Finished product, with pictures

Kitchen 1

Here are the long-promised pictures!

Dave (builder) delivered final invoice and certificate of completion for us to sign today.

Kitchen 2

Still waiting to hear from Dave (kitchen) about when our splashbacks will be sealed, but otherwise we are all done.

Dining

Bought a splendid orchid to sit high above the fridge.

Long view

Lounge area

Only thing left to do is hang the art.










Unpacked last box of stuff to go back into the cocktail cabinet today, and the ottoman and scatter cushions arrived.

The space, and the view

Close inspection of the last picture will show you what our next task is - to fix up the garden, starting with the side fence, which is on point of collapse. So we haven't seen the last of the tradies yet.

Finishing touches

Yes folks, we are really really nearly there.
This week we've had the builders finishing the odd bits of flashing on the windows outside and the renderers doing the final coat of render, so that's pretty much it as far as Profast is concerned.
Today Armando sent Giuliano to finish off the painting - all done including the range hood chimney which now matches the ceiling and is even less noticeable than it was.
Took our ottoman to Bluestone yesterday to have it upholstered to match the couch - it and some scatter cushions will be back by Friday.
Next door the builders have finished messing about with the party wall, so as soon as the paint has dried, we will be able to put the furniture back where it belongs and, finally, rehang our art collection.
All we need now is the caulking of the splashbacks, and some more tracklights. Minor hiccup in that area - Peter found some LED tracklights on the web and ordered several. The trouble with buying things on the web is that the size of the object isn't always obvious. When the tracklights arrived today we discovered they were shop fitting size - about four times bigger than we need or want. They might be back on eBay this weekend. Meanwhile we continue spending our evenings in gloom until we find some smaller ones. Can't win 'em all.

We got flue!

No it's not a typo - we're pleased, not diseased. This week the flue was fitted for the range hood and it looks as innocuous as we had hoped, even though it's not exactly the colour we thought it would be. The issue of it going straight through the tracklighting was solved by sparky Damo shortening the track. Then Dave, Chris and Mick cut the hole in the ceiling, fitted the flue and its chimney And it works.
Painter has been notified that he can now come back and do final touch up. At least Dave said he'd tell Armando - must check...

Baulked, not caulked

Unscheduled visit from Michael (kitchen) on Thursday. We chose a brown-gold for the splashbacks, which works well with the wooden shelves and the formica on the benchtops. But the current fashion in kitchen colours is neutral, white, off-white, greys. So although there is a caulk that comes in a colour called mustard which is almost a perfect match, 'they' don't stock it and it will have to be ordered in. Which one might think could have been worked out a couple of weeks ago when we specified the colour for the glass, but one would be wrong. So it will be at least a week before the mustard caulk will arrive from 'them' and we remain unsealed until then.
Renderers came Friday. We queried the colour of the render which was supposed to match the window frames and they cheerfully told us that the job isn't finished - that's just the base coat. Correct colour will come with the final coat. Hopefully next week.
Waiting for last things continues.

Rendered, and with splashbacks (almost)

Returned Monday from 8 days in sunny FNQ (except that it wasn't always, and was very windy), to find the outside of the house rendered and the splashbacks installed in the kitchen, but not yet caulked. Contacted Dave (kitchen) who said they had to get the colour of the sealant right (good!) and that Michael-from-the-office would contact us later this week. Two days to go for Michael to do so. Keep putting off taking the photos until the kitchen is really finished, and doesn't have big bits of blue tape covering the powerpoints that are actually embedded in the splashbacks - this will presumably be removed as part of the caulking exercise. Amazing (and annoying) how long the last few things take.

Home, home on (with) the range (hood)

Two days of enjoying our new space in peace at the beginning of the week. On Wednesday, Peter does some carpentry on the shelf so that our new super-duper tap can swing full circle. He is very pleased with the neat job he has done.
Builders back on site next door Thursday, enabling us to retrieve our yard broom which they had inadvertently taken because theirs is almost identical. Also to arrange for them to come Friday to fit the range hood, which they do, and it looks great. There is no longer enough room above the plate rack to fit plates in, but as I rarely used this, I'm prepared to forgo it for the sake of having an effective range hood. Builder is going to organise the fabrication of a flue so there will be another wait for this to arrive and then another messy day when they install it and cut the requisite holes in ceiling and roof. Then the painter can return to do touch ups, and finally we really will be finished.
Where are the pictures? Just waiting for the home handyman to finish varnishing his carpentry work so that I can take a picture of the kitchen without sheets of newspaper, paint tin and brush, etc.