Environmental Night @ The Ponds

Just got back from the Environmental Workshop at The Ponds.  Very informative night with heaps of information from Blacktown Council on composting and creating a worm farm.  You even get a free composting bin for attending.  I like the worm farm idea, a very neat and tidy operation. We want to start our own kitchen garden so the information was very helpful.  Dinner was also provided by the organisers, Tuula and Michelle. I even won a Gerbera plant in the lucky door prize. Well worth attending.
On the home front, we didn't expect any work to happen today as the weather is pretty bad.  It's predicted to rain all this week.  Ben went over to the house this afternoon and the bricklayer was busy working.  Apparently he is finished with the entire right side and is half way through bricking the back wall.  Hopefully the bricking will be close to being finished by the end of the week.
For all of you living at The Ponds or Kellyville Ridge you can register to http://www.peopleplaces.com.au and get a $50 Bunnings gift voucher.

My Haven

I have been getting together some ideas for my bedroom.  Chose the wallpaper after looking at so many choices.  I decided to stick with a neutral colour scheme and I will add touches of colour with the cushions, candlestick holders, etc.  My room is pretty big, it has a large parent's retreat area as well.  I still need to decide how to utilise this space.  I really want my room to be an escape from the teenage/adult kids.  Somewhere I can go to read a good book and relax.

Here are some of the ideas I have collected so far:

"Tinted Windows of my soul"

Nothing much happening at the site over this Easter long weekend.  The brickie said he'd be back on Tuesday to continue his brickwork.  Went over there to measure the space for the fireplace, to make sure the gas fitting has been placed in the right spot.
Very impressed with our windows, they are Airlite windows in Woodland Grey.  We had our master bedroom windows, which face east, tinted grey to cut down on the amount of sun in the mornings.  I really like the way these windows open out.

It's a BRICKHOUSE!

It's a brick house, it's mighty mighty...one of my favourite Commodores song.  Well, the bricking started on our house yesterday.  The bricklayer (only 1 bricklayer and his labourer are assigned to our house) told Ben he will take about 10 days to finish.  After going there today to check things out, I can see why.  He seems to be a perfectionist with his job.  Very nice work so far.
As for the brick, I am loving it.  I was so stressed about whether I'd chosen the right colour but now I'm really pleased with the way it's looking.  Will look even better when the bricks are cleaned.

Right side nearly done- 21/4/11

Bamboozled

Finally decided on our flooring.  I tossed up between tiles and wood.  Since we had tiles in all our other houses, I thought I'd go with wood this time since I really liked the look of the wooden floors.
Once I decided on wood, I started researching the different types of wood flooring products on the market and tried to find the colour that would best suit our house.
I stumbled upon bamboo flooring and realized that bamboo, strand woven in particular is a much better option than the standard wood floors.
According to some of the articles I've read bamboo flooring has the same strength to weight ratio as steel.  It is considered even harder than traditional hardwood flooring.  It's also environmentally friendly and non allergenic, which is great for my asthmatic son.  The added bonus was that I could get it in the colour I wanted which is a really dark brown, almost black actually.   The bamboo is 14mm thick and comes in a wide plank look which I prefer.
I was going to carpet the bedrooms but then decided on using the bamboo in the entire house.
Will be better for the asthmatic anyway. 
Here are some pictures of the similar colour bamboo that we are using:

Call Security!!!!

The bricks were delivered today and I had to see them.  So Ben and I went over there in the dark at 7.30pm with our new LED torch from KMart.  The fence is never locked properly so we boldly went into the site.
It was so exciting to see the bricks and yes, they are the right ones.
The plumber had been there all day, so we checked out all the gas and water points to make sure everything was  correctly located.
We were nearly leaving when the security guy, Kassim,  turns up.  Ben told him straight away that it was our house and we weren't there to steal anything.  I thought he was going to kick us out but he was really nice.
He said it wasn't a problem it's just that he has to record our car registration.  Ben told him we were concerned that the windows would get stolen since they were still lying there uninstalled.  Well he re assured us that he is there patrolling the area all night and that they are actually working longer shifts due to school holidays.
Nice to know.  Just hope those windows get installed tomorrow.

Delivered

Noticed that the windows, stacker door and door frames were delivered yesterday.  I really like the colour of the windows (woodland grey).  Just can't wait to see how it goes with the bricks.  They all just need to be installed now in preparation for the bricking.  

Frame for the pivot door

The plumbers were there today, doing the gas plumbing.  Lots of piping leading to the planned gas points in the family room, kitchen and alfresco.  

Lights, Camera , Action

We've been researching our light fittings over the last few weeks.  We have to have LED downlights in certain room, it's a basix requirement.  However, we can still use our creativity in coming up with ideas for the rest of the house.  Will be using the downlights in the entrance, down the hallway, media room, family room and dining room.   I would like to have pendant lights over our island bench.  Some wall lights on the dining wall and some fancy fittings for our rooms.  Here are some of our choices for the pendant lights over our island bench:

For the girls rooms, the choices are:

We've been FRAMED!

Walked out of my house this morning and the sky was blue, the sun was shining and I thought, "What a beautiful day".  Drove past the land, on my way to work, and lo and behold, the frames were being put up.  Made it an even more beautiful day.   Four carpenters were frantically working.  Love the work guys.  Was looking so good and so big, already.  Roof trusses haven't been done as yet, looks like they're leaving that for tomorrow.  I sneaked a walk through late in the afternoon and it was so good to see the plan take shape.  Everything looks to be going to plan really well.

Front of House

Left Side of House

All done!

Bath Choices

Well, we have to choose and buy our freestanding bath soon.  The debate rages on my end as to what will suit the main bathroom better.  The backdrop for the freestanding bath will be a black tiled wall similar to the background on my blog actually.   So tossing up between these few bathtubs.

Bath at Eden Brae show home in The Ponds

Heres Hoping!

The site supervisor, Stephen called to introduce himself this afternoon.  He seems  really friendly and said he was happy to answer any of our questions or make himself available whenever we wanted to view the house once the fences go up.
Basically, he said the plan for the next week was to have frames up by  Friday 8/04.  He said bricks should then be delivered the following week with the brickwork starting from Monday 18/04, weather permitting of course.  If all goes to plan, this will be exceptionally quick.  Fingers crossed!