Week 8 - Amazing Frames, rain hail or shine! (15-20 June)
At long last, after a week and a half lost waiting for the no-show carpenter, the Hunter guys came in to save the day. From the minute I saw them arrive in pouring rain, and get out to start work regardless, I knew I really loved these tradies! So I did what every good woman does, I baked!
They said they would work, rain, hail or shine... so I promised I would bring them morning tea everyday. Maybe their work ethics are way above the standard, or maybe they were giving us special treatment, but it meant so much to us that they persevered for us.
Here are our frames that have piled on the block for a week and a half finally starting to go up. The super sized beams are the floor joists for upstairs.
Here is the crane they used to lift on the floor joists. You can see the mud from a week of rain and the magic work of levitating the truck by mounting it on a pile of wood!
Love this huge crane lifting on our floor joists. And LOVE these hard workers. I've never seen tradies earn their Friday thank-you slab of beer like these guys did!
And the windows arrived by mid week. It was amazing to see the 2D plans taking shape. We sat up night after night modifying those standard windows to jazz up the facade and it is pretty awesome to see them take form. They look pretty simple right now, but I think they will dress up well with some lovely white plantation shutters. You can also see the vast opening to the left downstairs - the front window of our north facing sunroom. The window void was so large the head carpenter wondered if it was a garage! Then you can see the oversized front door void, and the long steel beam across the front garage entry. On the first floor from left to right is our master bedroom, then an architectural void which is open double storey height at the entry, then a upstairs rumpus.... for me it's our "quiet room" where the kids can have quiet play time if they aren't napping in the middle of the day.
By the time the weekend arrived we just couldn't help but take a closer look. This pair entering our house for the first time ever!
This is the servery window we modified to give a communication between the kitchen and alfreco BBQ area. It's a sliding stacker so just one panel is fixed and we can pass plates through.
This is looking east through the playroom. There will be sliding door entry so I can close off the mess of toys if needed at the end of the day (but my kids are tidier than that, right?!). The floor to ceiling windows off the playroom will no doubt be covered with fingerprints from day 1!
The frame on the floor will be the back wall of our study nook which is fixed to the exterior of the playroom wall, off the family room.
My favourite room of the house - I got a bit teary standing in my brand new kitchen!
You can see the fixed glass panel that will sit behind the stove and throw in some extra light. We will need to do some nice planting behind it to make it a lovely green view. The protruding square you can see in the far corner is my lovely large walk in pantry. We were concerned the kitchen was a bit small for the overall house size but it feels wonderfully generous so far.
This is taken about where the family room couch will sit - looking towards the TV nook and through to where the stairs will be built and beyond through the foyer to the front door. On the right side of the photo we are looking through to the guest room, and the sunroom beyond.
This is my laundry - the hub of organising in our home. Having this extra space brings me (slightly sad!) delight! I love the pathway straight from the laundry door outside to the washing lines. Just to the right (out of shot) is my laundry chute through from upstairs.
This view is into our home office/guest room - with a larger than expected window. The room felt more generous than it had on the plans. Can't wait to have this space.
Ah, the sunroom. Look at these vast windows where northern light will pour in. I am imagining our warm oak floors, happy sunny colours and peaceful space.
This is looking towards our front door and the void that spans both stories. We hope the entry will feel vast and open and make a bit of an architectural statement without being overdone. Aiming for a beautiful light shade/chandelier to be set in this space, shining through the square fixed window you can see here. I love the oversized front door.
This lovely pair standing in the garage - pointing out how high the roof is! The garage is quite enormous. I think - fantastic - no more kids crunching car doors into the brick walls. He's thinking storage racks and a little workshop. Better to have excess storage space than not enough.
A sneak peek of the second floor looking up through the void towards our master bedroom.
Looking east from the garage across the front of the house, towards the entry foyer and our sunroom (downstairs) and bedroom (above).
High five Mum! We love this house. I simply can't wait to live here. Amazingly, walking through it for the first time, every space, every room felt just right. Not too big and overwhelming but warm, functional, comfortable and just right for our family. I am so, so, so, excited! Can you tell?!
Next steps -
- more framing on Monday, aiming for done by Tuesday (makes it 7 days work - they were delayed in delivery of roof trusses and had to work more slowly due to rain).
- Following that, there will be the internal plumbing rough in and brick delivery this week (once the giant mound of stockpiled dirt is removed - still waiting on JD concrete to come back and clear this).
- Then, would you beleive it take 2 WEEKS (!!!) to lay bricks downstairs.
- Then the scaffolding goes up (about 2 days to install).
- Then starting on the bricks for upstairs. Settle back for a few posts about tetris ahead.
