Saturday, May 1, 2010

Kitchen, Bathroom Vanities and Pics....Lots of Pics

Went to the house today hoping that there was someone working so that we could get in for a look. Luckily there was a plasterer working on some touch ups and areas that needed to be done since the kitchen was installed. Once again there has been a lot of progress in the past two days with the following being done:
  • Kitchen Installed
  • Bulkheads (I think that's what they are called) and cornices above overhead kitchen cupboards
  • All bathroom vanities installed
  • Internal and wardrobe doors installed
  • Skirting and cornices complete
  • Bathroom tiles delivered
Powder Room Vanity



Ensuite Vanity



Bathroom Vanity



Built in Wardrobe Doors for one of the bedrooms



View of Kitchen from Dining Room



Closer view of the corner overhead kitchen cupboards



Kitchen Island Section



Microwave Space and drawers



Garage Door fully down



Front of the house with Garage Door down



Also went out to Bunnings today. This seems to be a weekly tradition these days. We are always looking at one thing or another. After recommendations on the Home One forum and having a look on the website I wanted to go buy a redishade to see how it would look as a temporary window covering once the house is built. When I found them, they were on clearance for only $3.50 each. I decided to buy the entire remaining stock and ended up with 14 redishades for less than $50. Quite pleased with the way they look. They should do the job well while we decide on what window coverings we want.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Lock Up and More!!!

There has been heaps of action at the house since the long weekend. In just two days the tradies have done the following:
  • Cleaned Bricks
  • Installed most doors
  • Installed Garage Door
  • Put up most of the cornices
  • Installed most of the skirting
  • Waterproofing
  • Termite protection
A few photos of the action below.

Close up of the garage door



Rear of the house with some termite protection



View of the kitchen area (pantry and fridge space) from the dining area



View down the hallway to the front door from leisure room



View of the walk in robe and ensuite entry from the corner of the Master Bedroom



Also spoke to the SS today. The kitchen was delivered today and should be installed tomorrow. I will then meet him and the tiler on site next week some time to confirm all the tiling details they have on file are correct.

Monday, April 26, 2010

New Home Theatre Equipment

Taking advantage of an Anzac Day Long Weekend sale, we continued on the shopping theme to purchase more items for the house. Once again the focus was on the home theatre. After doing some online research and in store demo's I have decided on the following set up for sound. Still shopping for TV's and am waiting to demo these new 3D TV's to see if they are any good, and more importantly if we can afford them!

Home Theatre Room:

Receiver - Marantz SR7002



Front Speakers - Mirage M3i



Centre Speaker - Polk Audio Csi A6



Rear Speakers - Polk Audio Rc 65i



Sub woofer - Velodyne CHT-Q10


Leisure Room

Receiver - Marantz SR3053



Speakers - Infinity TSS500


Mulitroom Audio

We also picked up some Sonos equipment. Ended up buying 2 ZP90's for the home theatre and leisure room. Also picked up an S5 as a floating unit (upstairs, alfresco etc). I didn't get the Sonos remote but instead will be buying an Ipod Touch and downloading the free Sonos App to use as the controller.

ZP90


S5


We paid a deposit and will be getting the gear delivered once the house is ready. Will pick up the S5 zone player next week though so I can have a bit of a play around.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

No more climbing up ladder

We have stairs!!! As much as I like climbing up the ladder to go up to the first floor it was good to see the stairs were done on Friday. Also good to see the amount of storage space that is available underneath there. The variation to have the door to access this area was worth every cent (and perhaps more).

Looking down the stairs from above



Looking up the stairs from below.



Under stairs storage area



I also got a call from the SS on Friday. He said that he expects us to be at lock up on Tuesday. Which means we should have a garage door and entry doors once the tradies come back after the long weekend. The guys will then start the internal linings.

We are starting to get very excited about how close we are to completion. Hopefully we meet our target of handover by the end of June. With all this excitement the wife and I have started out shopping for furniture and other items for the house. During the week we put our deposit down on a recliner set for the home theatre room. It looks like the below except it will be in black.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Plaster done

Just a quick post this morning before heading out to work. The house progress was not as exciting this morning as it was on Wednesday. The plasterers have done their bit now and it is looking pretty good. A couple of pics to show the progress.

Kitchen area from the dining room



View of the leisure room from the kitchen



Looking out the door from the hallway

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Lots of progress - Insulation, Gyprock & Cladding

I fought my way through the Sydney fog this morning to check out what has been done on the house for the last couple of days. I wasn't expecting much so I was greatly surprised and excited to see that the insulation and gyprock has been mostly done. The cladding has also been done, so the externals of the house are pretty much complete. With the externals complete and walls up, I have the greatest indication yet of the look and feel of the house once complete.

Tried my best with the photo's but given the lack of light they haven't turned out the best. You all should be able to see the progress though.

Front of the house looking almost complete



Front Left of the house with cladding completed



Foyer with niches and coffit ceiling



View of the kitchen pantry and fridge space from the alfresco area



Master Bedroom media alcove



Bathtub......insulation there too!!



Not 100% sure about what is coming up next but from looking at other blogs the next few things need to be completed and we will then be at lock up.
  • Plastering & Cornices
  • Clean bricks
  • Stairs to first floor
  • Garage door
  • Entry and laundry door

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Lower Eaves and some plumbing

After heading out and getting a hot dog waffle for lunch it was time to go to the house for the weekend check up. There has been some work done but not as much as anticipated. I think the SS got a bit ambitious with his time line for the week. The following though has been done since my Wednesday morning visit. The guys have completed the following:
- Lower eaves
- Partial site clean up
- Plumbing from the upstairs bathrooms complete

Well the plan for next week should hopefully:
- Cladding and eaves
- Clean bricks
- Insulation and Gyprock delivery and possibly installation

Today's photos below:

Front of house



Some of the plumbing from the first level



Some lower eaves around the side of the house



Lower eaves on the portico



Lower eaves in front of the garage