Eaves and Alfresco

I have the day to myself - so of course I started off with a trip to the site. No action, today, but there's evidence of yesterday's work.

The cement sheets are now in place on all the eaves and on the underside of the alfresco and the porch as well as the front gable. There's also timber formwork on the front gable - presumably ready for the feature to be installed there.

Inside there does not appear to have been any progress. We still have the cabinets to be finished, floors, tiling and painting to go as well as fit out of plumbing, electrics, heating/cooling and fittings such as door handles and bathroom furniture.

Am looking forward to seeing the gable up as I am trying to decide whether to paint the timber window frames or not? The colour selections have them being painted 'dune' (same as the feature on the gable), but they look so lovely as is I am considering having them stained / sealed / whatever one does with timber framed windows.

Australia Day

So we started Australia Day with a quick visit to the new house.

So much has suddenly been done :)  Most of the architraves are on, and all bar one internal door is up. The light switch holes are mostly in position, as are the holes for the downlights and the surrounds on the man holes.

Best of all - the hallway wall has been moved! And oh what a difference it makes!!! I am so glad Sean convinced me to investigate having it moved. The difference (even before the wall is re-plastered) is just amazing. I had no idea just how much it impacted on the look of the place until it was altered. And it's made me feel even happier with the house. Now the one glaring obvious thing I didn't like has  been fixed, I can walk in and just sigh with happiness :)

Of course, no post is complete without photos...

 

 Standing behind the island looking to the

right hand side of the living area

 

Same position looking towards the

left hand side of the living area

 

Looking down the hall

towards the front door

 

My nice bright meals area

 

Oscar's Room

 

Adelaide's Room

 

Looking into the spare room

 

In the spare room

 

The study nook

 

Inside of the front door.

 

The two site supervisors playing
in what will be the sitting room

All in all I am really happy with progress and what's being done. A few small things I would have done differently (some of the door mouldings are narrower than I'd like due to the opening positioning) but I am sure once they're painted I won't notice it.

My next decision is exterior painting. I'd anticipated the windows and french doors would be painted - but now I am wondering if we, instead, just have them sealed? Hard to know until the gable is in. Might chat with the builder and ask if the painters can start on the doors etc. and leave the exterior timberwork until later so I can see it and judge then.

Lockup!

Sp I spun past this morning and it was all action! A crew was there starting to do skirting boards and architraves. Well they were doing skirting boards until I mentioned we were having a timber floor ;)

Today I also got a bill for our lock up. I rang to query it and they were going to ring me back - but on a visit to the house this evening I found all the external doors up, bar one set, and they're on site and evidently going to be going on shortly. So it appears we are, indeed, at lockup!

Also today the downlight holes have been cut, many of the powerpoint and lightswitch holes have been cut too, and they've started hanging the doors.

I have some photos - the interior ones are dodgy as they were taken through the not particularly clean windows ;)

 

My lovely new front door!
So glad we went with this style rather than the

wide glass sidelights on each side.

Front door and porch area.

 

Front of the house.

 

My laundry door.

 

One set of the french doors - these are the ones
across the back of the house.

 

Peering through the dirty window you can see the
architraves around the meals area windows.

All up I am really pleased. It's looking great! Hopefully I'll be able to get in tomorrow to take some more photos!

Oh. And I found out how much it is going to cost to move the hallway wall. Not cheap, but I think it's worth the investment so we're going ahead with it.

Curtains Revisited - The Kids' Rooms

So as you know I have been thinking hard about curtains. The downside of a bright house is lots of windows to consider!

As I mentioned previously, my friend Margie runs a curtains and blinds business and kindly came out to talk window coverings with me a week or two back. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted for the kids' rooms and then I found this in her 'completed work' gallery! Blockout roller blinds topped with decorative eyelet sheers.

 

 

I think this is going to be just the thing. As per the pictures above, I'll go a plain blockout roller underneath to roll down for nighttime - and during the day these curtains will give privacy as well as a bit of interest to the room. Not sure what colours to use on the top. Hopefully something fairly bold yet adaptable so it can continue to be used as the decor is updated. Am thinking navy or denim for Oscar. Not sure for Adelaide.

Better still ready made eyelet curtains are inexpensive - so in the future the kids can change the look quickly and easily, if they want to, without hitting me up for new curtains!

So - that's two rooms down - now just the rest of the house to consider!

Kitchen!

So after quite a few weeks with nothing to report, I can now show you the start of my kitchen. The island bench is not in yet (they're waiting for the plumber to come back and extend some pipes) but already I have more bench space than I do at this house!

 

From right to left - wall oven with microwave above,
fridge cavity and then broom cupboard. Doorway
goes through to butlers pantry

This is where my cooktop will go with an undermount
exhaust fan. Also having downlights under the top cabinets
and a glass splashback.

 

Here you can see the formwork on the floor for my island bench.
Obviously benchtops yet to go in.

In other news, the installer said my bathroom, ensuite, powder-room and study nook cabinetry should be in by today - so stay tuned for another update soon!

Curtains

So I know it has been quiet the last few weeks - but basically nothing has happened over the Christmas break. I've gone past the house a few times this week and no movement. At the moment I am waiting to hear from our site supervisor about the art of the possible in terms of moving the WIR wall.

I have not been altogether stationary, though. Last week my friend Margie (a professional in the curtains game) came to talk blinds with me!

For the rear of the house I am still undecided. We did talk about sunscreen rollers with a roman over the top, but then I realised that the sunscreen rollers might not be necessary as we don't need daytime privacy in those rooms as there are no directly overlooking windows (well only one small section of the living room could potentially be overlooked by an upstairs bathroom from next door). So maybe we don't need the sunscreens at all? That leaves either a blockout roller for nightime/privacy when needed or a roman for the same job.

Now I love the look of romans. They look great both up and down. And I could go for a different colour, texture or fabric for a bit of visual interest. Of course, I could go for a bonded roller fabric blind which would be the same sort of thing. But I am thinking I prefer the roman look - and I can also 'overmount' them (e.g. above the window frames) to give the visual illusion of taller windows.

In the kids bedrooms I am thinking of blockout rollerblinds with decorative drapes. Might go plain, or maybe a bonded fabric for the roller and then a decorative rod for some eyelet drapes. I actually suggested this to a friend and then thought 'hang on - that's a good idea for my place, too!'. Neither bedroom needs daytime privacy, so the rollerblind would really just be for night.

In the guest room I am thinking a sunscreen blind or sheers with a roman over the top. I would want privacy in that room during the day as well as blockout at night.

In the ensuite I am thinking timber shutters.

Finally in the bedroom and sitting room I am thinking vertical sheers with side drapes. I am pretty confident with the vertical sheers, but can't piece together the side drapes, yet. I think that part will have to wait until we're in to decide.

OK - I need to get a paper bag and go slowly breathe in and out of it. All that is going to cost a fortune! Methinks this is going to have to be tackled slowly and room by room. I think I will plan the kids rooms first. While I can cope with a blanket over the window for a few weeks or months, I really want their rooms set up and ready to go as soon as we're in!

So now the decision. What sort of roller blinds for the kids? Plain white to match the walls? Versatile but dull dull dull! Or do I go a solid colour? Maybe a denim for Oscar and a pink for Adelaide? But what if I want to change doonas or decor? Or do I go all out and do a patterned fabric roller? Like this?

 

Ahh - decisions, decisions!!