Mar 9th, 2011 10:07pm

It’s been a slow 2 or so weeks as we’ve had to juggle getting quotes and fitting in different tradesmens schedules.

The painting and floor sanding has been officially completed now.  Everything looks great and has really changed the feel of the house.  We’re going to give the blinds etc a wipe down after we’ve completed all work (as there’s a lot of dust build up whilst work is being done).

Before

After

We made our way to Ikea to find replacement roller blinds for the french doors with the damage coming in at $57.95 (not bad for 3 blinds).  They don’t completely shut out light (which means at night, it’s possible to peer into the room) but they are nice and modern.

We’ve had 3 groups of plumbers come through quoting for

• plumbing gas into the kitchen
• replacing vanity and toilet

With quotes ranging from $1k to $4.5k.  This time we got the quotes in writing so there shouldn’t be an issue with what we’re actually paying for.

We’ve agreed on Scott from Kellyville, and he’s been booked out for a while, so we’re waiting till Monday 14th for him to come through.  This is both good and not so good.

• Firstly, it means we have to postpone installing the new kitchen, as he will need as much clearance as we can provide to pipe in and terminate the gas plumbing into the kitchen.  We did however, pursuade Mr Yang our kitchen maker to bring his team in to demolish the rest of the kitchen.
• Secondly, it does actually give time for us to have the toilet ordered (which should arrive tomorrow).  We purchased a decent vanity from Renovators Dream in Brookevale Hardware and General, and then ordered a Porscher Renso full ceramic, soft close toilet suite (suiting a 220mm pan offset).

Before

After

The kitchen will be installed after Scott has his way with the gas.

Meanwhile, we’ve also been doing some work in the bathroom and trying to paint the tiles.  Let me caveat this by saying that I chose the paint color, and I’m not completely sure as to why; the decision was made on the fly and reasoned somehow between white is going to be hard to cover the currently pink tiles and we need to match the rest of the house and go for a grey color, but not the same grey as the walls.

White Knight products include

• tile and paint cleaner
• Primer
• Paint x2
• grouting pen

We started with the bathroom side and also the shower, as the tradesmen coming through won’t need to use or touch these areas.  There’s no point painting the other areas as yet as the sink and toilet will still be used (and likely damaged in transit).

and the shower still needs a second layer of paint + grouting work.

I’ve finishing the work started on the doors in the house.  Originally fitted with all seeing and all knowing crystal balls (you’d imagine they would see how out of fashion these would become in the future), and now being replaced with some simply brushed steel finished knobs.

We’ve also had to get creative (and use some hobby wood to cover the gaping hole left from the old lock.

That’s about it for now to catch up on the last couple of days / weeks.

Feb 24th, 2011 9:30pm

sneak-peek at the floors…

Feb 23rd, 2011 11:33pm

Here are some shots of the front and back yard - we absolutely love the difference and believe it’s totally changed our place.  Frontage is a million times better (albeit less private).

Frontage

Before

After

From the front door

Before

After

Back yard

Before

After

The backyard is such a wonderful sun-filled place now.  The plants and vegetation along the fence of the property is all trimmed and clean, and it’s just so inviting!

Thanks Adam (Inbloom Design)!

Feb 23rd, 2011 11:27pm

On the cheap - Laminex benchtops & Melamine cupboards

Feb 23rd, 2011 12:09pm

We’ve decided to go with Parviz’ floor guy and pay the extra $200.

• He started today (which means we only lose 1 day)
• Parviz actually painted the bathroom (which initially wasn’t quoted for).  Essentially we got about $500-$700 worth of work in the bathroom for nothing,
• so, whilst in principle we shouldn’t be giving this floor guy business, we’re still on top.

Proposed kitchen layout

Feb 22nd, 2011 4:24pm

With the floor guy (contracted by Impress Painting; Parviz) bailing, we’re in an interesting position.

• Floor guy #2 (Simon) was told he wasn’t needed, so he booked other jobs.  He can’t start on our place till Mon-Wed next week.  That means we’ll be at least a week out of schedule ie $700 of rent out of pocket.
• Simon is, however, about $500-$700 cheaper (but for good reason ie cheap finishes, dodgier workmanship) and also means Parviz won’t come back to touch-up any skirting.

The alternative, is to get the kitchen guy in sooner so he can build the kitchen first and then Simon can come in later and finish the floors.

• This absorbs any lost time
• We don’t have to worry about kitchen builders damaging the newly polished floors.
• We end up saving on floors (lost rent is saved as we fill in the time with another job).

My gut feeling, after expressing frustration at Parviz (about lost time and rent) is to go with his floor guy.  We managed to negotiate $200 to pull the masonite off.

• We could buy a heat gun from bunnings for $49 - http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_2000w-ryobi-ehg2002-heat-gun_1808.aspx
• It would take hard work (clearly don’t mind this) but also time (which we don’t have), and
• There is a high risk that there will be asbestos in the masonite, so I’d much rather someone else do this.
• Parviz will come back and touch-up the skirting once the sander has had his way.
• Better workmanship

The problem with this is principle.  How can we encourage his dodgy behaviour by paying him even more?  I’ve read of many trademen holding their clients to ransom, and this feels much the same.  $200 is small in the bigger picture, but cartainly, we as righteous asians, cannot, condone this behaviour…

what do you think?