Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 Oct 28, 2014 11:26 am When Caesarstone joined Homeone I (George) promised that I would share my own renovation experience and now that things are underway I thought I'd make a start on that! I should just mention that this thread is for my own personal thoughts/opinion/experience and not my employer's, but obviously I'd be happy to answer any questions both from a personal perspective and from the perspective of Caesarstone. Here we go! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This is our first home and before we'd even bought the place I'd always go through and do a quick photoshop of the floorplan in the realestate listing to see if we could renovate the house the way we wanted. We wanted to end up with something that was nice and open plan - great for entertaining. We've changed a few things but this is more or less what our plan is. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The house was owned by an elderly couple and was looking a bit dated but already had an extension on the back and had gone through a few renovations already as we would soon find out. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Firs things first we made our bedroom a bit more livable and modern. Ripped up the carpet to find already polished floor boards, painted the walls and new white trim around the wardrobe frame. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We still have this up on the wall today, paint patches to decide which colours we wanted to go with for the house. Ended up with Twisted Rope for the hallway, Arctic Crossing for the bedrooms and still yet to decide on a white for the rest of the home. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ First major bit on construction was opening up a proper entryway between the front living room and rear living area. The original entryway was either a doorway on the other side of the room or another door placed awkwardly behind a nib wall so they both had to go in favour of one large opening. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ As you can see, you basically had to walk in an 'S' shape to get from the front to the back of the house. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Closing in the doorway on the right and opening up the doorway on the left. You can also see the old balustrade leading up to the kitchen area in the background. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Much better. Also managed to build a nice big hallway closet with the extra space. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Looking down the hallway to the bedrooms, you can see we got a bit excited and painted the hallway in Twisted Rope. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Looking from the kitchen area to the front of the house. Much nicer now. Would have taken it right to the ceiling but the original cornices are hard to replace. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The back of the house is part of the original extension hence the step. Originally there was only a small step in the centre of the room with balustrades either side. We extended the step the whole way across the room. Luckily there was a floor joist in the exact right position which made this job a piece of cake. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Next we started focusing on the kitchen and small 4th bedroom at the back of the house. We wanted to get rid of the whole lot and install two big bifold doors to open the space up onto the backyard and deck area. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Here are the bifold door frames against the back of the house to give you an idea on the size. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ It took three builders just one day to demo the rest of the space and put in all the beams to make way for the doors. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ By the way, when we bought the house the yard was so overgrown that you couldn't even see the back fence! Three trailer loads of green waste to the tip and it's looking much more tame. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We got in a structural engineer to make sure everything was safe and up to code. From the backyard looking onto the house. All the area to the right (under the pergola) will be turned into a deck roughly the same height as the floor. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bifolds in! Just admiring the new view. Suits the space perfectly! Our only gripe is that we don't have a single window in the entire back area of the house anymore which was a bit of an oversight but we'll see how much of an issue that really is as time goes on. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The doors are from Stegbar and we opted for an E-Glass coating, but other than the morning sun the room doesn't cop too much direct sunlight throughout the day. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Cladding back on and all sealed up! That is all the major construction ticked off! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Sneak peek of our kitchen moodboard - Calacatta Nuvo and Sleek Concrete with doors from Polytec. Still need to fine tune the design and get it approved by the girlfriend then we will be making a start on our brand new Caesarstone kitchen! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 2Oct 28, 2014 1:26 pm That looks amazing!! All those doors are just lovely! My build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68002 Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 3Oct 29, 2014 1:32 am that looks great thank you for putting up pix ! Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 5Oct 30, 2014 9:22 am Thanks all! Looking forward to getting the plumbing, electrical and plastering work done over the next two week then it's onto the kitchen! Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 6Dec 06, 2014 10:15 am that looking a big renovation project, good on you George for sharing with us. would be following your thread Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 7Jan 03, 2015 6:49 pm Looking awesome guys! Love those rear doors onto the back yard, nothing beats that light you will get!!! Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 10Jan 12, 2015 12:36 pm Room2Breathe How is it going? Not too much new to see at home, dropped off a few appliances to Attwells Kitchens late last year so they can fit them into the kitchen as it's being built. They have only just reopened for 2015 today but our kitchen is well ahead of schedule so hoping to have it installed later this month! Managed to hang plasterboard on all the walls and ceiling, and also had all the plumbing and wiring installed ready for the kitchen and island bench. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Was meant to have the entire house plastered and ready to paint by today but unfortunately I've had some headaches with humidity and tradies not turning up but it has only delayed us by a few days hopefully! Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 11Jan 22, 2015 7:56 am Still one more coat of paint to go, but here's a quick before and after of the space once the plastering and painting was completed. If you need proof that we are first time renovators, this is it! The plasterer was mortified when he saw our plasterboarding efforts! As we would find out, the norm is to use as large sheets as possible to minimise joins, but we just went for the standard 2400 x 1200 sheets. So whereas a proper pastering job might have half a dozen or so butt joints, our job had more like 30! The only repercussion seems to have been more work for our plasterer, otherwise the job is flawless! We ended up going with the base Dulux Vivid White for everything in this area to keep it crisp and fresh. Our only worry now is that the Natural White kitchen cabinets will look beige against the white walls but I guess time will tell. Still need to book in the kitchen installation, but it will likely be sometime next week. Strictly cabinets only at the moment as I have something very special in mind for the Caesarstone! But before that can happen our floorboards need to go down first so we can avoid having to use molding around the base of the kitchen. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 12Feb 02, 2015 6:00 pm So far so nice...what style of cabinet are you planning to install?...I recently got installed Shaker style cabinet doors...They look amazing!!..Just was curious to know which ones are you planning to use... Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 13Feb 03, 2015 8:33 am We chose white shadowline cabinetry with timber-look Natural Oak overhead cupboards from Polytec which was actually installed last week! Unfortunately it will still be a while until we have a compete kitchen as the new flooring needs to go down before the finishing panels are installed, and all this has to be done before the benchtops and splashback can finally go in. I filmed the entire kitchen installation process so I'm aiming to have a decent write-up and video online by the end of the week, in the meantime here's a bit of a preview! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 14Feb 03, 2015 3:42 pm Great..I believe timber - look always makes a place look real rich...plus it requires relatively minimal maintenance...Thumbs up for your choice...May I ask which kind of flooring you would be using?... Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 15Feb 04, 2015 9:09 am Thanks, we feel the same way - love the richness timber brings into a kitchen. We would have used it more on the island too but wanted to keep relatively "safe" with the design. We haven't chosen the exact flooring yet, but we are looking at a lighter colour natural American Oak engineered board in a wider format. Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 16Feb 09, 2015 6:13 pm I don't really know if you would love this but why not go for bamboo flooring...I know most of them would go for hardwood floors but my personal favorite is definitely the carbonized bamboo one..Obviously you need to consider the construction style really carefully before setting on your choice.... Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 17Feb 16, 2015 9:01 am Kari1 I don't really know if you would love this but why not go for bamboo flooring...I know most of them would go for hardwood floors but my personal favorite is definitely the carbonized bamboo one..Obviously you need to consider the construction style really carefully before setting on your choice.... I definitely like the idea of Bamboo flooring but unfortunately it's not available in the style we are after. We spent the day yesterday in and out of flooring shops and it actually seems like we will be getting a laminate floor. As much as we love the look of engineered boards, the higher cost and lower durability over laminate really steered us away. We've chosen a colour that looks just like the real thing. Just waiting to see a sample of it in our home during the check measure then we can decide what we want to do. The blog on my kitchen install is live too, and I've included a time lapse video of the entire process. Really happy with how the whole kitchen turned out, it's exceeded our already high expectations. The Natural Oak feature cupboards are better than I imagined and the layout is working really well - definitely no regrets at all. We were worried that the kitchen would be too small but it's huge - and if anything it actually makes the room look bigger too. Can't wait to get the floors down so we can finish off the kitchen and install the Caesarstone! Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 18Mar 31, 2015 9:29 am Looks awesome so far! Would love to see the rest of your reno! Hint hint Re: Our home renovation with a Caesarstone twist! 19Mar 31, 2015 12:58 pm FantasticFour Looks awesome so far! Would love to see the rest of your reno! Hint hint Me too! Stuck in limbo at the moment while we choose flooring, nothing has actually happened since the last update unfortunately. a building inspector should be able to tell you about any major problems but we need a floor plan with dimensions to clarify options for extra bedrooms ... sometime an… 1 8715 We are about to partially demo our house to begin a major renovation… by partial it almost may as well be a new build (keeping front for heritage) This will require the… 0 2446 Hello Josh, This is Irving from PRIMA, we are a manufacturer of the staircase, railings, kitchen cabinets, windows, doors from China. If you have requirement to purchase… 0 5419 |