Sunday, 3 March 2013

Bathroom selections

Hello! Now that the deposit is down on the land I can start getting serious about some of these selections.

So I've been looking into many different tile types and combinations and ways of using them and I've come up with how I think it will work.

The tiles on the floor will continue from the rest of the house. At first we wanted to go for this kind of look. 
My partner really liked it in the show room but I've been back since and I think the distressed might just be too much through the entire house. Also after seeing Mark and Duncan's bathroom on the block I'm pretty sure I'm right. 

Now I have decided on this one:
It has a really nice grain and I really like the colour. It's sort of caramel/honeyish. So this will be on the floor in the bathroom. The next thing is the shower floor. I could have continued the wood but didn't really want to so I'm going for this:

These little hexagons will be like penny tiles. They're matte, not gloss which makes them really non-slip and nice underfoot. I am assured they are suitable for showers and they will be much easier to slope into the drain. 

Wall tiles will go in the shower and around to the bath. Possibly also to the vanity splashback. 
Classic subway tiles. They are amazingly much cheaper at the tile store then at bunnings with my partner's discount. 

I may have a border on the tiles, I haven't decided yet.


Other choices in taps etc:






Thursday, 14 February 2013

Woohoo!

We have finance for our land! This means we can start getting the contract of sale ready, a settlement date sorted and start getting plans drawn! It's all happening!

Monday, 4 February 2013

Land views!

Just stopping by to let you know we went and looked at the block again and discovered it has mountain views!

I'm pretty delighted because we should be able to see them from our patio.

Here is a pic of the block with Michael and our friend Ash having a look.

Fingers crossed we hear from the bank soon!

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

All coming together

After speaking with the bank, they are looking to offer the land loan separately to the construction loan so we are able to secure our block before going through council. Once she gets back to me with the all clear we will be able to enter into our land contract! I'm so excited that I just make silly faces whenever I think about it.

We have decided to use just the one solicitor for the proceedings (cuts cost and I'm fairly confident in their professionalism, plus if there is a conflict they will drop out and we would both have to find new solicitors so whatever happens impartiality will be held). This also means communication will be easier and we won't have to wait for the paper trail to move from place to place. We may use a different solicitor to help us with the land contract.

As for the builder we have decided to go with Marty Lawler from Goodwood projects. He's not a project builder and his organic way of doing things is more appealing then the cut and dried approach of most of the big firms. If there are little jobs we can do he's happy to let us and if there are things we want to buy we just do that, nothing in the way of standard choices or upgrades, just what we want. This suits us because I have spent the last six months making those choices anyway. He also has some great ideas about sustainability and is more willing then me to be sensitive to our budget which will bring me back to earth when I need it.

We've made some ore changes and shuffles and I will update on those in the next few posts. Marty thinks we could probably do the drawings ourselves for council but I'm not convinced so we will go with a draftsman who will also package it for us for council. The one we are leaning towards at the moment is Brian Watts.

The time frame give for building our house is not more then 5 months and with the council only taking 10 days and land settlement surely not too far away, we are going to be out of this rental sooner rather then later. Which, after killing the 8th white tailed spider of our house, this time in the bedroom, is quite a relief.

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

A bit of inspiration

These are some photos that I have found best represent the layout and style of my rooms (thanks pinterest)

Kitchen! (stainless bench, no side or upper cupboards and lights in cream not grey)













This is the style of hallway furniture I want with the little counter to put keys down on and mail and then the bench seat next door for doing shoes and popping down bags. Also the hooks above.























This is more the colour scheme for my hallway with the wood-look tiles and neutral colours and more eclectic decor.





















I'm amazed I even found this because it is exactly the same as my bathroom layout except I will have a built in bath, not a clawfoot and the vanity will be on the other side and the loo room will intrude where the vanity is but I meant more the doorless shower and the positioning next to the bath. Perfect! Well believe me it is the closes I have come to finding a similar layout!



Monday, 21 January 2013

We have conditional approval!

Also I have more or less decided on a draftsman, solicitor and builder! I'm starting to allow myself to get excited! Some things I still have to discuss with so many different people. I need to get in touch with the land owner and my builder but neither have contacted me yet. Hurry up! Let's get this going!

Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Flooring

I have decided to go with a dark wood-look tile throughout the house (excl bedrooms). Went and looked in the tile store today and they were really lovely. Approximately $55 p/m2 but they will look so much warmer and more welcoming then a grey floor tile and I can have them in the bathrooms as well which will look nice and continuous. If budget starts to be an issue though I may have to go back to basics for those rooms but hopefully I can have it for all of them. Must make sure they use a dark grout though, the light colour grout makes the fact that it's a tile seem really obvious. It'll be so easy to clean but it should really look amazing.