I LOVE

Since moving into my new home I have had many 'I love' moments. I pretty much have them daily. I'm sure those of you who have already moved into your new homes know what I am talking about. And those of you who haven't yet moved in will know soon enough what I am talking about. 

Just 10 minutes ago I had one...an 'I love' moment. I love my walk in wardrobe. It's not huge but I love that I can walk in there to get dressed and that there is room for most of my stuff and that ...it exists really. I love my bedroom - my shutters, my lamps, my bedding, my furniture, my ensuite...

'I love' my outdoor room. Tonight we had my in-laws over and we sat out there for our first 'have people over for dinner and eat outside' night. It was lovely and warm so I turned our outdoor fans on low - cause I can and I love them. This dinner was particularly special because it was our in-laws who put up with us and spoilt us for 7 months whilst we built this house. It was particularly special because my father in-law has spent the last 2 weeks in and out of hospital very ill and it was just nice to have him here.

 Spot the difference? In the background of the pic below? I have a sore wrist tonight due to today's job...staining my retaining wall. It's charcoal to match all of the other timber around the house. If the weather behaves tomorrow I may get a second coat done.

I love that it was a warm, humid afternoon so I turned on the air con to cool things down a little. I love that my home it still really clean and tidy. I love my big open plan kitchen/living! I love that I still have plenty of places in the house to have fun decorating. I love that when my pool and garden are complete that I am going to love my backyard even more than today. I love that my kids love their rooms - I love my son's lava lamp being on every night when he goes to bed and that my daughter's wall decal reminds me of one of the most important jobs of the day.

I love that I have a whole summer ahead to enjoy my new home and entertain my family & friends - one thing I have missed terribly. I love that I still live in a beautiful location where we are surrounded by family and friends.

That is just a couple of my 'I love' moments. I could go on and on. What do you have 'I love' moments about in your new home? I'd love to hear.

As I mentioned, I stained the retaining wall today. DH filled a skip bin we had delivered. Our brickie guy poured a concrete footing for our glass fence. More work for us to do tomorrow between dropping both kids to birthday parties - Maya has a pamper party to attend and Connor is off to Hungry Jacks. Plus I need to visit my wonderful nan and parents (my dad started treatment for his illness this week too - great time with our parents at the moment - NOT!)

Thanks for letting me share my 'I love' moments with you.

Cheers

Kylie

Novice Needs Assistance

Ok, so this week I have turned my internet browsing focus back to the bare walls in my living room. And my need for an extra cushion on my lounge (and my need to book a holiday after all of this exhausting house building!)

So I need some advice. I really do want to put a mix of things around the place that give a casual summery feel. As mentioned previously, I purchased 6 prints from Driftwood Interiors; here are 2 of them (they are all different but similar:

 

Now I did look at fabric to stretch as wall art but I wasn't in LOVE with any of them enough to go through with it...yet anyway.

So whilst looking through my latest batch of mags I realised I quite like the trend of simply framing posters that suit the mood and look you are after. So I searched for vintage inspired posters and found this one and ordered it;

 Do you like it? I thought it was summery, the right mix of colours, French Riviera chic...and would look ok mixed in the same room as my coral pics. And this is a fairly cheap art option. And it seems a very 'in the now' thing to do...

And then I need advice for my cushions. At the moment on the lounge I have these:

Can I leave them there if I have the above pics on the walls? And I feel I need to add - probably up the other end of the lounge - another cushion that brings in my yellow. I have narrowed my search to about 57 yellow cushions...

So, do I need one? Which one? Plain to keep it simple and not clash with the pics or throw caution to the wind and really mix it up? Keep the other cushions? Here are a few of the options:

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I'll save further art decisions til after these pieces are framed and up.  I will be considering if somewhere nearby I can put a couple of black and white surf/ocean pics like these... (all found at 'Aquabumps' photography which I love)

Or I could wait til I get back from beautiful Noosa with some art treasures found there, which is where I've booked to go away !!!!!(although not til next Easter due to the house and $$$)

Enjoy your Friday night everyone. Please help me, I love hearing your suggestions and opinions. More hard work in the yard here on the weekend!

Cheers

Kylie

Cooking Up a Mess!

Thought I'd share a pic of my kitchen in action. Not terribly exciting but I had one of 'those' moments whilst cooking this evening when I found myself realising how much I love cooking in my new kitchen.

Now I am not the main cook in this house...DH is far better than me and therefore spends more time whipping up meals than me, but I do enjoy it when I am cooking something I am relatively competent at. Tonight it was my kid's favourite casserole, Beef Diane. Simple but yummy. I have on many occasions 'stuffed it up' but tonight my kids tell me it's as good as dads (they get dessert now for being so kind!)

We have gas for the first time - it has taken some getting used to but I love it!

Can be a bit messy, lucky it's the cleaners day tomorrow!

 My latest cookbook acquisition - can't wait to entertain this summer!.

I don't think I've shown a pick of the mess that is my front yard with the planter box and letterbox bricked up. I have booked the renderer but no doubt this weather will delay his anticipated start of next week.

Question: when rendered, do I paint it white or grey? The fence/wall on the other side (see previous blog pics) will be the western myall grey.

Plenty of room for plants in there!

 The LetterBox!  Again, white or grey?

 The JunkPile!

We have 2 of these wicker chairs. They used to be on our deck. The seat cushions have been recovered numerous times and they are still comfy. The latest covers my dear old nan sewed for me are these dark grey ones. I bought the material from Ikea on my last visit there. This afternoon I bought 2 cushions to go on them. (Excuse the mess, they are still in the garage until we seal the travertine on the outdoor area)

Plus I bought a glass lantern and candle which I will show when the outdoor area is all set up.

That's all for now. DinnerTime!!

Cheers

Kylie

Hard Labour

We've been slaving away all weekend. Stats: we have moved 13t of soil, a heap of turf, 18 bags of bark chip and attained some sunburn.

To be honest it doesn't look alot to show for all of that work. I guess it's because the bulk of the work is hidden beneath our lovely green lawn.

I finally enjoyed a few wines sitting in my now completed outdoor room - the travertine is now grouted and looks fab. We will seal it next weekend and set the furniture up properly. No cashola for new furniture out there but what we have will do just fine for now.

Tomorrow I plan to accept my render quote for the wall, planter box and letterbox, so that it can get under way. Hopefully Mr Pool Builder will turn up this week to do some plumbing and connecting up of the pump and filter etc. Here are a couple of pics:

This is Saturday's load.

Turf is on it's way! 

And this is what hours of work resulted in

The black mulch...not sure if I like it or not. I think when I stain the retaining wall (it will be a charcoal stain) it will look better. Plus when my mini plants grow and the greeness increases that will help too.



Down the side of the pool will be bamboo. I plan to order that this week. Plus where the bricks are, we will retain this with sleepers like the rest of the yard and that area has some more viburnum and some small grassy plants under a frangipani.

Another future project...I'll plant a small garden under the window. (not all of these plants are for there) 

That strip down the middle is not a mistake. We need to dig this section out and put a concrete footing for the pool fence. Hopefully that will happen this week. Once the pool gets the tick of approval, we will pave that area inside the fence (ratios and all that jazz)

So the next couple of days will see me on the phone trying to lock in the next lot of work. It is slowly but surely coming together but with the weather warming up, I really want the yard done! The frontyard is a whole other set of blood, sweat and tears!!!

Please know that I am still reading everyones blogs. I am totally frustrated at not being able to comment on how everyones progress is going, or answer to you lovely people who have commented on my posts. We have gone through the same processes as before when this has previously happened to me, but still no luck! At the moment it seems to mainly be surrounding my inability to sign out properly...any new suggestions? Maybe I should just write a post which is filled with the comments I have been trying make to you all...

Have a great week everyone,

Cheers

Kylie



Green Thumb

Friday did see my beloved waterline tiles go on...happy days. It is very hard to get a good photo of them, but in person they shine and sparkle and reflect their various colours beautifully. They are actually a turquoisey blue with copper swirls throughout them.

Yes they do still need to be grouted, but you get the picture.

We had 3t of organic mix and 1t of blue metal delivered. We ran out of the soil but did have enough to keep us busy for a couple of hours. We had to line the retaining walls and pop some ag pipe in too. We haven't mulched yet but the green in the gardens is lovely to finally see.

 So there you go, our efforts for the weekend. We will continue to finish it off as soon as we get the chance. Next up is project turf. We need a HUGE amount of soil in first to build the levels up and will then roll it on out. We also need to put in a concrete strip for one section of the pool fence to go into. Once the site for both house and pool have their final sign offs, we will pave and deck a couple of spots which we can't at the moment due to landscape ratio stuff. Silly really - we will have plenty of grass and garden left.

The tiler is due back tomorrow (and most of the week) to continue laying the outdoor room tiles and grout everything. I think the brickie will be back later in the week to do the planter box at the front.

Hope everyone has enjoyed the beautiful spring day today - more of this weather please!

Cheers

Kylie

That's Not a Wall...This is a Wall!

Well work has been happening around the place I am very happy to report today. We decided to go ahead with the full block/rendered wall. For the sake of a little more money, we decided to go the real deal with the wall. No sooner had we decided but ta daaa.... it's appeared. These show the view from the front:

Lovely mess to clear up!

It seems to make the block look extra wide!

And the following pics from the inside will also show you that our pool paving/tiling guy has been working hard.



To be honest, I had no idea how much work went into paving and tiling outdoor areas. He is a perfectionist when it comes to getting the levels all exact. He has some cutting and trimming of the coping tiles to do tomorrow (as you can tell from the above pic) and he plans to do the waterline tiles if the rain holds off (happy dance time - can't wait to see them!!) He has done the render layer on the outdoor room too and plans to lay those tiles next week.

What a difference a few days work makes! Tomorrow I will be on the phone to organise quotes for rendering the wall. We will paint it ourselves. We are having some blue metal and organic garden mix delivered Saturday morning so there will be some hard work going on here this weekend! I can't wait to stick some plants in the ground!!!!!!! Greenery...I am soooo sick of dirt! The following weekend will be turfing - really can't wait for that either. Plus by then our outdoor room should be nearly complete too.

My coral pics haven't arrived - hopefully any day now. I will wait to decide what I put with them once I see them in person and in the room. No rush - it will happen and my focus is outside at the moment - summer is a coming you know!!

And for anyone who's a foodie, my dinner at Otto was delish. Do these make your mouth water?

Deciding if I should drink the glass of $160 champers or glass of $170 champers first!! Very decadent night as you can see...and yes John Laws was there! 

Hopefully come the end of the weekend, I can show you even more progress pics! Hope everyone is having a good one!

Cheers

Kylie