Week 14

The ground floor brickwork has now been completed and the scaffolding around the house has been put up.  We have also had the plasterboard, roof facia and guttering delivered! 

It looks like next week will get the facia installed and moving onto the roof!

Week 13 - Bricks!!!!

Good news, the bricklayers have started!  The window in the staircase was centred, which allowed the brick layers to start.  That said, the frame is still not fully complete as there is still one window frame on the 1st floor which needs to be fixed so that the window will fit.  

The front of the house is now a red colour, this will be rendered and painted!  The main bricks on the house are looking amazing and we are really happy with the colour (Access Parchment).  The base for the feature brick (pillars) have also been laid out (Melbourne Hawksburn).  We are excited to see those go up this week!

Next week should see the completion of the brickwork and the installation of the scaffolding.

Front of House:

The red bricks will be rendered. 

Front Entry:

Front of House:

The timber window frames will be stained walnut.

 Side of House:

Stairwell window, dinning room window with rumpus room window above.

 Back of House & Alfresco:

Two windows for the living area and two stacker doors for the alfresco leading to the open plan living, dinning and kitchen.

 

 Side of House:

The space for the rear garage roller door, laundry sliding door and the space for the kitchen window which is the splash back behind the freestanding stove/oven.

View of House from Back Corner:

Lighting

Today we went to Beacon Lighting and picked out the lighting that we will have installed after handover.  Most of the house will have LED downlights but there are a few areas that we decided to source our own lights so we could personalise the house a little bit more.

We had list of lights to buy and as Beacon is currently having a 25% off sale we decided to make the most of it.

Here is what we bought....

Three Pendant Lights for over the Kitchen Island:

Light for Main Bathroom:

These lights can be adjusted to point in different directions, they also have dimming capabilities.

Two Lights for Small Ensuite's:

A three light version of above.

Three Ceiling Fans with Lights for Children's Bedrooms:

 Light for Master Walk in Robe:

Two Wall Lights for Front of Garage:

Small Double Floodlight for side of House (Laundry Door):

Two Large Double Floodlights for Backyard Side of House:

These are aluminium and have a sensor.

Two Single Floodlights for the Back of the House:

The only light left to pick is a fan/light for our alfresco.  Unfortunately there wasn't a large selection, so we have decided that we need to do some more research and try to find a fan that really looks great and is suitable for outdoor use.

Overall we are very happy with our choices, the staff and Beacon Lighting were extremely helpful and very knowledgeable about all of the products.  They made great suggestions and generally made the process so easy, we were really impressed.

We can't wait to see everything come together, the excitement is definitely mounting!

Furniture and Decor

As we started the build process quite a while ago we have had plenty of time to think about what kind of furniture and decor we would like to purchase for our house and have slowly started making small purchases.

Our first purchase was made about one year ago when we were on holidays in Port Douglas.

This Aboriginal piece is call 'Eel Trap'.  You can see the eels and the net depicted in art.  We had been looking at buying some aboriginal art for quite some time but hadn't seen anything that really jumped out at us.  When we saw this we loved it straight away, the colours are so unique, there isn't a lot of aboriginal art around with green as the main colour.  

We really like the combination of tradition 'dot art' with the stripes, it gives the piece a modern feel.

This piece will be in our downstairs open plan lounge room.  We are hoping it will look great on our light grey walls.  

Week 12 - Now, that's a Wrap!

Three months in to the actual construction and where does the time go!  

This week, all of our bricks were delivered to the site and the insulation was placed around the ground floor.  

Comically, we still don't have the final frame sign off; the window in the staircase needs to be centred, the rear garage wall is yet to be installed, a diminishing wall needs to be made and the landing at the top of the stairs needs to be fixed (it squeaks!).  

Additionally, our inspector has suggested 'Herring Bone' noggins to the ceiling joists to keep the long term movement of the 1st floor at a minimum.  

Next week, bricks!!!!!!

Week 11 - Windows & Plumbing

Finally, after waiting about 2 weeks for the windows to arrive, and a week of them sitting in front of the house, the builders have finally begun installing the windows.  Very exciting, but very dirty! 

Here are some of the picks of the windows and plumbing completed this week.  

Front of the house:

Front Lounge Window:

Dining Room:

Lounge Room:

Sliding doors to the alfresco:

1st floor Rumpus: 

Rear Bedroom:

Ensuite Window (Over the bath):

Master Bedroom: Sliding Doors: 

Master Bedroom: 

Window (installed in the wall, waiting for the glass)

On the floor, the window for the staircase.

Master Shower:

From the side: 

The frame around the staircase needs to be adjusted as the window needs to be centred into the space.  This should happen next week.

Drainage pipes from the front balcony.