Still Moving.

We started moving in this Tuesday past.
AB is working 7days at the moment, so the routine is:

- drop off kids to school
- drive to flat
- up & down stairs until the car is filled
- back to house, unpacking, cleaning, washing, sorting
- pick up kids
- go to flat, lather, rinse, repeat
- ignore whining
- afterschool activities
- arrive home exhausted and realise I need to cook dinner.


But it's beeee-yooo-ti-ful! 
I just wish all these boxes would unpack themselves and the flat would clean itself.






There's still things to be done .. like my cupboard handles only all went on today, and the
sparkies were here yesterday doing things.  The splashback needs to be sealed,
and the bedrooms are sans carpet.

I love my Escapees cushion above.  Seems apt somehow..





Kids are spoilt.  We offset sharing the smallest bedroom in the world by putting a tele
on the wall for them to play their Minecraft on.  ( I am anti-bunk-bed after (a) having them
myself as a kid, and (b) having already dealt with a broken arm once in this motherhood,
I am not going to be tempting that kind of fate again..)





And for all those that thought it was a bit weird that my kids shared a QS bed, you'll be
happy to know they now have their own beds.  I love the red frames with their grey striped linen

Not sure what's the story with my kid staring at the tap.  He's weird.
Also: the under-bench kickback thingy yet to arrive..




And a pano after dinner the other night when I sat back and went
"I freaking love this house, how's the serenity?" ( ignoring the mess )

Removalists booked to get the last of the furniture out of the flat tomorrow.

Home Straight.

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Countdown!

It's been 6months!  The lease is up!  Time to u-haul home!


So, this was the weekend past:  we had lots of things to do, which meant staying past dusk
and getting to play with the lights ( ooh! )





As you can see, my stove is now in!  Bought cheap ex scratch-and-dent before the reno
ever started, freighted from Sydney sight unseen.  Phew, it looks ok ;)  I really wanted a
dual oven, but not a wall oven.  I'm looking forward to honing in on my suzie homemaker
mad skillz  ;)

Down the hallway .. my exposed brick wall is looking the goods, and the drum pendants
are perfect.  I had a cut out of those pendants blu-taced to my laundry wall for like 2years ..
luckily they didn't go out of fashion!






Finally .. my bedroom..

The WIR is now in, and the funky bedroom light that will make instant wallpaper patterns
on my wall.  Love.





Just the carpet to go in now.  I have picked a Carpet Court exclusive - the GAIA wool range,
and from that, the Rivers Collection ( go look at the names - I am a sucker for a good product
name and feeling *invested* ) .. so I picked the colour Swan.  As in the Swan River, Perth. 
Makes me feel all dinky-di and patriotic.  I had to laugh they didn't have a Yarra River to
choose from.  I probably would have picked it too.  The poor old Yarra gets a bit of a bad rap :/

I would have loved to have gone a loop pile .. but i'm worried one of my naughty cats might
pull at it when my back is turned and then I would cry.  So a cut twist pile it is. 
I can't wait to see it installed!


Today they are waxing my boards. I went with an oil/wax combo rather than your usual poly.
No idea how that will go, but I want the grain and depth of the wood to be cranked, and
apparently this will do it. The wood is still a lot lighter than I prefer it, although I know from
wood-bought-past that it does indeed darken with age and exposure to sunlight.

I want my boards to look like an old ship's deck, me hearties!


This is how it looks with just the oil so far:








Wacky angles due to me just sticking my head around the doors etc.
Very tasty!


Well, I can't believe we're finally here!
I kinda have to keep pinching myself that it's true!

xx

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Hello Deliciousness! x

I wanted to  title this post "Holy Sh!tballs"!  .. but then, i'm not crass like that.

Much.

Sometimes.







Actually, I don't like swearing a whole lot, it makes me wince to hear it.
But it lends impact at times, and I enjoy it as a humourous exclamation point.

In other words: it's ok when I do it, but if you do it...


( i'm a really excellent mother, my fave game being do as I say, not as I do )









But seriously, I went to the house last night and they were still at it hammer & tong ( note: no tongs actually witnessed ) until 5.30pm!  Normally I pop in after school and they are just cleaning up, or sometimes already gone.  I got these just as the light was leaving, and cranked the ISO. 

Smoke & mirrors.





I.freaking.LOVE.IT!





Lights!  Pendants!  Splashback!  Cabinetry!

Those blokes had it all goin' ohn, and it's starting to look *amazing*


Eep!

Every NO brings you closer to a YES

So i'm sorta getting there on the kitchen .. it's getting darker earlier now, so by the time
the builders leave I am playing with stuff in minimal light and the kids are whining for food.

Happy Space.






Pic 1.

Love the uneven tiling, and the colour is perfect.  Unfortunately, the finish I want doesn't come
in the colour I want, and the colour I want has a weird finish.  Working on it.






Pic 2.

Whever I see silver travertine in store, I drool over it.  Can also get my random lines of
thick/thin and differing lengths .. but when I get it home I think it's too wishy-washy and I
really need the darker contrast of above. 

Trying to source something similar in bluestone .. in a semi-polished finish. 
Have a sample of a ceramic that works to LOOK like bluestone, but the fakeness annoys me....






This is a perfect colour.  It's Graphite from Southern Splashbacks, in their Matrix range.
BUT, i've discovered I don't like the uber-reflectability of glass, and the tile patterns
are all uniform.


So .. where i'm at now:


- looking for an afforable stepped stone with a uniform profile
( not that jutty-out stacked stone you see in landscaping .. the ones above are flat-fronted )
and a polished front ( shiny, but not too shiny )

- the brushed steel under-island kicker is gone .. apparently you can do painted kraftboard
under the kicker, which means I can paint it whatever I like, and when I want to change it,
I simply do that. 
I freaking heart paint  ♥

- the pendants.  Which I love, but, depending on the splashie, may be wrongtown in tone. 
However, I figured I could make up a watery dye solution to darker/lighten/colour them
if needed.. which appeals because that also means I could colour them yellow or teal or red
if I freaking wanted, and it wouldn't matter, because hello .. paint! ..

Paint has always been my saviour..

The husbo would be horrified probably .. but hey, i'm not in love with many pendants
out there atm, and if I got ( for eg ) non-offensive, safe neutral white glass .. then that's it
for 10years or so, because changing kitchen pendants = at least $300 for new lights
+ a sparkie to change them.  That aint going to happen. 

I do like the simple 'nude' glass pendants out there atm, but know a few people that wished
they didn't due to kitchen steam/dust and they get incredibly grotty. 
Plus, you can't paint glass, can you.  No. 
So I think my concrete is more enduring.  For me. 

Even if you're horrified I might paint them..





Finally, it's a big splasie - vast .. needs breaking up.  I've *always* installed a rail or two
in every kitchen i've ever had, and this one will be no different.  I bought a couple of these
cute pots from IKEA yesterday to hang off them, like you can see in the pics above. 
I love fresh herbs and I love the pop of green.  I'll take them down when cooking,
but I like the thought of natural stone with natural living herbs.

Oh - and Tolix stools .. yeah .. dunno .. i'm unsure what all the hype is about?  
I don't mind the one I used above, and i'm not anti-Tolix .. I just think they're a little bit
overtrending atm?  A lot of people are suggesting them to me :)

I quite like these though:






I found them on Houzz. 
Love.

Double-Denim?

I mocked this up in Photoshop last night, using an i-phone pic of the stacked tiles,
a jpg of the cement pendants, and a rather careless blob of grey in place of the stainless
steel under-bench kicker.

Probably could have tried a bit harder there.

Also threw in the exact oven/stovetop ( it's a freestanding all-in-one job ) and a tap
that looks like the tap I bought.





The problem?

Wellllll .. it's hard to tell here .. but is there enough lift?

Friends on facebook suggested black pendants, but I am sooo in love with these. 
I also think the stacked tile suits the great expanse of splashback there.

( 10 minutes later - blogging in real time, folks )




Ok, so added some "stuff" .. perhaps I can break up the splashback by adding a couple of shelves.
Pretty impractical for herbs, but I like the green.

But I do NOT like the brushed steel.  It's very .. disco ... hmm ...  I think  it would be darker
than this??





Finally, above, I *LIKE* this .. BUT .. I think the splashback is DARKER, hence, do I need
the pendants to be darker??  Secondly, these pendants do NOT come in a darker shade,
which means a shop return and buying something else in black.  Which I don't want to do
( because these are soooo beautiful ).

I like the darker kicker....


You'd think i'd actually think about stuff BEFORE building a kitchen, huh?

Suggestions, and stockist advice most appreciated!!


xx
Lea

It's all about the Journey..

The problem with liking so much STUFF and having so much style on offer and at
your fingertips is that you could go one of many, many ways and still be completely happy. 

Or I could.

We could be Provincial .. we love that store .. wing chairs, whites and heshians,
crates and rustic things.  Beautiful. 
If i'd retained a shaker profile in my cupboards and dressed them with black knobs or pulls,
I probably wouldn't have had to return these beauties to Schots:




Nice, huh?  I told them if I bought another house and did another kitchen,
I would come back and buy them in a flash. 
I love black & white & beige.  Classic tones, sophisticated elegance..



But I went handle-less and clean lines..  that's considered rather modern. 
Am I modern? 
Did I think that far ahead? 

No, not really.. I kinda just .. do stuff .. and make things work. 
I'm more adept at *fixing* things and making bad spaces good than I am at planning
things from scratch I think. 

More experience, I suppose ;)






So it happened with the carcass went in, I realised the large black domes were not going to work.
Plus I selected a large black light for my bedroom and large black drums to go down the hall.

Overload. 


They also impeded my sightline when I entered the living area from the hall.  Too much.

So they went back. 

Look at these pics I took on my iphone throughout the day:






Unintentional, but it seems I have a mustard/grey thing going on. 
You can get all snobby and say that look was sooooo a few years ago, but then, i'm not here
to impress you, am I?  No I am not.  Besides, my mustard chairs are still going strong. 

The funny thing is, I wouldn't say I am really a fan of either mustard OR grey. 
But some things simply beckon...



So I went to Beacon on the way home and picked up the pendants 2nd on my list. 

They are made of *concrete*.  I love concrete.  I love the colour and texture and variations. 
As soon as I brought them home, I realised they were *perfect*. 
My house is starting to dress itself..







My tiles have all been wrong too.  I've got a stainless steel kicker under the island bench,
and I needed to tie them in.  Or change the kicker, which I could probably still do...
( pretty sure I can )

But I think i'm getting closer.  I decided again I needed a more matt look, some texture,
so the glass tiles, as beautiful as they were, are out.  I'm looking at stones now ..
and see that stepped stone thing my husband is holding up below?






Well, that was a bit awkward to carry, so the tile lady gave me a big tile to carry them on. 
I laughed and said 'wouldn't it be funny if this helper tile was the right tile?' .. and you know what? ..
it actually doesn't look bad in tone ( see above ).  It's semi-gloss, but it's BEIGE, pretty much
the same colour as the walls will be ( White Duck Half ) .. so that's boring ..
but it's also pretty and light.  I could add interest via tile shape maybe ...

The other option is the tiles my husband is holding up, but in a more slate colour
( these are a coffee colour I grabbed because they  were lying around as a return and
I mainly wanted to look at the shape of them ) 

I'm pretty sure this is what I will do.. ( have you heard that before? )


There will be downlights in the cupboards above to pick up colour at night etc.
What do you think?

A nice dark dramatic contrast .. or a pretty lifting palette?

Please don't think of things such as sealing or grout or oil splashes .. that's all ok..
it's more the shape of the tiles and the colour i'm interested in.. what would you do?

Also, on a final note, this is the image I have submitted for my loungeroom cabinetry/
fireplace/tele configuration.  
Again with the yellow warmth of the lighting and the painted greys ...  hmmm






I also wouldn't mind that view :)


xx
Lea