Our floors have never been particularly level (understatement of the project). We are going over the top of the existing floorboards with a herringbone parquetry, so the original floor needed to be straightened to give the floors a level base. In order to achieve that, the builders cut a huge section of the floorboards out, and then planed down the floor joists that had bowed. That area was then filled in with the structural yellow-tongue board.
Our baths arrived! They are composite stone, and were an eBay bargain at around $2200 each. The seller held on to them for months before we were finally ready, and they made the trip up from Melbourne in one piece. I think that trip was less painful then the trip from the truck to the house. They are heavy, and predictably did not fit up the stairs or through any doorways (luckily the scaffolding hadn't come down yet). I'm glad I was at work for that one. The internal doors were installed, we are thrilled with the size of them. The design makes them look skinny, but the photo with me in it really illustrates the height of the doors and the ceilings. The doors are 2.4m high, which is the height of an average ceiling. Also, we used the internal door to upgrade the wardrobes, so once they are painted they should look much classier than the average wardrobe system door. The big news this week was the tiling. By the end of the week, the 3 bathrooms were 90% tiled, and we had to pick grout colour. I'd love to know who is using the purple, green and blue grout colours - we just picked a silver to let it blend in. On the weekend we finally chose our interior paint colours. We also found a bargain on dining chairs and kitchen counter stools. I think the next interior project is curtains, and we want something dark and luxurious - we might borrow the design from an open home this weekend. We also made a somewhat last minute decision to add a roof over part of the swimming pool. The structure will be fairly simple, but because of the size it will need building approval, certification and engineering. Neither of us like to spend a lot of time in the sun, so this roof will mean we can use the pool at midday without fear of sunburn.
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The scaffolding came down this week! The shape and scale of the house is finally revealed - and the details are now unobstructed. I think the colour with the trims and the shingles works, so we're relieved.
Down the back, the weatherboard wall on the deck went in. Those two doors will connect to an external staircase, to get us from the deck to the pool without going through the house. The timber balustrade was also installed on the upper deck. We borrowed the balustrade detail from a house we love nearby. Inside the ceiling battens started to go up. We agonised over the width of the timber for the ceiling for 2 weeks, but we are now really happy that we persevered with the detail on the ceilings. The wider ceiling boards cost more, but we negated that cost by changing the skirting boards from a detailed profile to the same timber, so we broke even in the end. The bathrooms are waterproofed, and the tiles are on-site so that big job can get underway. The wardrobe and internal doors also arrived. Some were damaged on the truck, and they are special order from Sydney - so we might just be super open plan for a while until the replacements arrive. Our pool surface was also prepared for the new coat of render, it got 'sparrow-pecked' to create a rougher surface. Time to make a decision on the pool tiles. Now that the scaffolding is clear, work can get underway on the pool, decking, and carport. The exterior painting is nearly finished! The textured render columns are started, but need a few more coats to get up to the right texture. Those columns still need painting, but aside from those columns the exterior painting is 90% done.
The rest of the VJ ceilings were installed, including the ceiling of our front porch. The front door is looking very bare, but it should sharpen up with the wall light and house name plaque. This weekend we had to confirm our lighting choices for the whole house, so that can be ordered. We made some last minute tweaks, our lighting is a mix of styles but hopefully it all comes together nicely. We also set on our pool coping stone (the edge of the pool). We'd like to do natural stone for the whole area, but that's not in the budget. The pool renovation hasn't started but early decisions are better than last minute ones! This week also saw the solar panels installed on the roof, and also the taping of the plasterboard walls upstairs. It's hard to believe that there is another 3 months of work left to go, but I guess the details take time. Apparently the exterior scaffolding is coming down this week, so we'll get to see how this house really looks! This week the first plasterboard went up on the walls. Within about 2 days all of the walls in the whole house were sheeted ready for finishing. Plasterboard is so quick! The bathrooms were also sheeted with the cement sheeting ready to be tiled.
The internal staircase went in on Tuesday, and we are really happy with the detail of the bottom two steps. We also made the steps slightly wider than normal to make them feel a bit more grand, and to make it easier to get our furniture upstairs :) Michael's mum Julie is a leadlight artist, and she very generously made some clear diamond panels for some new windows (and replaced some damaged panels) to match the existing windows. Julie lives in central Queensland so had to do a car trip with the precious cargo and then Julie, Michael and my mum spent the day in our garage polishing the panels. The builder put the first two in this week, and they look fantastic. Thanks Julie! The painters also started this week, and sprayed the first coat on the weatherboards. After our last-minute colour choice, we were relieved to find out that we really like the colour. |