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!!!

I think I have the renovation blues this week.  Combine a severe case of decision fatigue (Ref.-Bungalow Girl), returning to work, no daycare placement for Miss O, a heat wave with all of my summer clothes packed away in the shipping container, 3 out of 4 of us being sick plus a couple of disappointments on site and I'm left feeling very weary!  But seeing our front door handle installed was a reminder that it won't be much longer before we return to our home and our life returns to normal.

Much of this week involved the builders completing the sheeting, adding the mouldings and installing the wardrobes.



New VJs for the guest bedroom wall.

 

Miss O's Bedroom door frame.

Miss O's Wardrobe.

Master Bedroom Robes and Ensuite.

 

The ensuite was lined ready for waterproofing, the installation of the vanity and tiling.  I am really looking forward to seeing the hexagon marble mosiac tiles laid.  This week I decided on some wall sconces that will look great above the vanity.

 





The retreat area windows have also been trimmed nicely to frame some more wall sconces.

The final cabinets were added to the kitchen so it is now ready for the benchtops to be installed.

For now I will dream about the house being complete and enjoying this lovely family living area.

  

Floors, doors and more!  Words cannot express how pleased we are with our flooring.  We decided to pull up the pine flooring from our old kitchen dining area to use in the sleepout area that had hardwood shot boards.  The builders did such a great job of splicing in the new and old boards resulting in a seamless master bedroom area that looks like it was always there.  We even had a few extra boards left over to replace some dodgy ones throughout the house.



This also meant that there wouldn't be a join between new and old flooring in the middle of the open kitchen, dining, living area and allowed us to select a more durable timber than pine.  We opted for Blackbutt 130mm boards in a standard grade to give us some markings and character to match our aged pine boards.

We now have a smaller join between the pine and blackbutt flooring in the hallway.  Once the floors are polished the change in flooring should be even less noticeable. 

Did you spot that gorgeous transom at the end of the hallway (as well as Builder N and Builder A)?  Yes, our front doors have been installed!  The facade finally looks more authentic unlike the missing front door and mismatched french doors that we used to have.

I seriously LOVE our front door!

I also love that the kids will have lovely french doors in their bedrooms.  This is Miss O's bedroom-

More progress was made this week with framing and lining the bulkheads.  After cleaning the tops of kitchen cupboards I vowed to never have a kitchen without a bulkhead again!  So the builders and cabinet maker have coordinated a bulkhead with a picture rail running along the join and giving the look of a crown moulding above the cupboards.
 

A bulkhead will also fill the space above the study nook. 

The plumber was also on site this week installing our drain pipes, storm water pipes and hot and cold water supply pipes.  Now I really need to make up my mind about tiles!

Our week 6 update is a little late as my internet access dried up.  I was relying on the 1.5Gb of data per month included with my mobile phone plan as my wi-fi connection for the laptop and iPad.  And it turns out that doesn't last long!  Especially with Master H downloading Peppa Pig on YouTube!  Just as my internet withdrawal symptoms started to set in, Hubby M got us sorted by increasing our mobile plans. Anyway, enough about my first world problems and on to the progress at the house.

Our master bedroom started to take shape with the removal of the verandah wall.  I'm really looking forward to the addition of a retreat area, walk-through robe and ensuite in the verandah area.  We won't know ourselves with all that space!

The verandah wall and hallway wall removed
from Miss O's bedroom to create our master bedroom.



Three windows on the retreat wall will let in the beautiful morning sun.



The view from the walk-through robe. 
Recycled pine floorboards from our kitchen/dining area will be used on the verandah.

The new wall frame was erected to divide
Miss O's bedroom and the hallway.

The scaffolding was removed to reveal the house's new look.  The facade changed even more with the framing for the new front door and french doors for Master H and Miss O's bedrooms.  It was very exciting to see the new double hung windows and sliding door installed in the living area.

Bye-bye scaffolding!

Frames for new doors.  Insulation to be
added and walls re-lined with VJs.

Hello, beautiful new windows!



I'm glad we changed to a sliding door instead of the bi-fold.   



I think the fixed panel of glass is a better option than the doors
protruding onto our wide but shallow deck.

  

The builders have begun cladding the exterior walls with new chamferboards.

It won't be long now until we are at lock-up!