After like a month of things plodding along (cladding, roofing, more cladding, more roofing), all of a sudden this week it feels like we've hit warp speed! On Tuesday alone, while the kids were abandoned at my coffee group (thanks Tessa!), Ben and I met with the plumber, the electrician, and the builder individually. We pointed at plans, pointed at random spots on the wall, and answered yet more questions that we had never considered before, but needed to give a firm answer to asap. Do you want the spout for the bathtub centred, with the mixer to one side? Or the mixer and the spout placed at equi-distant intervals? And which end of the bath would you prefer to have your head at? (Pfffft, as if I get time to have a bath!! The more relevant question would be, at which end of the bath do you think the children are less likely to attempt to swing off the mixer?)
We had to provide exact measurements for where the washing machine and (hypothetical) dryer would be situated.... and discovered our first "oh crap" moment. It was bound to happen, right? All these decisions, over so many months, with no previous experience of house design? Where I wanted the sink to be in the laundry (under the window, obvs), was NOT AN OPTION, because way way back when they were getting ready to pour the slab, the plumber put the waste pipe in the corner of the room. As per our architect's plan. Which we thought we'd just let slide and fix later on, when we needed to. Well, turns out we needed to a couple of months ago. So we had one night to nail down our laundry layout for sure. *gulp*
Here's how the laundry plan was looking, given that we had to have the sink in the corner. Having already purchased the tap (with a pull out sprayer for cloth nappies! Whoop!) and the sink, we knew we had to have it set in a benchtop. The washing machine has to be hard up against the bench, because of the need to connect it to the waste pipe that the sink is attached to.
We had to provide exact measurements for where the washing machine and (hypothetical) dryer would be situated.... and discovered our first "oh crap" moment. It was bound to happen, right? All these decisions, over so many months, with no previous experience of house design? Where I wanted the sink to be in the laundry (under the window, obvs), was NOT AN OPTION, because way way back when they were getting ready to pour the slab, the plumber put the waste pipe in the corner of the room. As per our architect's plan. Which we thought we'd just let slide and fix later on, when we needed to. Well, turns out we needed to a couple of months ago. So we had one night to nail down our laundry layout for sure. *gulp*
Here's how the laundry plan was looking, given that we had to have the sink in the corner. Having already purchased the tap (with a pull out sprayer for cloth nappies! Whoop!) and the sink, we knew we had to have it set in a benchtop. The washing machine has to be hard up against the bench, because of the need to connect it to the waste pipe that the sink is attached to.
The bench seat area is actually gonna be our "mud room", with hooks for coats and bags above, and baskets for shoes below. Summary of picture above? Not happy. Nope. Many options and drawings were then bounced around. The sum of which was... well, we're gonna need to upgrade the washing machine soon anyway due to becoming a family of five in the not too distant future, and the small, old washing machine we currently have. Why not bite the bullet and upgrade to a front loader, then we can put all the appliances under the bench!! Like so....
Solved!! For the mere cost of a whole new washing machine!
Next query? Paint colour. So we've narrowed it down to white. Easy, right? We're tossing up between: Rice Cake, Merino, Black White, Sea Fog, and White Pointer. Given that the other tones are pale grey concrete, and Birch ply, and Ironsand aluminium joinery, pretty much any warm white will do. BUT, it also has to go with the carpet, CAv Brem Overtones in Rice Paper. Given the generous size of the samples, Ben and I are doing a lot of confused squinting, whilst feeling terrified at the prospect that we may choose the WRONG WHITE, and then have an entire house covered in that colour!!
Next query? Paint colour. So we've narrowed it down to white. Easy, right? We're tossing up between: Rice Cake, Merino, Black White, Sea Fog, and White Pointer. Given that the other tones are pale grey concrete, and Birch ply, and Ironsand aluminium joinery, pretty much any warm white will do. BUT, it also has to go with the carpet, CAv Brem Overtones in Rice Paper. Given the generous size of the samples, Ben and I are doing a lot of confused squinting, whilst feeling terrified at the prospect that we may choose the WRONG WHITE, and then have an entire house covered in that colour!!
Yeah. We'll keep you posted on that one.
Last post I promised pretty things to distract us! Lets! Here's a painting that I would DIE to have in the living area (but will be far, far too poor to buy after completing this house build!). Note the size: Massive! Perfection.
Last post I promised pretty things to distract us! Lets! Here's a painting that I would DIE to have in the living area (but will be far, far too poor to buy after completing this house build!). Note the size: Massive! Perfection.
Hoping my living room will eventually (like in 15 years time when I have money again) look something like this:
Also swooning over these to-die-for rugs. If I didn't have 2.5 children and a cat that sometimes vomits.
* Token Shihad reference