new home the cooling duct currently positioned right behind where you would put a couch would mean a constant cold draft on the back of the neck.

Now while the ceiling ducts in the new place seem to be in the right rooms, they are JUST in the rooms in a few cases. E.g. Master bedroom has the cooling duct above the doorway. Helpful (NOT!!!). So I have emailed my (no doubt by now) long suffering site supervisor to ask to discuss this as I really want 2 or 3 of them moved prior to plastering.

Other than that all coming along well. Bricking is nearly finished (in fact - thought I might take some cakes down to our lone brickie tomorrow for doing such a lovely job now he is nearly done). Plastering starts tomorrow, apparently.

Steel girder for above the french doors has arrived, as have the french doors. So it's front doors and sidelights then lockup!

Will try and get to the bathroom supplies store this week sometime to buy the bathroom accessories (shelves / towel holders etc.). Also need to revist lights...

Tables and chairs and datacoms

So I knew I wanted a rustic table for the new meals area. Something the kids can paste at, draw on, put drinks on, eat without a place-mat etc. without me FREAKING out! Originally I had planned to have mismatched chairs, as I love that look - but so many of the chairs I liked needed work. I don't have time to do necessary upkeep on me - a CHAIR stands NO chance :P

I want a big table, preferably which can extend even longer for those big dinner parties and XMAS, so I have bought some rustic chairs and an extension table for the new meals area. The chairs are quite basic but I like the simplicity! It's that lack of fuss I really wanted for the area.

We will have eight of these chairs around this table.

Of course, I am yet to explain to Sean that his 'clean out the garage' crusade is about to take a major backward step. Here's hoping that hearing less of me talk about the perfect kitchen table will outweigh having to help lug it up the hill and a few months of garage annoyance...

Met with the datacoms technician on-site today to arrange patch panels, phonelines, aerial coax and powerpoints. A fruitful meeting! I was concerned that they did not have much of an idea of what we wanted. They still think some of our ideas are barking - but on the plus side it is all happening as requested and they also had some very helpful input we've been able to take on board, too.

Next drama is when to install our fireplace. The installer won't put it in until lockup, yet it needs to be installed before plastering. But plastering is starting on Friday and we're still not locked up.... Will deal with that drama tomorrow!!!

Hot and cold

Well actually I mean heating and cooling.

I went for a wander on site today - and it really is all happening.

The rough wiring is in - as is the ducted heating and cooling. Oh - and the wall insulation (sound and heat) is in now, too. Bricking is ongoing - they are 3/4 up the wall at the back and starting around to the right hand side of the house. And my french doors are there waiting to be installed.

Monday sees the exterior telecoms trench being dug (underground wiring) and then Wednesday we have the datacoms fit out ahead of the plasterer arriving on-site on Friday 9th.