Our New Home

Monday, 28 January 2013

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)

Thursday, 4 October 2012

35. Ten Months and Counting

Wow I can't believe that I haven't updated our blog since March!!!! Actually I can, life has been pretty busy, hectic and crazy. Blogging hasn't really seemed that important. Anyway, I am now inspired for a few reasons:

a) I found a stack of pictures on my camera
b) We had visitors recently that remarked how they couldn't believe we had only been in the house such a short time ( we kinda forget how far we have come)
c) We are really enjoying watching Murray and Julie's house progress via their blog
d) We are on holidays and for the first time in so long we haven't had hundreds of things to do and so have just enjoyed being in our home.

The family room was looking a bit bare so Craig and I searched for something to break up the long wall.

It has to be at least 4m long, not too deep or busy and with a bit of colour.

We have had a mixed reaction but we think it does the trick.

Another development during July was the wallpapering in Niki's room.

We bought the wallpaper online last year (Norwall- Tuxedo) We were able to source the paper from a supplier in America at a great price. (Discountdecorating.com)

Poor Niki had been very patiently waiting to get her feature wall done, which we did as a suprise for her birthday.

Niki had Uni on the day of her birthday and so as soon as she left, we called the decorator to let him know "the coast was clear".

He was here within half an hour and finished about 4 hours later. We resurrected her room just in the nick of time (excuse the pun).

We have added a few more pieces here and there. Our house is feeling very mch like OUR home now.

I did try to grow herbs in this planter, with no success, I guess they didnt get enough sun. The herbs outside are growning well so I am cheating and trying indoor plants.

The washboard on the wall was a "find", it was hidden in a cupboard that we were looking at in an Antique Store and the tin sign was a recent purchase on our girl's trip to Melbourne.

That's all for now, next I will try to show our garden progress.

xxx

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

34. Almost Done

Well we have been enjoying our new home for almost 4 months now and are onto the last few jobs outside.

The final boundary fence was completed last month and the garden down the driveway garden has been planted.

BEFORE

DURING

(Craig and Jan chatting down near the road)

AFTER

We have planted Crimson Spires (flowering plums) with iceberg roses in between.

The poor spires were so happy to finally be in the ground that they are already sprouting like crazy.

Out the back we have been busy installing the pool fencing.

Last weekend Darren generously donated his time and expertise to build a pergola outside our bedroom. This is on the west side of the house so gets afternoon sun.

The pergola should provide a little protection but will also enable us to plant a shade garden or fernery just outside our bedroom. I do miss having a garden for shade loving plants.