Welcome to the second instalment of Sacha and Johan Olivier’s home building adventure. A lot has happened over the past two weeks – their sanitaryware has arrived, internal walls have been plastered and main en-suite bathroom is starting to come together!
Cornices and Sanitaryware
Wow, what a hectic two weeks it has been! All the internal walls have been plastered and Rhinolite applied. I love Rhinolite as it makes your walls super smooth – perfect for adding decals or wallpaper. Speaking of which, I got a fabulous blackboard wall tattoo I can’t wait to put up.
Almost all the cornices are up. We had an incident with an upside down and inside out section, but that’s all sorted now. I think they are an important decor element as they help to frame and finish off any room.
Finally all the sanitaryware has arrived – that’s the bathroom fixtures and fittings including showers, bathroom basins, toilets, baths, and bidets. I can’t wait to enjoy a nice long bubble bath in our new bath and to take a shower under our huge showerhead (it weighs a ton). The plumber better fasten it tight!
Wet room
The main en-suite bathroom is loosely based around the idea of a wet room, with the shower and bath enclosed behind a glass panel. The look is very sleek with glass, chrome and black and white tiles. The white tile is matt and the black glossy and the distinctive pattern makes a great contrast. I must admit we wasted a lot of tiles trying to achieve this look but it was definitely worth it!
I have some interesting basin/bathroom cabinets planned for the other two en-suites. The possibilities as to what can be used as a basin cabinet are endless so get creative – especially if you’re on a tight budget.
Windows, sliding doors and tree borders
The windows and sliding doors have also started arriving. It was great walking into the house the other day and seeing the beautiful sliding door wall. I totally love it. It’s really starting to feel like a house now and less like a building site.
We also coated the ceiling of the living/kitchen area with a cement wash, to give it a slightly rougher, industrial look. Johan – who is pretty tall – did the majority of the painting while I spent more time rinsing out my eyes and fighting with the roller than actually painting.
You will see in the pictures that we planted a tree border as our poor stand did not have a single tree on it. That way the trees can settle earlier on and start the mighty task of creating some privacy.
Sacha in charge…
Johan has been very busy with work, so at the moment I’m running the show. I have learnt so much and at the same time made some silly mistakes, like ordering building sand to plaster with – oops!
It’s been a long couple of weeks, but it feels like we have made so much progress. It’s such a rewarding feeling seeing everything you have planned and dreamt off finally becoming a reality.
I better get back to site and see what surprises are in store for me today…
Watch out for Sacha’s next post on 20 February.
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