Day 272: The Final Countdown

 

Just because there haven't been any blog updates in the last week and a half does not mean that things have come to a standstill.  Oh, no.  Unfortunately STLT temporary HQ had to move to yet another temporary location pending moving home on 23/12.  One of the directors also took a short trip north, so between moving, travelling, general disruption and dodgy internet connections, there hasn't been much time to update the faithful.  There is actually a lot to report.

The condensed version of progress to date is:

- The kitchen is in and the benchtops have been put on;

- Painters are working furiously (and as we speak);

- The front fence is up, but unfortunately none of the gates;

- The plumbing side of things is finished and Pete the Plumber has taken off for a well deserved break;
- Electricals are partly done (more on that later);
- The kitchen/living area floor has been sanded and sealed.

The place has been a total hive of activity:  on Thursday, I went to pick up the decorative screen made for us by Ro Baby and dropped it of at the house.  There were 6 painters, Bob, Pete and Sparkie Dave present plus some bloke who had come in to have a look at the house, as he is currently deciding whether to rennovate or detonate.  Dave was very excited about the trapeze lights, pop-up powerpoints and the fancy lightswitch/powerpoint covers in the kitchen.  It's great that I'm not the only one who thinks they look fantastic - I don't expect this from tradies given that they see this all the time.  Dave was supposed to be finishing things off at the house yesterday but to Stos's surprise, none of the pendant lights had been hung and nothing else that we had expected to be done had been touched. Very strange as Dave is very reliable and meticulous.  But a phone call from Bob later in the day explained this - poor Dave was in hospital with some sort of infection.  It looks like he will be back at work on Monday but we will have to wait and see.  We wish him a speedy recovery.

Still quite a bit to do this week including showerscreens and various bits and pieces, however there is quite a long list of things that will not be done and have to be slated for after Christmas. At the moment, focus is on getting the things done for issue of the Certificate of Occupancy.  Other things listed for this week are showerscreens, floors at the front of the house to be sanded, carpet to be laid and now completion of electricals.  The brightest note of all is that we have our girls back.  They are dirty and unhappy about having to stay outside but it is wonderful to have them back after nine months.

Day 259: The green, green grass of home

Well, there's no grass; it was all chewed up during the demolition.  But I have beautiful green feature tiles in the ensuite: 

They look a lot better tonight as all the white tiles are now up, but by the time we got there it was too dark to take an updated photo.  And I know that the New York correspondent eagerly awaits his Monday morning update.  The blue waterproof membrane isn't the best background but they still look great.  So much has happened in the last week; the kitchen cabinetry had gone in, the study desk and shelves have been installed, the floor tiles are all laid and grouted, the downlights are in under the eaves and in the kitchen/living area.  The kitchen is a bit hard to photograph because it is big and the light isn't good because of the room size, but here's a look at the study:

I am looking forward to going back to working one day a week from home again with such a beautiful area to use.  Now I just need to commit to keeping it tidy.  The kitchen guy has given us lots of shelf space and built in a filing cabinet (shown) and a regular set of drawers at the unseen other end.  So together with the nifty bookshelves attached to the back of the pantry in the kitchen:

I think that 's a licence to go out and buy more books.  Stos will be thrilled!

Day 119: Look through any window

While the visuals don't look a lot different to the last house update, quite a bit has been going on down the road.  Bob has put up the fascias and had been doing more work on the roof trusses in readiness for steel to be attached towards the end of the week.  Another big piece of work has been figuring out the structure of the glass roof that will go over the internal stairs linking the front part of the house to the back level - one flight goes up to the kitchen/living area and the other leads to the second and third bedrooms, laundry, bathroom and sitting area.  The method he has finally settled on is to build a stud wall in the void so that the glass is simply a roof rather than a box - if there were glass sides, we would be looking on to silver steel and there's no benefit in that.  The glass roof will have an apex and slope down on either side and will be double glazed to protect from heat going in and out.  It will also likely be tinted and Bob thinks that we may need to get a blind fitted for use in summer to protect from the sun.  But that is something we will look at over the coming summer - we'd prefer not to have this great feature and then cover it up but if the option is frying while going up to the kitchen for a snack, then blinds it is.  The other step forward was catching up with the kitchen guy on Wednesday so that we could close out the long running issue of the size of the window on the south wall.  When I told Bob that I'd set a time for the meeting, the comment was "I'd really like to keep the window" meaning that he was going to fight really hard for this.  However after long and earnest discussions we had a two way win:

1/.  Kitchen guy can put in what we want with the window framed up as it - we are happy.  Bob also did not comment on/pick up on our discussion on having a white kitchen as opposed to a timber finish - not sure whether he is resigned to the fact or is saving this for later.  So happy for the time being.

2/.  Window stays at 2.7m - Bob is happy.

We were also impressed with a number of suggestions proposed in terms of materials and fittings.  In the meantime we need to think about putting something on the white wall that will align to the side of the fridge - if not broken up, it will look very boring.  Kitchen guy is going away now to do a concept plan and get back to us.   However we forgot to mention the missing garage door as the weather had turned nasty and we were all keen to get home.  We are not giving up on this and it has to be sorted before the window and door frames are finalised.

Day 75 Part Two: Under the Boardwalk

We popped down to visit Bob the Builder this morning to check on progress and provide him with sustenance in the form of orange biscuits.  This week he has been planning for the stairs from the deck on south east side down to the backyard and up to the higher deck on the south west/west plus building the south east deck itself.   Some further construction has also been completed on the roof frame in anticipation of the roof going up next week.  We had a chat about the look of the fence and also contacted the Kitchen Man to organise an appointment to discuss lay out and materials for the kitchen.   As Bob is keen to retain the bigger than planned window on the south side, we need to rethink the layout per the plan, but really need expert advice here.   The appliance side is sorted, we know that we want the soft touch drawers, but must  think about the sort of cabinetry and bench tops that we want.  We'll have to get stuck into the pile of Home Beautifuls and Belle to find some combinations that we love - the kitchen is a very important part of our home and needs to be both functional and attractive.  We also hope to move forward in deciding on the colour of the exterior walls over the weekend as we are catching up to discuss this with the lovely P, who is an expert in these things.  We really want to be sure of the combinations as we have to live with the Colourbond walls forever.  It will be good to finalise that and move on to other things.

Day 52: Four walls

In our part of the world it is getting colder and darker. It's not winter yet, but I am totally over being cold and can't wait for summer. Even though the day job is less hectic than during half year, the work days are still long and I don't get home in daylight, so documenting progress on the house is a bit tricky. Last night I wandered down and was able to see the frame for the upper level partially completed, but photos were out of the question. Stos had a couple of jobs to do on the way home, so left a bit earlier and managed to get a few pictures in, as shown above. The upper level frame looks to be finished; Bob has built the space for the kitchen window to the larger size and I still think it is too big. A walk in pantry, the fridge and the 900m upright oven/stove have to fit on the south side of the kitchen and the window takes up too much space for no real benefit. We will have a closer look on the weekend, but it's clear to me that we should stick with the original design. Bob has suggested getting the kitchen guy in soon so that we can hear his suggestions for lay out, so that we can start thinking about design and style and not be under pressure when the time comes to install the kitchen. This is an important part of the house for us - we really use our kitchen and need space for two people to work comfortably - so this is a big deal. I have some ideas about what I would like - drawers rather than cupboards, a watery green glass splash back and probably white cabinetry. Stainless steel benchtops appeal, otherwise the formed stone always looks good. As there will be a timber floor and feature pole in this room, using wood for the kitchen seems OTT. But there are a lot of magazines to flick through and I'm hoping that a design will leap off the pages as my inspiration. Perhaps there is a benefit to these cold days - when curling up on the couch with a stack of interior design magazines seems like an attractive option to leaving the house.