Week 41 - Carpets so good you could sleep on

We're now 2 weeks out from handover! Our filthy staircase which was covered in paint and plaster drips has been sanded, polished, buffed and painted and now looks good as new!

The big news this week is the carpet. In one day the place went from a building site to a new house, all thanks to the carpet. We chose a very thick pile nylon - we didn't want wool, because our area has wool-eating moths that would have ruined it fairly quickly. It's so soft and the silver-grey sheen and colour shows up footprints and general texture, which is a look that we like. 

I'm typing this with blisters on my hands - this weekend we bought and installed IKEA wardrobes for our walk-in wardrobe. We didn't like the options from the low-cost wardrobe fitting people, and the cabinet maker's custom options were too expensive. So - it was IKEA, some friends, music, and a flat-pack pizza party. We had to put these in during the build, because the cabinet maker is coming back to install two decorative end gable panels to make it all look a bit more upmarket.

The total cost of the wardrobes was about $2K, including interior fittings and lighting. Not bad at all, but it did take 44 gay man hours to put it together. I had to cut some of them down so they fit perfectly in our room - which is not for beginner IKEA-ers. Luckily I'm an IKEAxpert.

I've said this before but it's amazing how transformative a coat of paint is. Out the back the pool pergola got a coat of fresh white, but it's still waiting on the concrete columns to wrap the steel posts. The side staircase has also had a coat of paint - and the front fence is finished and resplendent in grey & white.