Glass Balcony

Dropped in over the weekend to see if there had been any progress. We were there for a little while before we even realised that the glass had been installed on the balcony!!! Looking forward to sitting up there with a coffee and watching the world go by. The balcony and facade pillar are being tiled today! 

Hardwick Facade

Getting Closer to Being Finished

Glass Installed

Balcony to be Tiled

  

We Have Bricks!!!!!!!! Mocha Cat 4

We are beyond thrilled to have had the brickwork started. The house has been absolutely battered with the weather the last month. Everything has held up so well considering this (the wrap needed a bit of repairing in two small parts and the window reveals in the theatre room will be replaced - due to water damage). The brickwork is the light at the end of weather tunnel!!! Our SS implied yesterday that they chose this particular brickie for our house (may explain the 2 1/2 week delay). They probably tell you those things to make you feel special! However, he built our SS house and his supervisors (who was there for our visit yesterday). His work so far looks amazing! I am such a brick expert after all....... The work that has been completed so far will also be rendered, so we were impressed with the neatness and mortar. We've seen some 'interesting' brickwork and mortar for walls that are to be rendered - our SS said it often looks like they are thrown in from across the street! 

We were a little surprised at the mortar colour. My husband and I stared at it for quite some time and were pretty disappointed with the look of 'off white mortar' which we paid for. The first thing our SS said yesterday (before we even checked) was that it wasn't off white, under the render. Huge, sigh of relief! They say off white can vary from area to area depending on the location of the sand etc. But it's nothing like white!! Our facade is rendered + some wrapping around the edges. The remainder of the house is brickwork with off-white mortar.

The brickwork started on Wednesday. Here is the progress so far! 

Bricks - Boral Mocha - Upgrade Cat 4;
Hardwick Facade - with Full Render

Day 1)

Day 2)

  

We had wondered how the left pillar would be built - a secret concrete slab! We are also slightly bewildered how the horizontal ledge in between the pillars will be built without framework! More to come on that as it progresses.  

Locked Up Ready for Work Tomorrow

Going Sky High

It's been another huge week! On Saturday, the frame went up on the first floor!! Everyday there has been progression of the building framework as well as the windows being delivered, the first floor scaffolding and more timber delivered in readiness for the trusses (tomorrow!!). Everything is going really well. A couple of issues spotted but will be changed on Thursday - including 2 window openings which are the wrong size. We are intrigued by the facade also as is really doesn't look like the 'Hardwick' as yet. Lots of  questions for our SS when we meet on Friday to understand more about the process!!

The Beginning of the First Floor

Closer Look

A & L Window Delivery

First Floor Scaffolding

Another Timber Delivery


The Study


Fixed Window Frame in the Shower - Window We Added
 

Bulkhead in Lounge That's Too low 

Checking the Ceiling Height 2790 - Precise Measurements Here!!

Alfresco Beams

Bulters with Bulkhead

Reasons Why We Love The Nelson!

I thought I would write a list of why we love the Nelson 46 design so much. Everyone has different lists of priorities in choosing a house. Some aspects appeal to others, while some aspects don't. I thought I would shed some light on our thoughts. I don't think the Nelson is one of Carlisle Homes most popular designs, but that is just an assumption! The reason I say that is I haven't seen any building blogs or heard it mentioned very often. However, it is a MK2 (mark 2) which means that it is a second version of the design. You would have to imagine it was popular enough for it to be redesigned a second time. Anyway, we don't care what you think, we LOVE IT!!!!!!!


The main selling point for us was having the kids bedrooms separated from ours.
Our bedroom is located on the ground floor while all remaining rooms are located upstairs. We think as the girls get older they will love having upstairs to themselves for sleepovers and movie nights with their friends!

The upstairs activity room is large, light and bright
We loved a lot of Carlisle's floor plans but when we visitied the displays we found a lot of the upstairs living areas dark and dare I say it, depressing. The space was often great, but there were no windows at eye level or no outlook and without lights on, the room would have been dark and not necessarily a place you wanted to spend time in. The main reason for this was that is was situated in the middle of the house and restricted the area you could have windows - adding larger windows would also have been limiting due to overlooking. Because the master bedroom is downstairs, it means the Nelson activity room is situated at the front of the house. We have chosen the Hardwick facade so we have large door to see out. This also means it is light and bright. It will be used to play, watch TV, as a study area as the girls grow and a great place to watch the neighbourhood go by with a good book! 

The upstairs activity room (I don't have a photo with the doors!)


















It has large glass doors. 
The main living space (meals, lounge and kitchen) are large glass doors that span across the majority of the back of the house. Who doesn't love glass! We have windows in the kitchen (to capture the morning sunlight - East), doors across the entire back of the house (late morning and midday sun - North) and a fixed picture window the on the western side (for afternoon sun). It should be area full of natural light and freshness. We were really careful not to choose a house that had large windows facing west - as it can make the Summer heat unbearable. However, Winter warmth is really important - and at the moment it feels like we spend 80% of our year with 'Winter like' weather. Our cross over (drive and garage) is on the right hand side of the block, so we also tried to avoid a house that has the kitchen on the West as we don't want to place blinds on the splash-back. I also love that the lounge steps out to the alfresco area but the meals steps straight onto the garden. The morning sun shinning in at breakfast should be lovely.

Doors From the Meals 

The Main Living Area - Light and Bright!

It's double story. 
We love this, because it gives us more backyard, allows the kitchen, lounge, meals to take up the entire back section of the house without having to position bedrooms to the side. Being two stories also gives a different dimension to inside the house. Upstairs will have a really different feeling to downstairs, so you can live differently in different parts of the house. 

The Kitchen and Bulters    

The spaces
We love the open spaces that is house has. The main living space will be a great space to all spend time together. Cooking, eating and relaxing all within the one spcae. Not far off the theatre room gives you another space without being totally disconnected. The upstairs activity room is spacious and light and the entry is wide and inviting. I love every space in this home!



It has a study.
When we started the house search we weren't too fussed if we had a study. A study nook or area would have been fine; most work and technology these days doesn't really need to stay in one spot. I'm happy there is a study in our design though. My husband has 'officially claimed' the study! I'm not allowed to make any suggestions as it's his space (he would say I have claimed the rest of the house, so it's only fair!!!) He wants it set up as a place he can write and get back to playing music. It's located closely to the open living spaces so it wont be shut off like our previous one. I hope he picks a lovely chair for it so the girls and I can sit, listen and share in his creativity. It also gives us a place to have a large bookshelf with all our books and a place to house all the electrical necessities to survive the modern world!

The Study Space

Caesarstone 
Carlisle Homes in the Affinity Collection include Caesarstone to all areas (except laundry). Most of their colour options are standard too. All the colour choices we made were exactly what we wanted and standard - a great surprise! As well as loving the look of stone, I'm also looking forward to the cleanliness of it. 

Large bedrooms
All bedrooms in the Nelson are of generous size. The whole house is generous but we loved the large bedrooms and walk-in robes - particularly for the girls. The house has 5 bedrooms - which is actually one more than we wanted/needed but everything else ticked the boxes.

The main bathroom is a good size
No doubt having two girls is going to cause riots in the bathrooms later in life! However, we were really happy with the size of the bathroom. 

The stairs
We love the facade and the look
The ensuite and spa

Need I say more! 


 There are many more things we love about this home, too many to list!