Electrical, Tiles and Stairs

Another day of selections. Two sick kids means I am flying solo for these selections. Holy crap, I'm not qualified for that job! What if I get it wrong? Well, that's a silly question- what happens WHEN I get it wrong?

Electrical

Electrical appointment is first. At least I am in my element here (see what I did there??). And finally, something that is computerised!! Until now, everything has been done on paper or with tiny sample and it is almost impossible to visualise how it will look in the house. But this process is brilliant! You can see where the lights will be, where they are connected and where the switches will be- making this by far the most fun of all the appointments!!

I was given a budget of $10,000 for electrical upgrades, which looked as safe as a bag of crack at Charlie Sheen's house after only one room. The standard inclusion is one double PowerPoint and a single light globe in each room (they assure me the bulb is included).

I decided to start with the media room- cause seriously, after that the kids can have torches and peddle the generator for extra power. To save money, I have agreed to supply the speaker wire for the sound system. I have also agreed to supply the necessary cables for the projector. Still, once I added the lights, the wiring, the tv and foxtel switch and dimmer for the lights, the budget was cut pretty slim.

We were previously advised that downlights were about $160 each. So I had decided I would get them to wire it and then I would have a sparky cousin fit the lights. But the wiring alone is $94. With the downlight included it is only $107. As a result- we now will have a lot of down lights.

But I have gone for the pre wire only in a number of rooms and the local lighting shop is conveniently having a closing down sale so there is plenty to save there.

In the end I came in with $300 to spare in the budget. A couple of things I didn't expect- like $635 for the TV aerial. That's a bit rude.. The alarm that is included needs an extra phone port that isn't included. And doorbells are bloody expensive! I upgraded the alarm from the ugly big outdoor box and clunky internal screamer to the streamline and flush products for the extra $240. It also come with the better control panel, so I was sold...

The standard inclusion on the left- the upgrades on the right

The upgraded panel and the standard panel

I thought I had done well, but I have since looked at again and taken another trip to the display house. All of which makes me realise that I can either exceed my allocated budget or use whatever is left on candles.

Tiles

Tiles. By myself. Shit.

Tiles was always going to be a tedious task but after the fun of the electrical, it was the equivalent of injecting needles into your privates.

Now, I would never complain, but I did hear a few other complaining that the "upgrades" here were a massive rip off. Like the additional $24.50m2 for the use of tiles larger than 200x200, even though those tiles are included in the allowance. Or the extra $18m2 for coloured grout so that darker floor tiles look like a zebra with bright white grout. I seriously considered getting white grout and then buying a black texta! But I struggle at coloring within the lines, so I agreed to pay the extra.

We wanted the ensuite to be a highlight. Something special. We had seen a tile in a display home and like it, but when I got to DiLorenzo, I couldn' remember which one it was. So there were a million photos being sent back to the wife to see which one she liked.

It was probably one of these she liked. One is $53m2- the other  is about $300m2.
Probably not hard to work out which one it was...

 In the end I gave up and was talked into a different product that was $85 per sheet. We could do the wall and floors in it and have the shower similar, but with a pattern feature.

Wall and Floor

The pattern for the shower (but in the same colour as the walls)

The guy sold it to me that it would end up looking like a day spa. It could simply look shithouse. Which, I supposed would be fitting??

For the main bathroom and powder room, I went the white matte tile in the largest size that did not incur additional laying costs. I also went for a darker tile in 200x200 to avoid the additional costs. The wall feature, which comes in sheets of 150x600 is $40 per sheet. Because I went for floor to ceiling tiles, 4 sheets are necessary.

Bathroom selections- but with a matte wall tile

The decision making process was painful. My phone ran out of battery cause I spent so much time on it ringing the wife, taking and sending photos of various tiles and eventually throwing it across the room. Just when I thought it was done, kitchen splash back. By this stage I just didn't care anymore and agreed to whatever I was told. Mistake. I tell the wife and am forced to make another decision. This is what I came up with.

Kitchen splashback

Stairs


Already fried from the long day of decision making, the stairs promised to be an easier affair. I went in and the guy there showed me the standard inclusion for posts and rails and the feature that comes every their bar.

Included posts and rails- but with carpeted stairs

Included feature

Happily, I signed the document and was ready to head home. I got to the car when it all fell apart. It wasn't what the wife wanted. She didn't know what she wanted, but so far we hadn't got it. An hour later, I had pretty much gone through every pole/banister/rail/support in the place (each part has proper names, but I didn't care enough to pay attention). Which took a while, cause there are plenty of options!

The damn staircases.

In the end, both the guy at the shop and I wanted to go home, so we agreed on a couple of different options for him to provide with quotes on and we could go from there. I now know that it is the wrought iron that the wife doesn't like. That will be addressed, but god only knows what we will end up with. This is an area we had not allocated any budget to, so it seems I may have to pick up a second job to make any variations here...