A touch of toilet whimsy - wall decals

I'm not quite sure why I feel the need for a touch of whimsy in my bathroom and toilet ... something about them being cold clinical boring sort of places that need a bit of warming up. Though during a heat wave I am thinking of going to sit in the bath (without water) it is soooo cool in there!

There is the chandelier in the bathroom ... and, after today there are wall decals in the toilet ... on the wall and behind the door ...I've actually had the decals for a little while, but was really worried about putting them up. I was hoping I could drag someone in to helping me as it looked like a two person type of job ... but since it is hot outside and I've got little to do today, I thought I'd have a go ... soooo easy!! I could take off the bits that went slightly in the wrong spot and reposition them.

I am really hoping that they have told the truth and they are easy to remove in a couple of years - pretty sure this is a fad that will go out of fashion, but I'm happy to spend $35 on something that might not last!! Pretty cheap for some art work ... now I know how easy it is, wonder if I can find something to go in the kitchen ... hmmm!!

I got these from www.walldecors.com.au the one below was a quote I requested and they made it up in the font/size I wanted.

Only visible when you're in the toilet ... behind the door (ignore the taps put on the wrong way around by the plumber!!) ...
"Believe, never lose sight of your dreams"

Christmas recovery

I've been holding off on more photos because everything is just sooooo nearly complete ... the differences wont be really obvious in photos, but I'd rather hold off on most of them until the bits that are missing are done.

The dining room is the closest to completion ... the only thing missing now is the curtain on the french doors (I have the curtain, just not the appropriate plasterboard screws to put it up!).

A photo with my brother's special wide angle lensDining room details (added because I hated looking at other people's photos and having no idea how to copy things from them!!):
Paint colours - emerald city (green); vivid white
Curtains: Warwick Grandeur Gold (to come for french doors are Pavia Ecru cream)
Window seat main cushion: Warwick Port Norris Gold
Cushions: Warwick Global Soft Chalk (cream); Warwick Global Suede Navy (blue); Grove Beach Houndstooth Gold (my favourite one!); plain gold was purchased as is from Make Your House A Home.
Mirror: from Moreland Auctions in Kilmore
Dining table: Cousin Clyde's!

Christmas day and the table is set ...

The yummy fruit terrine I made for Christmas dessert:It has the most delightful basil syrup for the jelly - making it so refreshing and not heavy.

The builders have taken the week off ... the electrician wont be back until the 11th (damn! wanted that aircon connected up - or even the fan!). Who knows when the kitchen guy will be back ... I'd really love some handles!!! The kitchen so far ...
My brother helped put up the prints near the window seat yesterday ... he's now disappeared back home ... muttering something about holidays shouldn't be hard work!! ooops!! Sorry!

The painter should be back soon ... then the outside will be done and I can put up the final photos. Some of the external doors aren't quite finished.

Someone asked me if it felt strange being in the extension ... it doesn't! It feels like it has always been this way ... it feels like HOME!

This space left intentionally blank

yes ... this blank space ...

... is for the kitchen ... hopefully not blank too much longer.

Hoping to pick up my new kitchen table today (an ebay purchase) - which needs some work on it ... given I've never done any furniture restoration (or destroying according to one of my friends, who is horrified I'm going to paint the table!) ... it could be interesting. I was sort of hoping to have time to do it once the builders have finished - then I can use my garage AND I wont look like a dill if I stuff it up in front of the builders :-)
Oh and the above photo is your first look at the floor that was finished last week ... the dogs love sliding around on it - I'll have to tell them off once it is all sanded and varnished!

The house is now actually at lock up (not just officially for the payments!) ... I have all external doors and windows in. The last door to go in was my pretty new back door.
One of the builders worked on Saturday (whilst I flew off for a wedding in Adelaide) ... and all the internal doors were put in ... the one below leads to the dining room. Painting is going ahead - kitchen still needs another coat but you can see the pretty green the dining room will be.


The dining room is the only room painted a colour - and it nearly missed out, it got a coat of Antique White USA before the painter was corrected. I think there was a mix up with the room names, and he thought the living room was the dining room (which actually could be a good idea!).

Interestingly I heard one of the builders saying the kitchen was going in Thursday - not the Tuesday I've been told ... and I can't quite work out how that is going to work, if the floors are supposed to be being done then. This week was supposed to be the week that I moved out so that the floors could be done ... I'll be hanging around until the last moment until I move - less trauma for the little animals!

I managed to get all my curtain orders in ... I should have the curtains for the dining rooms definitely - and the rollers in the kitchen are a pretty high chance, the romans in the kitchen are the least likely.

The builders themselves have some minor floor repair work to do, the skirtings aren't in yet, the window seats aren't in ... but they really are nearly done! Now for the plumber and the electrician to do their bit.

The door between two worlds opens

I've been living a bit of an illusion ... it has been as though the renovation is a house on its own ... not really connected to the part I'm living in. Two very different worlds ... but today, for the first time, the door between the worlds was opened ... we have connection!!

The door was quickly closed again to keep out the heat :-) ... but gone is my illusion of a separate existance ... and hopefully soon there will be even less of a difference between the two - they are talking about putting the floorboards in!!!


Today I came home to find many of the cornices installed ... below is the laundry hallway (with manhole or womanhole!).
The bathroom is looking closer ... the hold up on the bath is the tap company sending the wrong tap thingie (they don't seem to appreciate my re-naming of tap parts?!?!). Hopefully tomorrow they will live up to their promises and actually turn up with the right bit ... can't see why they couldn't have posted it two weeks ago ... the whole "customer care" thing seems rather silly if the care takes a whole lot longer and distrupts building!!

The last of the windows are in ... the kitchen sink window and the bay windows ... oh ... and A door. Note: only one door ... we seem to have a case of the disappearing doors. One day the french doors are there, the next they are gone ... I look in the morning and watch them install them ... then they are gone by the afternoon ... so far I think they've gone in 3 times ... and still no doors (not sure I really want to ask!!).


One of my very exciting pickups this week (it is like Christmas with all the boxes arriving!) ... were the fabrics for the window seats. First up is the dining room ... the gold stripe is Warwick Port Norris Gold for the main window seat upholstery then cushions in: the creamy one that is above the blue is a gorgeous soft fabric (Warwick ), the houndtooth one is Warwick Grove Beach ... and there is one more cushion to go - a bright gold one.


The kitchen window seat fabrics ... missing the main upholstery fabric which is a light blue ticking stripe on white, and one of the cushion colours is missing (because I haven't picked it yet ... going to be a solid bright red) .... the other cushions are: Hoad Torquay Claret (the apple green motif one), Warwick Toulouse Cherrywood (the red pattern) and Warwick Provence Marina (the blue toile). I LOVE these colours!!! So exciting to see them together ... can't wait to see them on an actual window seat!!

Slow going

Things are still very slow around here ... not many of the original crew working on site ... and days when no one turns up! The roof is at least on and apparently water tight - rain will tell!! Gutters are nearly done, some down pipes and I might start getting some water in my big tank. The plastering that was supposed to be done the other week ... hasn't happened.

The big thing this week was the arrival of the bay window roof bits ... I've been dying to see how they would turn out ... they look a bit smaller than I was expecting ... but they certainly do finish off the bay windows! Much prettier than other options I've seen.

Below is the corner of the french door to the kitchen ... the fun with the veranda has meant that the corner doesn't work properly ... it will be changed again from this ... hopefully I'll get a bit of architrave around the window - as it is going to look odd with the architrave being dark green.

Solar hot water system should be arriving tomorrow ... the joiner was supposed to come out last week and discuss the kitchen etc ... he still hasn't arrived. Christmas is looking more and more like a BBQ :-(

One post I missed doing last week was after talking to the interior designer ... we spent a couple of hours going through fabric choices ... a fairly difficult task, nothing seems quite right! I have decided on about 11 fabrics though!!!! Just got to hope they are all available now! I chose the colours for the curtains in the dining room, the dining room window seat ... and the kitchen window seat ... still to be confirmed are the kitchen curtains ... the colours just weren't quite right (it seems so simple ... just a shade of cream!).

After picking out all the fabrics (and not thinking too much about how much it cost) ... I thought I'd google the fabrics to put together a document of them all (and maybe share them here) ... didn't find many of the important ones so the others don't seem very relevant ... but whilst googling I found myself a bargain ... one of the fabrics which I need most of, I found on ebay ... the right amount of fabric ... and the cost for the entire amount was less than a 1/4 of what I was going to pay!!

I'm currently trolling ebay looking for the perfect kitchen table ... that'd be nice Christmas present to myself!

My storybook cottage

It is just sooooo pretty!! My not-so-little-anymore storybook cottage.

Above is the west side of the house ... to the left is the bay window for the kitchen, the center is the main kitchen bench window, then to the right is the dining room bay window. I do love the white (undercoat) veranda posts/window frames ... but they'll all go dark green to match the original - I know the white looks prettier, but ... I know I'd never keep it clean!

Above shows the kitchen living room new french doors, the kitchen bay window, then the dining room french doors. The veranda to the left is not quite finished yet.

They have started installing the "back" door ... the main door that will be used. The plan was to replicate the front door, which - other than some minor changes - it looks like it will be beautiful. That is my ensuite sitting under the veranda, very pleased with how that fits in (though the little window is a pain to open!).

The kitchen has its plumbing rough-in and electricals ... the bench is going to be over 5 metres long ... certainly beats the tiny area I had before! I can't wait to see how that window looks once it goes in ... it is the only one that is quite different to the originals - much wider compared to the height.





This photo shows the bathroom window - the bath will sit just below this, the vanity to the left of it. I'm glad all these decisions are already done ... nothing really left to decide in here except the light!










All the rough in electrics have been done ... so there are wires going everywhere ... and I'm not even having any fancy systems! I would have loved to go for the home automation stuff ... but that cost just was a bit beyond the budget. Hopefully the technology will become cheaper and I can look into it in the future. This photo is of the small side of the kitchen (the sort of breakfast area).


The only slight worry at the moment ... no builders for two days ....

So many things today, which is the most exciting?

After being out all day today I came home to many exciting things. So many, each turn around the house revealed something new! I think .... I vote the photo below THE most exciting:
OK ... so they look like boring floorboards (with a doggie foot!) ... I know I've nearly gone completely mad this past week ... buuuutttt ... this is the living room floor that I want to be floorboards, I desperatly wanted the original floorboards (the builder kept talking about putting in new ones to match the other new ones) ... and I had no idea what state they would be in, but there was a high chance they would be like this previous photo - of the kitchen floorboards - completely useless and in need of total replacement.
Instead I have beautiful floorboards that look in wonderful condition!!! Yippeeee!!! You can see the darker side where Black Japan has been applied ... I'd like the darker colour eventually for the entire floor. Hopefully, that also means that the hallway will have the same pretty floorboards that are useable!!

They've also removed the temporary wall that was put in the living room, opening it up so I can see its actual size and the impact of the wonderful french doors. I love this room!

I was walking around the house thinking "I'd just love to live in this beautiful house" ... and not too long until I get to live in the rest of it!

I didn't even notice a HUGE addition until a bit later ... you can just see it peeking behind there ....

Yup ... my big tank went in today!!! It is sooo very nice (not that I can quite work out where the water goes in ... but I suppose that's the builder's problem!). Very pleased with the colour to match the house/garage ... now for some gutters on the house so it can actually fill with water. The other tank is already 3/4 full!

You can see why I was so excited tonight ... and beyond the little things, there are lots of smaller things going on - like the architraves on the windows, more painting and more!!

Oh I nearly forgot another big thing ... all my bathroom supplies arrived! Not that I can really tell what the bath looks like when it is upside down, or the shower in its boxes ... but they are here!!!!

Ensuite frames and diggings

When speaking with the builder last week, he said that the frames for the ensuite were done, just waiting on that #&^%# building permit. Well ... I'd looked at the frames out on the lawn and there weren't any new ones ... so I figured maybe there was a bit of miscommunication. On the weekend (in actual daylight!) I found them!!! In the garage!!

People keep asking me if the old part of the house is being restumped ... this photo might explain why it isn't being restumped - because there aren't any stumps to start with!!! To the left of new piece of concrete the builders have put in, is an old piece of wood; then on the right are the bricks the house is resting on ... not much clearance under there!Here's the outline of the ensuite ... just waiting on concrete /plumbing etc! Maybe this week?

Below is my present to myself (not that a major house renovation and new kitchen aren't present enough!) ... I saw it at a garden shop near Castlemaine on the weekend. Many years ago I visited the same shop and saw a weathervane I LOVED ... I didn't buy it ... and I have regretted it ever since (of course, I've never seen anything like it again!). I dropped in on my way to Castlemaine, saw this gorgeous thing and thought "no, I shouldn't buy anything until the house is closer to completion" ... got to Castlemaine (yay, found handles for my ensuite vanity) and remembered the years of regret over the last thing I loved from there ... so on the way home I bought it!!
It is made out of a recycled oil drum - from Haiti ... yet to decide where it will live ... was considering in the kitchen over the oven mantle ... or maybe in the outside courtyard ... ????

Poor mouse is wondering where the kitchen went!

So there has been a mouse in my kitchen for the last couple of weeks ... the cats have had great fun trying to get it out (they probably brought it in in the first place, entertainment when bored whilst I'm at work). After last night, mousie is going to be wondering where the kitchen went!! Totally cleared out! Nothing to find at all!! A mouse could hardly expect that the nice kitchen they've taken up residence in, would disappear in an afternoon.

(OK, so maybe a good clean out would have been just as much help as a new kitchen!! And I did take the messy photo when it was truly awful!! Just so I could remember how I sometimes lived!)

I'm a bit surprised I actually managed it ... it seemed an unending job - MORE cupboards full of stuff, and this is from a tiny kitchen. Imagine what I'll be able to keep in my new BIG kitchen!!! At least in the new kitchen things will be on display more, so no back of cupboard hiding of things. I still think I could live off my cupboards for weeks. I was quite strict in what I threw out - anything that wasn't going to be used and would be past its use-by date within a couple of months - in the bin! I probably could have been even stricter - but it was hard to throw out things that were still good. When it all goes back into the new kitchen, I'll throw them then.

Amazing to believe that next time I have a kitchen it will have a stunning stove, a huge pantry, zillions of draws and a purdy kitchen bench! It's only a couple of months away!!

I'll have to keep reminding myself of that, as I live in my spare bedroom! I think I'm going to miss the kitchen sink the most. I'm not a great washer-upper-er ... and if it is that much harder to do and I've only got the bathroom basin, that's going to be VERY unpleasant. Might have to be very slack and use plastics and throw occasionally!

Last week the architect finally got the ensuite plans complete ... here they are! Not quite sure where I'm going to find the minature towel rail on the plan!! Especially since I'll need to fit in a light switch there as well.

House is nearly cleared out

The removalists arrived yesterday morning at 9am ... and carried out all the big pieces of furniture to the garage. It only took them 20 minutes, but something I couldn't do by myself! They were even nice and didn't charge me the minimum 4 hours I was told I would have to pay, they just charged me for the time they travelled and carried.

Note to self: move furniture more often ... what was behind it was sooooo revolting!! Under the fridge was seriously disgusting ... mice had obviously lived there quite a bit (safe from the cats)!!!! The rest was just icky dust. And it became more obvious why the house is cold ... I can see outside from between the floors and the walls ... brrr!! Will be so nice once it is fixed up and less airy.

On Tuesday I went down to the Grays Home Renovator Auctions ... didn't really buy anything, but found it fascinating. I've really wanted a fancy new fridge to go in the fancy new kitchen ... but could't justify one as the ones I want are expensive (ice maker maybe?!) and my current fridge works perfectly fine. Down there .. a massive Maytag fridge went for $900 .. new price would be around $5,000! So maybe a new fridge could be closer than I thought.

I managed to nearly complete all I'd planned for packing up by dark ... the builder had come through earlier in the day and said I didn't need to be out of the kitchen until after the weekend ... so I'll leave that pleasant task until then. Though the fridge is now living in the study (my new little kitchen/living/dining/ everything combined). Bit weird to get my breakfast by cereal in the kitchen then milk from the study.

I really wanted the place nice and quiet by the time I brought the cats back from the stables ... it is traumatic enough for them without me bustling around and acting stressed. By dark the floors were semicleaned, mess was moved away (I have a car load to go to the tip - it wasn't open yesterday). Little cats came into the house ... wandered around crying ... their favourite spots in the window gone, furniture in the wrong rooms ... nothing the way it was. Amazing how well they settle once you put them in front of a heater though!!

Today is the day I want to finalise the order for the ensuite fittings ... will probably order the showerhead from somewhere else as they couldn't match the price I'd found.

Builder was also having a whinge about the delay caused by the architect ... they are waiting on the septic permit which should have been done weeks ago. He also desperately needs that ensuite window. I finally got hold of the architect in the afternoon ... took three attempts to get the window in the right place (I'm not great with my left and right ... but I'm not the one making the mistakes!). I still haven't seen the finalised plan ... there was one more move involved! The vanity is bigger than I thought ... but I think I'll be grateful for the storage space.
The laundry hasn't come off yet ... Monday is now the new smash and crash day. I hope they set up my washing machine before then ... but it looks like I should play washer-woman on the weekend and wash anything I can find, in case there is a delay until they fit it in the other shed.

House is very echoey and odd with no furniture.

Weekend update

Two posts today - because I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to update the blog!!

What a weekend! It is amazing what you can do living on a block of chocolate and a pack of jaffa cakes!! The house is nneeeaarrrllly completely packed. Just those final small things that just don't seem to belong in any particular box.
I went to finally pull down the doors on the garage late on Saturday, after moving out lots of things, only to find that the doors did NOT stay down. Good to know they lift easily, but staying down is slight important too. I knew they hadn't installed the remote systems (because there is no electricity there yet) but I had assumed that they had made the closeable. Nope!

I rang the builder and he suggested weighting down the doors .... which was a good idea in theory ... quite difficult when you've got on one to help you. That dog of mine ... I excuse the puppy because she is young, but the older one ... you'd think he should have just been able to hold the door whilst I pushed blocks into place!! After a couple of attempts I finally got it standing on a step ladder to pull the door down, then holding onto the ridges (no handles) whilst moving bricks on to the bottom with my foot.

Much as packing up is exhausting, it is full of surprises and memories. I found lots of things that made me laugh, some that made me dance around the house being silly and then there are the sad memories of people past. It all has to go in the box or the bin. I'm hoping the recycle bin truck is REALLY strong this week ... I threw out tonnes of magazines and they are so heavy!

The builder stopped by on Saturday and we went through a couple of things ... I'd been sticky beaking at the frames out on the lawn ... I've got the wall to the kitchen and so much more. Very interesting to see how it will pan out in actual size ... laying flat on the ground they all look so short, but I took my measuring tape out, and they are fine. I was trying to work out the length of my kitchen bench (it's gonna be huge!) but part of that wall was missing - after having a bit of a heart attack at thinking it was over a metre less than I thought! I also measured up the height of the kitchen window - to find that if I have my kitchen bench at 900, plus a 100 splashback for the bench, then ... the window was going to be in the wrong place. Builder was happy to change it - it is a great thing about being here as it builds, better to pick up a window a little bit off now before it is installed.

We're still having issues with placing the new septic system ... I'm still refusing to have my garden dug up! I know there is an alternative - they're just going to have to do that. As part of it going where I want, they are going to have to take off the laundry from the back of the house to run the pipes. Doesn't make that much difference to me other than that is where the cat trays are, and I really didn't want to move them until the new ensuite is up and they get access to their enclosure again.

We're STILL waiting on the architect to come up with the ensuite window - it looks like I'll be living with a boarded up window for a while , not very pleasant.
Nearly finalised the order of fittings for the ensuite - just need a MUCH cheaper heated towel rail. I chose a smaller one than they had on their website - and it turned out to be more expensive! It is in a tricky spot so I'm trying for as small as possible. Most of them also look so modern, which just doesn't work with the rest of the house. The curved ones, a little better look, are, of course, more expensive. It will be so exciting when the order is done.

My mind is whirring - ensuite and design things!

So I'm looking through websites trying to find the right toilet (I always knew this decision was going to be one of the hardest - I mean really ... how are you going to know until it is too late and you're trying it out!!). The toilets I'm considering are all over the budgetted amount (but what isn't - unless I went cheap everything!) ... no idea how to choose finally!
Two I'm considering:
http://www.burdens.com.au/productdetails.html?pid=12&itemid=499
http://www.carseldinebathroom.com.au/featured-products/14-v-a-b-omnia-pro-toilet-suite

Not much price difference between the two that I've found from one place.

These are the taps I THINK I've chosen for the ensuite: http://www.dorf.com.au/default.asp?page=prod_view&p=2675.04 ... the final decision will only been known when I've actually bought the things!! Which will probably be only when the builder gives me no more fluffing around time.

I've been watching this blog - and I love these designers: http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/2009/05/skelton-harris-interiors.html (the black fire place kitchen shot - gorgeous!!! LOVE that shelf above the kitchen bench - oh, that's right, I'm getting one of those!!! :-) ) ... and the feel of this designer: http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/2009/05/david-kaplan.html

I seem to struggle to find images like those websites, in magazines - they all seem to be modern minimalism ... completely cleared kitchen benches etc - as if that EVER happens in a normal home!!

My aim for the weekend was to finalise the ensuite colours - I really want to be prepared when the builder needs my decision on the tiles. I know how my life gets and if the stores are only open from 8-12 on a Saturday, and I can't get there, then trying to fit in tile shopping is impossible!
I drove up to Bendigo to meet up with an interior designer from MakeYourHouseAHome. She had previously come to my house for a short visit and photo taking ... and boy had she done a huge amount of work since then. I was very excited to walk in to see a table laid out with swatches of materials, tiles, paint colours and so much more!

We went through each part of the house and I've walked away with nearly all the colours planned out for the entire house. I was just aiming to get the ensuite done!

The only remaining colour is the wall colour for most of the house. The one she had selected I liked, but once we'd changed the kitchen doors, it made the colour look really pink!! We picked out some alternatives, but need to see them in larger swatches before making that final decision.
I'm sticking with a lot of whites ... pretty boring but I figured the colours will come from what else is put in the room. Lots of Antique White USA!

Once we'd done most of the decisions we went through a tile and carpet store. I absolutely loved the idea of going shopping with someone who could keep all those colours in their head and have an understanding of how they would all go together. I just can't imagine them as anything beyond small swatches ... not walls etc! For the ensuite we had decided on a dark warm brown/grey floor tile and cream walls. The first tile store had nothing and it was decided I'd have to go alone to Melbourne tile stores (eek!), but then they suggested another local tile store we could visit on the way home.

So the very helpful interior designer came with me! Once again, we couldn't find the tile we wanted for the floor ... so a slight change in plans ... we're now going to go matching walls/floors in cream - and use a dramatic bathmat to add a colour on the floor. It makes that colour scheme very plain, but I'm quite happy with the idea of accessorising. We found a nice cream tile - that came in the right size and had both a polished version for the walls and a matt version for the floor.

Dining room colour scheme - existing chair with paint colours - the green is the walls, the white the skirtings/architraves/ceiling, the material is the window seat cushion

Laundy tiles in comparison to kitchen tiles - the laundry one is, maybe, appropriately called "Donkey Brown"!!!!

Decisions made!! I went to sleep very happy!!

Icy morning

Only -3 degC this morning ... frozen everywhere!

Was wonderful seeing things in daylight yesterday ... the garage is going up. Unfortunately they did some minor damage to the corner of the dog yard - allowing an itty doggie to escape!! Luckily she didn't run away, but gave me a fright to come home to see her running around.

Met with interior designer - she was very helpful - apart from asking questions which I really have no idea about! She wasn't able to stay very long, but I hope she got an idea of what I'm looking for. I'll meet up with her again to go through some actual colours etc once she's had a think about it.

Then I met with the builder - we need to get the architect to draw up a more detailed plan of the ensuite, and there are couple of changes to the specifications (windows that aren't going to work - on plan it looks good - but I don't want my vanity at knee height!).

Building permit sent off today for the garage, zillions of copies of all sorts of documents.

Hoping to finalise the tree removals today, chasing one more quote before I make my decision. Got to hurry that up, most have said within 2 weeks, but I don't really want them making a mess when the garage is supposed to be going up!

Interior designer is booked to come on Monday - to help with those decisions I don't want to do (or can't do!) ... tile colour?! who cares?! - not me, but hopefully someone else does!! Early decisions will be the ensuite, I've got a bit of breathing space until further decisions are required.