Fireplace

In all the excitement about the kitchen (see post below!) I failed to show our gorgeous new fireplace which was installed before our party although minus the chimney breast...

It's a double-sided slow-combustion firebox which sits within a wall, heating each room on either side fairly efficiently and with minimal smoke. We bought it from Cheminees in Melbourne and it came all the way up here in a van with two very helpful engineers who explained everything to our builder, made sure it all worked and left. Warren then designed the chimney breast himself, et voila!





















Dearest husband's parents installed themselves around the fire during our party: it was by far the warmest and snuggest place to be!

The base was built up on concrete bricks, beautifully mortared with a grey mud, and then topped with a specially-poured and polished cement block for a 'hearth'.





















The base was left in situ for several days after the party and then the brickwork was built up to the ceiling using the same concrete bricks, but leaving spaces for us to stack firewood. I think that the rounded ends of the logs will be decorative in their own right!

The firebox can be completely opened up, either by pulling the fireglass doors on either side outwards or by raising them into the chimney breast. That is the function of the pulley system visible on the 'naked' firebox in the first photo, but we've been advised not to open the firebox on both sides while a fire is alight in case the through-draught pulls sparks out of the fire and into the room, which seems like sensible advice.
















We have various options in terms of finishing the chimney breast but we've decided to leave it unclad and unrendered. It will be sealed in due course, once I've found an appropriate not-too-toxic sealant, but in the meantime it looks very handsome as it is. Obviously the little bits of wood propping things up while the mortar dries will be removed, and the white vents will be sprayed grey shortly so they will almost disappear.
















This is the view from the TV room through to the main room (which at this stage didn't have any kitchen units!), and you can see the opening for logs under the fireplace on this side. The opening will eventually be closed by a large slab of black-hearted sassafrass (to match the feature wood in the kitchen) on an industrial rolling door mechanism i.e. the mechanism will be visible on the lintel above the door. It will be a huge door: 3m+ tall to cover the space between the ceiling and the lowered floor in this room!





















Looking down the spine of the building towards the bedrooms you get a sense of length and space. The long wall on the right is punctured by the opening into the pantry and the wine fridge doors which open into the cool room. Along the ceiling on that wall is a concealed hanging system for pictures.

So near, so far - kitchen update

Not much work has happened on our house since the superb effort of the week before our party in June, which does rather leave you thinking how much could be achieved if that level of activity was maintained! I think we're working on the Pareto principle now: we've got to the (less than) 20% of the job that is left, which is going to take 80% of the effort to get it finished. I think I've mentioned before that I decided early on NOT to get wound up by the building process, but it has been hard in recent weeks not to feel increasingly frustrated. Of the four houses being built by our builder I believe ours was the first to commence and will be the last to be finished (unless my information is inaccurate). There has been illness, public holidays and bad weather to contend with along the way, and we've managed to maintain reasonable good humour throughout, but I have my suspicions that part of the reason for the extended build is simply this: we weren't shouting as loudly as the other developers... Luckily I don't 'do' resentment and I am absolutely sure that the quality of the finished building will more than compensate us for the delays!

So where are we now? I had understood we were waiting for Phil, the floor man, to sand and oil our floors before the kitchen units in the main room would be installed. I don't know whether it is because he has been, how shall I say it, unhelpful with his schedule that we have waited this long and that the decision has been taken to put the cupboard carcases in place before his task starts but anyway, we now have the bare bones of the kitchen in situ and it looks great.
















Looking from the doorway at the bedroom end of the building into the main room you can see how the larger storage unit acts as a room divider. This side of it, currently blank, will have a bookshelf/cupboard unit in black-hearted sassafrass veneer that will make a feature of its size. We're using a fairly minimal palate of wood, grey-white paintwork and our black leather furniture in the main rooms, which will be enlivened by our things: books, ceramics, cushions etc in brighter colours so the finished bookcase, once populated with 'stuff' will be a big part of the overall interior decoration of this room. The space on this side of the unit will be the quiet lounge i.e. a CD player but no television! Guess where you'll find me, crashed out on the sofa with a good book...
















From the other side you can see the adjustable interior of the large unit, waiting for its oiled sassafrass-veneered doors. There will be no visible handles as we're using the push-touch closing mechanism on the big doors so that your eye isn't distracted from the distinctive grain of the wood.

The 'U' shape of the cupboards in the foreground is deceptive: the space will eventually house the gas cooker, and the whole thing will be fronted with a wood veneer panel and covered over with a neutral, slightly cream-coloured engineered stone benchtop that will extend forwards to form a breakfast bar at the front of the island unit. A gas cooktop and a small vegetable preparation sink will be inset into the stone benchtop which will otherwise be kept clear for food preparation. I know that is a laughable statement - what island unit is kept clear of clutter, you may well ask - but there is a deliberate strategy here in that the dishwasher and the large sink are all in the pantry, so plates etc have to be walked through into another room after meals. My personal bet is that the island unit will end up full of IT equipment (dearest husband) or (very unlikely!) my paperwork!





















Looking out from the pantry towards the windows and the view gives you an idea of the whole structure...
















... but I like the view from the deck outside, looking in. Can't you just imagine it in summer with the windows pulled back, friends wandering round of an evening with a drink in their hands, perhaps sitting at the breakfast bar while dinner's cooking? THIS is what we're looking forward to, and what will make it all worthwhile.