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.

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.

  

I have shared the inspiration for our new kitchen and now I'd like to show you our selections and plans.  As I mentioned in my previous post we were keen to reuse as much as possible of our existing kitchen which was only three years old.  So our finishes are the same except the kitchen walls are now 1/4 strength rather than full strength Dulux 'White Duck' and white 100x200mm subway tiles will be added to the splashback.

Our fittings include our existing LG refrigerator, Miele appliances and Phoenix tap but we are upgrading to a larger double bowl Clark 'Monaco' undermount sink.

I am pleased that the extension to our house has opened up the kitchen area and allowed us to incorporate an island bench and study area.  We have also been able to add a broom cupboard and additional storage beside the pantry.


Our design was restrained by the desire to reuse as much of the existing kitchen as possible.  Careful planning allowed us to reuse all but three of our existing cabinets in the new design.  We are also able to reuse two of the three Caesarstone benchtops.  Existing cabinets are marked with dashed lines in the drawings below.

Study and Kitchen Southern Wall



Kitchen Western Wall

Kitchen Island Bench

Installation of the study and kitchen commenced last week and it is great to see our plans come to life.
 

The study and kitchen so far.

What a week!  Big progress with painting and the kitchen this week and a very busy time as I returned to work on Monday.  Now I am very much looking forward to moving back home and life returning to normal!  So I'll keep this post brief and let the pictures speak for themselves.

The painters starting adding colour to the front exterior.

The facade is looking better all the time!

The painters got busy on the interior walls of the kitchen, dining, lounge area.

Completing necessary painting before the installation of the kitchen and study nook.

The first rough sand was completed.

The new and old sanded floors in the hallway.

And wait for it...

 

The cabinet makers have started installing the study nook and kitchen.



Just a few more cabinets to add to the kitchen.

 

Study nook ready for benchtop installation.



The interior is starting to look complete with the addition of mouldings this week.  140mm skirting boards and 93mm architraves set off the windows and VJ walls beautifully in the extension area (kitchen, study, dining and lounge).  The ceilings are 3.2m high so the picture rail breaks up the wall nicely and will act as a crown moulding above the kitchen and study cabinetry.

  

 

We decided to remove the dado rail from the guest bedroom (as it was the only room in the house that had one) only to discover a split in the VJs.  So new full length VJs will need to be installed.  At least we were able to add insulation to the western wall in the process. 

To allow the builders to finish the internal wall lining and mouldings we needed to purchase and install our wardrobe inserts for our main bedroom.  The plan is to have one main clothing robe in the bedroom and a walk-through shoe and accessories robe between the bedroom and ensuite.
 

We decided to use the Pax and Komplement products from Ikea.  They have a great online planner that allowed us to play with designs and create a product list before heading instore.  This made processing our order at 6:15pm (45 minutes before closing) with two hungry and tired little people in tow very helpful indeed!  We ended up with 45 boxes and Hubby M did an amazing job of getting them all into the back of the ute and into the house!
 

    

 

The painters are still working their magic on the exterior of the house.  The facade has been primed and is looking great.  Not long now until the brick work disappears and work begins on the ground floor.