The Powder Room

The powder room was my chance to do something a little bit out there with regard to the cabinetry.  I had been leaning to the stripey style timber laminex cabinets for a while, but in the end my selection is probably the tamer of the lot!  

The colour samples photographed a little darker than they appear.  The colours have more brown than grey tones to them.  My big issue when it came to selecting the colours for the cabinets at Hopetoun was that I forgot to bring my tile samples with me, I had them sitting there ready to take.  Here is a tip from me - BRING YOUR TILE SAMPLES TO COLOUR SELECTIONS ;)  I was kicking myself all day for that!.  I brought everything else with me, heaps of paperwork that I didn't even need, but no tile samples...

this was the laminex design that had caught my eye (that I did not end up using), it looks pretty tame here, but in real life looks quite bold. 

For the Powder Room we upgraded the toilet to the more solid, squarer design since this toilet will be seen by most visitors, from a cleaning perspective it would be easier to keep clean with respect to around the base and back of the toilet.  

We have a similar basin and mixer tap in our rental house bathroom.  I am concerned now about the functionality of the tap the way it sits over the basin.  It doesn't protrude very far over our current basin and you have to be careful when you are washing your hands not to splash water everywhere (our rental house does not have splashback tiles too - it has mirror all the way to the vanity which does not help).  I find myself washing my hands like a doctor scrubbing in for surgery just to avoid making a mess with the water!

I also decided to put in a towel rail for the hand towels.  There were no small rails/holders in a style I liked, so I have selected a larger rail which will sit opposite the basin/toilet - lets hope no-one drips water allover the floor getting to it ;)

 

Bathroom 1 Selections

I am starting with the shared bathroom as I think I had more of a brief to follow/a clear direction when I selected the colours and tiles.  This bathroom will be shared by my daughters.  When asking my kids what colours they preferred for the bathroom, they went through photos I had added to my bathroom ideabook on Houzz, showing me what they liked.  My kids are also avid watchers of The Block (even my five year old!).  The colours/tile selections for this room were based on Kyal and Kara's bathroom - the one with the egg bath!

Basically we were going for grey tiles, contrasting white shower (with grey grout - not having any white grout in the new house from a cleaning perspective), and light timberwork (laminate).  

Here is the bathroom tile plan...

Here are the bathroom samples and selections...

 

I would have preferred a whiter bench top, however budget did come into consideration there.  I was not planning on putting floor to ceiling tiles anywhere throughout the house, but with sticking to mainly cat 1 tiles, it was not too much extra to do that.  

I chose the bath/shower wall for the floor to ceiling tiles, as it would also be reflected in the mirror, so you see it wherever you are looking from.  

I am going to get freestanding towel rails for this bathroom, in either a light timber or stainless finish.

cabinet handles

basin

basin mixer tap

shower rail

shower mixer

toilet roll holder

Kitchen Colours Selections

MY KITCHEN SAMPLES

I loosely based our kitchen colours on a design I saw on Houzz.  It was hard to try and get the exact cabinet colours.  In the end I had to upgrade to a crystal gloss finish to get a colour similar-ish to the one pictured below, as pretty much all cat 1 cabinets were a whitey type colour.

Modern Kitchen by Austin Architects & Designers Webber + Studio, Architects

I really liked this kitchen below, but was concerned the timber finish might date, and whether it would clash with the timber floors and be too many different types of timber finishes in the living area when you take into account our other furniture. 

Contemporary Kitchen by New York Architects & Designers Chelsea Atelier Architect, PC

A reminder of the previous kitchen which I designed :

Colour selections for the Waldorf kitchen/galley :

afa cubeline undermount sink

teknobilli square pull out sink mixer

interchange ab420 sink (for galley)

mixer for galley should look something like this?

laminex floor cabinets/draws in crystal gloss finish with square edge - stipple seal

essa stone benchtops (80mm edge with one apron for island), smaller thickness with shadowline to other benches including galley - colour is crystal chalk, all pencil round edges

 

laminex lamiwood natural finish - sublime teak (cock your head to the side as it is going to be horizontal grain!) for the overhead cabinets and above fridge cabinet

cabinet pull handles in satin chrome (no handles on overheads)

low-iron splashback in vivid white (during the block fans vs faves this year I had a revelation that I wanted mirror splashbacks but after doing research decided against it - firstly because of the cleaning, and secondly if you have anything on your bench it makes your kitchen look twice as cluttered)

 The paint colour throughout the whole house is Wattyl Astor White, and the floorboards for downstairs are Manhattan Spotted Gum laminate (used as the background for my sample palette below).

Kitchen Appliances

We renovated our kitchen a few years ago, absolutely loved my appliances, so I really wanted to get the same again, I have stuck to the same brands, Bosch and Siemens, but switched it up a little.  After being in our rental house for a few weeks I am struggling to be efficient in the kitchen, and can't wait to get into our new house as I am finding it quite frustrating to use the kitchen in our rental, it has made me appreciate how functional and easy to use my last kitchen was...

80cm induction cooktop

built-under dishwasher with cutlery draw

two pyrolitic electric ovens

steam oven

sirius undermount rangehood

fisher & paykel french door fridge

If you ever need appliances it is well worth while checking out E&S Trading.  I love their showrooms, and they will beat competitor's pricing (even internet pricing).  

It was not easy to organise getting my own appliances with respect to getting PD approval, and I am going to have to make sure plans for the kitchen are done correctly to fit them and make sure I keep an eye on the kitchen installation phase, fingers crossed it all goes off without any major issues.

Hellooooooo.. ...National Tiles

Ok, so the pics just plonked here look a little crappy!  The pics are from the National Tiles website, some of them look much better in real life.  I kept it pretty simple at National Tiles - had to keep budget in mind.  Went for neutral tiles (not much to choose from anyway!).  But am pretty happy thus far with my selections. 

I will post "online mood boards" on a room by room basis soon, hopefully will get some better pics of the samples in half-decent lighting with my phone, but for now this is what you get ;) 

NT13-2018FL SIMPLICITY DARK GREY EXTERNAL 400X400

NT13-2003FL SIMPLICITY DARK GREY 400X400

NT13-2002FL SIMPLICITY MOCHA 400X400

MAXFL705 SILK OLIVE 300X600

MAXFL8070 PORTIFINO-JUNIPER GLOSS 400X400

MAXWL005 CAFE MOCHA MATT 100X300

MAXWL030 GLOSS WHITE 75X150

LANFL2025 PIETRA CASA GREY ALLOY 300X600

Variations from Standard

Options/Changes we have made to the standard Waldorf include :


structural


- Hebel instead of bricks
- Kingsford façade, with two render colours and Hebel accent panels in a third colour
- Dreams wait for no-one promotion (exquisite taste, love at first sight, make the most of it)
- Flooring promotion including floorboards and carpet
- Waldorf Bathroom 2 Option (shared bathroom for bedrooms 3 and 4 instead of individual ensuites)

- 2740mm high ceilings downstairs

- Waldorf Garage Workshop option (includes redesign of laundry and galley and deletion of storeroom)
- 1 metre extension to the width of the garage to incorporate rear roller door/drive-through access
- 1.5 metre extension to the length of the theatre room


external windows/doors


- 2400x2400 sliding door in lieu of window to rear of theatre room
- 2100hx900w awning windows to lounge
- 2100hx900w fixed window to theatre (in extension)
- 2100hx3200w two panel fixed window to rear of living
- 600hx2700w 3lite sliding window to theatre
- 2400x2400 sliding door to dining/alfresco
- 2400x2400 sliding door to living/alfresco
- timber 6g pivot door and one sidelight to entrance with square deadbolt and entrance pull handle with privacy glass


doors


- glazed (privacy glass) internal doors to study, cloak, powder, pantry
- changed bathroom door from bedroom 3, and laundry door to be a cavity slider
- added a door in the pantry to access under-stair storage
- privacy locks to toilets/ensuites
- lever dummy handle sets to linen
- larger sized architraves/skirting to door frames - ground floor only
- added hinged doors in to the robes of minor bedrooms and bathrooms in lieu of  standard opening
- 2340 high doors to all ground floor doors


plaster


- 325hx1025w niche in master shower
- 425hx425w niche in other showers
- plaster infills to study and lounge columns to create plaster nib walls


cabinets


- upgraded handles throughout
- base cabinets to galley/laundry wall and galley/garage wall with sink and mixer
- galley wall oven tower
- double bin drawer
- straight island bench instead of L-shape
- 800mm wide cutlery draws
- overhead cabinet above fridge
- deleted shelf and rail to cloak to do our own thing after handover
- additional shelf in all wardrobes above existing shelf (2 metres from floor)
- 20mm overhand to kitchen overheads in lieu of handles
- extended width of kitchen island by 250mm
- added four extra shelves into pantry
- upgraded cabinet finish
- horizontal grain on overhead cabinets in kitchen
- added 80mm thick laminate shelf of galley/garage wall
- added single cabinet on rear side of island bench


other kitchen


- low iron glass splashbacks
- stone benches in galley
- 80mm stone for island
- waterfall edge to island at the living end
- remove PD appliances (cooker/cooktop/dishwasher/rangehood), putting my own in after handover


plumbing


- additional shower rail and mixer to master shower
- shower rails in minor bathrooms
- upgraded toilet in powder
- towel rails in powder and ensuite 2 (will have freestanding in other bathrooms)
- toilet roll holders to all toilets
- additional roof panel for solar due to house orientation
- additional rinnai infinity 26 continuous hot water with water controllers to service upstairs
- solar hot water to service downstairs only
- cold water point in fridge overhead cabinet
- extra gas points, cold and hot water points and waste points externally to service future outdoor kitchen and swimming pool equipment


other


- upgraded heater (I thought it was to the HX but it says MX30i? have to check that one) and add-on refrigerated cooling, including additional thermostat, and heating vent in laundry
- traditional stair option 4 including balustrade upstairs instead of dwarf wall and platforms at the bottom
- upgraded underlay and carpet
- manhattan flooring instead of bolero

Ch ch ch ch changes...

I didn't know if I was Arthur or Martha during tender.  I changed my mind so many times, and added many things only to take them back out again, and then some back in, only to take them out again at contract, and then add some others.  Might have driven my BC and CC a little nuts, but we got there in the end (with a couple of post contract variations - and maybe a couple more to come!).

The main things changed often and back and forth were window sizes and materials, doors and stone bench tops.  I always had a constant list of changes that needed to be checked if they had been done, changes to be done at electrical, changes to be done at colours, changes to be done at tender, changes for contract, and even at contract there were still some unresolved issues which will end up being post-contract variations. 

Some of the things I wanted but had to sacrifice in the end included glazed internal doors for upstairs, upgraded roof tiles, and rainwater tank for toilet flushing. 

Here are some of the façade representations (the one to the right is the PD façade image from their website) I created to help me decided on whether to keep my timber stained windows at the front (I had already changed the feature doors and windows at the back to aluminium).  I had about eight different versions (colours are not what I am getting but just an eample only to show where the different Hebel surfaces are).  The timber windows and sliding door upstairs ended up being changed to aluminium.  The front of my house is facing directly north so we didn't fancy getting up there every year for maintenance.  The only timber remaining at the front is the pivot door, and the timber-look garage door.