It has been a very busy week adding the finishing touches to the inside of the house before the floor sanding commenced.  The ducted airconditioning was installed, window and door furniture was added, powerpoints and lights were installed and the tiling was completed.  Our kitchen island bench was also replaced with a correct sink cutout this time!

Master H's french door with locks and handle.

Gainsborough 'Majestic' handles on the bedroom doors.

Sash lifts on the windows.

The new Caesarstone benchtop with correct sink cutout.

Kitchen pendant lights from Schots Home Emporium.  Base glass still to be added.

Re-using our existing hallway lights.

Re-using our existing lights in the kids' bedrooms.

The ensuite tiles look amazing even though they are covered in dust from the floor sanding!

On Saturday afternoon I realised that the white subway tiles I had selected for the splashback were too stark.  Not good news when the tiler was starting on Monday!  So we made a quick dash to a couple of tile shops to select a new option.  I was pleased to find a smaller, textured tile with more of an antique white finish.  I cringed when the salesman mentioned 'handmade' and 'imported from Italy' but at this late stage it was our only option.  Unfortunately the tile wasn't in stock but the lovely people at Meer Tile Market arranged for me to collect it directly from the supplier on Monday.  Thankfully I was finishing work early and could fit in a drive to Ormeau!  


New tiles for the kitchen splashback.

We are still waiting for our master bedroom and ensuite lights to be made and are having endless trouble with our ensuite benchtop.  It seems there is no black or white Caesarstone in Australia until December and other suppliers are also out of stock!  Anyway, we are pressing on with having the floors polished so that we can move in this weekend. 



The final sand completed and floors cleaned before polishing.


Outside the house was also buzzing with activity as the painters moved on to the exterior and earthworks were completed in the front yard to allow for concreting our driveway and front porch.
 



Framing completed for the garage door and entrance door.



The rest of the week will involve polishing the floors, paint touch-ups, concreting the driveway, and the erection of the front and back stairs and then we move in on Saturday!  The house won't be totally complete but it will be so good to be home!!!



Naomi V Photography



Our precious baby girl is now 1!  It really doesn't seem that long ago that we welcomed gorgeous little (or should I say chubby 9lb 10oz?!) Miss O to our family.  We were overwhelmed with joy to be blessed with a daughter and very thankful for her safe arrival after I fell down our front stairs when I was 38 weeks pregnant.



Luisa Dunn Photography

She was born with so much beautiful dark brown hair and had the most delightful chubby arms and the cutest round ears.  We marvelled at her wee little curled up legs and long toes.  She was indeed wonderfully made!

 

Luisa Dunn Photography

Master H was thrilled to meet Miss O.  He correctly guessed and had maintained the entire pregnancy that he was to have a baby sister.  His affection and protection of her is beautiful.  It is a joy to watch their relationship develop.  She loves to giggle with him. 

 

Miss O is a delight.  A beautiful, placid baby who is growing up way too fast!  She is now crawling and starting to pull herself up on furniture.  She likes to dance, giggle and read books.

We are so glad that she is part of our family.  Happy birthday darling girl!



The initial duration given for our renovation was 14 weeks but we are still going!  While I know that 14 weeks really is a short period for the amount of work required it is disappointing that we can't move back in yet.  I had really hoped to be home for Miss O's 1st birthday this Friday.  We have experienced a couple of delays in the arrival of some materials and fixtures and last week we had a disaster with the kitchen island benchtop that had me wishing it was all over!  But the benchtop will be replaced and we have adjusted our orders to ensure the items we urgently require will arrive on time.  Now we have been given a practical completion date of 24th October.  1 more week!  So here's an overdue update on the last two week's progress...



Brick piers demolished

 

Temporary steel beams put in place

New internal doors hung

Airconditioning penetrations cut

Caesarstone benchtops installed in the kitchen.

Ensuite vanity cabinet installed

Loving it!

  

Back door and windows blocked in on ground floor

New steel posts concreted in

And all of this while the painters soldiered on to complete the massive task of painting the interior.

Can you believe we move in next weekend?  I'm not convinced!

It's time to sell off all of our old doors and windows.  We will be listing the items elsewhere but I thought I would give any renovators following the blog the first opportunity to grab one of our pieces.  Please share this post with anyone you think might be interested.  Of course all items are in Brisbane and sold as is.

760x1940mm



1 of 3 - 810x2010mm



815x2025mm

4 available 620x2340mm

1030x2050mm

740x2070mm

1005x2125mm



My favourite door!  Wish we could have used this somewhere.  :-(  930x2090mm



2 of 3 810x2010mm

3 of 3 810x2010mm



6 - 515x1040mm and 2 - 460x900mm



1200x600mm

5 sets - 900x1500mm overall

Are you ready for the good, the bad and the ugly this week?  Firstly, the addition of the final mouldings and breezeways has the interior looking beautiful!  The painters have started the huge task of prep work in the existing part of the house so I will definitely deliver more of their favourite baked treats this week!

Now brace yourself for the bad.  I was initially excited to see work commence in the ensuite with the waterproofing being added but on closer inspection it appeared that our shower area was incorrect.  Rather than sticking to the FC sheet area they continued waterproofing over the VJ sheeting.  The waterstop angle where the shower screen is meant to meet the floor at 900x1500mm was fixed at 1000x1800mm!  When I arrived on site the next morning I was relieved to see the waterproofers back on site rectifying the problem.  Phew!  Thankfully, our terrific builder was already onto it. 

In fact, our builder is so impressive that our neighbour has commenced a renovation with him also!  It has worked out well, allowing access to the small lot next door through our property and coordinating trades across both sites.  This week they were concreting in the posts next door and did our back stairs landing at the same time. 



Now for the ugly.  Demolition has begun downstairs!  The garage door was removed and the existing front brick wall of the garage fell down quite easily.

Our new front wall will be set back under the house to allow for a front porch so the concrete cutter came to cut back the existing slab.

Removal of the verandah decking exposed some pretty sad looking joists that will need to be replaced.  Ouch!

Our home is now sitting pretty on back propping waiting for the removal of the brick piers, some new steel beams, posts and floor joists.