Kitchen thoughts

Am liking this kitchen style more and more. While I find many classic styled kitchens a bit too heavy on with the ornate stuff this one is pared down and more to my taste. The fridge is located through the doorway which looks great but I wonder how practical it would be once in use. I like the display shelves - good excuse to collect vintage platters. Like I need an excuse.

Another Evcon Home

Here is another home renovated by Evcon. The homeowners from up the street liked the look of this renovation and asked about their builders (much the same way as we did to them). Goes to show word of mouth is so important in this type of work.

I too like this home alot. It's a tricky corner site that slopes south wards. I like the way they haven't taken the weatherboards all the way to the top, instead going with rough cast render in the top quarter. It makes this tall extension sit better. I also like their paint job.

Drive by....

Yesterday I drove around Bentleigh and Ormond examining second story additions on californian bungalows. It was a worthwhile journey, and while alot that I saw weren't to my taste I was able to pinpoint what I would have done differently (i.e. not taken the upstairs extensions all the way to the external walls, matched upper and lower windows etc.) I came away feeling alot better about going up ourselves and not as worried about ruining a nice little house in the process. When an extension is done well it really does add and not subtract from the original.

Here are a few homes that I really liked. Although not all are bungalows they all have a certain cottage charm that appeals. I guess the challenge will be amalgamating the two (i.e. Cottage charm meets bungalow).

Artistic impressions

So, this is how I think our second story extension may look. It's hard to guess just how prominent it will be from the street. I'm not sure which side the front gable looks best. The builders have suggested it sit on the left hand side, but I'm not so sure. Does it look too busy? Are we making a mistake going up? I just don't know.

Pretty bathroom

To my mind this bathroom is perfection. It's incredibly simple and restrained, no show off tapware needed. I love the tiles (although I wonder how practical all that grout would be in a shower). The teak like vanity brings warmth and contrast. But mostly I think it's that wonderful mirror that really does it for me. Bee-aa-utiful.

Enter Evcon Homes

I walked past on the first day of this build and thought "interesting" as the roof was getting peeled back and the second story extension began. Over the course of the next 6 weeks I marvelled at the speed and tidiness of these builders (I had never before seen builders lay down tarps before getting sand and stones delivered on site)I was impressed!

Every few days I continued to walk past and the more I saw the more I liked. Other extensions around the area could take up to 18 months and completely ruin the front yard in the process, but not these guys it seemed.

Eventually I introduced myself to the homeowner - I needed to know more. Turns out they were thrilled with the end result. The builders had gone above and beyond to make sure they were satisfied. The family had lived through the entire build without any stress or resentment. They commented on the quality of their finishes and the willingness to go the extra mile without adding extra to the end price. I listened very carefully.

Could they be the builders we have been looking for? I called Con the following day and arranged a meeting to view our house. We spoke about floorplans, budgets, and ways to save us money. I liked him and his son Evan immediately!

Make Over - a little lippy goes a long way

Well, here you go! She's not completely finished yet, still some way to go with the porch, windows and door of course! However she is looking a lot fresher and happier. As usual what turned out to be a quick paint job (estimated to take one week) turned into a 5 week job (we have had a bit of wet weather which hasn't helped). But as soon as you start repairing one thing, another thing jumps out as needing to be repaired too. Before you know it here we are - 5 weeks down and still not finished.

So colours are:

White = Flokati (wattyl solaguard colour)
Grey = Mud Pack (Dulux)

Here is the before photo...

Quite a bit of timber needed to be replaced.

Along with mouldings etc.

We had the rendering on the porch redone due to large cracks.

During.....

Almost complete!