Day 10 - Footings are in!

I never thought I'd be so excited about a pile of bricks, but I saw this today and was overcome with excitement! The footings are in and builders have started the retaining walls for the slab. This will form the carport and on the right of the photo will be the portico.

The footings for the rest of the house have been laid out as well and I'm a little surprised at how big the house really is. It's by far the largest house we've ever lived in.

So that's the latest, it's not much...but it's a start that's been a loooong time coming.

Lighting Love

I am just in love with this gorgeous "Pacific" pendant light from Studio Italia. They would look so amazing over my breakfast bar. There's no price on the website...so that means they're expensive and out of my budget.

But I can still dream :-)


**Update**

The price is $236.36 each. Ouch.

Couch Doppelgänger

I bit the bullet on the weekend and put a deposit down on the couch I've had my eye on for AGES! It was $400 off. Clappy hands!!

The only issue is that the delivery date is around late October and they will only store it for 2 weeks. I won't need it until December at the earliest so I have some storage issues. There's no space here in the apartment and I don't really want to store it in the granny flat as it won't be insured. Anyways...sort that out when it happens.

On another note, I saw this in a local magazine. Yeah, it's like EXACTLY the same as the one I just bought!! Couch doppelgänger!! It's from a homewares boutique in the Valley. It's about the same price as the Oz Design one normally is but given the one I bought it on sale, well, no brainer.

I asked Daryl whether it might have been the same supplier, but he said they often copy each other's designs. So I don't know who was first in this case.

Either or, they both look awesome!!

Artwork Distractions

My interior decorating budget is fast reducing as unexpected costs arise from building. The budget I had for art, which was pretty sad to start with, is almost down to nothing, so I've been distracted by trawling Etsy and other sites for budget artwork.

"Spanish Dancer" by BalletArt on Etsy $14.79

"Lulie Wallace Flowers For Phoebe Wall Mural" on Urban Outfitters USD$129

"On the street" by MyNewYorkCity on Etsy $374.61

There are literally hundreds of thousands of works online and I've spent waaay too much time looking through them all. It's a good distraction though from the trials and tribulations of building. :-)

I saw these prints at Oz Design last week and I absolutely love them, but they're $115 each and quite tiny. And of course, totally not necessary at a stage where I'm just trying to get the house BUILT! But love, love, love!!

I also love this piece of art that was in an exhibition at the HIA Renovate & Build Expo. I wish I'd noted whose exhibition this was. I'm sure the piece is out of my budget. But I can still dream...

Colour Selections

Image from Colorbond - "Surfmist" Roof

Ohhhh the fun stuff - picking colours!! The builder needs the colour selections for the roof facia and gutters. His supplier is Colorbond and there are 20 colours to choose from in their standard range.

We are going for a bright, crisp, clean, Hamptons style theme for house. Lots of white with highlights of dove grey. I would have chosen a darker roof but Daryl is adamant that a lighter roof will give the effect we want. He's the professional and I trust him, so "Surfmist" it is for the roof, facias and gutters.

Image from Trend Windows & Doors

The same goes for the windows. White, white, white all the way. The builder's supplier is Trend and Pearl White in Gloss is really the only choice from their standard range.

Kitchen Tap Love

I've found the perfect mixer for the kitchen sink! I saw it at Reece on the weekend and it's P-E-R-F-E-C-T!!

It's a Dorf Crystal Pull Down Sink Mixer. I love the coil around it, it makes a great statement and I think because the island bench is 2.7 metres long, it needs something like this to create impact.

Image from Dorf Website

This is the pic from the Dorf website. A bit easier to see. The mixer is $539 from Reece. Ouch. I hadn't budgeted for that. (I say that a lot these days...)

Day 1 - Fencing is up!

The builder put the fencing up today!! Even though it's been 614 days since the flood, I'm officially declaring this Day One!!!

Of course, after 60 days straight without rain in Brisbane, showers are forecast for tomorrow. Don't worry, the irony isn't lost on me.

A little water doesn't bother me though...(ahem), I've seen a LOT worse!

Bathtub Love

I went to Reece yesterday to have a look at their bathroom range and I fell in love with this gorgeous freestanding bath. It's by Kado, their "Arc Freestanding Bath".

It's also $1497.

Keep dreaming Karina....

Couch sorted

I've been looking for a couch for a long, long time. It's been hard to find one that fits my retro modern theme that doesn't look really hard and uncomfortable, because that was kind of the look of the time.

I finally found one that I love the look of and is actually comfortable.

Ta-dah!! This is the Tatler sofa from Oz Design. It comes in a 2 seater and 3 seater. Daryl has drawn up a plan for the seating in the lounge room and has strict maximum lengths for the sofa so that there was enough room to get around the coffee table and breakfast bar without feeling cramped. I can't remember what the figures were but I hope I will be able to get the 3 seater as the 2 seater felt just that tiny bit too small.

Same Tatler couch, in situ in taupe

I haven't ever spent much time in Oz Design but they had some fantastic furniture and accessories. A little on the pricey side, but it's an investment...right?

Jasper couch from the Oz Design website

I absolutely LOVED the colour and style of their "Jasper" chair. It reminds me of the one that my grandmother had. I would love this for the downstairs rumpus.

I fell in love with these prints they had on the wall. I think they were about $115 each though. Ouch.

Soo happy to have the couch sorted. There is a 6 week wait so I think I'll order it now. Very excited!

Boundary pegs for the new block

The boundary pegs for the new block had to be marked today so the builder knows where the boundaries for the house are. These four little wooden posts cost $2500. Holy crap. It's officially called an identification survey and I know it's a cadastral survey with a fair amount of work involved, but I guess I wanted to see a bit more than this for my money.  I felt like I could have got a trundle wheel out and marked it myself.

If you look closely enough you might be able to see the three pegs at the front of the block. This marks the boundaries of the two blocks. The new house is going on the right hand block (facing the block).

Bathroom tile selection

Daryl sent me over to Classic Ceramics to have a look at some tiles for the bathroom.  I thought this would be the easy part. I just wanted white everything.

The rectified gloss white tiles came in a few sizes, but I
think the largest format one will be the best.

The wall tiles are easy. They had some gorgeous gloss white rectified tiles in a 300mm x 600mm. The large format tiles and white colour will reflect the light and make the bathroom appear larger. The rectified edging will make the wall look like one, seamless sheet.

The white wall tiles look great, I think I like it laid vertically

The 300mm x 600mm was Daryl's suggestion and originally I thought that would be too large, but they had a wall up in situ and it looked really good. So at least the wall tiles are sorted.

The floor tiles though are another matter and proving a lot more difficult than I thought. Originally I just wanted white to match the walls, but everyone has been trying to talk me out of it as they always look dirty with hair and fluff. It's a good point as the bathroom we have now is white and shows up all my black hair unless I vacuum every day. Even if I did go this route, it's very hard to get a pure white floor tile and the closest match was like a very light beige and when put with the white wall tile it just looks like a bit of a mismatch.

Option 1 - White wall and floor tile combo

Regardless, that's Option 1- looks great but probably very impractical. I put the outside in the natural light and they look the same but in certain angles and light they look different colours.

Option 2 - Timber floorboard look tiles

Option 2 are these timber look tiles, similar to ones I've written about in a previous bathroom floor post. I loooove these and I'm pretty surprised how realistic they look. I always thought there would be a fine line between a replica looking good and looking tacky.

Option 2 - Wooden floorboard tiles

I like the whiter tile, only because we are thinking of making the cabinetry a timber look and it would be very hard to match a laminate with the darker tile. I'm definitely leaning toward this HOWEVER (and there's always a however), my budget is $33/m2 and how much is this? Yes, $144/m2. Yep, always the way. Daryl is looking for a way that we might be able to make this work...but I think it would be a miracle.

Option 3 - Stone look tile

The third option is this stone look tile. I like this and it's very similar to my last house. I'm a bit worried about the white wall tile/cream floor tile combination however they lady at the store said it's a common combination and she actually liked it. The ladies at the store were fab by the way, very helpful, especially considering I came in on a Friday afternoon.

I'm really stuck on this one, I really don't know which one, though I'm probably going more for  Option 2, the timber floorboard look, however that will depend on budget.

What do you think?

Rear Balcony Balustrades

The working drawings have come back from the Certifier and they have changed the rear balcony balustrades from horizontal steel wire to vertical balustrades. Because the lot slopes 2 metres over the 50 metre depth of the land, the rear balcony is too high above the land to allow horizontal balustrades, according to the code as a child could use it as leverage to go straight over the balcony.

It's disappointing though, as the front balcony has the stainless steel wire and I love the look of it and really wanted it to be a uniform look throughout.

Anyway, my next step is try and decide what alternative look to have for the rear balcony. I don't like the idea of powder coated and timber would look out of place with the modern look of the home and both are completely different from the look at the front of the home.

Image courtesy of Ardent Architectural Services

I saw this on the Ardent Architectural Services website. It's pretty close to what I think could be  a good option - just making the wire balustrades vertical!

What do you think of look? If you don't like it, do you have any suggestions?

Approved!!

I just like seeing it :-)

Knock! Knock!

OK, now that the building has been approved, there's no mucking around. The builder has given me a list of things I need to choose like doors, fixtures, paint colours, tiles and flooring. Luckily, because I've had SOOOOO much time to twiddle my thumbs while waiting for the grass to grow, I've got most of this stuff already sorted. Daryl, Interior Design extraordinaire, is also in the final stages of the kitchen and bathroom cabinetry design and I'm loving ALL of it!

So...this is what I'm thinking about doors.

Entrance Door

This is the "Madison" door by Corinthian Doors. Mine will only be a single as I want to put a security door on it as well. I would have loved something a bit more elaborate, but this will keep in with the house's contemporary theme. Daryl also says the the horizontal lines suit the horizontal weatherboards on the house. It will probably be just plain white to tie in with the rest of the house.

Garage Door

This is the "Urban" door by Corinthian Doors. This one won't really be seen much, but it still matches the entrance door, just without the glass.

Laundry Door

This is the "Interblind" door from Corinthian Doors. This laundry is very similar to mine in that there's no window so the only natural light will have to come through the door. I'm a bit wary about security, but I'm told that the the glass is toughened laminate glass and pretty hard to break. I'm still thinking about it.

What do you think of my choices?

Building APPROVED! We are go!!

Building approval came through today. Yippeee!!! :-)

Secretly, I did a little jig in my heart. Then my head. And then just a little dance around the apartment. Another milestone reached. Initially it felt like a bit of a setback. When the subdivision application was submitted, so were the plans for the house. I didn't realise I would have to resubmit the SAME things again, taking ANOTHER two weeks! (Two weeks, by the way, is apparently pretty good, but given the house was already approved in the subdivision application, I would have thought this more of a tick and flick situation.) Development approval and building approval are two different things, which makes sense now, but  I didn't realise at the time.

I've done everything in such a linear fashion. If I knew before what I knew now, this process would have been much faster, but I was always waiting to finish one section before applying for another. In reality I could have overlapped a lot and got things done a lot faster. Water under the bridge. I can start properly ordering fixtures and furniture!!

Happy days.