Hello ensuite

 I did want to do a succession of blogs about the ensuite development, but it coincided with one of the busiest times of year and a busy time in our lives too.

To summarise the background situation: we had had the original consent amended to allow us to build an ensuite. This came through in mid November and we quickly got the builders back in.

Here's the corner of the room before we started work.  The room is huge - measures about 6m * 4m with 3.6m ceilings, and is actually so big that it was difficult to feel cosy in it.  So the plan was to build a small (1m * 3m) ensuite and two wardrobes in this handy corner. 

The before shot.  this corner measures about 1.8m * 3m. Note the pre-polished floor...

Looking the other way...

 It's worth observing the location of the radiator... too close to the new ensuite.  Annoyingly we (actually Steve) had decided to place it away from the corner near the window, but now this turned out to be too close to the new wall, so we had to move it, at a cost of $100...

Wall lining stripped away with shower tray in place.

inspecting the new framing

 As the builders started putting in the framing with a false ceiling they were able to create a big cavity above.  The ceiling on the ensuite is just 2.4m so that leaves a full 1.2m cavity to the true ceiling height.  We did briefly consider turning it into a sleeping loft, but as we have no need for an extra bedroom at the moment, didn't progress that idea, but we did ask them to put a light and socket up there for storage.

note the framing for the new loft above - big enough for a bed!

the toilet tries its space out for size

 

A blast from the past, gib in the hallway again

Just to show the great level of framing the builders do.  It seems superfluous to me but I guess that makes it a quality build

The gib starts to go up

plastering

 We bought a cool mirrored cabinet which the builders installed recessed into the wall.  This is a great idea in a small ensuite because it minimises space above the basin as it doesn't stick out into the room.  It also has a socket inside it so you can charge your electric toothbrush or whatever. 

mirrored cabinet

 With the wardrobe doors we asked for an upgrade on the builder's quote to bifold doors.  The main reason for this was that one of the wardrobes is immediately by the door into the bedroom and a bifold door doesn't take up as much space as a normal door, so the door to the bedroom and wardrobe doors don't collide.  We are pleased with this decision - it cost another $200 ish but it's the upgrades which (from experience) we tend to like.

wardrobe doors go in

 So after about 3 weeks we finally had more or less the finished product, but with Vicki and Steve coming to visit on December 28th we were under the gun (AGAIN) to get the room finished so that we could move back into our bedroom and vacate the spare room.

After some consideration we decided to be bold with the colour choice.  Steve consulted numerous possible colour charts and came up with Devil's Backbone - a sophisticated red shade.  I guess it wouldn't work so well in a small or modern room, but we think it looks good.  The painting took a long time to do - with walls as high as ours and a dark colour paint which takes 3 coats to get the correct depth of colour it took us about 3 full days to finish. 

Steve clearly loves painting

 The loft above the ensuite was great but we realised it would be really annoying getting the ladder from the basement each time we wanted to access it, so we asked the builders to make us a simple ladder attached to the wall.  This cost another $200, but I think it was well worth it.

the closet all nicely painted

the mirror on the sliding door cost us another $200

 Steve was very naughty with the paint colour inside the ensuite.  I had the veto rights on the colour but Steve was in charge of buying paint and bought a more purply shade than I had chosen.  Mine would have been more grey, but on the whole it's not too bad....

new shower and basin

mirror cabinet

So we are now all finished in theory.  There are though a couple of outstanding problems. Most importantly we have a leak under the house.  The builder is away at the moment so we can't get it fixed, so it's back to shower no. 1 for the time being.  I haven't paid the bill in consequence, but it will amount to around $16k in total - about $1200 for the bathroom furniture. maybe $400 in paint, $300 ish for lighting and the rest for the builder.  

 

On the whole though, we are quite pleased with the end result.  It was great having a second bathroom with guests staying.  The wardrobes are not perfect as they are just boxes - without drawers it makes it difficult to select items.  So I might purchase a few trays to fit inside them, if such a thing exists.  We have no longer got enough wallspace for chests of drawers so they will have to be enough one way or another!

 

The loft space and ladder is probably my favourite thing, it means we can finally clear up some of the other parts of the house where we have things like boxes of cables and wrapping paper cluttering up the place.  I also really like the paint job - Steve was responsible for walls and I did the cutting in.