I Want A Slab & I want it Now

Normally when I want a slab I head of the Mr Murphy's, wander the aisles and select 24 bottles of what ever takes my fancy, but now my slab is different, I want a truck load of concrete delivered to my block and poured.

My builder said I would have one by Mid-September, so technically he isn’t late but one would expect the prep works to occur and on Saturday when we visited, nothing!!!!!!!!!

I feel like Verucca Salt, I want a slab and I want it NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the fun part of building, we have made our selections, lodged our variations, its been over 4 weeks since we settled on the land, so all that’s left is for construction to begin, I want to see some action.

I guess they say patience is a virtue, mmmmm I don’t care about that hurry up & build my house

Colour Selections Complete, Let the Construction Begin

Well it has been over a week since my last post and a lot has happened. We have met face to face our builder, chosen our Front Door, Kitchen Cabinets and Benchtops, Bathroom Cabinets & Benchtops and had a curve ball thrown at us with the floor boards.

Kitchen

We went and had a look and as per usual I wasn't keen on the standard offering. In the end (after fainting) we have gone with Vinyl Wrap Doors in a Laminex White Flint Finish (I scanned the wrong side of the sample, but you get the idea) The Benchtop to is a Laminex Kashmir Granite in a Gloss Finish Its typical, I saw pictures of the standard laminate finish and I saw pictures and a display of the vinyl wrap and I just couldn't bring myself to liking the laminate finish. I figure I am spending all this money on building a house and our kitchen plays such a big part in our living area that I knew I would just keep looking at the cabinet doors and spewing I didn't spend the $2400 to upgrade. Oh well its only money!!!!

Our splashback tile is a Serenity Black which will be laid in brick style with ultra fine white grout. I did contemplate a glass splashback but I couldn't justify the cash for that.Bathroom & Ensuite

While we may have upgraded the kitchen we didn't upgrade the bathroom cabinets so while they are the Laminex White Flint Finish they will be the standard laminate

We did choose a different Laminex Benchtop, that being Brook Pebble with the Dimension FinishThe wall tiles are a plain white Gloss and they will be used in the Bathroom, Ensuite & Laundry. Each shower will have a decorative strip which will match the floor tiles

Our floor tile will be in the Bathroom, Ensuite, Laundry & Toilet

Here is the Floor Tile and Decorative Strip together as seen in the showroom. We will have a strip 6 tiles wide where as the picture has the strip 3 tiles wide.

Flooring

Now the curve ball was our builder recommending the option of Bamboo Floorboards. We had already selected Tassie Oak but Mrs B was never keen but we couldn't afford the Spotted Gum that she loves. Well the bamboo is affordable and you can get it in the darker colour, exactly what Mrs B was after

Now I must say I did like the look of the sample that was shown to us and according to the research I have done it is a lot harder than Tassie Oak and some varieties are up there and above Jarrah, so it should be hard wearing. In the end I think we will go with it providing it doesn't turn out too much more expensive than Tassie Oak.

Our Carpet, which will only be in the Bedrooms and Hallway is the "Builders Standard" and is "Westgrove Armour"

Here is a sample in a different light which shows the carpet being a little darker

Doors

We have chosen a Corinthian Front Door, the Madison PM104 with side light

Now our front door will be painted Dulux Colorbond Manor Red and the side light will be on the Right with the door handle on the right also. The glass in our door will be translucent. The door lock is a Gainsborough Tri-Lock.

The internal doors are a "Flush Style Door"

The internal door handles are a "Gainsborough Sophia Lever"

We have now finished all our product selections and all we are waiting on now is for construction to start. The building permit is due to come through next week and the builder has told me he expects a slab to be poured by the middle of September, which if true will be more than a month ahead of schedule. Lets hope that continues.

The other thing we are waiting on is confirmation of Variation #3 which will have the additional costs for the Kitchen Vinyl Wrapped Cabinet Doors, the upgraded Front Door, Upgraded Paint Colours, Front Door Locks, Decorative Tiles and the list goes on............... it will also include our quote for the refrigerated air conditioner which will really hurt. Its funny we have already spent more than we had planned which means that landscaping will have to wait and I am close to kissing goodbye my audio visual setup but sometimes one has to prioritise.

We also signed off on the construction loan papers last week so there is nothing left but for the construction to start, and be quick about it!

Progress........... well sort of

Well after some consultation and finally getting Mrs B's opinion I believe we have nailed the exterior colours.

The Garage Door will be Colorbond Ironside to match the bricks and the Front Door will be Dulux Manor Red. The reason for our choice is that we didn't want the garage door to be a feature and we wanted the front door to be that focal point. The other reason behind the darker garage door is that we will get away with the traditional profile door instead of the upgrade, which as we are starting to run out of money I have decided we need to prioritise and save some cash for those extras in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Tomorrow we venture out to confirm our carpet as well as look at tiles for the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry & toilet. After that we will drive past the concrete supplier and choose the colour for our veranda and alfresco concrete. I did want polished concrete but I would prefer the fancy garage door, so if I aint getting that I aint getting polished concrete.

As I said in an earlier post, sometimes what you want & what you can afford are not the same thing.

Later next week we will meet our cabinet maker to sort out our kitchen, bathroom, ensuite and laundry cabinets and benchtops which will be the final selection we have to make. All we will have then is to watch our house rise up from the ground.

Another significant event this week was that the sale of our current house went unconditional which allows us to modify our mortgage so we can pay for construction.

Its all coming into place, just hurry up and build the.............................. well you get the idea!

Second Guessing

Well I am now starting to work out that colour selection is not all that its cracked up to be.

You see its very difficult to translate the vision in your head on to paper and match the colour of your roof, bricks and garage door.

Originally I believed I wanted a Shale Grey garage door to match the window frames and gable backgrounds thinking it would provide a contrast to the Blue Bricks and Black Roof. Now I am thinking it will be too "bright" and look odd so now I am thinking of matching the roof and going a black garage door? I have asked Mrs B and she states she doesn't care and I can decided. I am sure that attitude will change if I stuff it up.

Here is a picture of our Front Elevation to give you an idea on the starting point and what one has to visualise a real house will look like


Anyway we still have another week or so before we have to make a final choice but I do worry that a decision now maybe regretted down the track and may involve a dreaded "variation" to fix

Too Much Thinking Time

Well we are at that stage of the project where we are just waiting for the action to start. As we settled on the land last week we are now waiting for the building permit to be approved and works to commence on our site, until then we are left with colour selections, choosing taps etc.

Unfortunately while I am thinking about that my mind keeps drifting towards the backyard and what we will do with that. We have identified an area where we would like a "patio" but the questions come up, pavers, concrete....oooohh polished concrete and then comes the question that follows any flash of inspiration HOW MUCH $$$$

We originally paid for coloured concrete for our veranda and alfresco but that was before we upgraded the bricks and I now think polished concrete would be great and have asked for a quote. Now if that comes back at a not too unreasonable price and I say yes, what then the patio out back, where one would want to match the alfresco, I am sure it aint cheap to concrete and polish 24 sqm of backyard, as I said too much thinking time.

Now if my suspicions prove correct and its beyond our budget and we go pavers, then do I lay them myself where the only benefit would be cost or suck it up and get them professionally laid where the benefits would be time, better job and someone to blame if it goes wrong.

Now I don't have to make a decision for some months and a lot of this maybe decided for me as I may not have the cash but its just one of the dilemmas of building, what you want and what you can afford maybe two different things.

Well one thing we will have to do soon is go and chat with the cabinet makers and tilers so we can decide on the look of the kitchen and bathrooms, once we have done that the inside will be done and everything after that will become a dreaded variation, more $$$$$$

aahh the joys, at least the A-League Season starts tomorrow, Go Victory!!!