Tiles for the fireplace etc

Of course we should have organised this ages ago... but why not wait until you have a newborn that is less than a week old to:
1. Choose cabinetry colours and handles (a drive all the way down to Yatala!!!)
2. Choose tiles for in front of the fireplace (they will be needed in a week!!!)

Cabinetry choices were easy:

- For the laundry bench tops - Cabernet Micro Matt

- For the cupboard doors etc - Classic white Matt

 

 

 

 

Handles...

For the kitchen drawers:

 

For the kitchen and laundry cupboards:

For the bedroom cupboards:



 

 

 

 

 

Tiles for the fireplace... I just loved these tiles but there is a delay in the shipment so they won't actually be here on time for when the tilers are ready (again we should've organised this sooner!!! damn!!!) Luckily Leon said he is happy to lay them himself when they arrive!  How awesome!  So we get to have these little beauties

...oooops the picture won't upload... will try later

 

 

Waiting... waiting... waiting...

Not for the house... for the baby.  We hit the 40 week mark 4 days ago and I'm not the most patient person in the world... so getting antsy now... what better way to pass the time than to give a house update!

So much seems to have happened in a short time... It feels like a real house!  Doors, windows, roof, cladding, solar panels, wiring, internal plasterboard etc...

I went up recently to go over the final wiring plan with the electricians... it was a little daunting because I was having to make final decisions without Benj there and the wiring was going in as I was there!  But all seemed to go well and the electrician didn't think my lighting plan was dodgy, thank god!  We had to make a few adjustments to positions of some of the switches, lights and the fans too because of how the framing work had been done... but it all seemed to work out in the end. 

Colour choices have had to be reviewed too.  My original colour choice for the cladding, 'Blind Date', looked a lovely sort of coffee colour on the sample paper... but looked bloody purple once we got it up on the external wall!  So we went back to the drawing board (twice!) with about seven or eight different colours to compare.  We're finally happy now with 'Warm Neutral', double strength.  It looks like the internal colour might even end up being a quarter strength of the same colour but we need to see the large panels I've painted actually in the house to really be sure. 

Benj has ordered the 'Big Ass' fans (which have been delivered already) and the water pump.  So we're getting down to the details now.... lighting will have to be next.  We have to buy all the pendants and fittings.  I hope I can remember what I had originally planned!  We should've done this bit sooner... because I don't fancy traipsing around a lighting shop again with a newborn!  Oh well these things happen (when you have the organisation skills of Benji and I.)

Anyway... here are some of the latest images...

June 29, 2014...
Northern face.

 

 

 

 

July 19, 2014...

 

Final two colour choices... Warm Neutral (x2) wins... that's it on the right with WN written underneath.



Plaster board in the hall... looking forward to seeing the timber louvres which will go into those internal windows for the bedrooms.

En suite... little niches for toiletries.  One each. Mine is lower and bigger.    :)

Kids shower.

Linen cupboard.

Ceiling insulation - main living area.

And again... look at those lovely beams (with the black metal plates)... they will be our lovely exposed beams.

 ......





Northernface again... note all the colour test strips. (And don't forget that ugly plastic water tank is just there for the builders and won't be there once the house is complete.)



 Southern face.

 Kitchen... note: Pantry (centre of photo);  Big metal brackets (left of photo) for two floating timber shelves;  All the wiring which was going in as we spoke on the final electrical plan day.

Put your cladding on and join me hon....

Benji continues to go and visit the site once a week... last visit we had a lot of the windows in place and some of the cladding too.  Unfortunately Benj noticed (well it's fortunate he noticed, but unfortunate that there were a couple of little errors) that: one,they had forgotten to put insulation between one of the the rammed earth walls and the external cladding and, two, they hadn't put trim around the windows.  An email to and phone call with Scott quickly rectified the problem.

Looking from the driveway:



The looking along the northern wall from the NW corner:

Ooooh!  Cladding, windows, rhino wrap and roof trusses!

(This will be) the north-facing courtyard... and Benji's super casual photography stance - hand in pocket!!! - captured in shadow:

Looking into the rafters of the living room:

Can't wait to see the cladding with paint on!

 Rhino wrap along the southern facing wall:

Edging the cladding...

Guttering in place (before the roof - which I thought was strange!) Note colour - Colorbond Jasper:

Looking up the hill at all the bright blue wrap:

Kitchen window (not glazed yet) and sliding door onto the north-facing courtyard:

Front door - revisited.

On a happier note:  We've managed to source a front door.  It won't be a lovely old recycled one (we will just have to continue to keep looking for one of those - we can always change it later if we want), but it's perfectly fine, the right size and bushfire rating, and can be ordered in by the local hardware!

So this is it:  Only ours will not be faux-timber, but painted instead.  We just have to decide what colour.  I think we'll do it the same as the trims (Dulux Natural White half) or the guttering (Dulux Jasper, a sort of gunmetal greyish brownish colour).  
              
I'll have to post about our colour selections... don't think I've done that yet!

Getting the structural engineer in to have a look...

Since construction began, Benji has gone out every weekend to have a look at the progress.  Each time he takes photos of all the new progress and of anything he's not sure about - cracks in the slab, organic matter in the soil, termite barriers etc etc.  He usually emails Scott/Leon, the builders, and asks for more info, or  he emails Michael, the building designer, to get his advice.

Last visit Benj took some photos of the roof trusses/beams, concerned about the strength of the joins (or something like that!?! - pretty hard to tell from the photo which is why I've not posted it).  He forwarded these on to Michael and to the structural engineer.  They're a little bit concerned - Michael thinks we need the engineer to go out and have a look.  So Benj emailed and spoke to Scott to discuss it.  According to Benji, Scott seems to be ok about it all and is happy enough that we want our engineer to have a look at the house after the major framework is all complete.

It's stressful and awkward.  I feel very weird about the fact that it feels like we're checking up on Scott all the time... and yet it's our life savings we're entrusting him with, so of course we have to be careful.  We don't want to cause any tension/bad blood with Scott and Leon because they really are a great couple of guys to be working with... and we don't know the accepted etiquette... or even if there is such a thing... I guess we just have to continue to be cautious and I just hope that no-one takes offence.

 

 

 

Another update... look, a roof (sort of)!



Roof trusses!

 

 

 Looking south(ish).

The lounge room.

Looking north east (ish).

The mini-verandah which runs along the southern face of the house.

The hallway, with little pop-out window seats/reading nooks. The rammed earth walls (you can see one there in the foreground) will be remain exposed and visible as little feature strips along the hallway.

An LVL beam...I don't think this will be an exposed one...if so I'm guessing (hoping) they'll sand off the green paint and black stencil!

The back deck.

Looking into our bedroom.  There will be a big glass sliding door to exit from the northern face of the house (foreground).  The rammed earth wall will remain exposed. (Each bedroom gets one... I just love them!)  A walk-in robe will be behind the rammed earth wall.

Appliances...

We now own the appliances which will service all our kitchen/cooking needs!  Benji organised it all... he really has been a brilliant organiser of housey things.