Unwrapped for Christmas

Transformation

The scaffolding finally came down yesterday and the new look is a great transformation.

Unfortunately the project isn’t as far along as we would’ve hoped for Christmas. Hopefully plasterer and then painter will be here early next week, but it’s unlikely that they’ll be finished before Xmas, so everything remains packed up in the container. We’d been hoping to get the bedrooms on the main living level restored back to normal, but it seems that’s not to be.

Wednesday wasn’t the best day to be home sick, with the slate tiles in the entranceway being ground off, as they were so firmly adhered. Very noisy, dusty and long. I wore ear plugs most of the day that took it from a loud intrusive noise to a duller still intrusive noise. I thought I’d moved vulnerable breakable items off shelves in the cupboard backing onto the area that they were working in, but found all the vibrations had dislodged a glass candle holder which smashed when it hit other items on the floor of the cupboard. At least it wasn’t something really precious.

With builders not back until mid January, the master suite is unlikely to be finished until the end of January and walk in wardrobe likely to be installed in early February. Between now and mid January the tiler should’ve completed the bathroom and hallway tiling. Bathroom waterproofing inspection due tomorrow.

Fingers crossed, the front door could arrive and be installed on Monday – here’s hoping that it’ll be the bow on top.

Water water everywhere….

Last weekend I discovered the flaw in the builders putting the plywood on the inside of the front door frame while we wait for the door to be delivered/installed.

We had a full on easterly storm overnight that had the rain blowing against the plywood and running down the surface into the entrance area. So when I got up on Saturday morning I found a spreading pool of water on the floor. It was also being blown though the cracks around the edges onto new gib and plastering.

I then proceeded to spend half an hour mopping up the mess and tried to “plug” the gaps with rolled up towels but the wind was so strong it was vibrating the plywood and the towels were falling out.

Stewart texted the builder to come around to make it more weathertight and we didn’t hear back from him. This is when you realise how mobiles have changed our expectations around people been available all the time – he had left his mobile on his boat the night before and didn’t know we were trying to contact him. After a couple of hours and no word from him I texted the key builder on the job day to day and miraculously help arrived.

This experience confirmed why we had moved the front door from south facing, where more of the stormy weather comes from, to facing east with a porch roof over the door to give some extra protection. Needless to say, the porch isn’t built yet.

Funnily, now the plywood is now nailed on the outside of the door frame at the end of each day. Roll on delivery of the front door!

Christmas Rush

Bathroom taking shape

Christmas is looming, but the end of the project isn’t.

But things are moving quite fast, with the aim of having the bedrooms and bathroom on the main floor plastered and painted by Christmas. Just like our last renovation, the plasterer worked the weekend. The painters also work weekends, so they might be painting right up till Christmas Eve

Some tiles should get laid and glass for the shower templated before the break, but the balance of the bathroom and bedroom completion is likely to be end of January.

Posts for the steps up to the front door have also gone in.

We were reminded how exposed to the weather our entrance is this morning when we found that the sheet of plywood covering the space where the front door belongs wasn’t stopping the wind blowing the rain into the entrance. So spent half an hour mopping up water off the floor and packing towels around the gaps to try and stop water coming in only to find that the wind was so strong it was blowing the towels out. The builder leaving his mobile on his boat last night meant it took a while to get hold of him to get some extra protection over the doorway.

Fingers crossed that we can restore our main living floor to some semblance of normality before the builders finish for Christmas.

No sleep-in this Saturday

Progress on bathroom and wardrobe

No sleep-in today as the builders were due to arrive at 7.30am for a morning of putting the gib up in the new areas. They were trying to make up for some lost time over the last few weeks.

The bathroom and walk-in wardrobe are starting to look like real rooms.

But the builders did strike a problem on Friday that could hold us up. The old front door and the wall were removed to create the new front entrance and the builders found that the existing structure wouldn’t cope with the new span, so we’re now looking at options of a steel beam or not cutting the wall back as far. Not helped by the fact that this is now about to hold up the tiler who can’t waterproof the bathroom until the structure below is complete and stable.

The Christmas break is looming and losing a few days with this will have a major impact on what is complete before the holidays.

Front door and wall removed to create new entrance area

 

Spot the difference

No it’s not Stewart walking up the path….

 

 

Took me a moment tonight to work out what had changed today.  Spouting finally up so looking even more finished. Will also be great for the rainwater to be collected in our water tank instead of ending up on the ground and contributing to a muddy mess that gets trekked inside.

Creativity born out of necessity

Have been discovering that things look different in reality with tiles and doors.

After finally totalling how much the tiles for the feature wall in the shower would cost and deciding that the favourite tiles either weren’t affordable or available in time we started to look again at options.

My first port of call was looking at tiles on some of the tile shop websites and got quite despondent about the options. So went into a couple of tile stores to see if I could find something they didn’t have on their website.

When I got in store lots of options I hadn’t considered opened up. The online search criteria I was using to save me looking at 100’s of pages were also cutting out some different ways of looking at the space and what could go into it.

So now have a cool glass mosaic tile in browns which was completely unexpected but I think will look good against the green glass wall they are next to and will be a more elegant look that ties the brown floor tile to the walls and has linkages to the vanity finish, so very happy.

Bathroom colours

I’ve also been unsure of the sliding doors that were planned for between the bedroom and the ensuite. So had put a hold on ordering them, but we have to make a decision or miss getting them for Christmas. Have been concerned that the aluminium fabrication could look heavy and out of place while the exposed sliding rail would look unfinished and out of place in the room.

The builder suggested that we looked at some sliding doors in his house as a possible option. It was great to see them rather than have them described and my first concern was quickly put to rest as the doors are a lighter construction. The doors we saw were full height and the track for them is concealed in the ceiling so when the doors are open the two rooms feel more connected.

Decision made. Aluminium fabricator measuring up this week.

All boarded up

All the weatherboards are nearly up

Lots of progress last week, with most of the weatherboards now up and the builder planning a pre-line inspection from the council later this week.

The new feature window is looking great too now the glass  is in it.

Tiler also due on site later this week to start prepping the bathroom for tiles once the walls have been lined.

What a difference a window makes

Window in, weather boards starting to go on

The big window has gone in and it looks good, but still needs glazing, so not as impactful as I’d thought it’d be.

The biggest difference is the new larger window we put in the small bedroom, it’s made the room seem much brighter.

New bedroom window

Weather boards have also started going up, think the builders have been a bit hampered by the weather, so hopefully the good weather forecast for the rest of the week will mean progress on completing the exterior speeds up.

Creative license

While we were in Shanghai I looked for some Chinese brocades that I could use to create the bedhead I’ve been envisioning for the master bedroom.

Had lots of fun fossicking through the fabrics and being able to buy some luxe looking fabrics that I normally wouldn’t consider. It was tough whittling the selection down to just a few.

The idea was born out of my browsing Pinterest looking for ideas and I came across these 2 concepts:

• http://www.pinterest.com/pin/407575835000246538/
• http://www.pinterest.com/pin/407575835000246508/

I like the bigger squares of the first and that it goes to the ceiling, but the idea for brocades came from the second, just substitute turquoise and green for pink and purple.

My opulent brocades

So have now have 4 opulent fabrics and need to find 2-3 plainer fabrics to act as a foil for these. Need to get moving with this while I have handymen on tap who can source plywood and cut it up for me for the base that I’ll upholster with my fabrics. Don’t think this is Stewart’s forte!

Whirlwind of decisions

Ready for weather boards

Lots happened in the week were away. Most of the outside is ready for the weather boards to go up. The windows arrived, with the new ones now in the bathroom and bedroom. The large feature window is in the garage waiting to go in. Can’t wait to see it in, as it will really start to feel like we’re progressing.

Flooring has started to go down in the bathroom ready for tiles and plumbing work has started as well.

This week has had lots of decisions on bathroom stuff, thought I’d made most of them, but found the toilet we’d wanted is now obsolete. So ended up on the phone to Chesters while looking on the Internet at their proposed replacement. Also meant replacement cistern and flush plate decisions required.

Upper LH: new bathroom starting to take shape; lower LH: window which will be over the bath; RH: bathroom floor starting to go in.

This week has had lots of decisions on bathroom stuff, thought I’d made most of them, but found the toilet we’d wanted is now obsolete. So ended up on the phone to Chesters while looking on the Internet at their proposed replacement. Also meant replacement cistern and flush plate decisions required.

Still haven’t finalised the vanity, had hoped to have it custom made by the company that did our kitchen, but after a couple of follow up calls about progressing a quote that didn’t go anywhere I got the message that it would be a favour and they were too busy at this time of year to help. So have been back at bathroom shops and online looking for an 1800 long vanity. There’s not much choice and a couple of the options are quite expensive. So while I’m lurking at home with a festering cold I’ve sent Stewart off to look at one of the options on his way to a family BBQ.

Front door final decision also required. We’ve decided to go with a plasma door using Met4 Terrain surface http://www.meta4.co.nz/#!designs/c8ui on outside powder coated a similar colour to the feature wall in our entrance way http://www.resene.co.nz/swatches/preview.php?chart=Resene%20Multi-finish%20range%20%282008%29&brand=Resene&name=Paradiso, just trying to decide on the colour on the inside of the door – looking at either a deeper shade in the neutral we’re already using in the house or the same colour as the outside of the door.

Next week they’ll be removing the cladding on the walls of the downstairs bedrooms, so we’ll need to relocate as the window will also come out of the bedroom and there’ll be dust and building debris in the room we’re currently in. Had been using one of the rooms as a “dump station” for things I haven’t dealt with yet, so guess the message is I need to deal with them now…..