Lights are on, but no-one is home!

Quite a few photos for you all today, as we haven't had a chance to do an update for a few days.

The new shed out the back is progressing - slab should be down soon. Not sure what we will do with all the extra dirt which has been excavated, but some of it will be used to level the yard.

Tiler has been busy, power is on at the house (the lights and power points work), and the sewer and storm water have been connected.

We have some small problems, but should be able to get them sorted out in conjunction with the Site Supervisor. Hope you like the photos!

Crushed rock in preparation for the shed slab

Footings for the shed

Storm water pit - in the background you can see the storm water connection against the column

Love the tiles in the downstairs power room!

Lights are on, but no one is home. There's a small problem with these lights...

Laundry tiles

Door furniture has been delivered

Ensuite - with the waterproof membrane applied in the shower space.
M&M have yellow, we have grey. Fair enough - no such thing as a grey M&M.

The main bathroom

Toilet floor. Yes, taking photos of a dunny floor. Seeking help very soon.

This is the back of the garage, through the stair windows. See the damaged tiles? They will be replaced.

Zap!

The heading for this entry is only because we think it vaguely relates to electricity. The sparkies are back at the house today fitting off the switches, points, junction boxes and so on. It's amazing how much they can do in a day.

We are interested in what others are planning on doing (or have done) regarding covers for downlights. In case you don't know what we mean, there have been some press over the past 6 months highlighting the dangers of downlights - especially when installed in older homes with cellulose type of insulation. Apparently the heat can be a problem, and it is possible for a fire to start in some circumstances.

There are covers available which can be easily bought, and some people are using them in new homes, just for peace of mind. At $20 for each cover - well you can do the maths!

We had a chat with the sparkie who said that there is supposed to be 300mm clearance around the downlights in the roof, but he knows that many people still fit covers. Not necessary in his opinion, but nothing wrong with the idea if people want to fit them.

Anyone thought about fitting these covers, or found a cheaper alternative? Reading about the covers, they proudly boast that they keep the heat in. Seems to fly contrary to the idea of providing ventilation. Anyhow - enough on that. Picture time!

This is why we covered the sink!

Work in progress. We were there while the boys were working.

Power points in the master bedroom

Plain light switches - we didn't go for the upgraded ones.

Excavation for the new shed. We expect a slab to go in by the end of the week.

Plaster ceiling in the garage

Stairs and Benchtops

Today the plumbers were on site installing downpipes and flashing on the garage roof on the outside, and putting in the waste connections for the bath and vanities inside.

We took the opportunity to get some stair photos, and realised that the Quantum Quartz benchtops have also been installed. Very nice. Colour? Coral Reef (because I knew that you would ask!) Oh, and the stairs are "Woodcare New Maple".

The benches are covered - I moved this piece for the photo

We decided to also cover the sink after this picture was taken

Stairs (oh, really?)

Stairs - and footprints. The painter told us that the clear coat on the stairs sets very hard.

Downpipes installed...

...and again. Plumbers left the top window open.

Locked out

Thanks for the feedback yesterday on feature walls. Bernadette is keen on the full treatment, but I'm not so sure (which actually doesn't make any difference!). I've included another picture to help the decision.

House was locked up today, so shots are from outside. Tiles have been delivered, stairs stained, garage doors painted, and I have the pictures to prove it!

The picture of a Cremorne display home - painted features

Rear garage door painted

Garage internal access door (see, we do have one!)

Tiles have been delivered

Stairs stained - with a sign at the bottom telling people to stay off!

Roof is all done on the back of the house

Features

Lots of photos today. The Painters will be finished by the end of the week and they are currently sanding the stairs in preparation for staining. Yes - we went for solid timber stairs which will be stained and clear coated.

Other things to happen over the past few days are the rear door to the garage, feature walls, doors hung, glass fixed, and the phone line physically connected. Enjoy!

Looks like a real house with the garage roof on

Feature wall in the home theatre. It's a dark colour (called 'Vinyard') and it's difficult to take a good photo of. It's also difficult to paint - the painter is having a few problems with it because of the base, but he will sort it out, and it looks great!

Feature wall in the master bedroom is called "Donkey". No jokes please....
We are thinking of extending the feature colour onto adjoining walls. Your opinion?

Doors have been re-hung and look great!

Stairs are being sanded

Our broken windows has been fixed.

Pantry apparently need another coat, but looks terrific.

Painting has started in the alfresco

Rear cladding has been painted

Rear door has been installed in the garage

Front door painted

Telstra licensed installer has connected the copper

Tiles and more paint.

Tiles! Roof tiles that is. Visited the house yesterday and the painters were still hard at it (and will be until late this week). The roof tilers were also on site and were tiling the garage, and finishing the tiles over the rumpus room.

The paint is really staring to make the house look livable. More pictures (of course!)

Carpet and Laminate

Not much in the way of photos today, as there's nothing much new to see.

Yesterday we visited Fowles to order our carpet and flooring. As mentioned in a previous post, we decided to go for Godfrey-Hirst Milano Caramel Kiss for the carpet, and Armstrong Armalock Cherry Spice laminate timber flooring.

We will install the laminate ourselves, and save a bundle. The only drama is one of timing - to get the best result, the laminate needs to go down before the carpet. Looks like some time off work to install the laminate once we get handover!

The following shots come from the Fowles brochure - so the images are not great. The Milano has a small pattern (a regular square of loop carpet). Caramel Kiss isn't shown below - it's a .. errr.. caramel colour.




One tip - at Fowles you can see a whole roll of the carpet, which actually looks lighter than the sample because of the size. Carpet looks a bit lighter when you install it. Paint looks a bit darker once applied. Check out the roll of carpet is you can!

A big hello to Darren and Kelly (hope I spelt your names correctly). We met Darren and Kelly at Fowles as they too were ordering their floor coverings. D&K have a terrific modified version of the Hamilton 34 which is almost due for handover, and could see that we were also building with PD.

Thanks for the tip guys, however it didn't work out for us - can't win 'em all! Hope to catch up with you both again.

Our CSC left a message telling us that painting is due to be completed by 23rd May.

In case you are interested, here's our current 24/7 status:



Have a good one!

Paint - everywhere!

Painters have been hard at it, spraying and rolling the paint. We visited the house today and took some interior photos while the painter was working. The interior walls you see in the photos below are Wattyl "Feather White".

Feature walls get painted right at the end.

This photo shows the door exterior has been started, and you can see the plastic on the windows.

Family room with sealer and one coat.

Doors are removed and then painted

Upstairs games room

Study

A coat on the front doors

Even the shelves have had the treatment

Protection everywhere

Kitchen

Our pantry with the shelving installed

Looking through to the theatre room

Colours for the Girls!

Over the past couple of days there's been a lot of painting activity - the windows have plastic on them, and we can't really see in. We hope to bring you some update photos tomorrow, but in the meantime here is our colour selection summary, as promised!


Late update: Paint selection colours are -

External:

• Front door (external face): Wattyl Gloss Enamel - Gravel Chip
• Laundry Door (external face): Wattyl Sunfast low sheen - Colourbond Woodland Grey
• Garage Door (external face): Wattyl Sunfast low sheen - Colourbond Woodland Grey
• Meter Box: Wattyl Sunfast low sheen - Colourbond Woodland Grey
• Mouldings: Wattyl Sunfast low sheen - Colourbond Paperbark
• Infill above garage: Colourbond Paperbark
• Alfresco Beams: Colourbond Paperbark
• Render: Rockcote Maudsland

Internal:

• Ceilings: Wattyl White
• Standard wall colour: Wattyle Low Sheen washable velvet - Feather White
• Main bedroom feature wall: Low sheen washable velvet - Donkey
• Theatre room: Low sheen washable velvet - Vinyard
• Architraves / Skirtings: Australian Colonial 67mm profile, Wattyl Easyflow gloss in Orchid
• Internal Doors: Wattyl Easyflow gloss in Orchid
• StaircaseHandrail, Treads, Risers: Woodcare New Maple
• Ballustrades: Wrought iron, plain profile, in black

Lots of activity!

Quite a lot of activity over the past few days - work was happening on Friday and Saturday. We have the gutter and fascia installed on the garage, the remaining brickwork completed, the fix all but complete, the painting started, cabinets all in, shelves all in, all doors hung - and more!

Sorry - lots of pictures, may take a while to load!

It seems there was a bit of a screw up with the height of the vanities in the ensuite. The cabinet should be another 118 mm from the floor, which would bring the bowls up to the correct height under the taps. The pictures below show you what I mean.

These cupboards should be over 300mm from the floor. Originally, they were to be "floating" (mounted on the wall), however PD changed the specifications as they don't do the floating ones any longer.

If you look closely, you can see the mark on the wall where the top of the bowl should be (yep, I went in with the tape measure!).

The main bathroom vanity

Fascia and gutter for garage delivered last Friday....

....and installed the next day!

Our Blanco sink. Not fitted as Caeserstone bench tops will be going in later.

Enamel paint on the window frames

and again

our kitchen taking shape

Laminate shelf in the pantry

Dishwasher space

cupboards next to the fridge space

laundry cupboards and basin

Glo-tub in white

Downstairs Powder room

Plaster inspection revealed many issues - here are a few of the marks.

Master Bedroom doors are hung

Brick sills completed in the al fresco

Today (Sunday) we visited Fowles to finalise the colours for the laminate floor boards and carpet. We borrowed a door from the kitchen and took it with us to determine what would look best. For all you colour freaks out there, we decided on the Cherry Spice Timber Laminate, and the Godfrey-Hirst Milano Caramel Kiss.

Current catalog (in case you are interested) is here!

Cabinets and bowls

Time for an update! The plaster is complete, as is most of the fix. The cabinets are also in, along with basins and laundry trough.

Some of these photos were taken yesterday while the tradies had the house open (g'day to Luke, Graeme and Mark!)

Other photos were taken this evening through the windows, including a broken window.

Huh? What's that? Yes - one of the windows has been busted by person or persons unknown.

One of the problems is that our block, and the still vacant one next door, have been used as a thoroughfare for the teenagers in the area for years. They jump the fence and walk though - the rear fence on the property backs onto a large easement. In fact, one of the palings on the fence was removed to make the access easier. Today we put a new paling on the fence, and I put some cardboard over the broken window.

Bernadette had a chat with three "youths" she saw jump the fence and walk up the side and through the garage.

Anyhow pictures below - M&M, I think we may have edged slightly ahead until your next update! I left a message for our Site Supervisor today, advising him of your progress!

Cornice is done

Bathroom vanity

Ensuite vanity with "salad bowls"

Doors hung, architraves and skirting boards done

Busted window next to the kitchen

Our new kitchen!

Making use of the broken window - photo taken when the house was locked.

You can just spot the drawers in the pantry, and the shelf.

Yes, now that we are at lockup, it's photos through the windows!

Kitchen and broken window

Replaced the paling in the back fence

Cardboard and tape. Not very secure, but does the job.

100 NOT OUT!

Friday was another busy day on site, with the cabinets being delivered, the trusses for the garage roof going on, the balcony framed in, the cornice going in upstairs and the fixing being almost completed downstairs.

Garage Trusses are up!

Latest view from the front

Our garage is taking shape. If you look closely, you can see where the ducted vac will go.

Cabinets

Architraves on downstairs windows

Cabinets again - more of them were placed in other rooms!

GLook closely - skirts, architraves, and a door!

Some upstairs cornice

The bath went in a while back

Watch that step...

Tiled floor will eventually go in.

Yesterday (Saturday) we visited Fowles showroom in South Melbourne to look at carpet and laminate timber floorings (thanks Tony!). Nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

We found a nice carpet (Godfrey-Hirst brand) which we like, and Gavin at Fowles priced and sized our requirements for us. Initially the plan was to carpet throughout upstairs, but due to the cost we may put some laminate timber in the family room at the top of the stairs.

The laminate timber floorboards available from Fowles is by Armstrong, and we will be laying it ourselves. Price is around $20 per square metre - less than half the cost of carpet just for the supply.

Problem is, that we have a light cherry colour on the kitchen cabinets - and we are having difficulty finding a colour for the floor which will suit. We are not done yet - we plan to go back to Fowles and have another look with a bigger colour sample Similar laminates at other places which we saw were around $30 per square metre.

100 NOT OUT! - Why the title of this entry? Easy, this is our 100th blog entry. Wow. We talk too much.

Some stats for you (pretend you care...):

Number of blog entries: 100
Number of Visitors to the site: 9,472 (since August 2007)
Number of page views: 21,010 (since August 2007)
Number of pictures uploaded: 434
Average length of each visit: 3 minutes, 52 seconds.

Thanks to everyone who has hopped on board our adventure with us, and for all the comments and feedback!

Blink, and you'll miss it!

Well, as promised after a few days away - here's another update. Last visit to the site was last Thursday - in one week, quite a bit has happened!

We met the chippie doing the fix - a nice guy who lives in Ocean Grove, and also met the guys fixing the cornice. The plasterers told us that they were finishing the job because Luke, the guy we met who was doing the fill, was quite ill - hope you get well soon Luke!

We must admit that we are getting a bit worried - Mike and Marita's home seems to be catching ours! Better call the Site Supervisor and let him know!

Scaffolding down, and site cleaned

Cleaned everywhere

Doors, architraves and skirts delivered.

Stairs have gone in!

We now have a room under the stairs

Top of the stairs

Cornices have been cut - fitting was in progress

Hand rail is in

Cleaned around the side

Trusses delivered for the garage

Looks like a real house now!

Even the decorative strip is in place

Looks like we have some serious landscaping to do soon!