Update - Essa Stone Bench Tops

Today, we wandered past the house. As usual we were locked out. A peek through the window revealed our Essa Stone bench tops! It was great to see the kitchen island complete.

I can not wait until our tile meeting (still not scheduled), when I will be able to wander around my kitchen and get a feel for its size. Fingers crossed, perhaps we will hear word of a tile meeting in the coming week.

Kitchen island bench complete with benchtops!

Theatre bar top

Theatre/Alfresco

Update - Base Cabinetry

An impromptu lunch gathering with mum resulted in a quick visit to the house. To be honest, I did not expect to see anything new due to the tiles being lat, but I was pleased to see the kitchen cabinets installed.

I managed to snap a few photos by pressing my iphone up to the windows. Overall, I am pleased. It is not 100% what I wanted, due to the interaction between cornicing and corner cupboard doors. If I had realised that cornicing would present such an issue, I would have extended the appliance cupboard roller door to the ceiling and done away with the offending overhead cabinet.

This is another example of needing to check every single line on your plans, even the little lines that do not look like much, can end up heartbreaking. So much for floor to ceiling cabinetry *sob*.

The question is, do we run cornice above the cabinets, or leave it as is?

View towards the theatre

Right side of kitchen bench showing fridge/freezer recess

View from the dining room

View from the servery windows, showing the appliance cupboard (yet to be installed)

I also managed to grab a picture of the laundry. The hutches sitting on top of the bench top are for the washer and dryer.

Laundry as seen through the door handle hole

Update - Undercoat And Bifold Windows

Unfortunately, my cabinetry was not installed as expected *sob*. Perhaps it is due to the fact that our bathroom basins are still enjoying their cruise to Australia. There have been a few bits and pieces done, most notably is that the spray painter has been through and undercoated everything.  I hope that the Taubmans 'Crisp White' paint that we chose is actually white like the undercoat. It is supposed to be, but apparently people have had some trouble with it being an off-white/cream instead.

The last of our windows were installed last week - the theatre bi-folds! I originally wanted these in the kitchen, but someone decided he wanted to keep them in the theatre.

Theatre bifold windows

I may not have won the bi-fold window war, but I did get my way with the ensuite and bathroom windows. In both cases I am pleased that we went with large windows, because these rooms would otherwise be quite dark and gloomy.

Ensuite (right) and bathroom (left) windows.

Even though I did not get to see our kitchen cabinets, I did get to see our bedroom doors! I have seen the horizontal striped doors used in a double door setup, but never the doors that we chose. I think it looks great.

Our bedroom doors - Corinthian Deco DEC02

Speaking of doors, here are our front doors, Corinthian Madison (PMAD104). I was hesitant about these doors, but they look great, my OH made a great choice.

Our front doors

Schedule wise, I am not sure where we are. The stone benchtops due to be installed on the 26th of June and the tiler will start some time after the 4th of July. I guess we will wait and see, hopefully our next visit will have photos of kitchen cabinets!

Update - Lockup

Arriving on site and fining your house locked up is a wonderful, yet disappointing feeling. We were not exactly sure when lockup would occur due to the heavy rain we have been receiving for the last two weeks. It looks like the weather has not held us up at all. I now find myself figuring out new ways to photograph the house, using door knob holes and squeezing the camera in through open awning windows.

As far as the schedule goes, sanitary-ware is being fitted on Monday and the cabinets go in on Thursday. We have not heard anything about our tile meeting yet. I assume it is happening soon?

Hallway as seen from my room

Guest bedroom. Love those doors!

The font entrance hall, as viewed through the door knob hole.

Lockup! Nothing like seeing a pair of aqua doors

Lockup, viewed from the left side

Update - Cornice

Hello house! I was not going to go an visit you today, but seeing as we had a huge storm on Thursday, I wanted to check that you were ok.

For those who were not in Perth at the time, a large storm front came through mid Thursday afternoon, which resulted in a number of traffic warnings due to flooded roads (about 10 min drive away).

The house looks great and it was interesting to see the distribution of water as it ran out of the hole for the downpipes. We are going to have to watch the down pipe on the threatre wall. I could see the sand had washed down and around the corner onto the alfresco.

As far as work goes, the internal wall render is finished and the cornice is up in the living areas. In those rooms where the cornice has not been installed, it is sitting in the appropriate room, marked and cut, waiting to be installed.

My sunny room and its cornice

View from the lounge room to the theatre, showing installed cornice

We are really happy with the pace at which things are progressing, and the workmanship is excellent.


As an aside, we had never realised that we were going to be having a fancy portico. We always assumed that the portico would have a flat wall on which the roof would sit, just like the Rendezvous behind us. As it turns out, we have a fancy portico and I love it!

I think the little bit of detail, as shown by the second photo, really gives it some character. Its a shame it is so easy to miss. I can see why other houses with this style of portico have stone or wood cladding to accentuate the design.

Unexpected bonus!