Kitchen and dining pendant lights

So I couldn't help myself. I went to Beacon Lighting today and purchased these cute amber glass lights for our kitchen island bench

I also purchased this light for above our dining table

Inspiration and colours

So, whilst I'm waiting for my working drawings I'm finding lots of inspiration online (thank you Google image search). One major source of inspiration for me is the HomeOne Forum at http://forum.homeone.com.au/ I like following the builds of other people and getting some excellent ideas in the process.

Another source of inspiration for me are display homes - much to the annoyance of my husband!

I have attached some images of what inspires me and some images of colour sample combinations.

Below is the colour sample I'm thinking of for our kitchen. I'll probably change my mind in the next few weeks!

Laminex Crystal Gloss Palladium for bottom cabinets
Laminex Silk Gloss Sarsen Grey for overhead cupboards (or may do Palladium Crystal Gloss)
An ivory glass splashback
Osprey stone bench tops in 20mm
Wall colour Wattyl Flokati
Skirting, architraves etc in gloss white
Amber glass pendant lights for over the island bench (hopefully hubby likes these)
Tasmanian Oak solid timber floors

Below is the colours I'm hoping to have in our ensuite and maybe the powder room. Still unsure of the pebble vanity splashback. I may change this to round penny tiles instead.

Alto Ash 600x600 polished porcelain floor tiles
Laminex Licorice Linea Silk Gloss cabinets
Osprey stone benches in 20mm
Mini ivory pebble mesh tiles for vanity splashback
Wall tile will be the closest match to Flokati I can find in a 300x600mm size

I love the look of sheer curtains in the bedroom. I have attached a picture that I'm using as inspiration for our master bedroom window. I would ideally like these to be ceiling to floor. A double track system with sheer curtain on the front and a block out fabric behind, all on a cord pull system. Due to the location and size of our window I will have this opening in one direction so if they're completely open they will sit against the wall and leave the window completely exposed. The ceiling to floor and wall to wall length of the curtains will give the illusion of the window being a little bigger than it actually is.

I will leave you with one more inspiration picture for today. I have 3 large niches in the entry hall to the house. For the two niches on either side of the hallway I would like to have built in shelves similar to the picture below, not too sure about the down lights though. I will get this done after handover.

 

 

 

That's all for today. Thanks for visiting

Merry Christmas

Our working drawings should be ready in the next week or two. 

In the meantime, Merry Christmas everyone!

Final (almost!) floor plans and elevations

We have finally settled on our floor plans and elevations. The downstairs 'lounge room' is not really a lounge. The whole area is unfinished space but we would like to make it a habitable area down the track so we need it approved by council. The area is really Mr Royal's 'mancave' area. The area is his project to work on once we move in. We're planning on installing a bar and making it into a games area.

Main level

Basement level

The elevations...

The absolute final plans can be viewed here

Draft floor plans

Our 'almost final' floor plans... Slight tweeks have been made to this plan but no major changes.

Main part of our house is on the main level. The lower level contains the rumpus room and the two-way bathroom which was designed with our future pool in mind.

You can see from the site contours that our block (aka "the cliff") has a massive 9 metre fall from the front to the back of the block and an almost 6 metre fall from the front of the garage to the rear of the house. This has allowed us to build a double story at the rear with nice 3 metre ceilings downstairs. Downstairs is Mr Royal's area. He calls this his Mancave.


Main level floor plan:

Lower/Basement level floor plan:

The footprint of the house on our block:

We are desperately hoping to receive all the working drawings by Christmas so we can commence finalising all the plans and hopefully commence building in early 2013.

It's all downhill from here...

My husband and I have decided to build our new home. A home we intend to be our forever home. Are we insane? Probably.

Our 1000m2 downward sloping block was purchased way back in November 2007. We always had the intention of building in 5 years.... so now, here we are.

We have chosen to build with a custom design builder and we have recently finalised our floorplans and made some amendments to the electrical plans.

Now we are waiting on the rest of the working drawings. It's already 5th December so will it be possible to have our plans finalised by the end of the year... probably not.

Both of us are very keen to commence the build early in the year, in the hope that the house will be at lock up stage by winter. The builders expect the project will take 9 to 12 months to build so with a bit of luck we may be spending our last Christmas in our current house.

Stay tuned, subscribe and join us on our crazy ride.

It's all downhill from here....