BIG Week!!

This week has been a huge one for me, with the finalisation of some big issues at work - I was lucky enough to have a lovely day off today! The work at the house progressed and I was able to pull together some of the furnishings and meet with a concreter to get a quote.

This week we went to Freedom to look for couches for the family area. We like the Ashbury Plus design and will get them custom made in the fabrics we like. I like eclectic styles so we will get two 3-seater couches in patterned fabric and one 2.5 seater in plain. They are black fabrics (yes, really!) - I know I am an idiot, I have two fluffy ragdoll cats!! However, they will be stunning couches and I am used to dealing with cat fur. I also bought some French provincial pieces for one of the daughters and a lovely sofa in plain chocolate fabric with a chaise for the upstairs TV room. I will make a long ottoman (with a storage area under the lid) and some cushions in a complementing patterned fabric, and also get some nice artwork for the wall over this couch. I also collected our light fittings as they finally arrived in store this week. Now we just need to find the two exterior lights.

The house is finally moving forward again with the top layer of render (I love the colour) nearly finished, the garage door installed, the painter back on deck (stairs not yet done), and the tiler has finally started. Also, the ducted heating vents are almost fully installed. All in all, I am happy with the progress.

Just a note of concern, Henley emailed today (other Henley buyers will probably have also received this email) to advise that the D'amani upright oven is no longer available and will be replaced with a Technika oven. They have offered to replace all the other appliances with Technika at no extra cost. They advise this is an upgrade. Does anyone out there know about these two brands? Is Technika a better brand than D'amani? I did prefer the look of the D'amani oven and Dishwasher, but I think the Technika rangehood looks better and seems more practical. Any thoughts welcome.

Amberwood render.....really love it so much better than the grey.

Shiny splashback!!

Ensuite 2 wall tiles nearly complete.

The main bathroom, above. Wall tiles nearly finished - these ones are a pinky hue, which is not exactly what we wanted but the more goldy ones in this style were no longer in production and there was nothing else that was close. As this will be the girls' bathroom we are not too concerned. They will have soft pink and cream towels to match the tiles in this room.

The second ensuite, with its large shower. The tiles are actually ivory, not the pinky hue in the photo.

Garage door and freshly painted ceiling.

Central heating intake and control - downstairs.

Garage door!!!

Painting Update - Tradie on Site

We visited the house today as we often do on the weekend, and were thrilled to see the painter back again. It had been quiet over the last week and not a lot happening that we could see. We were able to peek inside as a result and get some updated pics. Our SS has been amazingly responsive, again. We emailed Henley last week about the benchtops and today they are fixed, and look awesome. Also, the SS replaced some of the infils above our timber sliding doors with dressed timber and that looks great too. The painter is doing a terrific job, I am really happy with how things are going....they are just not happening fast enough for me!! :)

The tiles arrived this week and are stacked up in the foyer and the sealing and frames for the showers are installed. The painter thinks he will get back next Wednesday, so I am anticipating that the tiling will start the week after.

I must say, I am pretty happy, and while our SS is fairly "quiet", he does get things done and the build is of a very good standard to my unqualified eye. I have a little anxiety attack with every new stage, but usually things have turned out very well. I am now stressing a bit about the tiling. I noticed all the tiles were labelled (correctly), but the wall tile labels for our ensuite (Ens 1) were "missing". We have chosen to continue the floor tiles up the main wall where the mirror is for this room, and have the plain ivory coloured tile as the decor on the sides. I am thinking this would probably need clarification!

Front door with tile delivery in the foyer.

Girls' bathroom - Zulu benchtop.

Boy's ensuite. Zulu benchtop now installed. Great!

Our ensuite with the correct benchtop - Black Pearl granite. Very happy with this. I noticed that our cabinets don't have handles yet either. So I am holding out hope that the overhead handles will be installed when these are.

The formal lounge. Can't wait for the finish off and that fireplace. Skirting boards yet to be painted.

Garage access next to the stairs. Stairs yet to be finished off.

Looking through the door to the study. The bifolds will go in here.

The stairs again. Cannot wait to see them finished.

Laundry - without the tarps.

Tiles!

Planning the landscape

Dave and I have contacted several concrete firms to quote on our driveway and paths. Not one has responded as yet!! It has taken us months and months to agree on a driveway pattern and colour but we think we have finally decided. We just need to get the right company to do the job the way we imagine. Below are some pics of the driveway and paths we would like. The pattern is "Regal" and the colour is sandstone with a bluestone relief. We think it will go nicely with the cream and jasper on the house.

Now we just need to agree on where it's going!!!

Next week I will work on the carpet quotes.

Granite in - but a problem!

On Monday we noticed that there is a problem with the benchtops. All of the tops downstairs were to be Black Pearl granite and upstairs were to be Zulu Ceasarstone. This was to make a bit of a distinction between the kids' areas and ours and also because the Zulu is a touch lighter. We have discovered that the stonemason supplied Zulu for our ensuite instead of Black Pearl and Black Pearl for our son's ensuite upstairs instead of Zulu!! They mixed up the ensuites. We will advise the SS this week. It is difficult to see the difference in the pics, but you can tell at the house.

This is the son's ensuite benchtop. Black Pearl :(. His is actually ensuite 2.

This is our ensuite with the cover on the stone top. It is marked ensuite 2 but it is actually ensuite 1!!

The kitchen again with paint and covered benchtops.

The Black Pearl granite in the kitchen. It is really dirty and hard to see how it actually looks, but I really like it.

Our ensuite benchtop - Zulu! Not happy Jan.

Powder room granite. Black Pearl.

Girls' bathroom benchtop. Zulu.

Another shot of the boy's ensuite. Compare with the Zulu in the above shot.

Latest Interior Pics

The latest pics of the interior taken last Monday morning. This week has been frantic with a major project being finalised at work. This finished on Friday, concluding a week of 15 hour days. It meant that I couldn't get to the house so I am keen to see what has happened this week. These are the pics of the painting and granite so far. I have one more major project to finish by the end of July and by then I am hoping to see quite a bit more of the house completed. Looking forward to my holidays, hopefully in September.

Above is the view of the dining room across the kitchen. I can see a ratty old fence beyond so look forward to the day when the view is some nice garden design. Benchtops in but covered.

Painted bifolds. Nice outline of the doors on the walls behind!

Front doors with the first coat of gloss. Think I did prefer the natural timber. Oh well, que sera.

Stairs from first floor.

Stairs from ground floor. They are one ribbon balustrade short according to the display home stairs. Gotta love the inclusions that say "as displayed" as I discussed with the SS. Update: Noticed that the display home on the website only has total of four ribbons as ours. However, the Caroline Springs display has 5. Maybe something for Henley to clarify. We are quite happy with this now that we have seen it a few times, as it has a balanced appearance. If the SS advises that this is how it is, we would be ok with that.

We Have Granite!!

Couldn't get into the house today but through the windows we could clearly see the granite benchtops have been installed in the kitchen and ensuite. Couldn't see the surfaces as they are covered. Didn't look lovely and sparkled on the edges as we expected so will try to be there when the tradies are this week and take a peek.

Our SS told us that someone had broken into the house recently though the laundry - in fact they had broken the handle. Bit of a worry especially as things progress - would hate to see the work damaged at this stage. But our SS has said that things get stolen all the time from building sites.

Our SS is doing a terrific job, BTW, and all the issues seem to get addressed in pretty short order. Hope this continues. Starting to get a little excited!!

Will have pics soon.

Before and After Painting Images

Girls' bathroom before.

After.

Laundry Before.

and after.

Kitchen. It's amazing the difference a coat of paint can make.

Site Supervisor Catch Up and Painting

We caught up with the site supervisor this week, only the second time we have met him. As we hoped, the plaster defects have been rectified before the painter applied the first coat. If everything goes to plan, the SS estimates another couple of months to completion. Last year, I had hopes that we would be in by July - August at the latest. Funny! We are now hoping for mid to late September. I am holding out to have my holidays then, but I am absolutely exhausted - haven't had a break in a loooong time so it better not be too much longer.

The wall colour in the photos isn't quite right. Looks a bit green in some, yellow in others. It is actually a white colour with a bit of "warmth" called "Beige Glow". The light and shadow in the rooms changes the appearance. This is also the undercoat so the top coat will show the true colour. Painter was a nice man, and very thorough. Also, very neat, tidy and careful, which pleased me no end!

The windows were all carefully taped up with plastic. This is the view in the family area, sliding timber doors under plastic.

The front doors - the painter covered them up as he thought they were stained on the inside. At colour selection, we really didn't get a choice with this - we were told that the inside would be painted and the outside stained. The painter said he would be happy to do either - but in the end we agreed to stick to specs to prevent any trouble later on!

The painter in action - with Dave looking on.

Lounge room windows taken from the foyer. On the left you can see the wall protrusion where the gas log fire will go.

This weekend we will go and have another peek around and see how our painter went. He anticipates finishing next week with tiler to start the week after. There are also some external work such as render, expansion joints to be filled, some eaves to be painted and the garage to be finished off. Looks like we are still making reasonable progress.