Handover TOMORROW!

 

So handover is almost here, wow! how crazy is that. All those years of dreaming, planning, saving and preparing, the day that I finally get the keys to my very own home is finally here.

 

I've got to say I have so many mixed emotions going on right now. Of course I'm beyond excited, but I'm also nervous and slightly scared of what lies ahead. Life is about to change in a lot of ways for me and its also about to get a lot busier.

 

There's going to be a lot of late nights getting things set up, and there is going to be some big learning curves I'm sure, as I delve into first time home ownership.

 

But I'm looking forward to it all, looking forward to making this house my home and seeing what fun ways I can decorate it and make it my own. I'm so excited to see some of my ideas that have been in my head for so long actually come to life.

 

This last week has been crazy making sure all the last minute things are organised. My brain has been on overdrive and I've also had money coming out my eyeballs. haha.  I do have some time off work after I get my keys so I can get started on installing my flooring and also so I can be home for a few different tradies I've got coming to do my air con, splashback, extra lighting etc.

 

Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly with the final payment with my bank and also with the few last minute things that needed to be done by the builders on my house.

 

Here's to the future and all the exciting things that lay ahead....

 

Libby x

 

Bathrooms are in!

The same time the kitchen went in, the cabinetry for the bathrooms also went in, and then it wasn't long and I had a tiler on-site. The wall tiles went up first and then the floor tiles.

 

I don't have any great photos of the bathrooms yet. So once again you may need a little imagination.

 

With the main bathroom in 'selections' I took the risk and decided to put the same tile on both the floor and the wall, a grey tile. I've been very anxious to see how this would turn out but I must say I am very happy. I love the seamless look, although some might say the dark tiles make the space smaller, I tend to disagree, it think it gives the space a moody, intriguing feel.

I paired this with my dark vanity cupboard, with a white bench top. Overall I love it.

 

 

The only thing which I would possibly change, which was sort of an over sight on my behalf is the tile on top of the bench. I probably should have gone for something different here. but honestly I remember being in my selections appointment with a million and one things to decide on, my brain kinda shut down and I said to just go with the same tile. I'm still very happy with it, but I guess I may change that down the road. I do have some ideas, but that would be way, way down the track.

 

You may (or may not) recall me talking a while back about my white ensuite bathroom plans here. Well its been great to see that come to fruition. Basically, just like my kitchen, I wanted it all white. The floor tiles, wall tiles and grout. Yes white grout. Call me crazy. I know its going to be a nightmare to keep clean but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. I have sourced a grout sealer which I plan on using to help, I'll talk about it further another time.

 

So once again I have white cabinetry, this is the exact same doors as my kitchen, and exact same benchtop colour except its not gloss, just a matt finish.

 

I'll also be adding my Ikea mirror cabinet in the ensuite, which I blogged about here.

My ALL-White Kitchen....progress

I while back I wrote about my love of ALL-white kitchens, well its now a reality.

The day my kitchen was installed was a pretty exciting one. It made the house look a lot more like a home. Its all white, sleek and exactly what I wanted.

 

This picture was taken on my phone through my very dirty glass doors as I hadn't been able to get into the house at this point. It does the kitchen no justice at all, but in real life it looks lovely.

You just need to squint and imagine a splashback, pendent lights, down lights, appliances, wood floors and kitchen accessories. Its going to look amazing, I promise.

This is just a regular ol' laminate kitchen, no fancy stone benchtops or solid wood cupboards, but I'm out to prove that builders basic can look amazing. So watch this space...

Lock up = Doors, skirting, architraves

Lock up... I could no longer walk through the house unless I managed to get there when tradies were there working. Which was rare as I was at work most of the time.

 

Internal doors, skirting timbers, architraves and cornice all went up next. I decided to ask my site supervisor to leave the skirting timbers off in the main living areas and hallway as I am installing the flooring myself after handover and prefer a seamless look.

Generally these are installed (nailed and glued on, so quite a challenge to remove) and then people install their flooring and then have a strip of 'beading' added. although its not a bit deal and most people wouldn't notice, its one of those things that would just irk me. Its just a personal preference.

So basically what that all means is there are strips of uncut skirting timber left behind and once I install my flooring I will also cut and install the skirting boards myself. Bit of extra work, but I believe worth it.

Hoepfully I don't regret it later haha.

Insulation and Internal walls

Following on from my previous update post...

The electrical wiring went in next, followed by the insulation. For those who like the technical details I have R4 in the roof, R2.5 in the external walls.

 

I also choose to add internal wall insulation. This all helped my house pass the 6 star energy rating which is required when building a new home.
 

 

Only a few days passed and all my internal walls and ceiling were up. This was a bit of a wow moment as it finally started looking like a home. I could walk in all my rooms and image the furniture placement. It was also great to be able to see how the light flowed in through the different windows, depending on which direction they face.

 

 

 

This was kind of a sad moment too as I knew it wouldn't be long before all the doors went on, which means the house is at 'lock up' and I can no longer walk through unless there is tradies working there, as I don't have a key, but this also means one step closer to completion.

Lots and lots of updates

So it appears I up and vanished for a couple of months. woops. The house is almost at completion so I better catch up on updates and all the juicy details. First up the exterior, bricks and roof.
 

 

Loving my brick choice, its PGH Oyster with a light (almost white) mortar. I was a bit concerned when my 'brickie' sand was delivered as I thought it would look white, but it looked way too dark, however once it was up I could see that they had it right. The white sand, which was combined with 'brighton lite' mortar, ended up being quite a costly upgrade, however I am so happy that I did it. The standard for my builder is a 'grey' mortar, but honestly when they mix it with the regular orange brickies sand, it comes out an organgie brown colour. Which with my grey bricks, just would have looked terrible.

 

Its funny because in my area there were no houses with grey bricks and now they seem to be popping up everywhere in the last couple of months. When I was trying to decide which bricks to go with I had to drive over an hour away just to find a few houses with a grey brick.

Then the gutters, facia and roof went up. Only took them 1 day to put all that roof sheeting on, crazy. The colour is Colorbond Surfmist, its almost white. I love love love it! Most houses in my area have dark roofs, usually colorbond woodland grey or similar, so I like that I went with something a bit different. I will also be having a surfmist garage door, but that wont go on until the house is almost complete.

 

I was a little worried about my gutter-facia colour combo. I went with woodland grey for both. Little bit different as most people recommend that your gutters match your roof colour but I felt it needed some contrast and I'm really happy with how it turned out. pheww.

Photos do it absolutely no justice, Ill defiantly be uploading better ones in future.