In the woods....with Plantation shutters and blinds.

I had my first quote for plantation shutters (facade) and roller blinds today.  Quality Blinds and Shutters (59 Crystal Street, Peterhsam ph 1300 135 831) was recommended to me by an Interior Design Lecturer.

I was happy with the quote (it was $6500) but had better get a second quote just in case. I doubt there will be huge differences. Most plantation shutters these days are between $300 - $360 sq metre.

in the woods...with more shopping

Today I went to the Good Guys at Rockdale and was looked after by Gabriella.

This is what I have ordered so far
 
Electrolux 4 door 600L french door fridge/ freezer.   We have decided to keep our current fridge for the butlers pantry

Westinghouse oven for butlers pantry

Dyson Allergy upright vacuum

Monster steam cleaner

Still need to get a new microwave and three TV's. I just could not do anymore shopping today. It was information overload. Hopefully the husband and I will return on Saturday to check out the TV's.

in the woods...with fittings and fixtures photos

Hi, haven't written for a while because I have been so peeved about the kitchen. We are still no closer to a resolution. Hopefully Monday

 Here are some pics, tiling almost complete in living areas downstairs. Ceasarstone installed to kitchen despite all kitchen items being placed on hold until a resolution is reached on the issue. Light fitting, power points, exhaust fans, oven rangehood, sink, external lights, all done. Final coat of paint to happen on Monday.

Undermount Blanco sink

Porcelain tiles - yes they are slippery!

Porcelain tiles 600 x 600

Floor, wall and mosaics in powder room

mosaics in powder room - they are shimmery

3 in 1 light/ exhaust/ heater

Upstairs intercom panel

Downlights that need to be moved as they are not straight

Lights on stairs

Main aircon unit cover upstairs

Lights in stairs

Lightglobe "the standard" lighting wisdom provide. Square "standard aircon duct 

Uncapped TV/ foxtel points

outside light switches

Exhaust fan in butlers pantry

In the woods...with furniture shopping

You may recall that I while ago I made my first purchase for the house, a Jimmy Possum Chair. Since then I have been extremely restrained and have waited until now to purchase anything else.........Ooops, I tell a lie, I have purchased two large ottomons that we will use as toy boxes for this kids.

Here is a shopping list of the other things we need to buy
Electrical
3 LCD TV's
1 dishwasher
1 oven
1 vacuum cleaner
1 fridge
Lighting
Fans
Lamps

Furniture
2 lounges
4 occasional chairs
Outdoor dining setting
Outdoor lounge
2 ottomons
3 wall cabinets
coffee tables x 3
6 bedside tables
1 bed head
New bed linen for our rooms
Desk
Desk chair
Basically, we are buying everything new...The only things we are keeping are our beds and our green lounge which will go  upstairs once it has had a good clean!

For the last few weeks,  I have been shopping for furniture.  We were going to buy a leather lounge from Nick Scali until we met a custom made lounge manufacturer right here in Sydney. They actually manfucture furniture for hotels, clubs and retailers. However they have a small retail outlet at Wetherill Park.

I actually found Sydney Lounge Specialist  on ebay where they sell direct. However if you are not comfortable buying such big ticket items on ebay,  you can go and meet them face to face at their Showroom. The owners sat down with us and designed two sofas that meet our space and lifestyle requirements. Best of all they had hundreds of fabric choices (including Warwick fabrics). We found them very knowledgeable, adaptable, friendly and well priced. The products are all Australian made and take approximately 4 weeks to manufacture right here in Sydney.

Guess you want to see what we are getting from Sydney Lounge Specialist?

 

This lounge

In charcoal commercial grade fabric (good for the 2 and 3 year olds!)

With the black, charcoal, beige stripped ottoman

With a few cushions in this. I am also getting cushions in plain charcoal and the stripped fabric

For the "quiet" sitting room this is what I am getting

This lounge, but with the lounge below's arms to match the wing chair

 

 

 

These arms

In these Warwick Fabrics (the wingback chair will be in the floral, the two seater in the stripped, and the cushions will be a combination of stripped, floral and plain fabrics)

Got to run.......

In the woods....with update

The kitchen was installed last week, but there were issues and disappointments which I wont go in to here yet. We are meeting with Timpelle Kitchens, our SS, and the Wisdom construction manager tomorrow onsite to discuss our options.

Painters were again there on Saturday

On Sunday the glass was upstairs balcony trans-laminated glass was swapped with the laundry glass door. You may recall the carpenter accidentally switched these.

Today there are about 4 sparkies finalising wiring, painters and tilers. I am surprised the tilers are there finishing some areas as it is Chinese New Year. In addition to this, and our SS told us he had cancelled all tiling work until the kitchen dilemma was resolved.

I will let you know what happens at the meeting tomorrow

In the woods....with tiling pic update

Tiling has slowed up as some tiles have not yet hit our shores....In addition to this we were waiting on the cabinetry to be installed, which happen mid last week. Despite being the incorrect colour the ensuite cabinetry was installed. A new one has been ordered and we are waiting for it to be made. In the meantime here are some pics.

Front portico tiles

Upstairs porch- to be grouted

Afresco -to be grouted

Ensuite feature bath tile to be grouted

Incorrect cabinetry - should be nocturne oak laminate

Kids bathroom - just waiting for the feature tile to come in from overseas. To be grouted. See below

Kids feature tile

Powder room - wall tiles need to be grouted

Mosaics in powder room

mosaics in powder room

In the woods with.....new stairs

You may recall the stair company did not follow the construction diagrams and as a result stairs were installed that were too intrusive into the corridor. As a result, the stair company re-measured and replaced the last three stairs. We are happy with the result.

 See below for before and after pics

Before

After -  much more room in the corridor now

In the woods with....incorrect delivery

The kitchen and bathroom vanities were delivered today ready for installation tomorrow. The white poly kitchen, powder room, and main bathroom all look great. I am really happy we upgraded. The en-suite double vanity was unfortunately in white poly too and not nocturne oak. You know what that means! Delays.


What else....mmmm....I just received an alternate solution to the stair problem.....Just considering it now.

Tiling has slowed to a halt. Yesterday there were 4 tilers, 3 this morning and 1 when I visited this afternoon. Problem? They had run out of tiles. Of course I called the SS and told him about the tile and vanity situation.....I am so glad we live one block away and can monitor what is happening at the house several times per day!

I also received a quote today for fitting out the Butlers Pantry. A relative recommended and used this company recently for a poly/ ceasarstone kitchen. Timpelle Kitchen wanted $4800 for a 3 metre line laminate under bench cabinetry. I am getting 3 metres of white poly, sharknose under bench and above bench cabinetry! This is with a gloss laminate top.  If I want to upgrade to Ceasarstone it is an additional $1500. My husband thinks we should get the ceasarstone so it matches the main kitchen 100%.....it may be overkill though for a second kitchen?  Bye

In the woods.....with more tiling pics

So,  I managed to get another look at the tiling late this afternoon and was very pleased at the progress.

They had started tiling the white walls in the kids bathroom (no grout as yet). In addition to the white wall tiles,  I have selected a black, grey. white striped tile which will be laid horizontal around the bath. In this bathroom there will also be Osprey ceasarstone with white poly cabinetry

White tiles laid horizontal - no grout applied

For a very neat finish, we upgraded to these little contraptions so the tilers could work with a square wastage drain as opposed to a circular.  They actually tile the "lid" of the drain for neatness. I must say though, the tilers work around the drains is immaculate, and if I knew it was going to be this good, I wouldn't have bothered with these special drains. From memory, they were about $60 each, or was that for two? There are some pics below so you know what I mean.

This bathroom will have Osprey ceasarstone with white poly cabinetry.

It's funny, I am spending the most money on tiles in the powder room and I think it maybe the bathroom I like the least.....Wish I had gone for the floor tiles on the wall too, instead of stark white....Anyway, lets wait and see until its all laid before making final judgement.

Alright, photo isnt the best, but you can see top right how the round drain sits lower than the tiles. The little "lid" bottom right of the pics sits over the drain.

This is the powder room tiles - the most expensive wet room in the house, and I think the one I will like least.

OMG, the ensuite is looking amazing. I think it will perfectly look just I wanted it too. My inspiration was The Observatory Day Spa in Sydney . I love the colour scheme and ambiance it is starting to create. They still need to add the grout.

Cant wait to see it with the dark wood cabinetry and dark brown/ black tiles around bath.

. Here are more pics, they have almost finished the floor to ceiling tiling......

close up of ensuite wall tile

Left side - Ensuite floor tile, right side - ensuite wall tile

It is a bit of a chameleon, the colour looks different in this shot

Ensuite Shower space

In the woods....with progress report

Went up to the house early this morning and met our SS to discuss the stairs. He is going to speak with the stair manufacturers to determine if they can trim back the last stair to be in line with the second last stair. Turns out that the stairs had been built differently anyway to the construction drawings, so hopefully we may not have to pay for making this change.

The bottom stair will be reduced in size inline with the 2nd last stair so the entry point thoroughfare is wider

The tiling is coming along nicely, James the head tiler called and asked me to go down to the site to discuss wet room wall tile direction. We are having the 300 x 600mm laid horizontally.

I dropped back in late this afternoon to ensure the delivered wall tiles were correct before they commenced laying them. I was delighted to see my shimmery mosaics......cant wait to see them laid.

What else is news? The kitchen is being delivered tomorrow and installed on Wednesday......

On our walk through this morning, our SS thought we didnt have enough lights, so he is getting a price on adding some downlights over the stairs and in the hallway upstairs.

You never know, we could just be in the house by the end of February at this rate. (or, maybe March LOL!)

In the woods...with tiling

The tiling commenced on Saturday. James (the tiler from Di Lorenzo) phoned on Friday asking me to pop by on Saturday to discuss the laying of 300 x 600 tiles in wet areas.  Luckily James had the diagrams/plans as there was a change I had previously made directly Di Lorenzo had not not been communicated to James the tiler

I was so excited to see the tiles again......James will be tiling for about a week.

The kitchen should be installed this week, and I am told that from there, it should only be 4 or so weeks before we can move in.

Here are some pics

Ensuite tiles - they are a white/ beige with tiny flecks of black/ brown. To be grouted with 1.5mm space

Laundry - matt porcelain with 1.5mm grout (still needs to be grouted!)

Kids bathrooom - these are a metallic black colour