Sunday 7 December 2014

And the kitchen sink:


 
I am sure you will agree, it is gorgeous!  I fell in love with the flush-fit profile and wonderful, large washing bowls.  It was quite an extravagant purchase, but if a girl has to wash dishes, it is mighty good to have as many positives to the chore as possible! 

And yes, the coffee machine is ready to make you a cuppa – we are pretty good at the cappuccinos if I do say so myself – and OH MY, Michael made me a totes delish ice coffee yesterday – so summer-time treats are good too J.

Now I am sure you have noticed how incredibly clean our house was for these photos!  And those who know me well will know that is a minor miracle!!  Well I do have some cleaning fairies – here is one I came across on Saturday morning:

 


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

She told me she was finished fairy flossing and was ready to go to the beach!

Now speaking of cleaning, the ‘big sink clean-up for photo shooting’ inspired me to give the oven a bit of a once over.   I now have this advice to give, “One should, having specifically purchased a pyrolytic oven for its cleaning function, should use said pyrolytic cleaning function in preference to scrubbing the shelves to the point of blistered fingertips!”  Yes indeed, one should.

More photos of our house interior reveal  :-).

(Reveal – that is what they say on all the decorating/house makeover blogs I read – sounds a bit weird to me, but if that is what it is, that is what it is ;-)  Not sure that is what I am doing, but you never know).

Our bathroom – I do seriously love the eucalyptus green and white colour scheme.  The vanity drawers are from Ikea – we got them in the clearance section for half price – apparently they were damaged – the only thing we could find wrong was a pin-head of paint missing from one of the top handles, which is now hidden by our gorgeous jarrah benchtop.  Pretty mirror was sourced online as I couldn’t find anything I loved locally.


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Master bedroom – love, LOVE the walls (have I told you that before?) and simple white (organic cotton) bedlinen.  Bedsides and lamps to be painted white one day soonish…

 


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Shed room – ready for visitors :-) - in fact already had visitors (we rehomed the huntsman back to the bush and kept the humans for as many days as they could stay :-).  It was a major clean-up to get it to this stage but is so nice to see it looking nice.


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And finally – we got some lovely furniture for the hobby room so supplies-are-out-and-being-used-woohoo :-)!!  The ‘new’ furniture are bargains from our local Lion’s Shed – heavy wooden bookcase for $80 and old table for $20 – love, love, love them both (the table and chairs will get the white paint treatment one day too.  The chairs were Lion’s Shed bargains some months ago, way before the house was finished).


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Michael is much more impressed at having a desk big enough to get his radios connected.  This huge desk (over 2.5m long) was another Lion’s Shed bargain – only 50 bucks!  It’s a triple win-win-win buying from the Lion’s shed – bargains to us, recycling (environmentally friendly) and helping a great local charity group too.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I am sure it is supposed to look tidier than this for a photo on our blog though ;-).

And he just has a vertical antenna on the roof at the moment, so one day, some more site works have to happen to get the towers up…

And the chook run built, and the kid’s cubby house and … and … and … all will happen in time (next year…)…

And the house will look nothing like this soon – time to find the Christmas decorations J!!!

Saturday 6 December 2014


Our family have been asking to actually see the house - so here you are Kari, Denise, Mum and all - grab a cuppa, this is a long one.

The front of our home – looks a bit plain at the mo – but imagine some seating and greenery…it will look lovely about this time next year I reckon.


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Front entry hall – you will have to imagine the credenza painted white – and I have only just put the pretties out – so it looks like a reddish, golden copper will be the new fabric colour scheme for the rocking chair (yes it rocks on some back springy things).  I have told the kids I am putting an internal door on one day – with a lock! – so I can sit in here and read in peace and quiet – ahhh, the serenity.  The chandelier is from Bunnings – they have a huge lighting range available only at the Armadale store in WA.  I had a ‘vision’ come to me one day a while ago, that the light fitting for our front entry hall would be a chandelier with a silver drum shade (drum shades are quite the trend at the moment – or has it passed??)  Doesn’t worry me either way – I like it!  Anyway, I looked online to see where I might find one to match my vision – and Bunnings in Sydney had this one – and it was the only one I liked anywhere I looked – so being clever, I did a store search and found out that the Armadale store, which had opened only a month before, had them too – yay.  And it was on sale when we happened to be there to have a look – double yay!

 


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

(Goodness, when I edited the photo I saw the doily cover on the chair back was crooked– probably due to baby long legs relocation this morning – it is straightened now!).  Will get some hooks for the pictures one day – and a shade for the gorgeous lamp base I have had for 18 years without one…been waiting for the right home for the lamp – we are finally here – triple yay!

Lounge room – still needing plenty more furniture – we’ll get there one day.  These are the gorgeous sofas that have been in storage since March last year – finally out – and of course they are covered by slip covers when I am not taking a photo – kids and pale fabric – not the best combo just yet ;-).  Oh, and the floral cushions will be changed one day to plain – the blue is a gorgeous colour that I love but the house has let me know it is a silver, white and red/autumn colour scheme so the cushions no longer match…


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I thought I had already shared a photo of the finished kitchen, but a quick search of my photos says otherwise – so I went and cleaned it up and took this photo (cropped out the dirty dishes of course) – yes, the things I do for you!  Actually I will have to take a photo later tonight or first thing tomorrow so I can show you my stunning sink – seriously gorgeous too.  And sorry about how dark it looks - it is overcast, grey and cloudy here right now.


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Now there is a story behind the island bench.  Of course there is.  And if you are very, very astute (or can be bothered to go back and look at the last kitchen photo – it is in this post here) – you will see that the island bench was never in the kitchen before.   That is because I didn’t really want one (even though it was part of the recycled kitchen we had purchased).  Islands become dumping grounds in my experience, which is not the look I am after (ok yes, this was a dumping ground for a while, but I have got it mostly under control now – yay).  Anyhoo – my ideals in not having one was all well and good, until Michael’s mum was here moving us into the house – and all my kitchen bits and bobs no way fitted into all those cupboards L.  So Pauline suggested we try the island bench.  Hmmm, I wasn’t convinced…but try it we did – after Michael spent the day cutting the kickboard off (it was too big to fit through the door otherwise).  So I let the island bench be sat in its space, on it’s cut-off kickboards for a couple of days and glanced at it warily every few hours – and I had to agree that it looked good and provided some much needed extra storage.  You were right Pauline – thank you!

And folk, look back at the photo and notice the light fittings.  We got them at a local farm garage sale – I wonder if they were baby chick or piglet warmers?  I like the idea!!  They were a lovely shade of British racing green – it had to go in favour of this even more lovely red (which is closer to the tile red than the photo looks) – Michael did a great job spray painting them for me.  He has a good hand for spraying – I think it is because he has patience – unlike a certain non-spray painting me…

Oh, and table and chairs will get a paint and fabric revamp one day too – yes, I have a very long list of furniture painting – for one day…

So, you have probably had enough after the kitchen I think.  Ok, come back for Part 2 tomorrow y’all.

Friday 5 December 2014


Busy times - as always…

Family came to visit :-).

Paving has progressed:


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

(Special thanks to my nephew, Braidyn, for his contribution here.)

Gardens got some love:


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

(Attended a great native garden seminar day with Josh Byrne – Gardening Australia fame – learnt some great tips –  e.g. plant a banksia and leave it alone!).

Been dog-sitting for the neighbours – so plenty of walkies have happened :-).

Started – and finished – a triathlon (first in my life ever!)

And some lovely trips to Perth for the graduation of our eldest :-).

Closer to now – Michael has been on the bobcat a couple more times so our yard and driveways are looking great – most impressive is the flat area for our future chook run and orchard :-).