Renovations Part 5 - Almost there

Well we are at what they call lock up stage with doors and windows in place. We chose the bi-fold doors, which work well as you can open them right up, but am wondering wether full glass sliding doors would of been better to capture our view over the pool and onto the green.

Below is our Kitchen - The range hood has just been put in and is being held up with supports, and of course still has the protective coating on it. See that rather large tap. We purchased the tap and sink ourselves and what a nightmare it has been. Always check your products, infact double check it. The problem we are having is that the tap, even though installed correctly, wobbles quite a bit. Of course if we leave it, it will become one of the annoying little things that end up driving you crazy, so we are working on a solution.

 This is the Lounge area looking into the bathroom and bedroom. So far so good, except we did remove the ceiling fan at the other end as we plan on having a pool table and with such a low lying ceiling there is danger of a cue stick hitting it. We kept the one in the kitchen area and also removed the one from the bedroom for safety reasons. Unfortunately these were in our contract and were put up before we had the chance to make a decision about wether we still wanted them or not.

Here are the Bedroom Built ins and the extra cupboard at the entrance. That cupboard is actually the under the stairs on the 2nd level up to the top level. Its a great space for big tall items. As they say you can never have enough storage.

Here is out little bathroom. We managed to squeeze everything in..just. At first I was not too happy with the final layout. We had to make the bathroom narrower because of an internal structural wall that they could not move. So instead of the wall mounted sink going on the back wall beside the toilet, we had to bring it close to the entrance on the left wall, the shower is on the right.

 You can see how close the wall mounted cabinet is to the door, but there still is enough room for you to walk in without doing a sideways shuffle.

 Here is more storage space near the kitchen. We are going to put pool towels etc in there, and have even a shelf with a power point for a microwave oven.

 This is the great view over the swimming pool and green. We have the spa tiled and the edge tiled, now just for the crete.

Renovations Part 4 - The slab is down the walls going up

As soon as that slab went down things started to move along rather quickly. Walls and ceilings are going up. The steel has been placed into the pool form ready to be poured. There still is a lot of noise and dust, and we are getting so close to lock up stage.

THE BEDROOM - IT HAS A RECESSED AREA FR BUILT IN WARDROBES.

 THE KITCHEN WILL BE ON THE FAR WALL and BIFOLD DOORS ON THE LEFT LEADING OUT TO POOL AREA

LOOKING INTO THE BEDROOM FROM THE LOUNGE BATHROOM IS TO THE RIGHT

WE RECESSED INTO THE WALL TO CREATE SOME LOVELY BIG CUPBOARDS FOR THE KITCHEN AREA

THE LOUNGE AREA AND A BATHROOM TO THE RIGHT

TAKEN FROM OUR TOP BALCONY AN AERIAL VIEW OF POOL AND YARD

STEEL IN PLACE READY FOR THE CONCRETE POUR

Renovations Part 3

So the slab has gone down and the pool is being dug, it's all moving along nicely, but alas will not be ready for christmas as we had hoped. The bathroom is also taking shape, with plumbing in place on the floor.
The chipboard support has been replaced with concrete retaining walls and the frame work for the wall are up.

It was so exciting to watch the slab being layed. I really had no idea how they would do it.
Here is how:-

A huge truck that contained a pump attached itself to a smaller cement truck that then fed the cement into a tube that ran the 36 feet or so down the side of our house and through a window into the proposed bedroom, they pumped the cement with lots of yelling and whistling, directing the speed. They then smoothed each section as it went down. The whole process was a success, which had our builder yahooing with joy.

Renovations Part 2

Part 2 of my renovation story has been met with difficulty. Both in the telling of the story and the renovation.
There has been loads of unbearable noise and alot of extra events that had to take place.

With the removal of the piers and parts of structural walls, even though they replaced these vital supports with steel beams they needed to undertake extra work.
Because our house is built on a very sandy soil, there was fear of the house moving. So a procedure called under pinning commenced. This required them to dig below the foundations of the house in certain points, then cement and brick extra support.

Looking into the Cabana

The dirt and bricks in our back yard

The Bedroom floor had to be jack hammered in parts

The Cabana taking shape

The piers have been removed and the the excess dirt/sand is being removed and dug out to create a lower level floor. You can see the chipboard holding the rest of the dirt from further underneath the house.

Renovations Part 1

We bought our house a few years ago, and have always dreamed that we would put in a pool, landscaping and fencing. Well that dream has become a reality, and somewhat grown...

Some our friends that came over when we first bought the house, suggested we go underneath and build a cabana type room. Great idea, so this was added to the plans.
After a redraw and review of this room, my husband suggested a bathroom, and small kitchenette to save us running up and down 3 flights of stairs to use a toilet or sink. So this was added to the plans.
He then suggested we add a bedroom as we constantly have guests that stay, some longer then others, and it would be nice to accommodate them downstairs rather then in the office and lounge room . So this was added to the plans.

A year later, work has now commenced, it is very exciting, noisy and dusty but I am so happy with the team on the job that it makes each day a pleasure to be living amongst renovations.

Stay tuned for part 2