Building the Drysdale 25: paint

Our SS informed J yesterday afternoon that our painting was to commence tomorrow. He said that a Taubmans rep was going to be meeting all of the supervisors and painters at our house to demonstrate how they should be doing the painting by applying the first coat of paint, as apparently the painting hasn't been done properly.

I drove past this morning at 8:00am to see our bedroom full of people. Once I got to work I logged onto the internal camera and could see them going from room to room, and eventually some kind of painting taking place.

However, when J dropped in on his way home, there has only been a wall in the entrance and a wall in the bedroom which has been painted.

J said the paint colour was quite light, so we are not sure if it was only a base coat done. We will have to wait and see.

Also, according to J, the tiler managed to tile the shower floor in the main bathroom today. Wow, he really outdid himself! I hope he picks up his act and becomes a little more productive. In saying that, I think our tiler covered over our camera this afternoon. It was taking photos up until 1:36pm and then at 1:51pm it seemed to have been covered over. Fast forward to 4:14pm and it was working again. The funny thing is, the tilers' equipment had not moved all day. So, what does that tell you?

The wall in the master bedroom

Here is the photo evidence that our camera was tampered with.

Colours, Kitchen, Landscaping & Plumbing

Today is day 1 of our colour selection process....I have been looking forward to this day since signing our tender. For the past few months I have spent most nights on the internet researching and preparing for this day. Homeone has been an invaluable resource. There are so many helpful and knowledgable people that are happy and willing to share their expertise and experiences with you. I highly recommend this website to anyone whom is building their own home. There is a link to the website on my home page. The exciting part is knowing you have total control over the colour scheme and finishes in your home.

Our appointment was booked for 9am and we were on time and filled with enthusiasm and anticipation for the day ahead. Don't get me wrong, I was feeling a little anxious and uncertain that I was 100% prepared and ready to make the right choices.

First up, our colour consultant for the day took us through the exterior colours. Our selections went like this:-

Bricks: Gravel

Roof: Monument (Colorbond)

Gutters, Downpipes, Meter Box & Water Tank: Monument

Fascia: Dune

Garage Door: Dune

Cladding: Dune

Front Door: Dune

Eaves: Surfmist

Windows: APO Grey

Next we moved onto door handles for the doors throughout the house, including the front door, kitchen and bathroom cabinetry handles and WIR door handles. As we had increased the ceiling height to the entrance, we decided to upgrade the main bedroom doors. We also added a solid timber door and lock to our internal garage door (door added at tender stage).

Then it was over to choose paint colours. This was a little difficult. We knew what we wanted, but couldn't find the colour within the limited colour choices provided by EBH. In the end, after much procrastination, we settled on Kidskin for the walls and Crisp White for the skirting and architraves.

The last of the colour choices was the kitchen and bathroom vanities and bench tops. This took us some time as the colours in the brochures were not a true representation of the colour samples at HOG (It could have had something to do with the lighting). With regards to kitchen colours, we were planning upgrading but was advised by our colour consultant to choose a colour for the file and this would be over written once we had our kitchen appointment. So our colour selection was done and dusted.

From here we saw Jenni from Outback Landscaping for our driveway. J and I had come into this appointment determined we would have a cement driveway. But after listening to the pros and cons of each, and the general maintenance of both, we ended up choosing pavers. We chose the Baines Charcoal pavers, laid in a stretcher bond pattern. We opted to upgrade to have the council crossover paved as well. Outback were offering a $2 promotion where they would provide additional concrete/paving to the side of the house. I am not sure of the square meterage but it worked out that we would receive paving to one side of the house, the length of the garage.

Next we were off to meet with Alex from Kitchen Culture. Upon sitting down and sighting our kitchen layout that Alex had printed off, we were surprised to see that there were no overhead cabinets. Who builds a kitchen without overhead cabinets?? Turns out, all project builders don't, and it costs you an arm and a leg to include them! We were a little annoyed because we remember specifically asking our Sales Rep at Homeworld Kellyville whether the overhead cupboards were included and he confirmed that they were. So to be told that they weren't was a bit of a blow.

The kitchen is where you can spend a lot of money on upgrades. For example, here are our upgrades.

Two sets of soft close pot draws either side of the oven
Overhead cabinets with a 100mm overhang in lieu of handles
A lift up door cupboard above the fridge space,
A light shelf in each overhead cupboard for down lights
Bulkheads to overhead cabinets, including flyover panel above rangehood
Laminated panel behind rangehood
Sharknose detail to base cabinet doors and drawers
Gloss polyurethane finish to kitchen cabinets, panels, and kickboard.
Catergory 1 Essastone - Crystal Chalk
Glass splash back

If anyone wants to know how much any of the above cost, please let me know. I would be happy to share with you.

We also opted to have KC fit out our laundry rather than try and have someone do it after handover.

Here are our kitchen and laundry plans.

3D Kitchen Layout

Kitchen Plan

Laundry Plan

Our appointment with Cooks Plumbing was next. We wanted to keep the costs down seem as we just went overboard at our kitchen appointment. Here is a list of our upgrades.