37. Dreams DO Come True!

Ever since I can remember I have always had a dream to have a "library". 

Luckily Craig is also a Bookworm and so now we are finally indulging this fantasy.

Due to the shape of our block and house, we had a kinda "dead" space in the middle...we toyed with making this a store room, a robe. a TV/Theatre recess etc.  It is not very big, but could open onto the lounge or family areas...thinking ahead, the designer suggested this could be s suitable space for stairs if anyone ever wanted to add another storey on later. 

Craig and I seized this space for a "Book Nook"... (library sounds pretentious)

Currently our pine bookcases and piano fill up this space, but look a little sad and lost.

We wanted something big that would fill up the whole space, we also wanted white as this little nook has no windows or direct light.  We searched high and low for bookcases.  We found some gorgeous ones at Maison Living, Provincial Home etc  all over East but nothing that would fit the whole 3.6m and go to the 3m ceiling.

As luck would have it there didnt seem to be many people that would do custom made bookshelves in Perth...then we stumbled upon Gary Peakall from P'Que Timber Craft

http://www.handcraftedfurniture.com.au/

Gary is currently constructing our dream...but I am too impatient and excited to wait and hence the sneak preview. 

Let me tell you about Gary...he is patient, but he also gives too many choices!!! 

We have spent hours deciding door profiles, which routing to have on the shelves, not to mention the mouldings, shelf spacing and  knobs etc.  A visit to his workshop is like being in a candy store. 

Oh I do wish I that I had done woodwork at school! 

The easy decision was colour..we are going Antique White USA to match the skirting, doors etc.

Ok here goes:

The cupboards:

The door moulding (there are 8) 

 This is actually a picture of an amazing kitchen that Gary is building..drool drool.

The bookshelf under construction

With Craig, to give an idea of scale.

Detail of routing (Gary sends me updates..he knows how excited we are)

The almost completed bookcase, with door mouldings...sanding then painting to go. 

Painting has now been completed..lots of coats and by hand.  Not sure I would like that job, but I do love the smell :)

It looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle on the drying rack.

Due to the hot weather, paintimg has taken a little longer than anticipated.

Installation at the end of this week.

xox

36. Our First Year

Recently we celebrated our first year in our "not quite so new anymore" home.  It is fun to look back on the photos and see how far we have come on this journey from the block full of weeds to an almost finished house.  Our first year has certainly been eventful so we are looking forward to a more restful year to really enjoy our new space.

So what has changed?  Well the garden is coming along and inspite of the hot weather, everything seems to be thriving. 

Hmm maybe not the hydrangeas.  I grew these from cuttings (rather than pay $20+ a plant), we don't  really have an ideal spot (but I do love them) so I am going to persevere and hope that with a summer under their belt and lots of TLC they will toughen up.  I have fond memories of Nanna growing hydrangeas in Maddington, great big blue blooms.  They are also gorgeous in vases.

The vege patch has been productive.  We have enjoyed beetroot, eggplant, capscicum, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and chilli.  I am still not convinced that this little patch is productive enough to warrant the effort and expense though.  Perhaps a nice timber deck/daybed in its place??

We were very excited when our rear neighbour finally agreed to cut down the gum tree that was hanging over the back fence.  It was constantly dropping leaves, sticks, nuts, berries and flowers into the pool, which was annoying and expensive. (Nuts got stuck in the filter and we had to have it repaired)

The citrus trees are slowly coming along, a little too slowly for my liking but I am reluctantly learning to be patient. 

The groundcover/creeper that we planted underneath the citrus is crazy and grows before our eyes.   If anyone has a bare spot that needs filling...come and help yourself!

We trimmed the creeper (forgotten what it is called) back before the holidays...this is how it looked by January!

Trimmed back again :)  I even trimmed the citrus to promote bushy growth.  Anyone have suggestions as to what else we could plant here? (low maintenance, doesnt drop stuff, no invasive roots, fragrant)

The herb garden was going really well, until Lily discovered coriander.  She likes to eat it, lay on it and dig it up.  Very frustrating.

In September the first of a very few flowers appeared on the plum trees alonng our driveway.

  Whilst we were very disappointed with the show of flowers, the actual plum trees have flourished and are getting lovely and bushy. They seem to be happy in this spot as do the roses, this is nice as there are always enough blooms to pick to bring inside. 

These are Iceberg (driveway) and Serenity (front verandah) blooms.

Well thats our garden round up :)

A sneak peek at our Christmas present to ourselves, which may explain why we have spent most of the holidays being lazy at home (oh, plus my broken hand means I am "incapacitated" and had lots of appointments)