White Again

So it seems I have a love affair with white!! 

Just like my white kitchen I have planned, which I talked about here previously. I also have been dreaming of an all white bathroom...white tiles with white grout.

I know it's not practical at all. It’s going to get grubby without a lot of maintenance. With this in mind I still can’t change what I want.  Believe me I've tried to talk myself out of it but no luck. 

I have two bathrooms in my house so have decided I will be practical in my main bathroom and go with darker colours but have all-white in my ensuite bathroom. It’s a tiny room, so hopefully I can maintain it. 

 Image Source

 Image Source

Image Source

I’m currently on the lookout for a vanity cabinet mirror with storage. There’s a few at Ikea, but I’m still not sure which style I’ll go for. Plain mirror, or something a bit more traditional looking. I'm still looking around in case I can find something better elsewhere.

Do you know of anywhere that sells great little mirror cabinets?

Big week

Well house selections week in upon me!... I’m so nervous. 

I'm heading down this Friday for part 1 of the process. I still haven’t made my mind up on so many things... such a procrastinator, leaving everything to the last minute. No doubt I’m going to be stressing over the next few days. I know it’s not that big a deal, but I’m just scared I’m going to get it wrong and pick something that I’ll regret in 6 months when I see it in the flesh.

However the good news is once this is done its just one step closer to construction which shouldn’t be all that far off now. They may even start before Christmas which is was sooner than I ever thought, but we shall see. There might be some unforeseen delays yet. That’s the thing with this building business, never expect anything, timelines are always changing. 

Time defiantly seems to be flying by though, won’t be long and I’ll be living in my very own house. I'm so excited!!

Fan of the Fan

Gone are the days of the ugly white plastic pedestal fans.... let me introduce you to the gorgeous Tripod Fan by Fanimation!!

 

I want one of these bad boys so bad, dont know if it'll fit in my ever tightening budget though. We will have to wait and see.
They are available from a few places including Fat Shack Vintage.

Surely I'm not on my own in loving this guy. I wouldn't be hiding him away when guests are over!

Sale Fun!

Last Saturday I did one of my favorite things ever, I went to a Charity Auction, or 'Sale' as we call it. At a sale you will find hundreds of bits and pieces ranging from furniture, electrical, plants, old toys, scrap wood, anything any everything basically. All items get donated and then auctioned off with all proceeds going to the charity. I Love these sales as you can pick up things dirt cheap. There is usually no reserve prices so stuff is basically given away. I bought some amazing chairs at a similar sale some time back, but I'll save that story for another day.

A lot of the stuff is a but junky, often broken, so you just have to search through everything to find your diamond among the mess... But when you do find it, just hope no one else wants it more than you do! I'v seen some pretty fierce bidding wars at these lil ol' auctions.

 

Unfortunately on Saturday nothing at this action caught my eye so I walked away empty handed, but it was still a nice day out. This little metal drawer box thing caught my eye, but there was a lot of interest in it and I didn't end up hanging around for it to be auctioned off. It was being used to store screws and washers but I thought you could bring it inside to store small stationary maybe? very rustic of course.

 

After the glorious sunny day on Saturday, Sunday was the opposite - very cold, wet and windy. So I may or may not have stayed inside all day, on my bed, in my PJ's, reading through old editions of Home and Garden magazine. It was glorious! I love those days when you don't actually have to do anything. I felt a bit guilty for not achieving anything but then sometimes I need to just do nothing, don't you?

I love re-reading mags as it usually gives me new ideas that I'd missed previously. I dont like ripping pages out of my magazines though so usually use the scrap paper method to mark pages of interest.

Anyway, It was a successful reading day as I found a great idea for the backyard, but I'm keeping it a secret!

Hope your having a great day!

Running out of room

I have so much stuff and no where to put it all!! Iv been slowly, slowly buying new house essentials for a while now. I have everything = sheets, towels, plates, cutlery, pots and pans, about 4 chopping boards. and now I have no where to put it all. I have cupboards and boxes overflowing in the house and shed. I did a little inventory a few weeks back of all my things and it was 3 pages long!

It's going to be like Christmas when I get into my house and get to open it all up and use it. hehe.

Everything has been bought on sale so I've managed to get a few really nice things without paying the big bucks. My Stanley Rogers cutlery set was over $350 retail and I think I got it for $80ish.. CRAZY!!  A bunch of things were also given to me as gifts. Now only tools, garden items, furniture and the big appliances to go!

Tool Time.. my wish list

I have a tonne of house project ideas floating around in my head on a constant basis, I'm waiting patiently to get into my house before I can do most of them. I have pretty ambitious plans for a beginner, too ambitious really.

Anyway, I need some tools as I have none. Well except the pink hammer and socket set I got for Christmas one year. But its about time for some big girl tools.

I've compiled a list of a few things I want in my beginners toolbox, just basic stuff to start off with. The plan is to add to my collection over time as I need different items, spread the cost out.

 

Now don't laugh, we all gotta start somewhere.

 

 

Not too sure of brands at the moment, I need to do a little more research yet. I'm a bit like that, I research the crap out of everything, even some cheap $20.00 thing will get the once over on all the internet review sites before it gets purchased. I over think everything.

I would love to hear anyone's suggestions on good brands to go with or any basic essentials that I've missed.

 

Labor Day Weekend

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. We just had our 3 day Labour day weekend, which was awesome. Also day light savings just started here in South Aus, which is so nice to have a few extra hours of day light in the evenings. I’m getting pretty excited as this all means summer is on it's way, my favorite time of year!

I went back to the house selection centre on Saturday to refresh my memory on a few things. I took mum with me, sometimes it’s nice to have a second opinion. We went over everything, I didn't lock as much in as I had hoped but it still helped to have another look. 

One decision I did make is to pay the upgrade cost for different brick mortar. I want white mortar using white sand. The standard browny-grey mortar just doesn't work with the Oyster bricks for the look I'm going for. The bricks end up looking dirty brown instead of a true grey. I think its defiantly worth the extra $$.

 Oyster bricks with white mortar

I'm still undecided on bathroom tiles. Iv narrowed it down to a few choices, but still unsure.

Also found a different kitchen sink with no drainers, which I love. Not sure if they will let me have it without it costing me a fortune, so waiting to hear back on that one.

Its pretty overwhelming trying to pick everything for a house all at once, but ill get there. Its slowly coming together.

Where its at..house progress update

A little house status update of where things are at:

• Plans are currently in Council for full development approval. Expecting this to be complete possibly early November but I'm not really sure. Fingers crossed that it goes through smoothly and they don't have any issues with my plan and the position it sits on my land.

• Currently trying to finalise my electrical layout. This is hard. Hows a girl to know where to put every single power point, light and switch for a house thats not even built. I'm just trying to figure out where everything will go so I can make sure they are all in the right spots and I have enough for all appliances that require electricity. Cant go too crazy as the $$$ soon adds up with extra power points and lights.

• Booked my final selections appointments for early November. That's where I'll lock in all my bathroom tiles, kitchen colours, wardrobes, wall colour and a tonne of other stuff. Thinking of heading down to the showrooms again this weekend to have a look at everything and try and lock a few things in. 

Also thought I'd add a pic of my front elevation/facade. It gives you a rough idea of what the front of the house will look like.
The house is only 11.5metres wide at the front, so all you see is the garage roller door, front door and bedroom window. I'm not having any render so the whole front will just be my lovely Oyster grey brick.

Bricks, bricks, bricks

Choosing the brick colour for my house was probably the hardest decision of the whole build. Why? Well with every other little detail I know what I want, or I at least have ideas floating around in my head. With the bricks however, I had no idea, no clue at all.

Now the bricks is a pretty big decision, it’s the whole look of your house. Maybe that’s why I was so indecisive, because I knew it was kind of a big deal if I got it wrong. I would have to live with this choice everyday, its not one that could be changed later unless you did something drastic. There was also the cost to consider. I was not real keen on spending more money to upgrade bricks, so I was eager to select something from my builders standard range.

I looked over the brochures I had been given, trying to pick a few out that I liked. But it was pretty hopeless as I knew they would look drastically different in real life.

So a few weeks back I went down to the local PGH brick display center for the first time. It was really fantastic with all the different brick colours and styles on display walls. It was interesting how the colours also looked different depending on the light or shade or direction they were facing. Also the colour of the grout seemed to have a big effect. I narrowed my selection down to 5 colours, and they let me take some samples home, woohoo!

My top 5 = Caffe Latte, Plateau, Canyon, Vanilla Ice and Oyster. 

Quite a variety really. A few mid browns, a dark brown, a grey and a white.

Another week or so past, and I eventually whittled it down to my two favorites, Plateau -the dark red-ish brown and Oyster the grey brick.

I kept leaning towards Plateau as I had seen quite a few dark brown houses around and knew I like it, but I was a bit worried that plateau would come out a bit too red.
Oyster was hard as I couldn't find any houses in my local area with anything that resembled a grey brick so had to go for a long drive and eventually found a few.
Oyster felt more risky than Plateau, but also would suit my whole love of grey thing I have going on, and it would compliment my interior plans really well.

Eventually I had thought about it so much, going back and forth between the two colours, it was doing my head in. You know sometimes when you think sooo much that you start to not even care. Well that was me. I needed to make a decision and just go with it. I knew either colour would look great anyway.

So.......I went with the grey, Oyster it is!!  Lets hope it turns out ok.

Interior Colour Scheme Ideas

Just throwing around some ideas for the overall Interior Colour Scheme. Nothing is set in stone and ill probably change my mind and head in a whole different direction because, well lets face it, its still a long way off before I move in. Construction hasn't even started yet, but I'm a planner, I like to be prepared, but most of all I'm just too excited to wait...

Anyhoo..

There will definitely be an overall base scheme of grey and white mixed with wood and metals. I'm a neutral girl and I always gravitate towards neutral schemes as they are probably the easiest to do and always look good.

However as much as I love neutrals, they are pretty safe... and I don't want to be too safe. I want my house to be interesting and full of life, therefore I'm plan on bringing in pops of colour throughout. I'm envisioning my walls in the main living areas to remain fairly neutral but will bring in the colour with my curtains, rugs, accessories etc. These are easily changed if I mess it up because no doubt I will make some bad choices, and it might take a few tries to get it just right, don't forget this is the first time I have ever done this! In the bedrooms I might get a bit more daring and paint the walls a bold colour, maybeeee.

My Dining, Kitchen and living rooms are very open plan, its really one big room.. The colours need to flow throughout this space to make it feel cohesive but I'm still hoping to define each area in its own way.

Some of the colours that I'm leaning towards at the moment are Navy, Yellow, Coral and Pink. No particular reason why other than I just love these colours.

Here are a few samples.. not the exact shades I would use but you get the idea.

So what do you think? Everything will of course evolve over time, I might scratch those colours and go for something different but for now that's the direction I'm leaning towards. Would love to hear anyone's thoughts.