Certificate of Occupancy

It has been a while since we have posted anything.  Things have been pretty busy with us.  Between continuing to build the house, me starting a new job and Kylie starting a new job this week, it has been hectic.

Today we had our Certificate of Occupancy inspection.  It went as expected and we will be issued with a certificate with conditions.  The conditions will be simple things like external doors with too big a drop have to be locked.

So we can now move in.  Yeah!!!

The Kitchen (and the Stove)

These are fairly low quality photos, since the light was poor this morning and they were taken on Kylie's phone, but since we're both at work at the moment we don't have time to take a better one so here is a preview of the kitchen. The bench is about 3.4 metres long, and will have the same tiles put on the back of the bench as we have in the fireplace (hopefully that will happen next Tuesday).

And of course there is the wonderful stove, that we have had sitting in the garage for two years just waiting to be used. It's a mainly induction cooktop, but has a ceramic hotplate so if you have non-induction friendly cookware you can still use it. Can't wait to start cooking up a storm in this kitchen.

Floors Sanded and Sealed

Last week saw the floors sanded and sealed.  The sealing uses a gloss coat whilst the finish coat will be a satin, so the final finish won't be as "shiny" as the photos below.

This week also saw the ensuite tiled.  There was a lot of discussion with the tiler on the best way to achieve what we wanted, we're really happy with the final product.

Last week was a big week for both of us and not just for the house.  Firstly I finished two weeks of full-time work (behind a desk) and that has been extended into a 6 month contract.  They are happy for me to work part time for June so that we can move into the new house.  Big change from the house building.

Secondly, Kylie resigned from her public service job, talk about not even waiting for the dust to settle after I returned to work :-) She's been struggling a bit with the job for a little while now, so she's decided to leave to try to pursue something that will be more creative, or at least get her there.

All in all a big week for everyone, even Lily had her first full week of day care. Next week we should have the kitchen installed, which includes the big red stove. We'll try to get photos up as early as possible.

Tiling

Last week saw the tiler make some significant progress.  Only has the shower recess in the main bathroom and the ensuite left to tile.  This is the fireplace

and this is the sunspace.

This week the timber floors are being sanded and sealed.  This is the main living area before the sanding and sealing.  Hopefully in a few days there will be photos of it sealed

All going well the kitchen will go in next week and it will be getting just that little bit closer.

Studio Floor

Finished laying the floorboards in the studio.  We are really happy with how it came up.  All going well the floors will be sanded and sealed in a week or so.

Painting

This week the painters were in.  They have done the ceilings and first coat of colour on the walls.

The builder and I have also been busy laying the timber floors.  Have done the bedroom, kitchen/lounge/dining and pantry.  Should finish the studio by the end of this week.

Everything is happening very quickly now.  Hard to keep up and with the shorter days even harder to get photos with decent light.

Help with Rendering

Over the last two weeks we have some professional help with the rendering.  They have rendered the block work inside and out.  Much faster than us and a better finish.  Also means that we could continue with straw bale rendering.

This is the garage wall completed....

This is the internal block wall rendered.  This is very close to the final colour as well.

Internal rendering is going well.  Had Kylie helping the last four days and we have finished the laundry, pantry, studio, lounge and our bedroom.

We have acknowledged that we cannot render the guest area before moving in, so that means we have completed the internal render for the painters.  Just have to wait for it to dry.