Kitchen, Stairs and a Broken Arm

What a week of drama. Everything had started to settle down, the electrical rough in was done, Rob was finally starting to spend some time with the girls again and then he broke his arm.

 

He is a lucky, lucky man, it could have been a lot worse. After falling 5 metres from the top of a telegraph pole after it collapsed he could have had more broken bones, or hit his head.  A week has passed since Rob's accident and we (or he) is finding his way with one arm. In the meantime, he isn't going to be installing any lights in the house. 

Rob's accident left me rather busy with keeping the house going and along with the ensuing sleep deprivation, I lost my building mojo. There was too much else to think about and the move in date (30 November) now seemed like a distance memory.  I drifted into kitchen week without much care for the work being done on the build.  That was until I saw this....



Kitchen Wonderland

No more stacking trays, pots and appliances in one cupboard in this kitchen

 

Stone benchtops are arriving next week

The gleaming white soft closing doors of our spangly new kitchen instantly rejuvenated my building mojo.  That night I found myself saying to Rob, 'so, what do we need to do to make the 30th of November happen?'.   The boys at K and B Designer Kitchens (yes - they are that good I felt that I should give them a plug) did a fantastic job. 

The stairs and the bathrooms have also been progressed this week.  The spotted gum stairs look incredible. The hallway up to the top pavilion is now my favourite space in the house.

A staircase that glows

  The main entry staircase is beautiful, but not as awesome as the one above.

I'll get fit carrying the groceries up this one!

The tiling in the bathrooms seems to have been taking forever. I have a feeling that I chose rather heavy tiles that need to be progressively tiled up the walls as the tiler has been here for almost a week.  The main bathroom looks okay, but will need the fittings to make it come alive. 

The ensuite uses the same tiles, but up the wall.  I spent an absurd amount of time procrastinating about it and ended up taking a leap of faith. Rob came down from the build after seeing the tiles for the first time, he wasn't convinced that it looked good.  But...I think it looks AWESOME!

Glam! Can't wait to see the white tiles go up on the other walls

Photo Blog - Gyprock, Decking and Flooring

A quick photo blog post of the progress for the last week. Gyprock is finished, timber flooring has started and the rear deck is complete!

Kitchen space, 10 days to go!

Rear deck bathed in sunshine

Timber Flooring

The site is rather crowded

Hallway is something special

Bedroom awaits

View from Master Bedroom

Paint is looking great!

Dream Kitchen 2

I possess a personality trait that can sometimes be rather frustrating.  I am a procrastinator. The amount of thought that I give any single decision is staggering.  Place that amount of procrastination in a mixing bowl with interior design and a building project and you end up with one big melting pot of ideas, but no decisions. 

A perfect example - Coastal Tiles has a file on me, yes I have made so many different selections of tiles for the bathrooms that date back over a year that the lovely gentlemen at the store has a little laugh each time he opens the folder which keeps hold of my tile procrastination.  

So without further ado I expose the extent of my procrastination to the world and share my alternative kitchen.  Can you help end the procrastination??

Kitchen will still have the same base.  White with a spotted gum floor

My alternative design is based around a pop of lime green in the splashback for the kitchen (120cm wide), and potentially under the front of the island bench. The colour is lively, modern - but likely to date (doesn't everything).  The lime green could also feature in the wall behind my in kitchen desk, or inside the cupboard for the coffee machine.

Stools for Island Bench

White pendant lights

The main reason for my kitchen procrastination (other than the fact that it will set the tone for the entire house) is the need to blend the open plan dining/lounge area in with the kitchen.  I need to choose a dining table, chairs and pendant light for the dining space.  Chairs......

OR

 Potential dining table options...

and the pendant over the dining table

It is an entirely different look to the kitchen in my previous post. The first kitchen is moodier, more industrial and based on white, timber and black. I have had difficulty trying to put together a dining room to blend with Option 1. Option 2 has been easier, the concept is more retro, beachy perhaps and brighter.  Question is which one to choose?

Dream Kitchen Design

Designing the kitchen for the house has been lots of fun. I've looked at hundreds of pictures, kept plenty for my scrapbook and pinned some favourites to my Pinterest page.  Once I'd chosen the charcoal, timber, white and steel theme for the interior design for the house, my kitchen ideas became more focused.  I was keen on a split colour scheme in the kitchen cupboards for a while, a combination of grey and white. But we've opted for classic white on white, conservative but flexible.  The final order for the cabinets went in on Monday, so now it is time to piece the rest of the kitchen together.  I'm not quite sure how to describe the style - retro/industrial/modern?

Floorplan...

What do you think of these ideas?



Picture from Zealsea Timbers - Our floor will be the same and the cupboards and benchtop will be similar

Image from Doherty and Lynch.   I love the use of the timber flooring on the island bench

Funky pendant light from Beacon Lighting - Three of these along the Island Bench

Or maybe these ones?

Pete Evans Sink by Clark

Funky Gessi Mixer Tap that I bought online for a third of the Australian price!

I have no idea what to do with the splashback and plan to figure that out once the kitchen is installed.  We've collected the appliances over the last 12 months.  I can't wait to use the fabulous oven that won't burn the food anymore!

Paint and Colour

The exterior colour choice for the house is the result of plenty of procrastination that resulted in an eventual quick decision to copy the colour scheme of a house being built at Avoca Beach.  I used a Dulux colour consultant in the hope of finding our way through the miriad of choices.  However, the recommendations were made without seeing the build in person (she was wearing high heels, how could I make her trek up the hill!).

I have long had a desire for a strong contrast colour scheme of bold blue or charcoal with white. 

Something like this (houzz.com)

 The colour recommended by the consultant was Dulux Namadji, a yellow/brown based charcoal (see the pic below). 

Dulux Namadji on main wall

I hastily bought some sample pots and tried the colour scheme.  Sadly, it looked like a modern version of mission brown and I decided that it would make the shady parts of the house feel downright depressing.  A few weeks later while visiting Avoca Beach, I spied the house below....

Avoca Beach

 The lovely painter working on site obligingly offered up the paint cards for the colours. Resene Friar Grey turned out to be a great mid tone colour for blending in with our bushy site.  The colour is dark enough the make the white windows pop, but light enough to keep the house looking crisp.  Here is a snippet for now until the scaffold comes down.

Windows in Vivid White, walls in Friar Grey

Gyprock Week

The building site has been busy with plasterers and painters this week.  The builders were thin on the ground, making way for a flurry of activity both inside and out.  The gyprock has been fitted across the entire house in just 5 days.  The impressive thing is, there was only two plasterers! Super efficient and effective as a team, the boys worked hard, and the house looks fantastic. 

Kitchen and Living Room

Kitchen and family room

Looking roomy!

Hallway to top Pavillion

Looking down to dining area from top pavillion

Kids Bedroom Hallway