Week 5

This week was all about getting the construction to lock up stage. Insulation went in early in the week, and the house looked like a spaceship with all that silver foil insulation. Some shifting around indoors happened as well to move the boys out of their old bedroom and into the temporary study. I came home early in the week to find a long rectangular cut out in their old bedroom ceiling - the home of the new staircase.

Can I just say how well the kids are managing being out of their room, and adjusting to living in multiple spaces? I am surprised, and very proud that they are taking everything in their stride. We will see how we go managing over the next couple of weeks during school holidays - lots of sleepovers with cousins, movie dates, outdoor activities, to keep us all sane and out of the construction space during this time. We probably should have had a separate budget just for kids activities during construction #thingsyoulearnduringreno!

With furniture being moved out and around there is an empty echo to the house that I am not keen on, but understand the necessity so work can progress unhindered. We will feel that a little more next week, as we clear out the lounge, study and the room currently being occupied by my mum (soon to be our new living room) into another storage pod. Amazing boxes that fit more than you can imagine. The beauty is that you fill it up, and it gets picked up for offsite storage and returned when needed!

Installation of the windows was completed mid week, except for one window that is being used as the entry into the upper level. Our cat Tigress has been keeping that particular window sill warm until the work is finished and the window inserted to its frame:-) After the stairs go in in a fortnight, access will occur via the stairwell.

We also had the upper roof painted Barramundi Grey to match the new cladding. The lower roof and cladding will soon match the upper level when phase 2 of the project commences after the main build to blend the original part of the house with the new. It will include replacing windows downstairs to finish the overall look.

The week ended with the external cladding going in, not our originally selected colour, but a lovely subtle grey all the same.  I can't wait for the scaffold to come down so we can see the house in its entirety.

Plumbing and electrical rough ins closed out the week and will continue into the next.

Once the builders are downstairs to open up internal walls, things will get a whole lot more interesting and disruptive! 

Watch this space!

images: Shelley Stephens for Little Elm House

Week 4

 

The rain reared its ugly head again and work slowed down later in week. Overall, things are still chugging along nicely with the roof tiles being laid, and some ply walls going up. The gutters were also finished early in the week, and its amazing just how much new roof tiles and gutters can refresh a house.

Just looking at the facade makes me realise how wide our house is, something I hadn't really noticed before as a single story. 

Walking around upstairs this week with some walls up, gave us a better appreciation of the space. The bedrooms are generous in size, given we based them on our groundfloor footprint. The benefit of older houses is that they tend to have larger bedrooms. What is noticeable to me at this stage is the upstairs ceiling height. Our original ceiling height downstairs is 2.7m and even in a smaller room feels spacious. There is a standard ceiling height of 2.4m set on first additions, unless ofcourse you are willing to pay for all that lovely extra height. Given they are only bedrooms to sleep in, we might not miss the height very much, but who knows.

We are hoping next week brings better weather so the cladding and windows can go in. Internal work will progress much quicker when the entire first floor is completely watertight.

images: Shelley Stephens for Little Elm House