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!

 

A beauty on Better Homes and Gardens USA


My 'Flashback Friday- Family Home Number 2' post explained how we sold our last house and had 60 days to renovate our new family home to a liveable state for our newborn Master H.  The kitchen was one of the main priorities as it looked like this-

I loved the last modern kitchen we designed in Family Home Number 2 with glossy white 2 pac doors, glass spashback etc.

The kitchen we designed in our last home

But this time I thought I would stick with more of a traditional look.  I found myself drawn to the classic look of Provincial style kitchens in magazines and A-M's gorgeous kitchen featured on her blog 'The House that AM Built'.-

Cape Cod Designs- AM's kitchen

We didn't want to make any structural changes to the house until we had finalised our major renovation plans so were restricted to a small u-shaped kitchen design.  Sadly, I didn't think to take any proper photos of our completed kitchen but here are some quick snaps I took with the iphone before we moved out and the house was a complete mess!

Now with our major renovation and extension, we are able to change the layout of the kitchen.  I am pleased that we will be able to have more storage, an island bench and study nook.  I found great inspiration on Houzz and numerous blogs and have been busy pinning to my kitchen board on Pinterest.  Here are some of my favourite images and main inspiration-


Georgica Pond Interiors- Mel's Kitchen



'Building Our House of Grey and White' Blog- Natasha's Kitchen

 


Cabinetry and layout inspiration.  Pinterest

 

Study nook layout inspiration.  Pinterest

 


Study nook inspiration.  Pinterest

 
I'm really pleased with the kitchen plan and selections that we have settled on and it's great that we are able to reuse 90% of our exisiting kitchen.  I can't wait to show you!

We have colour and couldn't be happier!  We chose our paint colours back in 2010 when we purchased the house so it's a relief that we still love our selections.  Like Family Home Number 2 we were keen to make a selection from the Colorbond range and we decided upon Evening Haze as our main wall colour and Monument for the gutters and sills.  To help with the remaining selections we employed Dulux Colour Consultant, Suzanne Pike from Home and Office Revamps.  These are the exterior colours we settled on:

We replaced the gutters in Colorbond Monument.  Evening Haze has been painted on the chamfer boards and Natural White on the eaves.  The ceilings will also be painted in Natural White.  The facia, fretwork and railings are yet to be painted in Vivid White.

The plan is to paint the sills and handrails in Monument but we like the look of the white at the moment.  What do you think?  I'll share our interior colours soon.

In other news, the insulation and VJ ceilings have been installed on the deck and living room.

The ceilings on the verandah have also been insulated and lined and a couple of damaged posts replaced.

More chamfer boards were replaced on the western wall for a better integration with the existing boards.  This was a bit of a bonus as we were able to add more insulation to Master H's bedroom wall which heats up in the afternoon.

Unfortunately it hasn't been all smiles this week.  Despite previous advice from our certifier and town planner, Council is now insisting that we complete a Partial Demolition Application to put in our front door.  This is particularly frustrating considering there is evidence that there was a front door in the original house and that our entrance door on the side verandah was originally a window based on the sill check outs in the frame.  I'm all for protecting the integrity of character homes in demolition control precincts.  Our whole renovation has been planned to restore the home, as much as possible, to its former glory.  We are reinstating character features that had been removed.  It's not like we're adding a skillion roof or glass balustrades!  Anyway, more fees and time delays but my rant is over.  

The house has been a hive of activity this week with more framing and cladding by the builders and the painters starting on site.  We had a co-ordination meeting with the builder and cabinet maker to discuss the finer details of our kitchen and study.  I'll have to share the plans with you in another post.  I am so excited about this space!  We also met the electrician on site to finalise our power and lighting plans.  Meanwhile, I'm wishing Pottery Barn would start selling their lighting in Australia.  It's very difficult to source the gorgeous lighting in the images I have pinned on Pinterest.  And I'm not sure that I want the drama of importing and converting lights from the U.S.  

I have been out and about visiting lighting stores and plumbing suppliers to confirm our selections.  Having Master H and Miss O along for the trip always makes for an eventful visit!  We still need to settle on tiles for the ensuite but I think I have had enough for one week!



Painters have primed the timber doors and posts.

Flooring added ready for tiles in the ensuite
and pine flooring in the robe and retreat area.

Our old bedroom door removed and framed up
for the ensuite wall.



Framing for the main wardrobe in our master bedroom.
A new doorway cut in the hallway wall.




Framing for the guest bedroom.



Master H's bedroom door will be repositioned
to the new hallway and a robe will be on this wall
of the guest bedroom.

The hallway framing extended into the living area.
The study cabinetry will be on the left and kitchen on the right.



Chamfer boards added to the BBQ and bench area.
Battens added to the ceiling ready for VJ lining.



More ceiling battens and the primed door and windows in the living area.

Cladding complete on the bathroom wall.  Primed windows.



Cladding on the laundry/kitchen cupboard.



I must share our paint colour selections too.  Good bye poo brown and heritage green, maroon and cream! 

This week saw the installation of the remaining windows and more chamferboards to the exterior of the house.  We're still eagerly awaiting the delivery and installation of the front doors.  I can't wait to see the house after its facelift! 

 

New windows for the guest bedroom.

 

Loving the new windows in the retreat area and ensuite.

 

The new look for the Eastern side of the house.

Window replaced in the bathroom and
chamferboards complete on the extension.

The Western wall.

Chamferboards complete on the Western wall.

As I mentioned in our week 3 and week 4 updates, we have been unsure about the western wall of the deck.  Originally we planned to have a full-height wall and were uncertain how to finish the internal side.  We have now decided to lower the wall to allow a small splashback above the outdoor kitchen/laundry bench.  We can add shutters or a blind if necessary.  

Wall lowered for an open side to the deck above the laundry/BBQ.

The rear view of the house.

I must admit that I'm getting a little overwhelmed with all of the decision making at the moment!  I thought we had specified heaps of items but there are still so many little details to consider and I don't want to get them wrong.  I really appreciate your feedback and suggestions. 

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!