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Flooring !!!! Yippeeeee
With about 150sqm of flooring done this week I am one HAPPY WOMAN.......and can say I have a HAPPY HUSBAND.
We chose a 50/50 mix of Red and Grey Ironbark.....we had to wait about 4 months for the supplier to gather enough boards for our job. They were getting in dribs and drabs to finally have enough.
The boards on the left are the grey and the reds on the right. The flooring guys blended them really well and we're so happy with the result, even though they're not sanded or polished.....I think they'll end up looking a real treat!!
At the end of the first day all the ply was down - 12mm (CDC I think the term is.....)
At the end of the second day they had knocked a fair amount in
By the fifth day it was all finished by lunch time
I wet down the boards with some water to get an idea of the final product. This picture I took without the flash on and it seems quite reddish.....
This one I took with the flash and it seems a bit bland and grey.....the actual look of them is somewhere inbetween these two pictures...
So where we stand now........Starting to install the kitchen. It's forecast to reach 43 but we'll have the A/C on!!! The area where the kitchen will go has been sanded already. Then we need to undercoat and paint 1 coat on a zillion metres of skirts and archs so that when the floorers come back in 2 weeks they can put them on, then sand, then polish. It's going to be a couple of busy weeks - I haven't installed a full kitchen before but I'm a dab hand at flatpacks.....as long as my husband hands me the tools and does all the heavy lifting I hope all will go well.......but I'll get back to you all on that
Front door and lawn. You can tell by the Xmas decorations that the first coat was done before Xmas......I'm still gathering the enthusiasm to finish it off....but hey - check out our green !!!
My husband enjoys ripping over the lawn with his ride-on mower ....the deal was that I took over the mowing duties while he was building the house.....those duties have been handed back to him along with a shiny green John Deere as a sweetener LOL. We only have a bit of lawn at the front and some at the back.....rest is still rubble and fill and weeds at this stage....so not too much hard work for the old fella.
Does anyone have first hand experience of floorboards that have been oiled? I really didn't know it was an option but have started looking into it and am liking what I see. How are they to live with? How often does the oil need to be re-applied? Our boards are Ironbark and so pretty hard and dense (like me ?? lol) and I really like the "Naked" feel of them under my feet at the moment....does the oil finish leave that feeling??
Any feedback would be appreciated
Well work is still being done.....still....
We had the floorboards laid in January and are really happy with how the mix has turned out.
From the front door looking down the hallway (husband looks like he is hard at work crunching numbers....)
From the front door looking to the right into the formal lounge and dining area
In the center room looking towards the front hallway
Once the floor was down we were finally able to install the kitchen that had been packed away in the garage for about 12 months
The unveiling....or in our world - the unwrapping and uncluttering of the area around it!!
Where do we start??? So many bits and pieces
Starting to look like a kitchen
Benchtop on.....
Dishwasher in.....
The kitchen is almost finished......well finished enough for the skirting and architraves to be done, and painted. Then the floorers can come and sand and polish the floors.....
Double doors and cloaks that lead into dining room (Skirts and Archs painted a semi gloss off-white.....now to do a final coat on the walls and it will be FINISHED !!! Hear that....FINISHED!!! LOL......is it ever truly finished???
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It's looking amazing lynny-jane. You've done a fantastic job. You won't know yourself with a full kitchen and flooring, or with all that free time you'll have because it's FINISHED!!!!! Have you painted your internal doors yet? I still haven't. I did the first coat on 5 doors but that was last December. We then went overseas for 6 weeks and they're still sitting against the wall in the games room where I left them last Dec. We also still haven't done the skirting boards in the hall, living or meals areas, so you've beaten us there. We got sick of working on the inside and have been working on the outside garden instead. No, I never think you're ever truly finished. Congratulations on having the end in sight!
Oh be still my beating heart... those floorboards are BEAUTIFUL
Awww thanks guys !!
TamK....remember how we were trying to "encourage" each other re the internal doors......well I'm sorry to say that I haven't even made a start on them.....too daunting LOL!! It sounds like you've made heaps of progress though.........but my switch flicked to "cruising" soon after we moved in....such an effort !!!
I'm at the point where when I look at threads in the 'Building a new Home' section and I see photos of peoples builds where the builder has painted the doors for them and they have door handles, feelings of jealousy and resentment well up in me! My mum gave me a lecture on the weekend that I really have to knuckle down and get stuck into painting them. I'm going to paint the front verandah first so I can put it off just a bit longer. I've promised myself that I'll start painting the verandah this weekend.
What did you end up deciding to do for your lovely fireplace? Are you leaving it facebrick?
Your floor boards are really beautiful. What did you end up deciding to coat them with? Are you getting a professional to sand and coat them? In our old house our floor boards were oiled. They were great but the only 2 down sides I found were they did scratch a bit more easily, and it made the timber quite dark. Mind you, we didn't really look after them very well. The woman who sold us the house re-oiled them just before we moved in, then we never re-oiled them for the 5 yrs we lived there. They still didn't really look like they needed re-oiling.
LOL - I know what you mean.......there are definite perks to owner building BUT project homes that you can walk into 100% complete have their own perks too hey....especially when it comes to the finishing touches!!
I haven't even given our fireplace a thought......but am swayed to leaving it bare bricks and putting a nice mantle on the top made from the same species of timber we have used in the flooring.....might hit up the flooring guy to "weave his magic" in that area I think. He's supposed to be coming back to sand and polish the floors at the end of March.....so I had better get my butt into gear and finish the rest of the skirting and archs.
Did you end up going with a satin finish on your floors? They look great in the photos......I'm thinking that the oiling option for us is just too difficult (ie: flooring guy wants to use his standard sort of finish - satin....and the desire to see it finished is greater than my desire for oiled and the subsequent research etc......though I really like the look of oiled, but in risking a much darker looking floor and the future maitenance of oiling I'm going with the simple option now)
My doors have all been taken off again.......so randomly placed unfinished doors are everywhere at home now....laughing at me I think!!! It is really something I have been putting off.....and it sounds like your mother and mine are cut from the same cloth.....lectures etc hehe.....but my mother hasn't built a whole house before....in fact I don't think she's even painted a house either, so her advice in this matter is just going in one ear and out the other (shhhhh hehe)
Catch you later.......maybe with an update on finished doors ??????? LOL
I couldn't wait for the job to be finished to update on our floors........progress being made - sanded and the first coat applied this week. Hopefully it will be finished today or tomorrow. We are really please with the way the colours have been enhanced by the polish (we decided to have a full satin finish) The place is looking ALMOST finished
Sanded:
First coat (picture taken through the front window.....as fumes were still high!!)
Hi Lynny-jane,
The floor boards look beautiful, I love the mix of colours in the timber. It's amazing how finishing the floors turns it into a home rather than a construction site. Yep, we used a satin finish too. We used Bonna Traffic satin. I preferred the gloss finish previously but now the satin has grown on me and I really like it.
I'm proud to say that I've finally bitten the bullet and I started painting our doors over Easter. We've got 34 doors (including built in cupboard doors) so I was finding it really overwhelming. I've now finished 18 doors and I've got 16 left to go. I've worked out if I paint every saturday and sunday it will take me another 4 weekends to finish them all, so I'm not so daunted any more.
How's your kitchen going? I'd love to see a pic of that.
Tammy
Hi Tammy, great news to hear you've started on your doors. How are you doing it....roller or brush? I seem to remember your doors having fancy paneling and ours are similar and was wondering how the best results were achieved. Well done - over halfway there....looks like you'll win our little competition hey !!!
When a house finally starts to become a home.........
Getting some of our furniture out of storage and putting it where it belongs - so exciting !! It gives you an idea of my style (or lack of it....hehe....brown on brown on brown !!)
BTW......all the stuff in this formal lounge room and dining room I have purchased "pre-loved" !! Now to start sourcing things for the bare walls.......
Hi Lynny-Jane,
You're such a tease with your photos - one isn't enough, I want to see more!! Congratulations on finally filling your home with furniture. You're so close now. The finished floorboards look great.
To answer your previous questions, we've got the Hume HAG9 doors for our internal doors so they don't really have fancy panelling but they do have 4 vertical groves down each side which the roller can't get into. So I use a brush to paint the sealer on the edges and groves, then use a brush to paint the top coats in the groves, then use a roller to paint the whole door. I'm using semi-gloss too as I find it too hard to get a good finish with full gloss paint.
I'll have to show some photos soon. 25 doors finished, 9 to go!!
Thanks for the info on painting the doors - I will make a start soon
Here are a couple of other photos of the finished floor.......
Can I give the guy who did it a plug? Phil Heise of Tongue and Groove Flooring has been amazing. The quality of his workmanship is superb, and the little things he did to ensure the finish was perfect went well past our expectations. So if there is anyone in the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie/Hunter area thinking of getting timber flooring I would recommend you give Phil a call - he the best in the whole area without a doubt and reasonably priced too.
Ignore the unpainted doors........that will be rectified soon !!
The front hallway looking in...
From the front doorway looking to the right into the formal lounge/dining areas
I am so glad we went with the more "mixed" looking boards......they take in the scope of all my "eclectic" different wooden furniture colours. I don't think a floor that was all the same colour would look as good at the end of the day in our household (even though I just LOVE ANY TIMBER FLOOR!!)
It's been a while......a few little updates:
Carpet - it's getting closer....this is my choice. It should be laid in the next week or two. (can't wait!! Have lived on concrete for 12 months and am well and truly over it !!)
Built-In wardrobes - Molded out and ready for me to paint the doors ....... sometime in the future.
Linen Shelving - not quite finished but starting to take shape. It will be lovely to have somewhere to put the towels and sheets!!!
Our brush with the local wildlife.......a 6 foot black snake. These are the snake catchers who were unable to catch the little devil........but I'm looking on the bright side - black snakes keep away browns.....they control the rats......and that's about the only good things I can come up with regarding having a snake reside in your backyard.....
Love your carpet choice, looks really similar to ours. Have you had it laid yet? It looks so soft and luxurious. The shelves look great... except for the fact that now you've got more fiddly painting to do
painting sucks!!!!
How's your kitchen going, have you got any photos of that yet? I'd love to see it.
Must've been a bit unnerving seeing a snake on your block. We've never seen one on our block, just lots of bob-tails, but we've got so much bush on our block I'm sure they're in there and we warn the kids all the time. The people across the road have lived there for 25 years and never had a snake until last year, then last year they had 2.
Photos of carpeted rooms please!!!
Carpet is going in today!! Here is a "Before" shot - and I'm looking forward to seeing the "After" when I get home from work this afternoon.....the layers were busy hammering in their death-strips when I left this morning (I would hate to step on one of them with all the nails pointing up!!!)
I know this is not terribly exciting - but to have painted architraves is a real achievement for us.....particularly me as I slaved over them.....and they are ALL done!!!
And finally......me in my "Painting Uniform" hehehe......all class hey??
Until next time.......
Carpet Update !!!
We're really starting to feel like "Normal" people now.......12 months of dusty cement give you a greater appreciation for carpet don't they??
Step 1:
Step 2:
Step 3:
And Step 4 involved the dog and I both rolling around rapturously on the super soft carpet !!! hehe
I also found something new out about my husband - he CAN vacuum......he vacuumed the 5 rooms after the layers left....now the hard part will be getting a repeat performance from him !
This is a picture of our guest room....some more things to go in there and some special touches (ie: not the drills on the dresser as ornaments) and we'll be open for business!
Sorry about the sideways shots - they are the right way around in photobucket.
Driveway has been started.....just went with plain concrete - nothing fancy......just random cove finish. These posts are getting boring I know......sorry lol
We were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves for 24 hours - happy with the job and the shape and finish of it all.....until the concretor who was on another job nearby and needed more rio (which he knew we had on our front lawn) so sent his helper up to grab without asking......what are we? The corner store? Once bitten by previous concretor and lesson learnt the hard way.....no way mate, we paid for that. Now the worry of potentially getting them off-side....will they come back to finish? Will it be slap happy? Will something go missing? ......My husband nailed it on the head the other night with a comment about the overall impression of owner building "It's DEALING with the trades that's been the hardest part of it all.....not the physical work"