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And it feels like we’re at full gallop!  The house now boasts external AND internal walls (!) as well as a roof, doors and windows, a floor and an enormous new deck, complete with awning! The gyprockers have whirled in and out again, and what a difference it makes having the walls in place! The plumbing and electrics are roughed in, and all other trades are lined up like ducks, ready with tools in hand. Now’s not the time to mention all the custom made furniture that’s also currently being built across Sydney, so more about that in another post.

It’s been a very busy 21 weeks since exchanging contracts: starting with the all important search to find a builder, a draftsman and all other advisers and permissions involved to make sure the house remained standing on the edge of a windy cliff. The main mission was to get plans drawn up AND the DA in and out of council within the 8 weeks between exchange and completion: it took 10 (not bad… considering!)  We’re now in week 13 of the build and have only slipped behind by one week, which, given all the variables, is to be expected. Especially since as we gave the boys the tightest of tight time lines to work within, which luckily includes a 4 week buffer.

We’re now zooming towards the finishing line and could not be happier with the way things are going; everything’s looking bigger, brighter and more fabulous than expected.  And although we’ve said it before, we’ll just have to say it again: Troy and Pete from Benchmark Building, YOU’RE THE BEST!  So glad we found you!

Even though the project has been a lot of work and a colossal amount of organising (that’s the understatement of the century!), it’s been so much fun. For us, it’s like visiting Disney Land every week to discover another amazing new ride, but with an incredible beach as a beautiful backdrop.

Stay tuned: updates will now be coming thick and fast!

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I’m not sure what the collective noun for a series of decorative plates is, but I feel it should be a clatter of platters! Especially since the arrangement of which was not an entirely noiseless affair! We recently helped a client produce an alternative to the conventional headboard for their newly refurbished guest room. Having sourced a few additions to their previous assortment of china platters, we set about first scattering them on the bed, then aligning, arranging and re-arranging them until a pleasing disorder had been made from the chaos, and our trusted art hanger (with a steady hand) could hang them in place. I think it turned out rather well!

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Just in case the spectacular view, the sound of the lapping waves and the dulcet tones of children playing on the sand aren’t enough to transport you into instant holiday mode, we thought we’d add a little botanic va-va-voom to both the interiors and the landscape, in the form of some lush, oversized palms and vibrant bougainvillea. Now, you’d be justified in thinking that indoor plants can come off a little…let’s say, ‘Nanna’, but the right plant in the right pot and in the right proportions, can add a huge amount of contemporary Je ne sais quoi! And of course, as any visitor to our Debra Cronin Design website will know, conventional treatments of furniture, decorative pieces, or indeed paint colours are just not our style. So in true DCD spirit, we’ll break with the anticipated white backdrop (so typical in the Mediterranean) and layer our bougainvillea over a contemporary and cool grey exterior.

I can feel a pina colada coming on!

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So, apparently, nothing gets a tradie’s heart pounding so much as when there’s a crane on site. And we like to see our builders happy! This bad boy heaved in the steel frames, followed by some serious glass for the windows. For anyone interested in stats, there is 6 tonnes of steel sitting on 22m2 of concrete footings, with 12,000 bolts. Each window contains 87kg of glass, with the big daddy of them all (for the dining room) weighing in at 97kg, and is 10.38mm thick. Thank heaven for the crane!

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Anyone who has ever attempted to have building work carried out of any size – from a full-scale new-build, to adding an extension, to knocking down a single wall – knows the wonder of an excellent builder.

We have been lucky enough to work with an incredible team of builders at Benchmark Building & Design and their subbies. Huge thanks go to Troy (who’s running the project), his business partner Pete and apprentice Dane, whose endless enthusiasm, dedication, hard work and patience (and this is just an abridged version of their awesome approach) have kept the project running stress-free.

We couldn’t recommend them highly enough.

P.S. Anyone would think by the camera-dodging in these images that they’re a shy bunch…not so!