Week 28 - Tiles, doors & baths

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.