We have concrete & frames! A house update...

So much has been happening with our new house build, I thought I would do an update as a bit of a wrap up for the end of the year.

Here is a little recap:

++ The house purchase settled in early July and we spent about 8 weeks drawing up and finalising the house plans. See the before photos here.

++ Plans were then submitted to the Engineers and Certifiers to make any needed adjustments

++ Plans were submitted to council and we were sent the big approval tick about two weeks ago

++ The house demolition was approved and the house has now been demolished, ready for the new build.

But whilst all this paperwork and planning was happening, we have been busy working on the landscaping, studio building and demolition of the existing home.

So the house started off like this...

- a tiny two bedroom brick home

- an existing concrete slab that had approval for us to build on

before

 Nathan has been solidly working over at the house for the last four months now and has completed:

- a boundary fence

- front retaining walls

- a liveable garden studio

- tree removal

- demolition of the house

Here is some of what that looks like!

House before demolition

Roof was removed - then the excavator took over! It was demolished within an hour!

Pool is in - notice the boundary fence too?

Acreage style fencing so we can still see the bushlands and views from the rear of the home

The finished garden studio

The retaining wall progress and before the front fence was built (above) and after (below)

Foundation blocks being laid, ready for the concrete slab pour

Levelling the ground ready for the concrete slab pour

Saturday's concrete slab pour - where the house used to sit!

For anyone who has built before - you too know the most exciting part is the pouring of the concrete. Finally you can see an outline of where the house sits on the block, get an idea of room layouts and the overall vision. On Saturday afternoon we went and stood and took it all in - it was so exciting!

Yesterday the framing for the walls, ceiling and roof trusses were delivered to site. Today I couldn't help myself, I had to do a drive by and some walls are up - yipee! By the end of the week we should have some serious progress. Hopefully by Christmas all walls will be up and when the New Year comes, we will be ready to start roofing.

Piles of framing and we have progress with some walls

Coopar the site 'foredog'. Can you spot him in this picture? He thinks his job is to sit in the shade and guard the new delivery.

So that's a wrap from me and likely my last blog post for 2016. With our babies due any day now, I am madly ticking things off the to do list and throwing last minute items into my hospital bag. I am so worried about over packing now, I have so much jammed in! You can never know though what you might need. Literally everything is jammed into my bag, but the kitchen sink :P

So thank you, each and every one of you for following along and another year of Glamour Coastal Living blogging and adventures. I truly appreciate each and every one of you who pops in for a read, leaves comments and says hi via my social media. It truly is the best!

I wish you and your family a wonderful festive season and hope 2017 is your best year yet - I know I cannot wait! Merry Christmas and see you all in 2017! xx

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Spring has Sprung!

I would have to say September is one of my favourite months of the year.
Spring is officially here, the days are getting much warmer and I have even been tempted to go for a swim! 

I also love a doing a good Spring clean and especially now am in full nesting mode. Yesterday we emptied out the guest room, ready for new carpet to be installed next week, then I can start putting together the nursery for the twins. I am so excited! I keep walking down the hallway, looking at the empty room and cannot believe that soon there will be cots, teeny tiny clothes and two little babies. It is such an exciting time! 

House Update: Whats been happening!

So whats been happening in my part of the world?

House planning, building and demolition!

The original timeframe we had in mind has long gone out the window - we are weeks behind where we would like to be. That's the nature of building and renovating though right?

Exterior House Colours

Choosing your exterior paint colours on your home is a big deal.

I help customers choose roof colours for their home in my job. They come to us, wanting a new Colorbond roof installed and I love giving them advice on which colour to choose. I wrote about it here and thought it might be useful to share the tips here with you today too.

It is a big decision to make and a costly one if you get it wrong.

I always show my customers this image from Monier when they are choosing their roof colour. It is a great snapshot of what your eye actually sees when looking at the exterior of the home. The majority of what you see is your wall colour.

My Home: Laundry Renovation Reveal

Renovations. 

Dirty stuff. A great idea. Can take longer than expected. Lots of dust. Lots of homeless items living temporarily where they shouldn't. Excitement. Anticipation. Hurdles. 

But well worth it in the end!

Especially when washing dirty clothes turns into an enjoyable experience!

 I love doing laundry in my new laundry room. It's pretty, has nice tapwear, lots of storage and hs a great view of the sunny backyard. Yep I am digging my laundry. That is now it looks like THIS. 

The 'before' laundry was not so pretty. Daggy brown tiles, a rusted sink, limited storage and just not so pretty!

See.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

It will be a relaxed Christmas in my household this year.

We usually celebrate with a family lunch, this year however we are opting to do an early dinner instead. We figure this way it gives us the day to enjoy the beach, sunny weather and relax - instead of being in the kitchen all morning prepping food, followed by a whole afternoon of eating!

Dinner will start around 4pm, we are all bringing a plate of cold food to share. It will be a combination of salads, cold ham and chicken and an array of desserts. My mother in laws pavlova is the one I am looking forward to. You can't beat a good pav can you?!

We set up the Christmas tree late November, even putting up some outdoor solar lights and decorating the house exterior. It is looking very festive! I opted this year for a non traditional Christmas tree - instead using my handmade driftwood tree once more, adorned with shells, twine and handmade clay tags.

Planning A Bathroom Reno? My Reno Experience...

Planning and tackling a renovation of any size is hard work - but in my eyes a bathroom is the hardest. You don't get a second chance, once those tiles are laid and the fittings installed that's it, there is no going back! You want to do it right and only do it one time.

You may remember my bathroom renovation that we did late last year? Here is a refresher for you:

++ I spoke about my inspiration and ideas here

++ The before photos

++ The after photos and big reveal

So only having one bathroom in our house it was a big deal when renovating - we had to rough it for a few weeks with no shower or toilet, there was a few hiccups along the way and we made it out at the end with a fabulous new bathroom that I LOVE.

I thought I would give you a little insight into the bathroom planning I went through and things I had to consider when designing and making the big decisions. 

Feature Friday: My Living Area

It is Feature Friday once again, but instead of featuring someones else's house today we ares stepping right into mine. We bought our house a little over two years ago now. We have basically gutted it, new floors, paint, tiles, kitchen. bathroom, roof and landscaping. We have been very busy! We have refreshed the house and made it a home but now just needed to style it and make it feel a little more 'us' (that is me & Hubby).

You may have heard me going on about getting a new lounge and wanting to redo my living room recently? You can catch up on all the lounge chit chat here, here + here.

Well here it is. the new lounge, charcoal in colour, fabric and what I call a 'his and hers lounge' as it had adjustable headrests and armrests. 

Today I wanted for you to step inside my living area and see the what I have been working on...

The Room Reveal You Have Been Waiting For - MY BATHROOM!

The award for the the most drawn out, never ending bathroom reno goes to ME! It kicked off late November and it took weeks. Two weeks of that I didn't have a toilet and for 2.5 weeks I didn't have a shower. Let me tell you, it felt like an eternity!! Once the bathroom was 'done' and we would actually shower, we waited a little longer for a shower screen to be fitted. Then by this stage December was well and truly underway and guess what, I couldn't get my mirror until the New Year. So we went nearly two months without a mirror in the house, let me tell you we didn't look pretty!! But now, lets take a look at what the bathroom looks like now (and why the three week build time was worth it!) and what it looked like before (remember the coffin bath?!).

My bathroom renovation & the inspiration

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Have you been following along here and on Instagram with my bathroom renovation progress? The most talked about room of my house? We have hit some hurdles along the way, but are on the home stretch now! 

As I type, the tiler is busy cutting tiles and grouting the floor tiles. The plumber is scheduled to come and install the toilet today (hurrah after two weeks!!).

We had a few little setbacks that have pushed the timeframe way out. We thought we would be enjoying our new bathroom by now! Firstly, the tapware we chose was on backorder and there was none available in SEQLD. The bathroom was already gutted and at this point we were waiting for the plumber to install the new plumbing and fixtures so the tiler could commence. We lost two days waiting for the tapware to arrive. We attempted plan B, Hubby drove to several tapware suppliers one day when I was at work. I received endless photos of tapware on my phone that day, but none measured up, so I thought we would wait it out for our ordered ones to arrive. I am glad I did though, as they are stunning. No regrets there!

Our bathroom renovation - the most talked about room of our house!

Have you been wondering where I have been all week? Haven't seen a blog post in a while? You may have been following over on Instagram that we are currently renovating our bathroom. For those lucky enough to have two bathrooms in their house, renovating a bathroom is probably no big deal. But for us, this is our one and only bathroom which means its a long two week renovation project...

We kicked off last Tuesday and started the demolition, and with a few setbacks (isn't that what renovations are all about?!) we are currently up to water proofing. The tiling is expected to kick off from there tomorrow and then we are on the home stretch and hopefully will be able to shower and toilet by the weekend. It is a project we have wanted to do since we bought the house two years ago, but have procrastinated on a little, knowing having no bathroom isn't easy. We decided to wait until the weather was warmer so we could shower in the pool each day. On a plus note, its great the pool has been getting lots of use!!

Our bathroom is one of the most talked about rooms of our house. Not because its beautiful, spacious or dazzling. No, none of those. Its the bath that attracts all of the attention. Here's why...

A reno update - this week's projects

Hi everyone! 

I am not bringing you a Feature Friday post this week. If you are still wanting a 'home tour' fix and want to step inside a home today, I shared on facebook a beautiful coastal glam Palm Beach home. So be sure to check that one out! Instead of a Feature Friday post, I am bringing you an update about what has been going on with my home renovations this week. 

Renovations are back in full swing at the moment.

We had a few quiet months where we put the tools down, but now we are back at it and are tackling the to do list once again. This week we have been trying to do the last coat on the white picket balustrade on the front verandah. I love the pickets and the privacy it gives us, but oh boy...so many to paint and such little crevices and bits to get the brush into. I enjoy cutting in and rolling paint on, but dislike the brush and unfortunately this is all brush work. So still a work in progress there...stay tuned!

PAINTING - So many pickets to paint..it is the job that never ends!

Our Kitchen Renovation - After Photos!

Here it is, my kitchen renovation reveal. 

You may have been following in recent posts (you can read them here) that we wanted to update our kitchen, make it more modern, but not spend alot. We wanted to achieve a modern but classic look, something like this.

We chose to not change the layout and the carcass of the kitchen to save money in plumbing and design costs. It is also a compact kitchen and the current layout works, so if its not broken, why fix it right?

Our kitchen renovation - before photos!

As part of my Feature Friday post this week, I am sharing with you my kitchen and its renovation story.

When we bought our home back in September 2012, it has been a long term rental. We could see the home had good bones and structure, it just needed some TLC and a little love. The heart of the home, the kitchen was a simple U shape design with a great window overlooking the backyard. It had a dated laminex benchtop, which took me hours to scrub the grime and buildup from when we first moved in. It had white rickety cupboards, a random microwave shelf halfway up the wall and the most hideous skylight/vent contraption on the ceiling. At least there wasn't an ugly fluorescent light though, so really I mustn't complain!

BEFORE - when we first moved in

When we moved in, we knew we wanted to update the kitchen, but not spend alot of money. Stone benchtops, two pack kitchen cupboards and features like marble were thought about, but then dismissed. Instead, we tackled the project DIY style and did it on a budget. It was a small space to work with and we didn't want to change the layout, as this would keep costs down for us. 

Adding Some Curb Appeal to My Home - Feature Friday

Nearly two years ago when we were house hunting for our first home I disregarded our house. I sat out the front of the house in the car and turned my nose up. I was struggling to see it's potential and visualise how we could transform it. Basically I didn't want to buy our house as it didn't have any curb appeal. It was bland, brick and boring. Now, we have major curb appeal and its a BIG improvement (it took a lot of work and lots of weekends though!)!!

Today I am showing you some of my home renovation as part of my Feature Friday post. The front of our home and transforming it has been a big project that we have tackled in several smaller steps. You may have already seen that we have installed new windows and doors to our home, painted the brick exterior, built a new front deck and done some serious landscaping. but you haven't seen how it has all come together so far. In between these projects we painted the front garage doors and did a feature wall at the front in stacker stone. It really transformed the house and modernised it. 

Here are the photos that tell the story of how we added some serious curb appeal...

Happy Birthday Glamour Coastal Living!

Happy birthday to Glamour Coastal Living! 
A year has flown by and I am so happy to be here blogging!

I started Glamour Coastal Living a  year ago with this post.  I wasn't sure if I was going to be laughed at, if I was a crap writer, or would anyone be interested? But I posted it and Glamour Coastal Living started. Blogiversary was a word that I had not even heard of way back then, but today I am celebrating my first!

My Home: An addition to the back deck

You know those really annoying projects that are on your 'to do list' for so long, you loose sight of them and what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it? I can sense some nods happening out there. Well this project was one of them....

On the weekend we ticked off a to do list that had been lingering for quite some time. It had to do with our pool fence that was non existent alongside the deck we built. We removed the original perspex sheeting that used to sit from the patio ground to the patio roofline when we constructed the deck and since then intended to replace it with frameless glass fence panels, so we could still sit on the deck and see down into the pool area. We had looked around at Bunnings and Masters and compared their products, but having a non standard length we were trying to cover it was easier to go direct to a supplier who can cut to size. Its funny, you sometimes assume going to these big hardware stores is the cheapest option, well its not! We saved $250 on just the two panels we installed by purchasing a DIY kit from the supplier, not a big hardware store. Imagine the savings if you were purchasing a larger quantity of panels! 

So now the pool area is 100% safe and fenced (must to Coopar the Border Collie's dismay, he loves hopping into the pool at his leisure!). The project only took a few hours and the result is brilliant. Take a look at the progress shots and see for yourself....

BEFORE The exterior of the house and pool area. The fencing in the top right corner was a perspex plastic sheet that extended from the patio ground to the roof line. This is a image of the house when we moved in.

My Home: Renovating The Pool & Pool Garden

Okay - you may have been following some of my home renovations and wondering on about our recent progress. If you say 'lets allow six months to renovate', then double it and perhaps add a little more time. Renovating, especially the DIY kind takes time. We have been busy the last few months starting and finishing some projects, but I simply haven't had time to share them with you here. Well today I am taking the time as I know many of you are wondering about our progress and whats been happening around the home! You may have been following our pool garden renovation progress - we wanted a tropical pool area and here is some of our progress photos so far. 


Initially when we moved in it was a sad, overgrown and concrete jungle kin of pool area. Real appealing! You might remember that it looked like this...

How I spent my Sunny Sunday

I woke to a beautiful sunny Sunday on the weekend with intentions of spending the day at the beach - until I heard that Gold Coast beaches were closed from the ginormous swell. So I did I spend my day instead you ask? Landscaping in 30+ degree heat! I honestly didn't realise it was so hot outside until I picked up the shovel and started digging up my lawn. Let me rewind for a minute...

After photos of the backyard transformation- it's nearly complete!!

It's been a busy couple of months with our renovation progress. We have been working on transforming the external of our home. You may have read my previous post where we were transforming our backyard to make it our sanctuary and a place to relax. Well, the works have continued!