Lights on

We popped around tonight and might have turned some lights on.


The CFC globes they have installed are cheap and take a while to warm up. Once they warm up they they change from yellow to white, but we will definitely need to replace these globes with new ones.

In the living room we now have a fireplace



and all the doors are stained



I took another picture of the ensuite from the bedroom too

Site cleaned, nearly there

What a surprise to arrive at the house to meet the site supervisor and find the site has been cleaned, the fence and portaloo removed.



At last from across the street we can see the house without the fence, rubbish bin and loo in the way. Of course the painter decided to turn up at that moment!





Inside most of the basins, sinks and taps have been installed. Our ensuite is now finished...



We selected the square basins but with sloping sides...



That's the toilet roll holder on the right near the door. In fact very near the door, something we might bring up at handover.



The bathroom is also nearly done. I now think we should have extended the tiles from bath around to the shower, but otherwise we are very happy with it. Henley still need to seal the tiles and basins, but its almost done.







Inside the site supervisor had been busy marking with spots areas needing patching, painting etc. There were quite a lot, some obviously needing fixing, some less obvious.

In the master bedroom they have installed two normal lights instead of downlights for reading lights over the bed. The dimmer switches do not work well with CFC globes, but I think having consistent lights in the room make sense. So Henley will install globes that can be dimmed and we will see what they are like before insisting on replacing with downlights as on the plan.



All the shelves have been installed, in the walk-in-robe...



The pantry, which in hindsight we should have had a bench rather than a shelf halfway down. Something we can change when we fit out the kids wardrobes.



Speaking of kids wardrobes...



Also the hall cupboard...



the kids retreat...



and the laundry cupboard...



The flyscreens have been installed on most windows as well as the door handles.



The family and dining room is still our favorite



and of course looking back to the kitchen



In the living room they have punched through the plaster to install the fireplace.



There are four main issues

1. The data cables have all been pulled to the study instead of the laundry cupboard. As I tried to explain to the admin when we signed the contract this was ambiguous and then not being able to inspect before the plaster went on was frustrating. I've agreed to compromise by having Henley run a single data cable from the laundry to the study so I can keep the ADSL modem in the laundry cupboard where a phone and power point have been installed.
   
2. Where we expected oyster lights on the outside walls they have installed junction boxes as the symbol used for these lights is not on the plan. I need to go back to the tender and check.
   
3. On one side the garage door they have used pine between the door and the bricks. I pointed this out but the site supervisor was already on it. He had some better timber with him and will make it consistent and both sides.
   
4. Henley have realized they have not installed the bulkhead above the kitchen cupboards. Once again this was not clear on the plans.
   

The site supervisor asked if we could get the fence screens installed this week, apparently the council will be coming around to do a preliminary report soon.

Next week the floors should go in, boards first followed by carpets. Then we should get a call from the handover department. Still looks like we may have the keys by the end of October.

Painted and Lights

We dropped by to look at the house today and were fortunate to find the electricians on site installing lights and power points. This was our first chance to look inside since the house had been painted.

The electricians sure make a mess...but who cares!

We went with recessed globes rather than downlights. LEDs do not seem quite ready and are too expensive, downlights are just power hungry and dangerous.


Here is the progression for the dining and family room...

26 June:


23 July:


17 September:



And again for the dining and kitchen:

26 June:


23 July:


6 August:


17 September:


This is the best picture I have of the splashback. In this light it has a brown tinge, at night it looked more grey. I'm sure it will look different again once we have the lights on.




There are a few things that don't look quite right

• Two of the lights in the master bedroom were going to be downlights for reading. They have installed the recessed globes. With the master bedroom (still) smaller than we expected, we have over done the lighting in this room.
  
  
  
  
• The data cables have all been pulled to the study rather than the laundry cupboard. So the phone cables go to one point, the data cables to another. *sigh*
  
• A power cable was coming out of the external wall near the kid's bathroom, potentially for an external light. But there isn't one there on the plans and I think the electrician has realized this too:
  
  
  
  
• 
  Even the electrician was asking about the bulkheads above the kitchen cupboards. He will be installing the range hood soon.
  

We haven't seen the lights on yet of course, but we do think we have not put enough lighting in the (huge) living room and kid's bathroom.

We realized today that we really had no idea what the show screens were going to look like. So seeing them today without doors was a pleasant surprise! We had not thought of that but given their size it makes a lot of sense.



The pool people have finally filled in the corner of the pool Henley had dug out, and replaced the pipes. Next they will be concreting the edge of the pool and installing the filter and solar heating. Thankfully you can't blog smells so we can't share the smell from the green water.



We also have a garage door but we still do not have an outside picture of it down.