Cabinets!

"Where there's a will, there's a way."

I spoke too soon, there is most definitely a desire to get into the house and check out all the work that has been done, but unfortunately my arms aren't skinny enough or long enough to reach around and unlcok a window ... or two. So all the pics have been taken through a gap in the window.

The garage floor has been concreted, which is an unexpected bonus. I had always thought that it would have been done a lot later in the build, when the house is almost complete.

The first of the cabinets have been installed!

The ensuite:
The vanity in the cabinet has been fitted and looks great. Needs to have the kickboard fitted and then tiled,

Was able to get a glimpse into the dresser and it looks as if the wardrobe fit-out has been done. Was able to get a pic of the two baths to be installed. The one on the left is the standard .. the one on the right is the upgraded version that forever will be know as 'my bath'! :) Just a little bigger than normal bath!

Two views of the kitchen. There are cupboards to be installed against the wall in the space to the right of the drawers behind the island bench and overheads along the wall. (My description was really bad, sorry) Expect that to be done tomorrow, so will head over for more pics.

Can't help but be very pleased with how well the colours work together - it's always hard to know if you made the right decision based on the little swatches.

The laundry bench has also been installed, but the pic of that is awful - so I won't subject you to that!

Happy Anniversary

To us!

It was this long weekend last year that sent Rayleen and I on the home building adventure. We're off to celebrate with an ice cream.

Thanks to www.sugardoodle.net for unknowingly letting me use their graphic.

Security Issues

Went and visited the house this morning and decided to determine the 'security vulnerabilities'. Actually I broke in because I wanted to see what had been done! Is it still called 'breaking in' even though I never broke anything to get in?

I was a little disappointed when walking around the outside of the house, the window sills were still leaning against the walls like they were on Thursday, bits of unused shelving were still on the floor and everything looked like it had last time I broke in (umm ... I mean 'visited'). So, wind out one of the rear windows as far as they can go and shimmy my way through, thank goodness I lost a heap of weight a couple of years back or I'd still be trying to get through the window!

As I thought - nothing.

Except a funny smell ... paint?  But where? Nothing seemed like it had been touched, doors still off white, walls weren't being painted by SPH, so obviously it wasn't any of them. (This is where you, dear reader, yell 'Look up you fool' at the monitor)

All the ceilings have been painted, doors and door frames primed and frames for the baths bricked :)

Standing in the entry looking down towards the home theatre (Have just realised, I only use pics taken from 4 or 5 positions and just keep repeating them .. oh well!)

From the other direction; standing in the HT doorway looking towards the entry. Love the look of the bulkhead over what will become the kitchen. No white plaster in that area as it's all going to be cupboards and tiles.

A little bit more detail of the 'wall of windows'. Bit chilly in Perth this morning, have discovered where the cat will be sitting when it gets cold!

The bath frame, this is for the bath in the ensuite. I was wondering how the bath was going to be installed - thought it may have been a wooden frame. Made me realise that it's probably best if I leave building homes to people who know what they are doing.

The laundry shelving, doors need to be fitted. The coffee and sunglasses are mine.

That may be the last of the pics if the tradies lock the house up properly .. although where there's a will, there's a way!

Locked Out!

Stopped by the house on our way to do the grocery shopping earlier this afternoon only to find that we have been locked out!  Luckily a window had been left open, so Rayleen was able to climb in and open a door for me.  The internal doors have all been fitted* and the shelving in all the robes, the linen cupboard and the cupboard in the laundry have also been fitted.

* All the internal doors except the door to the Powder Room. That hasn't been fixed yet.

Hopefully we can 'break in' again over the weekend and take some pics.

Plastered!

The progress continues at a cracking pace and the tradesmen have again been hard at work.

This week sees the final plaster applied to all the walls, internal doors delivered as well as windows and external doors fitted. It really is beginning to look like the picture I have carried in my head ever since we signed the first contract.

Looking through the alfreso - love the doors

From the home thetre towards the kitchen.

The front doors, will be painted.

Took a while to figure out but this is the wood for the window sills.

The view from the kitvhen to the Dining area.

Ceilings

This week's surprise was that ceilings have been installed. If I thought that the rooms looked bigger with the float coat, then the ceilings seem to amplify that effect.

Standing at the front door looking down towards the home theatre.

The view towards the kitchen and the double drop bulkhead.

A second view, this time from the opposite corner from the doors to the entry of the Home Theatre.

The al fresco is really coming together, going to be 'decked' so it should be very swish.

The al fresco again, this time taken from the front of the block.

The ensuite.

Rendered

After the tradesmen had finished applying the float coat to the inside of the house it took them a few days to return and do the exterior and now it looks like this!

Telstra !!!

Maybe Stephen Conroy should have hinted at splitting Telstra a long time ago, then maybe there would have been no need to do it!

Drove to the new girl this morning to see what had been done and found this attached to the inside of our garage.

Just a shame it's actually in the wrong spot as now we have a length of conduit attached to the garage wall and nothing to use it for. Not the piece in the pic, there is a 'spare' to the right of this picture.

Life's Good 1

WARNING: Contains extreme geek content.

Have been able to get a grip on the tech-head aspect of the new home. Not interested in automating everything but do have a couple of 'must haves' on my list;

1. I want to stream movies to the home theatre and family room.
2. I want the ability to play music/radio in at least two areas (family / dining area and al freso at least)

The setup will consist of a six port patch panel (two cat5e runs each to Bedroom 2, the Home Theatre and Family Room) above the top shelp of the linen cupboard and a data port from the Telstra PON (internet connection) and a double GPO.

This following is the equipment I have in mind at the moment, but it's all subject to change depending on what's released between now and when I go out buying and of course, if any other comparable piece of tech is released; shinier, more buttons, brighter lights, that sort of thing :)

DATA
The data is going to be connected to a wireless access point for when I use my notebook PC, from there I will be connecting it to a 16 port switch, which is probably more than I need, but there is always 'future proofing'!

Storage is going to be two media hub NAS boxes. One containing two 1TB hard drives (in RAID 1 - which means I only get 1TB of storage but the data is copied on the second drive), for streaming music and movies. The second server will contain two 500GB drives (again RAID 1) for documents and data that would usually be stored on the local PC. Am going to use 'Sync Toy', which is a free Microsoft product to back up the 'My Document' folders of all the PCs on the network to this server.

The wireless access point and switch.

The two servers, the top is for movies and music.

MUSIC

Music will stream from the server to the media player and then through an audio matrix so that separate sources can be played in individual rooms. At the moment I will be having ceiling speakers installed in the Family / Dining area and the al fresco. I hope to expand this to the courtyard behind the Master Bedroom and into the study, but this depends on funds, access and funds.

MP3s will be played using this set up, the remote is touch screen and since it uses the data network it does not have to be in 'line of sight' to work. It hasn't been released in Australia as yet, but I wrote to the distributor and it should be available soon - fingers crossed.

To be continued ..

Float Coat

Soon after the roof tiling had been completed, the tradesmen to do the initial render on the internal walls (float coat) arrived and worked their magic. It has become really exciting now, not that it was boring before, with the new girl really taking shape. I can't wait for the finishing touches - then it's time for painting, flooring, finishing the electrics (we are gettting our own sparky to install downlights) and window treatments.

Looking through the al fresco area into the dining room kitchen to be. Bet you can't guess this is my favourite spot! :)

From the entry looking past the kitchen / dining / family rooms. The double doors lead to my our home theatre. The big gap to the right of the photo is a double sliding doors to the alfresco.

From the home theatre doors back towards the entry.

The entire house is looking bigger and bigger, which is good because you need a lot of room for two adults and a cat! :)

On the Tiles

Well, under them actually.

The roof carpenters came and did their thing, then the plumber and then the electricians tried to undo all the carpenters work. And then, finally, the tiles were deliverd, approximately 4,500 of them.

Bristile 'Truffle' in the Vienna profile.

So, the roof went from looking like this 'bad hair day';

To this, tiles laid but ridge capping needs to be installed and cemented in;

To the practically completed version which looks like this:

Rayleen and I have a few issues with the tiles over the main bedroom having a lot of chips and contact points showing - making them look second-hand to be honest. But an email to SPH has assured me that representatives from Bristile will inspect the roof closer to completion, replace chipped or cracked tiles, apply what is known as a 'cold glaze' and we will have new tiles that look like new!

When I Grow Up

I want to be an electrician, no a carpenter. Hey, I will do both!

I know this is me just being a baby but the sparkies came in and did the pre-wiring. Chasing the walls for the installation of the wiring and conduit prior to the float coat. I don't expect them to be perfect, but even I can tell the difference between bricks and structural pine ... but this sparkie couldn't apparently.

Heron Park

Rayleen and I are building at Harrisdale W.A., in an estate called Heron Park.

To be honest, I don't think we would be building right now if we hadn't found and then been able to purchase the block of land we managed to get. The outlook from the front is awesome, and best of all, it will remain an attraction.  Let me take you for a walk down the path just outside our front foor.

The view out the front and I am still on our block of land.

A few pics as I wander south along the path.

Vertical Again!

Had a 'procedure' a couple of weeks ago (how come they are not called 'operations' any more?) and have been spending most of my time since then flat on my back, feeling sorry for myself. But, all is well now (or not so sore) and so much has happened over the past two weeks at the house.

Will get up to date by Monday!