Silly Season

Well, silly season is well and truly upon us and let me tell you... I am exhausted!! Already!

This is the last 2 weeks of the school year and with all of the Ballet Concerts and breakup parties, swimming carnivals, Christmas concerts, gift buying, Birthday Parties, Nipper carnivals... (and that's just the kids).... I'm in need of a holiday!

We have had numerous 40ths, 50ths, weddings, Christmas Parties and not to mention... building 4 houses and renovating one and no I'm not complaining.... just stating that like pretty much everyone at this time of year, I'm bloody tired. 

I spent a few hours on site today doing a consultation and then walking through our house just thinking 'I LOVE this  house.... already'. I took plenty of photos however, after one Chivas I am ready for bed (at 8pm!), so stay tuned for the updates in the next few days. 

I have to say that even though the house is merely timber frames and block walls, it is taking on a most beautiful form and I just can't wait to move in.

For those of you who read my blog, but still haven't formalised our relationship... please officially "follow me"... so I know who I am talking to.  Also thanks for the positive feedback some of you have given me on the blog... I respond very well to a little positive reinforcement on the days that I feel like I'm stuck in quick-sand. 

xxx

another rainy day

OK the rain is really starting to get my goat!

Progress can still be made on my behalf with our house and client houses.  A. found a very sexy bath-tub which I won't show you just yet, as well as a very cool charcoal basin (possibly for the powder room).

This is the bathroom at Reece in James Street. I love it. The tiles are gorgeous! Texture, texture, texture...

I was a little peckish after a 3 hour client consultation so I wandered down to James Street. I love the Valley for house stuff... SPACE, Lumin8, ECC Lighting, Vanguard, Rogerseller, Eco Outdoor, Majer Tiles & Carpet Choice (just to name a few) all in one very small radius.  I even found some Street Art.

 The turquoise Hummingbird is my favourite

I walked past Cru Bar on my way to get my $12 Wrap & Juice deal for lunch and saw Collette Dinnigan...

 "Hi Collette... Sorry, I'm really busy doing house stuff, I'll catch you later"

I spotted these amazing Peonies. 

 This gorgeous birdcage is at Libertine Parfumerie

 This lamp was given to me as a gift. It's a Reader's Digest 'World Antique Spot Globe' and was bought at a garage sale on Bribie Island. I think she's a little beauty!

I love Bribie for its 60's vibe. My stash of Doilies came from an antique shop there. My in-laws live on Bribie in a little 70's Beach House and there are Retro Treasures all over the house.

Just thought I'd add a pic of my world famous Risotto.  I've been making this for many years & I have to say I've perfected it. I was super happy with myself for this one.

Hopefully the rain will P off soon and I'll have some building progress to report. 

Street Art

I Just love street art! I'd love to have some street art somewhere in the house. Otherwise a series of framed photos of street art on the wall. Here are a few of my favourites.

 These girls are all from Melbourne

 This is in Venice and is made from recycled cans.  Why have bamboo from Bunnings peoples, when you can have this as a privacy screen?.... and you would be helping the environment at the same time!

This groover is from The Cinque Terre in Italy. I LOVE that place!

Barcelona, Spain. Just outside our Apartment. We stayed there for a week in 2007 (it wasn't long enough). The place is positively oozing with Creativity and Coolness.

 This is our favourite little bar just around the corner from our apartment. It is called La Forquilla Voladora. We had just spent about 3 hours in Tappa Tappa Tappa trying everything on the menu and this bar was on our way home. It was the pink resin bar that caught my eye.
We stayed til 11pm after a few Caprioskas (it was happy hour) and the kids (then 6 & 5) drew 'Alien Monsters' on the footpath. It was the kids who didn't want to leave!

 La Forquilla Voladora By Night

 ...and by day

Upper Frames

We've had a few days of fine weather (amazing how much can be achieved in such conditions!)

The Upper frames are complete. It doesn't really look like a normal house... more like a series of boxes floating a bit off centre.  At this stage it's usually easy to picture what the interior & exterior of a house will look like however, I have a feeling that this house will only start to make sense towards the end of the build.

This box is the front of the house (guest bedroom and kid hangout). It will have black glass windows and large vertical helical fins. We saw the fins last week at Vanguard and they are quite impressive!  They are usually used on commercial buildings. When we bought the block it came with a concept front elevation (including the helical fins) and we thought it looked so sexy that we kept it as it was.

The big cantilevers in this house have been a challenge for our engineer.

This is a bridge that leads to the master bedroom. The bridge separates the kids & guest bedrooms and bathrooms from the master bedroom area and sits in the middle of a massive void above the living & dining areas (this is why light choice & placement here are so important).

 Left is the loungeroom and kitchen looking East from the deck and the right photo is taken from the bridge looking down to the kitchen. The room above the kitchen is our ensuite with a very large walk in shower.

Not a bad view from our bedroom! I stood right here for ages, not wanting to move. I think I'm going to move the coffee machine, bar fridge and my computer up to the bedroom. Look, I can even watch the kids in the pool from here so there's no need for me to leave the bedroom.

 Prosecco at Sunset anyone?

The Sugarcube

The house we currently reside in was built by us and completed 3 years ago exactly (what a long time to stay in one house!!). When it started taking shape my mum came to visit & said, "It looks like a big sugarcube!" and VOILA, the house was named! Thanks Mum.

There will possibly be a few themes, colours & shapes being carried over to the new House. We are actually extremely happy with how this one all "came together" ;)

The corner block appealed to us when we bought the site. We also have city views and river glimpses. We are surrounded by a mixture of modern and old houses. No doubt our big white Sugarcube upset a few old school Queensland folk however, we had done our fair share of bringing life and love back into some very tired colonials & Queensland homes and felt like we had earned the right to 'scar' the street with a touch of modernism.  The little room beside the pathway is clad with Marble.  It took us months and months to decide on this. It was a risk but we love it! The entire colour scheme for the house was based on this marble. I carried a marble tile around with me everywhere. We have since seen it replicated on a few houses in the area and if the idea came from us I'm flattered!

The garage and the house are separated by a courtyard and pool area.

We love our living area!

This lovely marble wall is our TV area and fireplace. We've chosen an 'Oyster' caesarstone benchtop to compliment the marble.

This photo was taken shortly after moving in (hence the lack of furniture & signs of life). It was styled for a Kitchen & Bathroom Magazine shoot and the readers like to see the finishes & appliances rather than 'real kitchen stuff'.

The pop-down outdoor video projector is kind of extravagant but we just wanted to give it a go as we had the perfect space for it. The kids love snuggling up with us on the lounge outside with popcorn & hot chocolate and watching a movie. The courtyard transforms from drive-in to dance floor when an 80's music video just happens to appear on the wall!

Our backyard isn't massive though plenty big enough for a small spring-free trampoline and several kids playing soccer.

The courtyard pool wraps around the house in the form of a lap pool.

This is the kids bathroom. Very simple with a heated towel rail and a natural stone wall. 

We have used grey sheer curtains throughout the house (with recessed double tracks). I would definitely use these again. I LOVE grey. I find it a very calming colour. We will also continue to use this flooring which is Blackbutt panels (peeled from around the tree). We have used this type of flooring several times now for ourselves and spec. houses and even though it is more expensive than a standard timber floor it is absolutely divine.

Our ensuite with natural stone tiles and caesarstone benchtop. We love these ovo basins by minosa.. you'll be seeing those again too!

Apart from the bookshelf this area virtually never gets used! If I had my way it would've been a covered deck instead. Aha.... you shall see how far my nagging went when you see our huge deck in the new house :)

More lights

These lights look great grouped together. They are copies of the Classic Tom Dixon 'beat' light in brass. I know it's probably wrong to buy a copy, but these are one sixth of the price of the original (and the large copy is one tenth of the price of the original).  If I can save money on these ones I might just get that Allegro light from SPACE that I'm lusting after?!

 Another option for the Kitchen perhaps?

This light is at Coco Republic, but I think I would look much better in our house! 

Perhaps in our study the reading corner in our bedroom. It reminds me of a lighthouse beacon, so I don't think it would look out of place in our bedroom overlooking the water.

Floor trusses

We now have floor trusses! 
The day I took these photos it was pouring.  We have probably had more rainy days than fine days since we started and considering this I think the house is progressing well.
The next step is flooring, then upper frames, roof trusses and then the roof....
All of the above can be completed in a week if the weather stays fine. I will be praying to the sun gods every night.

The upper frames are sitting to the left of the photo. I remember the day I walked on site to inspect the lower frames and thought they'd only completed half the job. Downstairs we have a bathroom, laundry, study and one open living & dining area...the majority of the 'walls' downstairs are windows and doors. Anyone know a well priced window cleaner??