Not long now

The deathly slow progress is drawing to an end.  There's not much more to go now.  On Tuesday the balustrade was installed.  I went up early in the morning before work on Wednesday and got there just after dawn, so the lighting for the photos is a bit dull.  You can see the frost on the roof in the first and second photos.  It was minus 2 as I got to Broadford.  You can also see the ugly cowls on the tops of the chimney flues.  :(  Wouldn't chimney pots be so much better?  Grrrrrr.

Now for the first time in a few weeks, I got inside, so I have a few more photos of the interior fittings.
Here's the fan in the upstairs bedroom

and the one in the study

and the one in the lounge.

The tiling and grout is finished and the mirror cabinets are installed in the bathroom

and the ensuite

The toilets are in

and so is the wood fire, mantle piece and hearth.

The kitchen appliances are in, including the fabulous pot filler tap.  This also gives you a bit more of an idea of the emerald pearl granite that we've got for the bench tops. It's got bling.

The painting is close to finished and the pendant lights are installed in the kitchen.  Neil thinks they hang too low, but I'm not sure yet.

Outside, we have the hot water service, gas bottles and air conditioner.  I don't have a good shot of the inside air conditioner yet.  It is a bit blurry.

On Wednesday the bamboo flooring was delivered and it was installed on Thursday and Friday.  The carpet will be done on Monday.  It was also supposed to be happening on Thursday, but they rang me and said the installer has hurt his neck.

The verandah plastering needs to be finished off and painted and that's about all that's left to go.

Can.  Not.  Wait.

Verandah concreting finished and tiling has started

Here are a few pics from around the house to show the finished verandah concrete.  The colour is sandstone with terracotta release agent and the pattern is stamped 600mm slate tile look.  It looks a bit patchy because they came back to do the saw cuts today.

Here's the start of the tiling.  No grout yet.
Downstairs toilet -

Upstairs toilet -

Upstairs bathroom -

Upstairs shower -

Kitchen through to laundry floor tiling -

Kitchen bench tiling -

This photo shows the lovely rippled surface of the Cotswold buttermilk tiles

Alcove splashback, with the candy twist pencil tiles -

Kitchen cupboards are in

We hadn't felt like very much progress had been made over the last month, hence no update, but we went up today to check out the kitchen that was installed last week and now have some more pictures to share.
I'll bore you with more photos when the handles are put on and when the tiling has been done..

Here's the kitchen cupboards in antique white.  The granite bench top should be arriving soon.

The guys who did our kitchen also did the cupboards in the laundry, ensuite and bathroom.  They are also in.

Laundry - Wilsonart oiled soapstone laminate benchtop with astral cumulus cupboards

Ensuite - Wilsonart Bronzed Fusion laminate benchtop with beigewood cupboards

Bathroom - Wilsonart crystal topaz laminate benchtop with urban bamboo cupboards

Some of the internal doors have been hung.   Neil particularly likes the family room cavity sliding doors.  So do I.

Here are a couple of the other internal doors

The wardrobes in the study and second bedroom and the linen cupboard have had their shelving done

Study shelves

Study rail in the middle

Linen cupboard

Second Bedroom wardrobe

The verandah is progressing as well

Scaffold down and bricks cleaned

Here are the lights we have chosen for the walls outside the doors.   We've got 6 of them.  They ended up being an unexpected bargain from Bunnings.  They were on display as $56 each, so we were expecting to be out of pocket over $300, but when I got to the checkout, they had been marked down on special at only $24 each, so less than half price.  Brilliant!

Neil's holding one against the wall here, so we can show the electrician how high up we want them.   Need to remember that there will be 100mm of concrete for the verandah floor to be poured yet.

The pantry shelves are in.  This gives us more than double the pantry shelf area of the current kitchen.  That's without including the shelves on the left.  The shelves on the right are about 3 metres long and set at heights of 40cm intervals.  The vertical support in the second picture is about halfway along the shelves.  Can't show them properly because the entrance to the pantry is beside the fridge alcove; the pantry goes in around behind the fridge, but take my word for it, they look great.
We will need a ladder to get to the top ones.  I want to get one that slides along a fixed rail.  They are called library ladders.  That will have to wait though.
The bottom 2 shelves are 45cm deep, for larger trays and appliances.  The upper shelves are all 30cm deep.  These are the perfect depth for my Tupperware modular mates super ovals, rectangles and veg outs.
On the left, the bottom shelf is 1 metre above the floor and there is a double power point on the wall, so it can be used as a mini work bench.  We've also put an exhaust fan in the pantry ceiling, so we can have things on the go in here, out of the way.  Originally, it was going to be the full on butler's pantry with it's own sink in the left corner, but we ended up deciding that a sink would take up too much of the bench space.  I'm sure we'll survive.
Looking at the first picture, I think we could also put shelves on the end wall to connect up the top 3 on both sides.  If we ever were to run out of space.

The stairs are in.  There's a sheet of masonite on each tread to protect them while the painting is being done.  These will be stained to match the bamboo flooring that we're having downstairs.

The last of the verandah frame looks to be finished and the guttering is on.  The roof tilers will need to come back to finish that off next.  Neil still thinks that the point on the roof needs something to finish it off properly.  Google, here I come.  If you look closely, you might be able to see that the balcony doors are the right ones now with the micro venetian blinds in them.

The scaffold is down now so there wont be much left to add to this photo for this side of the house to be finished.  We'll need the verandah roof finished off, verandah floor concrete poured, that's not the final door yet, downstairs window frames still need to be stained and sealed, a spotlight will be installed on the right corner of the building, the hot water service will be installed on the right end outside the ensuite and an outside tap will be attached under the toilet window.  OK, so a few things still left to do, but it wont look that much different to this.  And if I find something groovy to add to the roof point....

Brickwork finished, but not cleaned yet

Wow.  It's been a little while since I posted an update.  I didn't have my camera with me the last time I went up there and the insulation was pretty much all in the walls.  Today we went up and most of the plaster board is up. It's really coming along at a cracking pace now.
This photo shows the stairwell on the left, waiting for the arrival of the stairs.  On the right is the passageway to the lounge room doorway (right), downstairs toilet (straight ahead) and master bedroom (opposite lounge room doorway)

Looking back the other way, you see the double doorway to the family room with the hole over the doorway.    I was wanting to put some transom windows in here, but Neil thinks it looks like a great place to put some of his trophies.  Hmmm.

Here are the skylights over the kitchen/dining room.

Here's the start of the verandah lining.

This was the last bit to be finished upstairs.

And finally my standard update shot.