Interior Dreaming...

As our house slowly takes shape I am truly obsessed with trying to plan out our interiors. Whilst I know our budget for furniture will be blown in about 5 seconds flat, it’s still fun to dream 💖 He’s a peek at some of our plans so far... all thoughts and recommendations welcome!!

For our front entry. Can’t wait to get my hands on that gorgeous middle of nowhere mirror! Aldi - thankyou for the console I’m still in love!

Toying around with the size dining table we need for our space - we dream of being able to entertain so need to ensure whatever table we choose meets this need whilst still taking into account we’re only an immediate family of 4... 250cm oak table; grey fabric chairs with black sleigh legs; Orion pendant in smoke & feature wall envy faux circular gardens

Roof is On!

Again, super surprised to stop by the house and find the roof being installed 😍 End of week #9 and our roof is officially on!! Loving the sambucca tiles 💖

Dramas, Dramas, Dramas...

So our framing was allegedly due for completion on Monday, 4th December as such, we had our combined slab & frame Darbecca inspection scheduled for Tuesday the 5th (beginning of week #9). Unfortunately, I met our Darbecca inspector out at site and the framers were not yet finished. We had to reschedule our frame inspection for Friday the 8th December.

Wednesday the same week we recieved the invoice for our frame, so we assumed this had been completed. Due to the time our bank takes to redraw on our construction loan, we sent the authorization off to pay the invoice straight away.

Friday afternoon came along and I recieved a call from our Darbecca inspector - he had over 40 + recommendations listed in his report and said that this was one of the top 1-2% worst jobs he’d ever seen. We were devestated! However, we recognize that this is only one side of the picture so waited patiently to speak to our site supervisor on monday. In the meantime, reviewing our contract highlighted that completion of the frame stage was subject to sign off from the surveyor that Arden had engaged to inspect our build. We requested a copy of this inspection and soon found out that this had not been signed off as the framer was yet to compete most of the engineering! They have retracted the invoice and we’ll otganise to pay this once we have confirmation from the surveyor.

Throughout this process we also picked up that our servery window had been installed in the incorrect position and due to a steel beam cannot be shifted... thankfully Arden have come to the party and agreed to supply a custom made servery window to amend their error.

Our site supervisor has been really responsive and talked us through each stage, so we are really lucky in this respect. And our guttering and roof trusses are now in and roof tiles have delivered  so at least there’s still progress!

Let’s see where to from here...

Frame

Another 2 weeks later, we were super excited to see the frame! The frame went up super quickly, steel beams were delivered and installed, and the second storey started soon after.

Wednesday, November 15th (week #7)...up in a day! Windows all delivered to site.

Later that same week, 2 plank was up and 2nd storey has commenced...

So nice to finally feel some of the spaces come together. As this was pretty much a conpletely custom designed house, we haven’t been able to feel how big (or small!) each of the spaces are. Pretty chuffed with how it’s all coming together. Seriously excited about our kitchen, living & dining space (and as someone who luurrrrves being in the kitchen - my butlers pantry, yay!!) 😍

Progress! Finally...

So after what felt like forever and ever, we finally received a start date! Temp fencing and porta-loo arrived promptly on Monday; site cut & fill was officially completed on Wednesday, October 4th 😊 Never been so excited to see dirt in all my life!! 😍

2 weeks later, 17th October we had pipes!! 😍

Following this, things came to a grinding halt for a while...due to our soil type, the slab height needed to be millimetre perfect and of course the trades that completed our site cut hadn’t got that instruction! The slab design had to be re-engineered to facilitate thicker waffle pods...oh, the joys!!

After driving by on Saturday the 28th October (end of week #4) we were surprised to see our slab! Beautiful isn’t it?!

Demolition!

When we received the news that our application to council to shorten our from setback had been refused, we hesitated on the demolition, later finding out we'd have to wait another 6 weeks to get the ball rolling again which would have meant demolition would have commenced on the 17th of August.

Excitingly, we just got the last minute news that demolition would commence on Tuesday 8th August, yay!!

Here's our progress so far...

Now eagerly awaiting approval of our dispensation application - fingers crossed Whitehorse 🤞

Colours, Colours & More Colours!

Having made all our colour selections ahead of contract, it really is a long time to second guess all our choices! Since our colour appointment in January and before our contract in May we have made many refinements to our colours and even the floor plan - really happy with how it's shaping up.

Here's a snapshot of all our choices and colour schemes. Really excited to see how they come to life!

Exterior colour selections include:

- Facade render: Ashlite

- Garage: Mt Eden render & Colourbond Monument

- Roof, Fascia & Gutters: Monier Elebana Sambuca & Colourbond Night Sky

- Pivot Door: Corinthian 19H

Kitchen Selections Include:

- Flooring: Istanbul Oak (Category 8)

- Interior Paint: Casper White Quarter

- Cabinetry: Polytec Thermolaminate Classic White Matt

- Island Bench: Caesarstone Calcutta Nuvo 

- Benchtops: Caesarstone Snow

- Glass Splashback: Vanilla Quake

- Tapware: Phoenix Vivid 220m Goosneck Matte Black

- Sink: Franke Fragranite Kubus Double Bowl

- Cooktop: Smeg 90cm Induction

- Oven: Fisher & Paykel 75cm Double Pyrolytic

- Dishwasher: Smeg 60cm

Bathroom Selections Include:

- Flooring: Nile Grey Matt Porcelain 450 x 450

- Shower Walls: Gastonia Carrara White Shine 450 x 450

- Feature Tile: Carrara White Herringbone (to rear of vanity)

- Shower: Vivid Twin Matte Black

- Tapware: Vivid Rush wall mount Matte Black

- Benchtop: Caesarstone Snow

- Cabinetry: Classic White Matt