Glenbrook House 21 – Landscaping (1)

Posted on 26/05/2018 by admin

The house is fundamentally finished (there are details to go, but they are only details). The landscaping now has to be done, and firstly it is much more satisfying than I anticipated, and also makes a huge difference!

Here is a picture just showing how something as simple as laying the pavers to provide a path to the front door makes it look much better, and more like a home.

Yes, there is Sue, unloading some of our possessions as they are transferred to the new house. We are moving in stages, having not sold 33 Blackbutt Circle as yet.

This is a photo. taken today (27th) showing that the front lawn is now laid – making the whole front look much better, I think.

Here is a somewhat autumnal view from the front door.

The pool is now having sandstone pavers laid around it. Here is the concreting done to provide the base for them.

I also need to claim that I was the first person to hang washing in the new residence (earlier this month) …..

Glenbrook House 20 – the garden shed, etc.

Posted on 19/03/2018 by admin

Have I ‘blogged about the garden shed?

I think that I have, but not in it’s final form, as shown here. This is such a small structure, that it didn’t require planning permission.

After all, it’s just a garden shed.

4m by 3m, sandstone, gable-roofed, slate-tiled, garden shed.

We don’t do things by halves, it seems.

It will be used to house the garden tools, at one end, and the pool pump and filter at the other.

Other developments are the flooring downstairs and the carpet upstairs.

This shows the downstairs living room, with the ironbark floor after polishing, and below is a picture of the kitchen, also with the wooden floor now in place.

In many respect though the most important addition is the granite slab at the entrance of the house.

It is made of “Orinoco” granite, with the amazing copper/gold swirls which naturally occur in this stone. The picture shows it looking down from the upstairs balcony down to the front door.

The carpet has been laid upstairs as well. This makes it all look close to complete, and I suppose it is – at least the end is in sight!

Glenbrook House 19 – painting, etc.

Posted on 04/02/2018 by admin

The inside has now been painted. It is largely done in shades of white (if you can actually have shades of white – I call them shades of grey, but that isn’t fashionable). It is “American Antique White” or some such tihsllub.

The theory is that we can live there first, then decide if we want different colours. Also, it’s one less set of decisions to make.

Andrew and Nick now have the built-in desks made in their bedrooms.

Andrew, though, has decided that he likes the utility room (above the garage) better, and might want to make that his bedroom. I can see why ….

The “void” in the floor of the upstairs landing, through which you can see the front door (L) now has the glass panels installed to stop people falling through it (R).

The inside is nearly done, but the garden and other outside bits have a long way to go.

Glenbrook House 18 – walls

Posted on 08/01/2018 by admin

Progress is mostly outside recently, with a wall being built between ours and the neighbours pools, and a start on the front fence.

This is the first stage of the front fence being built.

The inside of the house is being prepared for painting, with plastic sheeting being put over everything.

Also a picture of the Christmas lights at our current house this year.

Glenbrook House 17 – progress inside

Posted on 24/12/2017 by admin

Recently, progress inside has in some ways been more exciting.

The main room floor has now been laid, although it won’t be polished for some time yet.

The kitchen has had all the black “Galaxy” grant bench tops installed.

This is the view from the kitchen into the main room.

The builder has also arranged installation of our fitted cupboards and the work-areas in Nick’s and Andrew’s bedrooms.

In some respects, though, this is the most important sight – the battery which will hold enough energy to power the house for a day, and the “inverter” which acts as an intermediary between the solar tiles and the battery, and works as a generator of alternating current.

Glenbrook House 16 – progress outside

Posted on 24/12/2017 by admin

In the initial stages of the building process, progress is easy to show in pictures.

The outside is pretty much complete apart from the details now: the stonework is largely done, even the patio tiles are laid, and those on the front step – here’s another view of out grand entrance in construction.

The outside is far from done, though: the “retaining walls” had to be put in place. I think that this is a council regulation with any building where the land is sloping, as ours does very slightly.

So as the outside of the building gets finished off, the builder has been digging trenches around the sides of the site, then pouring concrete into the holes.

The builder has also been laying the foundations (!) for our garden hut, which is to be made to match the house – in sandstone!! We could, of course, had a wooden one, of a prefabricated one made from aluminium panels (Colourbond™), but we decided on the usual no-compromise approach, so out garden shed is to be 4x3m and made of sandstone, with a gabled roof!

Here it is, without the roof as yet.

Glenbrook House 15 – Internal fittings start

Posted on 12/11/2017 by admin

I haven’t put much material up about our house recently. Quite a lot has happened, inside only.

This is a view of the floor being laid in the main living area. As you can see, there are battens put on the concrete, with the “ironbark” strips laid over the battens (with some insulation between the ironbark and the concrete).

Why is it called “ironbark”?

Well, when we were choosing wood for the floors in our current house, we said to Michael Edwards, our builder, that it was likely that sooner of later our two boys (then 8 and 10) would roller-skate across the room, and we wanted the floor not to scratch too easily ….

To be fair, I don’t think Nick and Andrew ever did test its resilience that way, but ironbark proved to be extremely hard-wearing and very good looking floor material. So there was no question what we wanted in the new house. It was one of the few very easy decisions.

This view looks back towards the front door.

The space where the kitchen will be is off to the right.

Those views were taken a couple of weeks ago. Now the fittings are beginning to go in, and what was the “space where the kitchen will be” is being filled in, and the kitchen beginning to take shape.

In the foreground is the bench which separates the kitchen from the living/dining room. All the horizontal flat surfaces will have “galaxy” black granite on them, and on the far side the induction cooktop is waiting in its box to be put in place.

This is a view of the laundry, with the side door at the far end on the right.

This is a view from the front bedroom out over the roof of the front wing (where the garage is).

It looks over towards Glenbrook Park.

Finally, the utility room above the garage. I am really pleased with this room. The round window at the front, the two skylights, the whole ambience seems just right.

Glenbrook House 14 – Doors

Posted on 30/09/2017 by admin

The front door has arrived, and very good it looks, too.

It has been hand-made out of Jarrah, by a local craftsman found by our builder.

Yes it’s wide (1½m), but a little door would look wrong.

Here is the door as part of the front of the house.

As you can see, the garage door has been put up also, it a single door wide enough for both cars, which should help us reduce the amount of scratches on the edges of the cars ….

The side door is also in place, so the house can be locked up now. I’m not sure why we need to at the moment, because it’s pretty bare inside.

Inside the “gyprock” has mostly been installed.

Gyprock is what most Australians call plasterboard.

Glenbrook House 13 – the trees are gone!

Posted on 11/09/2017 by admin

Whilst I was away in Europe quite a lot happened around and in our new house.

I say around our house, because the neighbours wanted to get rid of some of their trees, and Michael Edwards, our builder, also wanted to chop them down to allow better acess.

So, they are gone.

This leaves a much better view of the house, but in some respects this is too much. It looks monstrous!

Seen from afar, the house looks a really huge building, and brings home to us just what an undertaking this was.

This is comparable to views that I have previously posted, and doesn’t it look bare? We will be planting plenty of new trees, though, which will look considerably better.