Well all excitement here this morning. I was walking out the gate to walk my kids to school and noticed there was something in the letterbox. Turned out the draftsman had dropped off the Preliminary Plans :D I've had a look over them and I am very happy- they are pretty much exactly what I asked for. I only need to talk to him about two small things (he's listed the French doors as aluminium framed and I'd like timber and he appears to have left the window in our current bathroom which I'd like removed as it will become an internal room). I have pictures but you'll have to excuse them as they aren't the best.
So here's a pic of the current house layout (the porch is at the front of the house, it's a bit confusing the perspective he's drawn from):
Then this is the proposed extension (again from the backwards perspective):
And this is the view from the front with the new roof:
The draftsman has said that once we give him approval of the plans he will go ahead and do up the proper ones for council submission. Those he said he should be able to have to us early next week. Eeeeeeekkkk it's getting closer!!!
I went back and read some of my earlier posts and it's pretty funny just how much my ideas have changed. Also how much letting your kids have a say in their bedroom changes thing :P I thought I would update you on the plans for the kids rooms given the current plan is now nothing like my original idea. The kids have now given their input and we have adjusted the design so that they are happy. I'm a pretty big believer in kids having input in their own space (of course then it's my job to make sure it's something we can both live with ;) )
This post will be about my eldest son's room. He decided he really wanted a Navy bedroom. Our room sizes aren't massive but given the floors will be white we should be able to pull off the colour without it looking too dark. He also likes red and is a big fan of British TV (Dr Who is a favourite- the 9th doctor. The 4th is mine) so we decided to go with a light British theme/colour scheme. So far the blue we have picked together is Dulux Passionate Blue with Dulux Red Box and Dulux Vivid White accents.
I'd like to add some stripes to the wall to make it interesting. This gives you an idea but I'd like it lower and slightly thicker.
I don't want to be too heavy handed with the British paraphernalia but we will have a few nods in the room. He has a desk which I really want to try painting like a Union Jack:
I'd also like to paint his bed red like this one:
He's also very into Science- especially Astronomy. I'd like to add some star maps over his desk like the one here:
I have found a cool globe light at Bunnings for only $25 which he loves. He also spotted me pinning these and wants them for his wall:
I'm yet to pick rugs, bedding and curtains that I like but I will be going for something a bit more neutral I reckon to counteract the busy-ness of everything else. I have also picked out a chrome pendant light from Bunnings:
As you know though my family and I are very fickle with these things and can change our mind at any moment :P
No signs of the Preliminary Plans yet, though I wasn't actually expecting to see them when I was told I would ;) However in other news it's my husband and my Wedding/Handfasting Anniversary today- together for 12 years and married for 5 :)
Also for good measure, my favourite photo of us :D
Okay I have finally uploaded a picture of the newest plans- the ones I recently gave to the draftsman so that he can use it to draw up our plans properly:
So as you can see it's very similar to the last ones I drew except without the upstairs and the second living is now a bedroom and mudroom. The circles with an X in them that you can see are where I want lights and I have my bath back in the bedroom. I had thought maybe I shouldn't have it in there and had second guessed myself. However I was rewatching one of my favourite renovation shows the other day and the host said "Makes sense [to have the bath in the bedroom]. After all the main purpose of having a bath is to relax and how can you do that if people may be coming in to relieve themselves." Very true albeit a little gross haha.
The builder also talked to us about making the gable a steep pitch. I didn't think we'd be able to because of building regulations so I had abandoned a steep gable but the draftsman was the one who suggested it so it must be fine. Knowing that it's possible we are now going back to our gothic revival style house idea. We are replacing all the windows anyway now (with double glazed ones) to make sure we meet energy requirements and to counteract our lack of wall insulation, so why not! It won't be heavily gothic though, just have a bit of that Gingerbread House look about it.
We have also made the decision to definitely stick with the weatherboards. It's going to be more expensive but in the end my husband and I just plain prefer real weatherboards. We love historical type homes and weatherboards just look nicer on older style homes, even though vinyl has come along way. I'm also tossing up cladding the bottom concrete part of our house in the stone cladding you can buy. I think it would look nice with the weatherboards. That's something we'd do down the track though- heaps more pressing and expensive things to get out of the way first! Here's a picture of what I mean- even with the same colour exterior and door I want (oh I think I forgot to tell you I'd changed my mind on that too lol):
Well the draftsman ended up cancelling that Thursday. I have to say I was getting a bit worried and thought we may have to start looking for a new one. However he came around the next Thursday and took the measurements XD He has told us that he should have some preliminary drawings for us in a week or two so I cannot wait to see them. Basically they will just be to make sure he is drawing what we want and then we can either make some changes or give him the go ahead to draw them up properly for council submission. He's taken my new drawings though and seemed to have a pretty good grasp of what I wanted so hopefully his drawings will be pretty spot on.
Just a quick update to say we finally got hold of the Draftsman. He's coming round Thursday evening to take measurements. So exciting to finally be on the way. It's taken so many mind changes and so much time to get to this stage. I'm hoping the rest is smooth sailing but that's unlikely Haha. Now I just have to try and clean the house a bit so that the Draftman can actually get to the walls to take the measurements!!
We had our scan the other day and the baby appears very healthy and active. I'm getting lots of kicks now which is lovely (and lots of heartburn which is not!). We also got to find out the baby's gender and....
So that evens things up ;) As you can see I went straight out and started shopping lol. As I've said (I think) we got rid of pretty much all our baby stuff after our daughter was born thinking we were done so we are pretty much starting again.
Not much to report yet on the House front except that we have simplified our plans so that we don't need a second storey. It does mean the two girls will have to share when the baby stops sleeping in our room. My daughter wants to share a room with someone though so that shouldn't be an issue. She's pretty happy about it at this stage :) The draftsman was supposed to be round by now to take measurements so we have to give him a call tonight. Hopefully this isn't a sign of how things are going to be!! My parents used this guy and recommended him to me though so fingers crossed it all works out.
