Roof frame

Up in the loft, the space feels pretty good. The ceilings on this level will all be raked. Luckily, the stairs will reach this level with only one step required into the bedrooms from the landing at the top. A much safer outcome than the potential three steps. Jamie and Ali are very excited. Here they are at the front door...

Its 6 months after moving out...

On May 15th we moved out of our little old beach shack.  Demolition took place mid June and we completed building a special little garden sea wall towards the end of July.... so it feels like the actual building only started in August with the piles and engineering works underground. 6 months after having moved out, the framework is such a rewarding stage as it actually begins to show what we are creating. So far the experience has been pretty positive. No major negative drawbacks or problems. A few little items here and there, such as bathroom floor levels, minor ceiling adjustments, window placement, skylights in the rafters. We seemed to have gained a little extra kitchen bench space, and a little more in the master ensuite and Ali's room.

more framework structure

House from the front.

House from the back.

Looking up at loft level through the stairwell.

Entrance to Master Bedroom.

Looking down into what will become our Kitchen. 

Standing in the old loveshack, looking out towards what will become a courtyard...

Ali's Room with a view

These photos taken yesterday show Ali will have a fabulous view from her bedroom.   Her room will be a little bit smaller, as it is located above the Master room with raked ceilings, so it is about 50cm less wide as Jamies bedroom. Lets hope she wont notice.....

Framework

The timber framework goes up around the steel, showing us the spaces we will live in....this part is so exciting!.

The side of the house - 1.4m wide - should be enough room for an external fireplace box, air conditioning units and leave room for us to pass.....(great shot of the builders dunny too)

 On the first level up, we see the walls of the stairwell go up first, then the master bedroom. In order to fit in the vanity unit in the master ensuite, we have decided to move the internal walls out 200mm. Its so fab that you cab do this as you go...the added benefit is that Ali's room above will also get a little bigger as a result.



Back down stairs I love this lounge room which feels nice and open - guess it will when
there are no walls, ceiling or furniture!



From the street.....getting there.

ahh...I remember that view.

Charles and kids with builder, Paul, standing in what will be the kids upstairs study/rumpus.

Looking back towards the front door.

Looking down from Collaroy Plateau.

Loveshack Timber Framework

It is unbelievable that this is what it takes to keep our new house a "renovation" to enable us to keep the loveshack land in our new rebuilt home.  The wall has to stay...so the carpenters have to cut in and build around the old framework. There is no weight carried by the old framework, there is no old framework that will ever be seen when finished....you have to ask, what is the point in keeping it.?! But we are sticking to the law and doing what we are told. Its very exciting seeing the walls go up.

Out of the Ground

 

At last the steel works go up.

The steel went in last week - what a relief. First the uprights and then the cross beams. In order to carry the weight and make the spans, there were a couple of larger beams that are used in the centre of the building - essentially around the tv lounge, so the level of the ceiling will be slightly lower in this room and the powder room next to it. Height in the tv lounge will be approx 2.550, height elsewhere should be 2.65.    





Sand Regeneration

Always nice to see more sand on our beach. Check out the latest dump of Sand from Narrabeen lagoon.

storm water overflow

Here are some pictures of the most expensive unnecessary stormwater overflow management system in the country. Of all the places that you have NO PROBLEM with DRAINAGE it is in our sandy back yard. Our original cottage had no gutters and downpipes and we never had any puddles. The water runs away, of course. That also why we have great difficulty growing anything. Anyway, I am sure that the wise people at Warringah Council know better than any single Hydroengineer and better than all of those working on our site that tell me this is a waste of energy and money....

Love Shack before slab

Jimmy adding his two pence worth

Love Shack after slab. Makes a huge difference to the feel of the space.

windows

yuck. I hate comitting to aluminium windows. I always wanted beautiful  timber windows. I NEED beautiful timber windows for my Hamptons look. But the reality is that we cant have a house full of timber windows this close to the beach....we couldnt open or close the timber windows in the old house because they were stuck partially open and so we lived with the cold coming in and the warmth leaking out.... The weather is just too harsh. So Aluminium it is. However, on the internal north facing court yard, P the builder, has agreed that we can probably get away with timber and have some pretty little timber French doors with side lights. On the front of the house we will unashamedly copy the windows featured on the house on the Dream Home Ideas tab - also in timber. So hopefully with timber architraves and these few timber feature windows and doors, no one will notice the aluminum in the rest of the house....too much.......

Concrete Slab

And then, to catch completely up to date, we had the 1st of the concrete poured on Tuesday. It took all day as the concrete trucks were late. The kids and I turned up at 5pm ish thinking it would be all done and they were still pouring and levelling. Great guys - note the Tshirt, "I love concrete". We wrote our names in the corner of the garage...and I wrote I love CH. So corney I know but its the teenager coming out in me.

Foundations

Preparation for the foundations involved plumber and concreter coordinating as they took turns to finish off respective laying of pipes and steel framework.. ready for the concrete slab to be poured.

Digging underground

Once the piles were done, we had to dig out the ground under the future garage for the water tank, and start the underground plumbing and overflow drainage for the back yard. So messy. The sand makes it difficult as you walk around the holes fill back up with sand....