Sign here…and here…..and here

Today has been a big day, we finally chose a builder. We are very happy with our selection but it was a close race right to the finish.

The builder we have chosen will apply a more collaborative approach to help up come in under budget (hopefully a lot under budget because I’ve like to be able to afford some furniture!).

The gorgeous palm trees come down tomorrow, which is sad becasue we will not have their beautiful stippled light in the back yard over summer, but it;s necessary for them to be out three months before we start so the earth has time to settle and rehydrate. So at this stage the start date looks like early Feb for the ensuite and end of Feb for the rest.
Contracts should be signed before Christmas, how exciting!

Pier Post – Outdoor Shower

We live about a 10 minute walk from the beach, and so far in the 18 months we have lived here we have been swimming maybe three – four time.  I guess once the kids are a bit older they will force their “I don’t like to swim” mother into going more.  So with that in mind we think we should get an outdoor shower so the kids can wash off (and I can wash my feet) before coming in the house. We are in research phase of this and thought I would share my ideas. I do like the style that is all ready to go, on a shiny new post and can essentially go anywhere like this one.

But I would like to do something a little more rustic, my idea is to get an old pier pole like the one below, I got a price from a place in Richmond of 100per linear meter, and attach a shower and tap combination like the one shown.  If we have them over the path the water should run off into the garden or the storm water.

I know this isn’t an original idea, and I’m sure I have a photo of one in one of the many magazines I seem addicted to buying (I wonder what I could have bought with the money I spent on them?)

Until next time, SEEYA!

Shopping with an numbers man #1

Often my husband (the numbers man) and my taste clash and my expectation of money available to spend are far different from his.  Hence endless searches on ebay for unique items that make our home perfect.  I have yet to purchase a single thing for fear of it not suiting the house, it not fitting or simply not having the room to store it while the renovation happens.

Yesterday we (the numbers man) and I got to have a rare lunch together in Bridge Road Richmond, how lovely! Across the road from the cafe was E.J. Ainger, an auction house filled with antiques and rarities I just die for! I manager to convince Numbers Man to pop into the auction hall to check out things for the next days sale. He said “why are we going in here??” to which I replied “because I’ve always wanted to and your not in a hurry today”.

We;; you could have knocked me over with a feather when from the other side of the shop I hear him say “hey come and have a look at this!!” He had found the most beautiful hand carved Monk Bench, he thought it would be perfect for the hall, where I had in mind a church pew.  I fell in love with it and couldn’t believe how spot on his taste was for this item.

As I couldn’t be there on the day of auction I put in an absentee bid and will find out tomorrow if it was sucessful, fingers crossed!!

I will go back next week, there were plenty of other things that caught my eye, too bad I didn’t bid on these gems!

http://www.ainger.com.au

Builders are briefed

Yesterday the last builder received a set of working drawings to quote on. In total there were five builders, but we have already discounted one because he was an negative idiot!
The second builder (one of our fav’s) noticed the designer had put 3m tall windows in the back room with 600mm top windows, so they reached from floor to ceiling….WTF! We felt like a couple of duds as we had not realised that, it is certainly isn’t what we want. So we had to redesign all the windows and let the builders all know about the change. It should bring the cost down considerably.

and now we play the waiting game…. quote take around 4 weeks to complete, and given our level of experience I’m sure my brief is full of holes that they will need to fill, so big few weeks back and forth emails.

I can’t wait to find out how much this is going to cost, nervous too!!

It’s the little things…

What do I long for, really it’s the little things.

I want ….

1. to have a laundry bigger than a postage stamp (currently 1.5 x 1.3m)
2. to be able to open the dishwasher and fridge at the same time (currently impossible)
3. to be able to open all kitchen cabinets (one next to oven only opens 20cm)
4. To have room in the kitchen for everything to go away (it’s an Amish heaven with everything hanging up)
5. to go into my son’s room to check on him before I go to sleep and not smell tonight’s dinner (curry).
6. To have more than one inside toilet (not ideal to say the least)
7. To have the dryer inside the house (Stored in the bungalow…oh I mean guest house)
8. To have friends over and not be stuck in the little kitchen away from everyone. (the cleaning part is the worst, everyone is having a good time by then and I need to leave to pack the dishwasher, and hope no one wants anything from the fridge!)
9. to let my kids run from inside to out side while still in eye sight
10. to be able to hide away my office mess (Organised chaos)
11. to have my parents and in-laws stay over inside the house, not in the bungalow. (then they can get up with the kids at 6.30am on the weekends)
12. to drive up a smooth driveway (it currently feels like we are going off roading).
13. have a shower without getting water all over the bathroom (slipping on the beautiful lino floor is a constant hazard).
14. have a bath that I fit into  (I’m not huge, it’s just a small bath)
15. to have somewhere safe to store the pusher that isn’t inside the front door.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture, and if not here is a picture….

Pendant Lighting for the kitchen

I found a pic in a mag that I love, I’ve contacted the supplier to get a price which I hope comes through next week. What do you think? Keep in mind the ceiling height in the kitchen is 3.65m (12ft) so there is plenty of room to make these a feature and not upset the effect of the high ceiling.

UPDATE: Price in for these, $1150 each….WOW!

Great Pendant Lighting