Now that we’ve signed up with Smart Homes, I thought that it would be a similar waiting game to the last one. However, even without digging anything or building anything, the ever-attentive Ram has kept us moving along our design journey.
First up was getting that design sketch as good as it could be, before it went to the guys with the big pieces of paper and sharp pencils. Like most people, I’m extremely jealous of anyone with a tilting table and fulcrummed rulers that guide any angled line with ease and precision. I secretly picture myself at such a table next to a bright interrogation lamp, knocking out quick Opera House designs and technical drawings of the inner workings of space ships. I’m sure there are more people like me about. But not many. Anyway, we had a few suggestions for improvement to the house sketch that accompanied the preliminary agreement, and Ram was very quick to incorporate all of them ready for the draghties.
Surprise surprise, we’ve been looking at tiles again. But Smart Homes use a different supplier, and we were very impressed when we went to visit Crosby Tiles over in – you guessed it – Osbourne Park. They’ve got a great showroom, and Larissa expertly guided us through multiple selections. Judith was unusually decisive on the day, and we think we’ve pretty much got the tiling and the benchtops nailed for the en-suite, guest bathroom, laundry and powder room. Cabinets have also been specified. We were so comfortable with Larissa that we decided to document our selections, and I will post these separately later. Suffice to say, that the Hamptons look will be everywhere.
Next up was Trevor’s Warehouse for carpets. I had previously been compelled into an undertaking not to use the words deep and shag within the boundaries of any carpet showroom or in any sentence relating to flooring materials, and I honoured that commitment during our visit. Again, the service was excellent, and Jacob guided us through our two main flooring choices – wood and carpet. Both choices were dispatched quickly, again much to my surprise. We’ve gone for hybrid flooring (waterproof, apparently) and a darker twisted nylon pile (hard-wearing and stain resistant.) We have gone for upgrades, but the whole upgraded flooring is gonna be less than 6 grand so we’re happy.
We didn’t get a chance to talk skirting boards, but we’ve been told they are better left after the flooring is done and if the builder does it, they will charge uplift, so it’s best to go direct. I subsequently researched this and found The Skirting Board Guy who seems to do a great job. I’ll give him a call later in the process.
The next stop was to look at ovens and cook tops. Smart Homes are offering the Belling Range with their kitchens as standard. We’re sticking with the standard cooktop and extractor fan, but the latter will be built-in to a cupboard to hide it. We’ll upgrade the ovens to the pyrolytic ones – we have one now and the maintenance is just much easier. I’ve found that wiping ash out of the oven is much quicker than scrubbing grease.
With a trip as gargantuan as this, it was obligatory to have a pub lunch. We drove to the Osbourne Park Hotel, a pub that despite its décor and clientele was remarkably not situated inside a Centrelink. A pub where locals roam the inside trying to increase their cigarette collection at someone else’s charity. A pub a hundred times bigger than the sum of its patrons. Anyway, not on my list of places to revisit – but then I’ve not yet found a good pub in Osbourne Park. We’ll be back there a few times as well so if anyone knows of a good place for lunch around there, then please let me know.
Then it was home to consolidate our copious samples, and contrast colours and textures on our patio table. All in all Grommit, a Grand Day Out.
Xx the Hamptons , sounds like HJs would be a better choice near Osborne Park they do a great bacon Delux