Building the Lennox with Celebration Homes in the South West

I know how you feel The flights always kill us too. We have to fly to Perth for a lot of things and the flights start at $350 one way per person we once paid $730 one way per person as an emergency. Hence why I'm not going to visit at all during our build now. I really wish I could though.
I hope the 13th is a fun day for you


Well lock up is supposed to be tomorrow and it might actually happen as we have doors

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/Mobile%20Uploads/23648A9D-4B69-4434-BADC-43A7BECF4455_zpss69xmiuo.jpg

And all the cornices are done

This is the master bedroom

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/Mobile%20Uploads/5E016FF9-BE7F-4C9E-8331-AADB0B089011_zpssyvxh3vl.jpg

This is the games room and I'm assuming that's the shelving for the store, larder and wardrobes

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/Mobile%20Uploads/C94D0B59-D2E1-4F26-8C1E-72A7D7A5F151_zpszcwp5rp1.jpg

Close up of the cornices

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/Mobile%20Uploads/CA72D2B8-94E6-41E5-9765-8960C4523A84_zpskndhi4p3.jpg

This is our laundry - the bench will be 3.8 metres long and I'm excited about that! It means I'll finally have somewhere to hide our washing when I get behind

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/Mobile%20Uploads/DF0420E7-C9AE-4153-B63F-9364374EB0D1_zpshftqmqm3.jpg

Not long now and I'll have cabinets in hopefully in a few weeks!

When I was customising the house I put in lots of big and tall windows in my house as I love sunlight streaming in. The photos I have received show the sunlight streaming in beautifully and in large amounts, exactly as I have imagined and planned.

I'm so excited!!!! I can't wait to finally see my build, it's only about 5-6 weeks until I see it

Yeah no wonder you don't visit. Wow love thw big windows looks amazing. Not long now so excited for u. Love that long laundry. Have you worked what you do to move all your stuff?

It's looking great Jmcl! That laundry bench and the windows! Totally with you on that, it's so lovely to have lots of light streaming in.

It looks lovely - 5 - 6 weeks until you see it? How exciting! I'm jealous lol

No new updates JMCL. Yet. My first block isn't going to be titled until next year, but I did get lucky and secured another already titled plot and settled on it earlier this month. I bought it sight unseen (although it's in the same estate) and it wasn't until I went down there that I saw a box drain in the middle of where my driveway would enter the roadway. So I've gone from thinking my initial plan could just be applied to the new plot to having to change designs altogether as I don't want any 'kinks' in my driveway! No compromises! Add me returning to working full time this term so I haven't had much time to progress anything! But I hope to get the contracts sorted and get down there for prestart at the end of term!

I'm living vicariously through yours at the moment!

Hi Livpal, we are getting removalists in but only to move some boxes and sentimental pieces of furniture like our cot, change table etc. Its still costing us a fortune but I'm not willing to let go of that stuff. We're buying mostly new furniture now which is exciting. We are moving in about 4-5 weeks and I'm starting to get panicked about moving

Have you organised your removalists yet? It's full on organising everything's to move a long distance isn't it, it us for me anyway!




Thanks Trixee, I'm so excited and can't wait to see my laundry




Thanks Malsannie! I am counting down the days with excitement

Congratulations on your second block! What a pain about your first though

What design are you going to go with now? You are allowed a couple of structural changes so you could also just change the front half of the house and change what side the garage is on? Or does it still not work out because the house won't be North facing etc?
I hope you can find something that you're happy with? I actually looked at the Monroe design about 2-3 years ago and had my heart set on it but I'm soooooo glad everything was delayed and they then came up with the Lennox design because that fits us so much better! Hopefully the delay will work out in your favour somehow.

Good luck with returning to work

Well I emailed the builder and asked for a few photos of my doors and I received this today A photo of my lovely front doors

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/Mobile%20Uploads/5FFEC008-66D4-4F8F-81CB-4A67A611A1C0_zpss03hqskw.jpg

All the internal doors are these. I think they will be stunning when they're painted white

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/Mobile%20Uploads/32D27874-87C6-4E47-8FDF-10D2196DFCBA_zpspxghq5cx.jpg

I have no idea what else has been done on the house? I thought I would be in painful suspense wondering but I've been flat out organising removalists and other things, and I went to Port Hedland last week so I've been too busy to think about the house at all! I can't believe I'll be moving in next month sometime

Well I decided I while ago that I'm going to redo my splashback and put subway tiles with grey grout in the kitchen, larder and laundry. I will definitely be putting over head cupboards in the laundry and shelving in the larder. I had planned to put overheads in the kitchen but now I'm having second thoughts and I'm thinking about tiling all the way to the roof! We love Scandinavian design and that is really common over there but not in Australia? I don't care about resell value as we are planning to live here for a long time.
I googled some images and these are what I'm talking about

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/image.jpg2_zpsirkgmryc.jpg


http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/image.jpg6_zps40ltin8y.jpg


http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/image.jpg3_zpswmxnxcue.jpg


http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/image.jpg1_zpsnp7bdm3p.jpg


http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah296/JMCL1/image.jpg5_zpsaekla8mu.jpg


The bottom picture is similar to my kitchen as we have a chocolate island as well. I love relaxed and comfortable styling and don't want a show home. I thought the tiling could go around the range hood up to the roof so the range hood is actually a feature as well. And then I might include 2 shelves on the right hand side of my kitchen? These are just some ideas I'm tossing up????? I also have made the laundry white so I'll do the same subway tiles in the laundry but white grout instead of grey like in the kitchen???? I've definitely decided on subway tiles but not sure about how high

Oooo ur internal doors are the same as mine. Cant wait to see them white. And i am having subways with grey grout in my kitchen and butlers. We have similar tastes. Omg its getting so close for you.
We are getting a removalist also it will cost us a few thousand so probably worth it.
My sis lives in karratha kinda near port hedland.

Love the scandi styling JMCL - there are some gorgeous ideas on Houzz.

Oh Livpal5 we do, I've checked out your thread a few times and thought we have similar tastes! I can't wait to see your build finished, it's going to look gorgeous






Thanks kellie_87! I must be looking in the wrong place on the Houzz site because I can never find any modern ideas on there?!?! All my friends are saying the same as you but all the ideas I find are really old decor I'll have to take another look? It does have great advice though, I googled painting tips on there and it gave me some great tips. Congrats on starting your earthworks too, I hadn't checked in on your thread for a little while and I can't believe you're at earthworks stage already, yayyyyyy

Look at my house

They have painted the render but I think it still needs another coat, the grey I chose is just a little bit browner And they have laid the garage floor too

They've starting painting the doors. Look at how high the garage roof is, we raised it to 30c because we have a 4WD with a roof rack

These photos are very hard to see as its taken through very dirty windows. They have put my cabinets in

Can you make out my drawers in the kitchen? I can just make out the white ones

Well I am super excited about my cabinets, the garage floor and painting being done. I have been flat out busy packing boxes and organising my move. And then I got the dreaded email from my CLO (Client Liasion Officer) about my move in date I thought they might email me and say they need another week or 2 but instead, they need another 4-6 weeks
We were told to expect to move in about the middle of September and I thought they might need a week or 2 longer but they now need 4-6 weeks. I've just had to reschedule everything like removalists, hotel accommodation, sports events for the kids. My sisters wedding is in Perth at the beginning of October so now I'm going to have to plan to come down before actually moving down which will cost about $4000 to do it cheaply
The other drama is we had my husband's leave booked for the beginning of September and he had 4 months off. We don't want to waste that so he's just asked could he change it? Fingers crossed he can but it will be difficult because the leave he now wants is around Christmas time and we may not get that long now due to others taking time off???! I hope it all works out
Besides the wedding it is actually probably a good thing! It means we have more time to organise ourselves a bit better as we have been so busy with life. It also means that I can go down and see the house a few weeks before we move in. I'll be down for my sisters wedding so I'll do a day trip down to see my house.

Just to give everyone a timeline, we reached lockup at 19 weeks from slab down and our lock up dates have a suggested move in date of 14-16 weeks after lock up date. In fairness to Celebration homes, our house is the biggest one they have EVER made apparently as I increased the internal space by about 30 square metres. They also had to organise all the added siteworks that new estates don't have and put the septic tanks in which was a huge job but again, new estates don't have that problem as that's all done when you purchase the land. My house has been a new experience for them and I've been really happy so far with most things, in fact everything.

Goodness, all that work done! It's looking fantastic, congrats! On the home stretch now

Wow that is amazing not much left to do is there Love the hight ceiling in the garage - what a good idea. It is a shame that you're having to change moving dates etc though - but it is lovely to hear that you've been otherwise happy with your builders. Really happy for you

What a stuff up having to shift all ur planned events and removalist. Loving the kitchen. Cant wait to see it all finished. Your space around the kitchen looks really big. Least u have plenty of time now. Bet u will still rush at the end tho. Thats what im like, doesn't matter how much time I have i am still in mad rush at the end.

Your house looks amazing! I wonder why different companies do the render at different times...ive noticed celebrations is pretty much done at lock up, but im with homebuyers and they're about to lay my floors and still no render

Exciting times JMCL!!!! Love the idea of taking the backsplash tiling all the way to the ceiling! It certainly would become a feature! I also love subway tiles, I have quite a few examples on my pinterest page (pm me if you want my page details) although from memory none with dark grey grout. I'm going starfire glass in my kitchen but I also have overhead cupboards so keeping it fairly simple. My doors will be shaker style so want them to be my feature! But my bathrooms and laundry are fair game for subway tiles at this stage!

I love symmetry so having shelves on one side only would do my head in! But you have that return of cabinets so it would fit that space! What side were you thinking of putting them?

Bit of bad luck with timing but on the upside I'm impressed Celebration have been open with that info! Hoping there is some flexibility with everyone involved for you.

I think I'll be renting a 'holiday' rental to have that month to month flexibility, my place won't be ready before my kids start school down there next year. But hopefully it won't be too far from it! I'm building the Jackman now (similar to the Lennox) but garage is on the 'right' side for my plot!

Your colour scheme is simple, and stunning! A picket fence will set it off beautifully!

It is looking great JMCL!! I really like your kitchen and all the drawers you have. We're at about the same point and we're told PCI should be end of the month with keys about 2 weeks after. This includes floors, windows and painting. Now I wonder whether this is right

Thanks Trixee, it surprised me how much work had been done too! We really are on the hone stretch now. Thanks for your kind words, it's so nice starting to see it coming together FINALLY




Thanks Malsannie, so far our build has been fantastic and Celebrations have been wonderful to us. My CLO is a dream and if I ever build again I will try and build with her. I feel so forunate compared to some others on here who have horror stories with their builders, I'm sure you've read some?
Have you chosen your fireplace yet? I've been fireplace shopping and found soooo many beautiful ones. I love how you've built yours into the wall




I know the removalists were great about it but the events are a bit of a pain. And my sisters wedding is the biggest pain as its going to cost a huge amount to go to now which we never budgeted for My kitchen is huge We cook most of our own food and we honestly need a big kitchen. Ours is tiny at the moment and I hate it! I'm counting down the days until I can move into my huge one
And you're right, I will rush at the end I work soooo much better under pressure it's ridiculous! I blame my uni days for that




Thanks jlo1990! I wonder why too? I was speaking to a friend who built in Canada and they were wondering why we were locked up so early as they don't do lock up until a few weeks before handover over there? I thought that was really interesting?




Oh FantasticFour you wouldn't believe it? I was flicking through last months Real Living Magazine and there were 10 kitchens with full height tiling, maybe it will be a new trend in Australia now and not just Nordic countries?
I generally love symmetry too but I had almost the same kitchen in the past as I'm building now and the big L shaped bench and island worked brilliantly for our needs. I would only put the shelves facing the larder though and make the rangehood a feature too?

Its a tad bad luck with timing but besides my sisters wedding it's probably a good thing in the end? Celebrations has been keeping in contact with regard to timing to help us make a smooth transition when we move. I'm not sure where you're moving from but in the South West people really seem to care about their clients and try to help them out as much as possible, it's very different to Perth! If you're not already in the South West now, you're going to be love it!!!



Thanks SmartHomesBuild, I just checked out your thread and you're way ahead of me! You've got bathroom tiling and so many others things that I don't have done yet. You should be able to move in within their suggested timeframe How exciting, you're soooooo close to moving in! I love your study, if I could choose a study like yours I would be in study heaven. I hope you're enjoying organising everything for your move. Hopefully everything is a smooth transition for you. Good luck for the new journey you're about to start, decorating your dream home! Yay