#essastone

The stone benchtop supplier has come good on their promise to replace the stone benchtop in the main bathroom which was firstly too long and then too short. It's been replaced and the size is perfect! To their credit they also did it in the timeframe that was requested by the builder too - two days. Good work. The plumber is coming in on Monday so they needed to have the benchtop reinstated before then.

The new benchtop is now perfectly flush with the cabinetry, as intended by Daryl Wark, the interior designer who did the cabinetry design. His idea was for the cabinet to "float" in the space, that's why it's wall hung.

The vanity outside the toilet has also been moved forward so that the benchtop is now flush cabinetry. There doesn't seem to be any damage to the cabinetry at all which is fantastic.

Just an update on my meeting with the stone benchtop supplier after the benchtops were first installed too long and then installed too short. Both my builders were on site to meet with their operations supervisor and the general manager. The operations manager spent way too much time trying to measure up millimetre for millimetre the cabinetry with the benchtops, which seemed pointless to me considering it was obvious to everyone in the room that they were too short (or in the case of the benchtop outside the toilet, too long). He also spent way too much time measuring the templates that weren't used, which was also pointless considering the templates were never taken. Even if they were incorrect, it was still a moot point. After much to-ing and fro-ing from him on whether the templates were correct or not and who's fault it was, the general manager stepped in and said, "Stop - let me do the talking. We'll replace the benchtops and cover the cost of retiling." And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you keep a customer happy. Super simple stuff. It's really only the benchtop in the main bathroom that will need to be replaced. The one in the ensuite is about 1mm short on either side and on the advice of my builder I've decided to let that one pass. He thinks more damage will be done trying to remove the tiles around it and re-waterproofing and re-tiling.

Benchtop outside toilet - 20mm too long

It's day 146 and the kitchen is looking more complete. The stone waterfall edge has been installed and I can visualise more and more those casual breakfasts at the island bench or guests milling around nibbling on canapés with a glass of wine while I prepare dinner. It's all starting to take shape.

The Blanco gas cooktop has been installed into the stone benchtops. Before they were installed, the builder mentioned that the plumber had said the cooktop was designed for mains gas and not LPG which is what we have and he would have to test it to see if it was OK. Looks like it was all good though because I haven't heard since.

Main bathroom. Bit hard to photograph the right angle but it's 2mm-3mm short on either side

No really, you are NOT going to believe this... I went back to site early yesterday morning to check that the stone benchtops (which had previously been too long) were now corrected and reinstalled. Now they are too short! OH. MY. GOD. It was obvious to me as soon as I walked in. The benchtop in the main bathroom is about 3mm short on either end and about 1mm-2mm on either end in the ensuite. I gave my builder "the look" and he just shook his head and said, "I know". Again, he said they didn't take the templates, but this time didn't even measure up and when they installed it and realised it was too short, he said told them "mate, you need to call the owner." That was the day before and I didn't hear a peep from anyone. Very disappointing. When I did get hold of , I asked why they didn't take the templates AGAIN or measure up and he said "someone said it was just 20mm too big". I said "no, I emailed that the cabinets were APPROXIMATELY 20mm too big," assuming they would at least be measured or taken from the template.

Ensuite

Further, he went on to blame my builder, saying he should have let the installers know exactly what I wanted while they were there, as they were "just installers" and what would they know. He even said it was like my builder had just "condemned the job and wanted it to fail." This upset me a lot as it's the farthest from the truth and the builder has nothing to do with this part of the job as they allowed me to source my own stone. Also, I'm just never one for the blame game. I accept responsibility when things go wrong and rather than just give excuses I find solutions and just fix things. I expect the same from people I work with and especially people I hire. I also brought up with them the incorrect stone size in the vanity outside the toilet. I asked for that to be corrected as I should never have compromised on that.

This is the little vanity outside the toilet (is there a fancy name for this or do I have to keep calling it "the little vanity outside the toilet"?) It's super cute and exactly how I wanted it BUUUT, it also fell victim to the magic stonemason's additional 20mm overhang.

Ensuite in the Master Bedroom

Main Bathroom

Day 136 and just 4 weeks out from completion and the stone benchtops have been installed in the upstairs bathrooms - the main bathroom, ensuite and vestibule outside the toilet. It's a great milestone, the only things is....THEY'RE WRONG!! Arrgh!! See that overhang of about 20mm on either side...it's not supposed to be there. The benchtops are supposed to be flush with the sides of the cabinets. Weirdly I only just noticed when I was uploading these photos. I've just spent the past couple of hours going through emails, photos and sketches trying to work out how and when this happened.

Daryl's sketch clearly shows that the benchtops are supposed to be flush. We didn't do any bathroom renders, only kitchen renders.

Kitchen

This is the last day before the builders finish for the year and the cabinetry is in! Overall I'm pretty happy with it. It's light and bright and they way it was designed. There are no handles on the cabinetry, the tops of the doors are on a 45 degree angle so you can pull them out. The only thing I don't really like is that it is on a sharp angle, I thought it might be a bit softer, but I guess that's because they are laminate and not 2Pac.

Main Bathroom

I was so, so worried that the cabinetry in the main bathroom would make the space really small and squishy but it has come up perfectly. The only thing is that the right hand cabinet is supposed to have a door that looks like drawers so they are even.

Same with the ensuite cabinetry. The door on the right is supposed to look like drawers (even though they're not) so they look symmetrical.

This is the cabinet outside the toilet. This was a bit of a luxury, you could easily enough just go into the main bathroom to wash your hands, but I really prefer that it has its own, in case someone is in the bathroom already. Obviously there is still the stone benchtops to go on top and it will look more finished, but I'm reasonably happy with how things are progressing.