We're In

We are finally back in!  It has been an epic adventure which some days didn't ever look like ending, but now looking back it also went by in the blink of an eye.  I realised how long it had been when the kids were less than thrilled to get back home.  At the ages of 8 and 10 a year is a long time and the prospect of leaving the lovely clean, neat house in Port Melbourne to move back in to a dusty, partially completed house that is full of packing boxes was not greeted which much enthusiasm. 
I can't really blame them although their forced cheer did little to alleviate the sheer drudgery of moving.  

I finally completed the cleaning of the Port Melbourne house on the weekend so can now concerntrate fully on our place - although how the hell we fitted soooo much stuff in a home half the size is completely beyond me.  Especailly considering a lot of culling was done when we moved and is still going on as we open box upon box of stuff we really could do without.

So far I have managed to partially set up the kids rooms (although Gidget did most of hers - and Moondoggie did nothing!) and the kitchen is functioning nicely.  I figure if I can keep a couple of areas in some semblance of order than I will not go completely mental.  

Yesterday we even managed to hang a couple of pictures which has made it seem much more like home.  The Ladies have found a new home in the kitchen, very pleased to be out of the hallway and where the action is.

There is still a shelf to go up under the Ladies which should happen in the next couple of days but essentially the kitchen is completed. 

 

Every so often Surfer Boy and I look at each other and grin like loons  - finally we are back home where we belong.

House Update

 

This Week's Happenings

There are many reasons why I dislike Winter but I now have a new one - by the time I close the shop in the evening and get to the house it is too dark to see what has been done that day let alone take photos.  It's very frustrating.  I finally made it down there on Saturday in the daylight and here are some of the changes this week...

The kitchen is taking shape.

Not only the cabinets are in but my beautiful bench top has made it's way out of Gidget's bedroom to where it belongs.

 

 

They have begun to lay the flooring.

And my darling husband who hates painting has been furiously undercoating the ceilings so the electricians can install the downlights.

We had a visit from some of the cousins and they gave it a hearty thumbs up - mainly because the boys thought all the mud was 'cool'.

Herbs

 

I am not a huge fan of cooking but I do love the idea of fresh herbs in the kitchen.  This is due to a love of gardening as opposed to a love of the culinary arts.

With our love of a timber and white colour scheme the addition of greenery is always welcome.  It turns out there are lots of ways to incorporate herbs, from the weird to the wonderful.

Has anyone else heard of sky planters, and if so would you recommend them?

 

Sky Planters

The Kitchen

Surfer Boy is doing all the cabinetry in the house and for the past week he's been working on the kitchen and bathroom cabinets.  We roughed out the design for the kitchen together and then he wove his Surfer Boy magic and turned our scribbles into proper mathematical plans that actually fitted.  He then took these plans to a wonderful company called Kitchenbox.  These guys turn your plans into reality - in our case we gave them our specifications and chose our finishes and they produced our kitchen in lots of lovely pieces that Surfer Boy is now putting together in to what will hopefully be a fabulous bank of soft-close drawers and cupboards. (oh and doing it this way costs about a third of what a Kitchen Company would charge)

I keep teasing him about his 'Ikea' kitchen and checking to make sure he has his elan keys with him which is driving him bonkers.  These are 'real' cabinets apparently.  They don't look like much now but I have every faith that soon they will evolve in to an interior delight.  It's bizarre as a lot of the decisions were made so long ago that I have no memory of details.  A friend asked me what finish our cupboards were - vinyl wrap, laminate etc - and I honestly have no idea.  I am assuming that when I made the decision I was happy so I'll just keep my fingers crossed.  I do know they are white, which really shouldn't be a surprise.  Neither of us remember ordering soft-close but what the hell, we'll take it as a bonus.

 

We've now moved on to thinking about the top of the Island bench which will be timber.  It's rather large for an island as it is 1200 x 3000 and I opted not to put a sink in it so it is rather a glorious expanse of bench top.Yesterday we went through S.B.'s stash of reclaimed timbers and chose some beautiful lengths that will now become our bench.  We are using oregon beams that began their life in a wool mill in Collingwood, Melbourne.  This Mill became 'The Mill Rockclimbing Gym' in the 90's and as such was quite a big part of our lives back then.  S.B. and I used to go there once a week with friends to climb and it holds strong memories for me of our early dating days.  I'm thrilled that once again a major part of our home will have strong associations for us. 

The Foy and Gibson Wool Mill began it's life in 1895 and we were rock climbing in it exactly 100 years later - how amazing.  It also makes me wonder just how old our oregon is!  Below is a photo taken in 1921 with the trucks lined up ready for the Toy Fair.

Amy's Kitchen

Surfer Boy and I have been finalising some of the details of our kitchen as most of it will be made by us (when I say 'us' I mean him while I watch and provide encouragement)  I'm not a huge fan of the whole cooking thing so as long as there is a spot for take-away menus and a freezer for icecream then I'm pretty much sorted.  Here are some images of Amy's kitchen that I held back from the previous post as I thought they deserved one all their own. 

My Tap

Previously I posted some of the kitchen taps I had fallen in love with.  As you know we had a successful trip to  Masters where we managed to chose all our tapware  but we made the decision to splurge on the kitchen tap  and get my dream bridge tap.  When I looked into them here in Australia I was astounded to find that they were over  $1200.  I naively had thought around $400 would be a splurge - apparently not!

I was deflated for a while but figured there must be a more cost effective solution.  My journey led me to a plumbing supplier in London who sold my tap for 95 pounds.  Bingo.  I had figured that as they are English tapware they must be cheaper over there and I was correct.  the next problem was that they didn't deliver to Australia so a quick call to Mum and she set me up with a friend of hers who was willing to have the tap delivered to her and she would post it on.  Perfect.

I ordered the tap, within days it had reached my 'go-between' and was posted on to me.  For the last couple of weeks I have been patiently waiting for it to arrive and this morning it came.

 

What a great start to my day.  I think part of me had thought it would never come.

It is exactly as I hoped it would be so I have spent the morning gazing at it, and feeling rather pleased with myself. (the pic only shows the top of the tap)   I got my tap for a grand total of $320 - quite a saving.  Now we just need a kitchen to put it in!

So Much to Love

Kitchen Stuff

Surfer Boy is intending to make the stools for our island bench but today a wholesaler visited at work to show me a range and I noticed these metal stools - not what I was supposed to be looking at as I own a children's store, but apparently I can order these too - love wholesale shopping... 

I have also fallen for these metal bins that I am determined to fit into my kitchen!  Perfect - one for recycling, one for rubbish - now to find a spot for them.

Kitchen Tiles

 The design I have fallen in love with for my kitchen tiles is unfortunately not a tile but a piece of material!  This is a problem but not one that can not be overcome I am thinking.
Surely there is a way I can make this work....
I have tossed around a few solutions - material behind clear splashback glass.... it comes as wallpaper so maybe apoxy over the paper.... Photograph  it......

As I thought, there is a solution to every problem.  It turns out you can have tiles custom printed!!  Choose your tile, upload your image and away you go.  Fan-bloody-tastic.

Now I just need to know if anyone out there has had this done?  Does it work well?  Is it astronomically expensive?  do I need permission to reproduce the image?  Thoughts please people.

Small Problem...

Our fabulous new fridge arrived this morning - delivered by a lovely man nice and early so I wouldn't miss any work.  So far so good.
Turns out it doesn't fit through the front door!!!

And no, before you ask, it doesn't fit through any other door either!

R.I.P. Fridge

I think we must have put the evil eye on our fridge as it has suddenly decided it doesn't have any interest in being cold any longer.  Surfer Boy tried to weave his particular brand of magic but to no avail - he got the freezer working again and although the firidge is now cool it is far from cold.
Looks like we're making a purchase tomorrow.

I'm leaning towards the side-by-side variety due to our family's unnatural liking for ice-cream.  We never seem to have a freezer big enough so, short of getting a seperate one, this may be the answer. 

I've also decided that I want my fridge to be white.  If I can't have an industrial fridge (lack of space) then I want a white one, that can handle reams of artwork and birthday party invites without hindering it's mojo.

I think this one might be the winner..

Still Searching

For the perfect fridge...
Is it just me or is this fridge particularly full? I don't think I have ever had this much food, especially all those massive cuts of meat!
Perhaps if I too wore my heels while cooking dinner then my fridge would look like a cornucopia.

Kitchen Plans

My job this week is to lock in how I want my kitchen to be configured so I've been pouring through my files of photos to see what inspires me.  Judging by these shots that I highlighted I'm clearly heading back towards a predominantly white kitchen.  There was a while there when I toyed with the idea of lots of dark wood and rich colours but obviously I'm not quite ready for that yet.... maybe next time.

If you have any thoughts on drawers versus cupboards etc. please share.  I'm sure there are some fabulous storage ideas out there so don't be shy.... I need your brilliance to help me.