Slowly, Slowly, Slowly

Our house plans seem to have come to a rather annoying standstill  - still waiting on the preliminary working drawings so we can then submit them to the designer for estate approval. We also have to get a 6 star energy rating and structural engineering report - money is just flying out the window at this planning stage with all these extra paperwork requirements you need when building a custom home!

 With only 3 short weeks until we move and 4 until our house settles we were really hoping we might be closer to making a start. Hoping we might see something on paper this week but by my calculations it could still be a good 3-4 months before anything happens - fingers crossed I am wrong!

I have starting packing - but very slowly with a box here and there - it just feels very overwhelming so I tend to ignore it which is terrible. Perhaps I will find the stamina and get stuck into it a week before - I tend to work better under pressure so I think that's what will happen! The home we have now is around 40 squares with  4 bedrooms, study and 3 large living areas whereas our rental while we build is only 3 bedrooms, study and 2 much smaller living areas ( one which will be my photography studio) plus the backyard is the size of a courtyard - will be an interesting move trying to fit everything in!

Next week I catch up with our colour consultant to choose the final colours for the house. I was leaning towards a grey and white house but now I am thinking of something in beautiful soft tones like this image below but perhaps something with a little more contrast - hoping to have a better idea next week

Our house will be similar with weatherboard detailing, rendered facade and thick square posts on verandah

The start of the many many boxes I wil have to pack - these would you believe are just my house magazines! ( and I threw so many out!lol)

Bathroom Fixtures & Fittings

We spent quite a few hours last Friday at Reeces trying to choose our bathroom tapware and fixtures.  We had to bring along the three boys as it school holidays - they were great actually for the entire time and just sat in a corner with their various hand held gadgets ( thank god for those!) We really didn't take too much notice on the actual pricing and just went with what we liked - of course now this means another trip to Reeces today to try and shave off a little and get the budget back on track! The house does have a large ensuite with double vanity and basins, main bathroom with double vanity and freestanding bath, powder room and then another main bathroom in the studio. Not to mention sinks for the kitchen, laundry, butlers pantry and tapware for all three areas too.   Even though hubby is a plumber and receives everything at trade prices bathroom fixtures are super expensive and this still doesn't include the vanities which will have to be custom made and all the shower screens! We did go lux on a gorgeous rainhead shower for our ensuite and a very expensive tap for the kitchen ( after ensuring my builder that no I would never spend that much on a kitchen tap - sorry!!) 

Off the the Home Show tomorrow in Melbourne with hubby ( child free this time) - hopefully we may get a few more ideas

Nicolazzi Kitchen Tap - may also look at the Perrin & Rowe ones too as they seem to be very similar

My inspiration for our ensuite

These are our basins for both ensuite and main bathrooms -  they will sit in the vanity - we choose everything that had a slight curve to lessen the hard lines

Freestanding bath for boys bathroom - looking forward to soaking in this!

Tapware for basins - once again rounded edges but still modern. Going to try and find a cheaper alternative today as these were quite expensive and we need 6 of them

Exterior Colour choices

Part of our planning approval with the design architect  involves stating exactly what colours we are planning to use on the house aswell as a complete landscape plan. They also need to know driveway choice, paths, gates etc I wasn't exactly expecting this so I am a little stuck!  I was thinking that when the time came I would break out a few sample pots when the house is already up and ready for painting and do it that way. Choosing a complete colour scheme at this stage seems rather hard! Hubby and I drove all around looking for some inspiration for roof colours  which I think we have decided on but the rest is a big question mark.  Our house is so long and the paintwork will be such a feature as it has not only render but also weatherboard feature details  so I have decided to hire a colour consultant to get it right. I do know we want the roof in Colourbond Windspray and the rest of the colour scheme in soft tones but with some contrast.   If anyone has found a beautiful image or has any recommendations for a great colour please let me know - any help much appreciated

Right now everything seems to have slowed pace with the house plans with both the planning architect and our architect on holidays for 2 weeks ( how dare they!lol) .  Starting to feel the pressure with only 6 weeks until we move into our rental  - I really wanted to be in a position to get started by September but by the time everything gets approved, working drawings are done, quotes and contracts made let alone the time it will take the council to give us a planning permit I will be surprised if we even start this year! Fingers crossed things start moving again for us soon

Would love a gloosy black front door!

All images can be found on my Pinterest board