Lighting purchases

Howdy!

I received a call from our Site Supervisor this morning, letting me know that he is working to reschedule all of the activities that were missed because of our recent rain.  Thankfully, nothing was meant to happen for us until yesterday, but due to a backlog (totally understandable) our slab will be delayed by about four days.  Four days, schmore days.  Not a problem at all!

I think he likes me, because I understand what goes into a build, and am not flipping out every five seconds due to delays which are outside of everyone's control.

During the last week, we've had a few deliveries.  Behold...

Here

Above is a fluro for the kitchen.  My aim is that it will look and behave a bit like a skylight (except that it will cost money to run, of course!), as the kitchen doesn't have a direct natural light source.  It's 600mm wide and named 'Sky', so I think we're on a winner!

Excel four-in-one for the bathrooms.  I like that they are streamlined, unlike the more traditional heat/light/fan combos.  We couldn't afford to pay full price - luckily, we got them 50% off!  Good times!

Odette from Beacon Lighting (also half price!) for the Walk in Wardrobe.  I will have to write a separate post about this one - it's mighty exciting!!

I hope you're having a lovely Tuesday.

On site today...

Today was meant to be plumbing and drainage day, but you can bet that the rain put paid to that idea!

But, in the spirit of progress, at least the portaloo made an appearance on site today.

We've made a few purchases for the house lately.  I'll share those this week, as I don't think there'll be much else to tell you!

Have a great week

A gorgeous little girl's room

Yesterday, I came across this gorgeous wallpaper.

Laura Ashley - Summer Palace Duck Egg

Our little girl (3) fell in love with it, and it is now the 'jumping off point' for her new bedroom.  Here are a couple of photos with the wallpaper up against our wallpaper and a couple of accessories that she already has.

I'm feeling a bit excited, and scared, but I think it will look amazing!

In house news, the builder has erected the lovely green silt-catching material around the block.  Hopefully we can have a dry weekend and the plumbing and drainage can commence on Monday.  Positive, positive, positive!

Have a great weekend!

When the cat's away...

...the mice get busy!

During my absence from home, work on the block has well and truly commenced.

Early morning start

Site works commenced and were finished on one veeerrrrry long day.  I'm glad I was interstate, as I would have been driving to the block every hour for progress shots.

Husband tells me that the Site Supervisor has everything scheduled perfectly, and we should (best case scenario, of course) have our inspection in fourteen weeks from last Friday.  So, that brings us to the end of April, which was what I was hoping for.  We have a location wedding to attend the following weekend, so it looks like May is going to be a full-on month.  Am I complaining?  NO WAY!

A couple more photos to finish off.

Retaining wall #2 - Thanks to the volunteers who assisted on this job!

The pad - ready to rock and roll!

No more action this week (they had allowed us a week to build the wall and Husband completed it the day after the site cut), but next week will herald some plumbing and drainage action.  Stay tuned!

The Mud Room you have when you're not having a Mud Room

We tried and we tried and we tried to fit a proper Mud Room/transition space into the floorplan of our new house.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be.  But, hey, we're going to make it happen anyway!

Below are some Mud Spaces that totally inspire me!

I'm afraid I don't have the details of where I found these images.  If they're yours, please let me know, so that I can credit you!

Anyhoo, back to reality!  Our Mud Space will be reclaimed from the Garage, and I've negotiated a 2m x 800mm spot, adjacent to the entry to the house.  We will store shoes, school/swimming/library/daycare bags, hats and regularly used sporting equipment.

Rather than spend up on custom made cabinetry (how amazing would that look?!), we will hit up Ikea and Officeworks for the pieces we need to make the space practical and easy to use.

I will make a seat pad and cover it in the fabric shown, just to make it comfy (and a little bit pretty!)

Thank you to my lovely friend, M, for the inspiration to consider my Mud Space - she has created an awesomely organised nook for her boys' school and daycare gear - as well as all the other bloggers talking about back to school organisation.

In my true procrastinationory (new word) style, I am using the rental as an excuse not to get organised for school and will wait until we move!!!

I'm off on a little working holiday, so will see you all next week.  Hopefully (if the rain eases up), I will have photos of our site cut and retaining walls for you upon my return.

Close, but no cigar

A little while ago, I shared with you my Concept Board for our Formal Living room, here.

Unfortunately, when I took Husband to check out the sofa, he wouldn't even touch it, let alone sit on it!  That's how much he disliked it.  How rude!

So, in light of this fact, we are going to stick with a sofa that we have (I had initially planned to sell it), and the new Concept Board looks like this...

The lamps were client off-casts and will be re-covered in the fabric shown on the concept board.  The room will also be home to our piano, and the windows will covered by plantation shutters.  Wall art will be the next consideration...

Happy Monday!

Spot the difference!

Before

After

When speaking to our Site Supervisor earlier in the week, he advised that we would need to build one of our retaining walls prior to the site cut.

So, off Husband went this morning and knocked one together!  This lovely lady gave him a hand...

Of course, this is only miniature, and nothing compared to some of his past efforts.  He even commented on how easy it was!  Nonetheless, I am proud and appreciative of this awesome man.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Blinds - Decision Made!

Hello from the cool comfort of my family room!
(One good thing about the rental, it has more air conditioning units than it could ever need)

As promised yesterday, here is the 'decision post' regarding the blinds.  In our open plan living/dining/kitchen space, we have a large sliding door and a small double hung window.  I'm not a huge fan of curtains on sliding doors (I'm going to blame the small people for that), I can't quite bring myself to roller blinds (even though they would be fine), we all know that I don't like verticals, and sliding shutters would just be too heavy for the space.

So, we will have a Plantation Roman blind on the double hung and Plantation Panel Glides on the door, like these...

        

Images from here

After narrowing down the colour choices to these...

We decided on this...

Mercury Translucent Ash from here

Now, we are just awaiting some timber samples, so that we can choose a species for the battens and pelmet (ooh, how I love a timber pelmet).  Now, of course we still have a lot of other windows to cover, and I'll keep you posted on those selections as they occur.

Have a great afternoon!

Giddy anticipation!

Well, we're still about a week out from a site start, but I'm feeling so giddy about the whole new house build thing, you'd think it was my first time!

I seem to be in a bit of a fluster about whether everything we've chosen is right, if the room configurations are right, and of course, how we'll eat whilst paying rent and interest payments!!

I received some blind fabric samples in the post last night, so today's job will be to have a bit of a play around with them.  Hopefully I'll be able to write a 'decision made' post tomorrow.

Amongst all the giddiness, I am taking a moment to pause and reflect on the events of this time last year, so close to home.  We were not directly affected, but will always remember the way that our town was, quite literally, turned upside down in January 2011.

I hope you're enjoying this taste of summer!

ETA: Five seconds after hitting 'publish' our Site Supervisor called to organise our Site Start Meeting on the 20th!  I won't be there, but I'm sure Husband will handle it!!

Flooring

Today we returned to the flooring shop, having decided to place our order for a laminate floating floor.  After all our to-ing and fro-ing about bamboo, engineered hardwood and laminate, we returned to our first ever love - the laminate!

We've done laminate timber in most of our houses, and it really is extremely durable and child-friendly.  It also helped that we found the perfect colour to go with our carpet, wall colour and overall decor plan for the house.

So, without further ado, here it is (up against the fancy carpet)...

Parador Trendtime 6 Laminate Flooring in Oak Castell Smoked Brushed Texture.

Carpet Call at Alderley did a great deal on both of the carpets and the main flooring, so if you're in the area and in need of floor coverings, check them out!

In other news, I've been decluttering and clearing out like nobody's business.  Vinnies will be happy with their loot tomorrow, I'm sure!  I hope you're having a great weekend!

Carpet

Hey there, sports fans!
(Yep, a bit tired and overly cheerful today)

Today, we chose the most glorious carpet I have ever laid my eyes feet on!

Now, given the price and overall lushness of this carpet, we are only installing it in our room, the Study and the Lounge Room.  The kiddlies are having a much more reasonably priced (read, cheap) carpet in their rooms.

But look at how well the colours work together.  Back to my same/same, but different philospophy.  Similar colours, just varying textures.  Love it!

Of course, we started out just browsing, but figured since we had found exactly what we wanted, with all sorts of discounts, that we should just go ahead and put a deposit down.

So, that's another task checked off the list.  We just need to make a decision between bamboo, engineered timber and laminate for the main floor.  We've also been working on our landscaping plan over the last couple of days, but I'll share that in another post.

I hope you're all enjoying 2012 so far!!

PS: We also visited a puppy shop (as a treat for the kids after carpet shopping) but didn't make any purchases there!!