WEEK 30 – We have a kitchen!!! (16-20 Nov)

WEEK 30 – We have a kitchen!!!

I can’t tell you how excited I was to see my very own cutlery drawer piled high on the many many items of cabinetry ready for construction! For those who hyperventilate a bit when attempting to build Ikea… best you don’t read this post!

Our custom polyurethane cabinetry was all manufactured at a factory and set to us like a great big lego set ready for them to install. It was amazing just how it came together. It truly was a wonder to behold! In one day, two guys built an entire kitchen, laundry cabinets and three bathroom vanities! We are starting to plan the interior furnishing and how to do this adequately without spending a fortune. So to celebrate the kitchen being installed, I secured 4 white bar stools, just 6 months old bought from Domayne for $160 each... for $22 each! Can't wait to see them in their place.

In other delights this week, Super Jay is back to stone clad our fireplace. This fireplace project has been an incredible matter of coordination. When looking at a blank wall, every single trade needed perfectly exact dimensions, that had to come together precisely to make this work! The trades involved all the below:

• carpenters to frame it
• bricklayers to leave a gap for the flue to run out the wall
• electricians to wire in TV power behind it, as well as isolation switches and gas, and feature downlights either side. (Raston Group)
• gyprockers to apply villa board (and cornicing... except for above the fire place... but they messed that up, sigh)
• Fireplace installer and supplier (Lincs BBQ Hornsby, and Banjo their installer)
• kitchen cabinet maker to construct cabinetry to go each side of the fireplace to house the DVD player, speakers etc (Brindabella Kitchens)
• Flooring company to supply 'bench tops' to go above the cabinets
• Super Jay to stone clad around the fireplace (Jay Papandreas, Jayscape)
• Stonemason to create a stone shelf above the fire below the TV so the TV doesn't melt with the huge heat output
• painters to paint the outside niches
• another electrician to install the TV (which we had to select well in advance, right down to the dimensions of the sound bar we want to use and pre-selecting the TV mount so the right spaces could be left in the stone cladding! 
• I feel exhausted just thinking about it!Hopefully it will look great and there will be many cozy nights by the fire to enjoy it and make it all worth it 
  
   The kitchen arrives - it filled the whole three back rooms of the house. Like Ikea on steroids.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   And within a day... almost completed, just a few doors still to go on... and a bench top, appliances etc.
  
  
   Poweder room vanity (excuse the flash, it's quite a dark room)
  
  
   Laundry cabinetry in my super-sized laundry, custom made for three very dirt loving children!
  
  
   Double sink vanity in the children's bathroom. They even thought to mount it extra low so the kids can wash thier hands - cute!
  
  
   The vanity in our ensuite - I love this layout... to the left side is the shower tucked away and to the right is the WC.
  
  
   Day 2 of stone cladding
  
  
   Day 3 of stone cladding (a half day as even Super Jay had to knock off when the heat hit 42 degrees!)
  
  
• To give some sense of how chaotic the whole fireplace saga has been... I needed to pick up some stone for the shelf between the fireplace and TV above. After about 4 phonecalls to source supply of this, I secured some nice stone, drove about an hour in the summer heat, with three kids in the back of the car to the warehouse in the city. Crank the aircon and put on a Disney movie to keep them calm while I collect the order from the warehouse door a few metres away. Too easy, right? Wrong! The stone they supplied is not actually tumbled on both sides, it has ugly machine marks underneath so it will be seen underneath the shelf. Cue a dear old man sitting with my two howling daugthers while I carry the baby around the warehouse inspecting alternative stone. We finally find some that looks more suitable with a rebated edge. I phone Super Jay to confirm it will work, the movie has ended and the dear fellow is losing the fight to entertain the girls...  I can hear them screaming from the warehouse! I drag the new stone to the car, drive it back to the build site and proudly present it to Super Jay, who apologetically explains that the rebate is 60mm not 75mm so it just won't do. Wah! I spend the afternoon phoning alternative stone suppliers, who all tell me they are booked out until February and can't supply me with a custom stone shelf. I finally find a marble supplier who can have it to me within 3 weeks. While waiting in a doctor's surgery with the three bears, I juggle giving the baby some puree, keeping the girls quiet and taking calls to get agreement between Super Jay and the marble mason on the exact set out of the holes to be drilled in the stone. So when I say "this fireplace had better look fantastic!" now you have some sense of what I mean. Take that episode and times it by the 11 trades involved in the creation of our fireplace and I feel like a lie down!
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• In other news this week, we also got a garage door and a front door - officially a house that locks!
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   The garage door looks great, and I think the white plantation shutters ordered this week, ready for install mid Jan, will really lift the facade with nice light contrasting tones.
  
  
  
  
• And before I sign off, a little bit of cuteness from the kids who are the reason and motivation for this long journey and the beautiful home... an over-representation of Denver, but he accompanies me to the build site almost every day, so he deserves extra credit!
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