this has been a very long time coming, at least that’s how it feels. actually, though, we may have done alright, considering we only started last year in january, and we probably picked the worst time in recent history to build a house: material shortages, massive price increases, first a building boom (triggered by the federal government’s ill informed decision to boost the economy by throwing money at an already overheated industry), followed by the predicable bust (builders going bust because of material shortages). we shouldn’t complain, right?
ok, we’re a tiny bit disappointed: as career project managers we noticed several of what one might describe as rookie scheduling mistakes, but we’re being told that’s apparently par for the course. and on the upside we can now see the pieces falling into place, much like tetris never did.
choosing a bench top isn’t easy. it should be hard wearing, easy to use (and clean), and of course look good, especially when it is right in the middle of the house. plastic was always out of the question given we are building a sustainable house, and the ever popular engineered stone was also out of the question for the same reasons (and the fact that it apparently kills stone masons).
this is why we went for ‘tassie oak’. there is of course no such thing: tassie oak is a rather unfortunate attempt to rebrand the otherwise perfectly good ‘tasmanian gum tree’ to something vaguely european, likely in the hope it will appeal to uninformed buyers. whatever the name, we think the 30 mm thick timber will be a perfect fit for our house.
the bathrooms are also taking shape. we really liked the theme we had previously used when we remodeled the bathroom in sydney, so we stuck with it. a darker grey, a lighter grey, black anodised edging.
i know the photo isn’t great, but the neutral grout works really well, and apparently it’s really easy to clean, which is kris’ most important condition (apart from the house being sustainable of course). and we still like the contrast of the light and dark tiles.
the vanities are also made from the unnecessarily misnamed ‘tassie oak’, aka sustainable local gum tree. there is still a mirror missing above it, but of course miracles don’t happen overnight.
and finally the master piece: the barn door. kris loved the barn door at our old house, but this one is a cut above, because it is made of …. the insensitively re-named tassie oak. seriously people, after more than 200 years you still can’t be proud of local products? anyway, we like it, and we are proud to have local timber in our house: we think it is the perfect highlight for our sustainable home.