The roof trusses are finished

These are the photos we took yesterday. The roof trusses were 3/4 finished. We visited the house tonight and they were completed.

The roof has started!

A short update for today....the roof trusses have been started to the back of the house. There is also timber sheets (laymans terms!!) on some areas of the frame.

Squirrel.... I am glad I am building a house with you. I love you and can't wait until we move in! xxx

The roof trusses are heeeeeere!!!!

The builder rang us this morning and we arranged to meet on site at 5.15 pm tonight. The builder showed us the Austral Symmetry bricks in the colour of Asphalt that had arrived. I really like this builder as he was concerned that because we are using a smooth face brick there are sometimes slight variations in the colour. Bricks that are rough face don't need to be as perfect because imperfections in the bricks don't show up.

The builder had already cleaned up the site and had placed plastic over the garage floor because he said so many people come in and out of the garage and store things in there, that there is a tendency to drop plaster, dirt, etc and generally damage it and he doesn't like that! I bet you are all envious of my builder now... someone who actually cares about the quality of his work!!!

The roof trusses have been placed on the frame roof in readiness. Chris the builder also said he wants to hurry and get the roof on and the bricks done so that he can clear most of the workmen out as he didn't want them to damage the house! He also said he was going to install the large bilfold cedar door at the very last moment as he wanted to make sure it was always in A1 condition.

We picked up a bit of plasterboard at the house he is building for himself, incidentally, it is just 5 minutes around the corner! It was magnificent!!! I thought my house was wonderful, but his was "out of this world".... huge vaulting ceilings, huge spaces, and a kitchen to die for, in a glossy olive colour. What was pleasing to see, was this builder was using the same products and tradesmen for his own house that he is using for ours. He obviously knows and trusts their workmanship and is happy with the quality of products. It makes us feel "safe".

We saw a final "mock up" computer print out of the kitchen. One change we had made was a double undermount Oliveri sink with no drain tray, as opposed to the usual kind with the drain tray dominating the skin. The Oliveri sink comes with a portable drain tray which we will use if we don't put things in the dishwaser.

We also saw a new sample of the polished porcelain floor tile as the one we had chosen was being discontinued. We liked this one better than the one we first saw. This one is very creamy and fits in will with the neutral colours. We were also shown a sample tile for the front portico and the back step..... folks, we are not just getting a plain concrete step... the builder will tile it!!!

And finally..... we got a progress payment!!! The only downside of the day! Oh well, it had to come!!! If only things were free!!!!

Paint Colours!!

Choosing paint colours.... what a nightmare! It is SO difficult to come up with paint colours so I am starting now!!

Unfortuantely it is difficult to see the actual colours we are thinking about as they don't replicate very well. Here is a sample of the kind of tones we are looking for... neutrals!!! Or, if we were in the 70's we'd say "browns!" It is funny to think that by changing the name of a colour it makes it more appealing... call something brown and everyone says..."eeew yuck", but call it chocolate, cocoa, caramel etc and it sounds very inviting!!!



My place is like "paint sample central". We've brought a ton of small paint pots - at nearly $7 each! Remember the good old days when you could get a small sample for free.... these paint sample pots must make Dulux a tidy sum!

If you know your paint colours, you might know PUDDLE and WARM NEUTRAL. We look at these for the larger living areas but they appear to be a little dark so we have discarded those... and two paint samples bite the dust!! We also tried BUFF IT but it is a little olive in colour, so we've thought no to that one... and throw out another paint sample!!!

We came across LIGHT RICE which we thought would be ok for the bedrooms and hallways, however, we think that it might look ok for the larger rooms! It looks very similar in colour to the ECRU shade shown above. We are now waiting for a sample of LIGHT RICE HALF - that is, a touch paler than the original. We are also waiting for a sample of ANTIQUE WHITE which is actually a very pale cream.

We are waiting for the hardware store to get in the next 2 paint samples we want to look at. If they are not right, we'll get more and more until we find the right one. We currently are painting them on a piece of paper, but the builder has said he'd get us a bit of plasterboard so we can really see what it will look like.

Stay tuned for more paint details!!!

The Frames are here!!!!

Who would of thought I would be so excited by timber! The frames are finally here after a week delay because of the rain. The pic below shows the entry hallway where the height of the ceiling will be 3 metres.


Here is the entry, to the right is the master bedroom, to the left, where there is no framework, is the 3 car garage.

This is an internal shot from the family room looking towards the built in pantry in the kitchen. You can see down the hallway towards the front door.

This shows the back of the house, where the alfresco bifold doors will be. The builder said the frame people have made the wrong frame and the doorway should in fact be a little winder. He kindly said he'd alter it. (Once again, we do have a conscilatory builder)

There are a lot of large windows - looking at the frames made me realise we are very open to the views!

Roll on the next stage!!!

Leaving Messages for us!

Thank you for your comments, we've enjoyed reading them. As things get going a bit more and you can see more of the design I am sure there will be more nice comments. So we know who is leaving us a note, please write your name..... first name will do... otherwise they show up as anonymous and we don't know who said what.

Thank you!!

Slab Photos (not the beer slab kind!!!)

As promised.. here they are! Sorry about the darkness, we just drove to the block tonight and took them and it was pretty late.

The pic below shows the right hand front cover which will be the master bedroom. You can see the bathroom area - the concrete area is lower than the rest of the slab. This was because we didn't want any differing height of floor between the tiled and carpet areas - it's a "pet hate" of mine!



The pile of dirt on the slab has been caused by the plumber digging the storm water drains and putting the dirt on to the slab. The dirt area covers the 4th bedroom.

The back corner closest to the cam is the rumpus room. The alfresco is in the cut out. Directly behind the alfresco is the family room.

From a previous visit, we noticed that the plumber had marked the ground where the storm water would go across the yard near the alfresco area. We had concerns and the builder agreed, as we want the pool to be built in the area on the left side of the house. When I told Chris, he immediately went down to the site to speak to the plumber and change the layout of the pipes so the construction of the pool would not be affected.

Whilst we were stick-nosing tonight, Chris the builder turned up. He showed us around and pointed out a few things. He's on the same wave length as us, as I have said before, and he realises that he as the builder is there to advise us and in the end do what we want. When he explains things he says, "I am happy to do X, but normally we do Y". He's very agreeable.

Chris said he has a new floor tile sample for us as the polished porcelain one we had chosen was being disconnected, but he said there is another one very similar. Chris also has the finished designs for the kitchen which he'll drop over this week. Yeah!!!