CONCRETING AND SHUTTERS

Thursday, May 12, 2016

I know its been a while and I was planning on an mega post but if I did I don't know if I'll never get it completed so I'll update ya'll in smaller installments. I've been so busy now as I try and juggle work and looking after my 11 month old baby who recently started childcare and has not had a break from being sick! Argh

So house wise the last three months in has been go go go. We completed our driveway, side gate, window furnishings, light fittings, garage shelving and landscaping. Yup I wouldn't have believed it myself, I'm now too scared to look at our bank statement but I can't wait to start sharing with you what we have achieve so far and what our future plans are. But for now I wanted to share with you some photos of the plantation shutters and the concreting work we did for the house.  

For those of you interested in the Sinclair Facade, I realised I haven't given you any shots of the juliet bar thingamajiggy that gets hung over the  master bedroom window. So here it is. 



Our site supervisor forgot about it for handover and it wasn't a huge bother for us so we were happy to move in without it. 
My goodness you wouldn't believe how these things get installed. Would you believe its installed by ONE guy who climbs up a normal ladder and just drills it in. I'm no occupation health and safety expert but it did not look safe at all.  I'm all for efficiency but I was expecting it to be a two man job or at least have some scaffolding? Anyway I'm sure they know what they're doing?

Driveway

This would have been one of the first things we ticked off post build because the very thought of driving and walking onto mud to get to your house would have driven me insane plus we have a dog so this was priority for us. 

Just before handover I had organised quotes and booked the job in. In some cases expect to allow up to a month from the time you quote to job completion. I did find that sometimes getting someone to come out and quote was a bit of a task. For our driveway we chose to go with an exposed aggregate finish and went with plain concrete for our back/side yard.  The backyard concreting is just a simple 1 meter foot path around the house with extra concreting towards the rear garage door - long enough to allow a car to drive through.

.
Concrete gets poured
Side Path - Plain Concrete
Smoothing out the concrete

Driveway getting 'Exposed' to show the 'Aggregate'



Mentone Mix - Balcombe

The concrete mix colour we chose is called Balcombe from Mentone Mix. An obvious choice would have been just to go for a grey colour concrete but instead we chose Balcombe because the grey undertones would be a good way complement the colour scheme of our house. 

The End Result
Probably wasn't the best day to take photos - the house looks dull and brownish.








Side of house
Posts for side gate fence are in.
1 meter plain concrete path down side of house and as you see above slab of concrete for our bins.
Rear Garage Door
Enough concreting to drive a car through
We are really happy with it the outcome and I can definitely recommend the company we used (1300 Driveways) as we found them to be extremely professional in every aspect and have done an amazing job with the concrete. You know how you just KNOW.... well this is one of times where I just knew I chose the right people for the job. It feels good when you see people walk by our house only to slow down and stare at our driveway. hehehe.

Plantation Shutters 

Plantation Shutters were the obvious choice for us as we are all about going for a hamptons kinda look.  Our choice of white for our aluminium windows was a deliberate decision to ensure that they would blend in our white shutters. Shutters were installed on all our windows except for the rear kitchen windows which we hope to turn into some sort of servery. 

We chose to go without the tilt rod as we prefer a cleaner look.

Like most shutters these ones are made of basswood and took about 2 months to arrive and a full day to install.  Would certainly recommend Gabriellas Decor for your shutters as we found them to be most competitive. Gab is thorough, has attention to detail and lovely to deal with, whilst her business is based our of Tullamarine she does travel around Melbourne.


Family Room Window

Downstairs Bathroom

Our bare study room.
The shutters in here are wrong. There should be no split down the middle.
It will be another 6-8 weeks before we get these ones replaced.

Cinema/Guest Room
We've actually turned this room to a play room.
Outside view of Kitchen Galley Window

Upstairs Games/Rumpus Room



Master Room
Yes it is possible to have shutters on sliding doors
There are a couple of ways you can install them.
One option was to have them on tracks to they slide open or the other option which we have chosen was the fold option. 
Fold Open

Open View
Upstairs main bathroom
These shutters are made of PVC with steel insert

View of exterior with shutters
Such a gloomy day.

We recently got our lights fitted so will be sharing with you in my next post which I'm working on as we speak. Until then...

You Might Also Like

16 comments

  1. I've been so looking forward to seeing your updates now that you've moved in. Everything is looking great. Can't wait to see the next post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chi, your blog has been a huge help, thank you! As a result we have decided to start a blog for our own Charlton33 journey. If anyone is interested, here is the link: http://thecharltonpd.blogspot.com.au/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thats great Carole. I've been following your journey and its coming along nicely.
      It happens so quickly doesn't it.

      Delete
    2. Thats great Carole. I've been following your journey and its coming along nicely.
      It happens so quickly doesn't it.

      Delete
  3. It does happen quick. Its a very addictive feeling actually. I said to my husband, we haven't even finished building yet, and I would love to go through the process again. hehe

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Carole,

    your blog has been really helpful to me as we are building the same home. I'm def going to contact your concreter as we are needing a few more quotes. Could you let me know if your shutter company started on your shutters before handover? I love them but don't know if I could go without window furnishings for 2 months with 2 small kids. My blog is amber.andrews.ie if you would like to check mine out although it's not half as in depth as yours :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Amber,

      I didn't get quotes for the shutters until after handover so had to wait another 8 weeks until we got them. So we bought these temporary shutters from ikea and stuck those up.
      I'm sure if you speak to your site supervisor he/she would be ok to get someone in to measure up your windows for a quote before handover.

      I like your blog, goodluck with your journey...exciting times.

      Chi

      Delete
    2. Hi, thanks heaps for the info my site supervisor is more than happy to get someone in now :)

      Delete
  5. " Hobart building inspectors provide daily pre purchase building inspection reports, across Hobart and regional TAS, for a 2+ bedroom house for $445.00 plus GST. Although the code does not give details about issues and areas of practice, these explanatory statements may be used to clarify the meaning and scope of the code. These explanatory statements do not in any way limit the extent of the standards prescribed by the code.
    "

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Hobart building inspectors provide daily pre purchase building inspection reports, across Hobart and regional TAS, for a 2+ bedroom house for $445.00 plus GST. Although the code does not give details about issues and areas of practice, these explanatory statements may be used to clarify the meaning and scope of the code. These explanatory statements do not in any way limit the extent of the standards prescribed by the code.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is the best services to use shutters to make nice house.
    shutters houston

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Chi, Thanks for your fantastic blog! We are just tossing up between the Charlton 33 and the Hoffman 39. Your blog is so helpful to suss out the costs and additional upgrades we might require. Can I ask you two questions please. Firstly, were there any sneaky costs that sprung up on your during the process with PD that you didn't expect? And how much did you outlay for the shutters (they look fab!)?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Plantation Shutters Melbourne I am impressed. I don't think Ive met anyone who knows as much about this subject as you do. You are truly well informed and very intelligent. You wrote something that people could understand and made the subject intriguing for everyone. Really, great blog you have got here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yes i am totally agreed with this article and i just want say that this article is very nice and very informative article.I will make sure to be reading your blog more. You made a good point but I can't help but wonder, what about the other side? !!!!!!Thanks PVC plantation Shutters

    ReplyDelete

Popular Posts

Subscribe