Facade Tiles!!!! Eco Alabster Grigio Lappato Porcelain

I have definitely been in love with a lot of things in this build but this one has really got my heart racing. You know how a cat (I'm not a cat person at all, in-fact I kind of detest them...!! sorry cat lovers) anyway, you know how a cat rubs up against something and it's tail lifts up and it gets all warm and fuzzy, well that is how I feel when I see our facade tile!! I just want to run up to them and touch them and purr!!! I'm so happy with our facade and our colour choices. When you choose your colour selections, it's so hard to envisage it all. We didn't want anything over the top or something that would date. We decided that warm neutral colours would be the best. We feel like the render colours have come up really well. They are light but with enough contrast and variation and I love that the tiles almost match the Hog Bristle Half render colour. They don't stand out but because of their colour variation and look/feel are a sutble feature without being in your face! That is what we were hoping for anyway - everyone obviously has a different taste, but we are super happy with it all!

Facade - Hardwick
Render - Dulux Hog Bristle Half (sandy)
 - Dulux BedBox (brown)
Tiles - Eco Alabaster Grigio Lappato Porcelain
Grout - Travertine
Front Doors - Corinthian Win21 - stained in Rich Walnut
Garage Door - Decowood Bush Cherry
Roof/fascia/downpipes - Colourbond Woodland Grey

Tile Beginning!

Slowly Growing

Loving the Tile Variation

The tiler has done a great job at making sure the tiles are layed with the greatest of variation. We opened a box of tiles to see what they looked like and a lot looked to have a similar pattern, but on the pier they all look so varied and different. LOVE THEM!

Finished Tiles!

Up Close and Personal

Tiles also have metal trim

Oh so Close

Brickwork - The Highs!

We've had a busy week, in more ways than one. There have been highs and lows this week. I'm going to start with the positives then get into the negatives.

The brickwork has powered on during the week. The weather has been very kind and our swamp of a yard has almost completely dried out, to the delight of the brickies. The rest of the week isn't looking as optimistic though. 

Our concerns of the off white mortar continued. We were still questioning whether or not it was off white. We were usually seeing the mortar a few hours dry and as the week progressed we have seen how the colour changes and the whiteness comes through (some of these photos are taken of still wet mortar). It's nice to see the clean colour with each day it dries. The western side of the house is showing more of the authentic colour now.  We are really happy with the colour of the bricks and the work brickies have done a really neat job (there is more to this though). It's great that some walls are almost complete and we can see how our colour choices are coming together. I'm writing this with a heavy heart this week, from our disappointments, so it's hard to be too excited. Lots of positives though and we know the final result will look great. 

Back of the garage (extra wide door - to fit a wheelbarrow)

Can see the Woodland Grey Roof against Boral Mocha Bricks = HAPPY!

The Front Coming Together

Dining Room

Lounge

Mortar Yet to Dry

The Garage

This wall did have to be built internally. Therefore the plaster, cornice etc needed to be ripped down.

We thought this would be the case.

Up She Goes!

More Bricks Delivered (there were at least another 10 pallets)

The Rubble

The Roof!!!

So exciting to see the roof finished on Friday! It looks so good. We are really happy. In our colour selections we weren't sure whether to go with the same or different colour fascia. We decided to keep it all the same in the end as the finish on the front will be render x 2 and tiles and we didn't want to over complicate things. Very happy with the decision (so far). Colour selections are so tough! 

The roof started on Thursday. Firstly with sarking (part of our bush fire protection), followed by the colourbond sheeting on the first floor. We were glad most of the work was completed on Thursday as there was a deluge of rain on Thursday night (it could have waited for another day.....).  Then Friday the sarking and roofing was completed on the garage and rear ground floor. The floor had finally dried out from the rain last weekend before being hit again. Hopefully we get some sunny days in the next week to get it dry again. Seeing rain and mud in the house (on the concrete slab) is disturbing - haven't been able to hold off on sweeping it out a few times!!! 

Roof  = Colourbond - Woodland Grey

Roof (and sarking) Underway

From the Side (Day 1)

Roof Completed (Including Garage)

 

From the Side (Including Alfresco and Ground Floor at Rear

From Behind

Sarking From Inside  (Looking up at the Rafters)

Woodland Grey Roof, Gutters and Fascia 

Gutters and Fascia

Tuesday and Wednesday were all about the gutters and fascia. The weather remained dry so it was full steam ahead to get it completed ready for the roofing on Thursday.

Gutters = Colourbond - Woodland Grey

Fascia = Colourbond - Woodland Grey

Gutters and Fascia complete