One Year On

Ive been meaning to write this post for a few months now but life just seems to get in the way!  On October 17th, 2015 we celebrated one year in our new home. I can't believe its been 12 months since we moved into this beautiful home - time has just flown. We are loving living here and its been really lovely to see how far we have come in 12 months time  - its now starting to really look like a home.

We still have alot of landscaping out the back to complete and our deck area and lounge room still needs redecorating which we are currently working on now ( hope to share our plans with you soon!) but its nice to still have some projects on the go - life would be rather boring if you moved in and everything was perfect.

You always feel like you are never getting to where you want to go but sometimes you just need to take a little look back to see how far you have really gone

Lets have a little look back on our building journey in images

Our block just before building started in 2013

The house in planning stage

I remember we were so excited when work started!

Concrete footings taking shape

Sub floor

Starting to take shape during frame stage

Roof went on

Back of house

Bricked up and weatherboard details in

First coat of render and front verandah going in

Inside boards are laid and our gorgeous kitchen goes in

Fire place goes in ( note hubbys fire already testing it out!)

Front door gets installed

All rendered, painted, garage installed, driveway in

Entrance almost finished

The day we moved in!

And now as she stands today - what a difference! We still have alot of landscaping in the back but do have plans for a large barn type shed and maybe a pool and weatherboard pool house. Its a 5 year plan in the backyard as 1/2 an acre is a huge and expensive job!

My photography studio which is located on the left hand side of the house is a dream to work in - my business has been so busy since opening last year!  Its such a beautiful space to work in everyday

Garden taking shape in its second Spring

Back top level finally has lawn! Just one more garden bed under windows to complete

Outdoor deck area now needs a good clean, restain and some decorating and should be beautiful this summer!

We also just recently added to our family with Miss Millie - a little playmate to our other King Charles Cavalier, Charlie- isn't she just the sweetest!  And I am so happy to have another girl in this house as we are rather outnumbered  :)

Oma's German Apple Crumble Cake

My gorgeous Grandma who is currently 94 and only went into a nursing home this year has been a beautiful and wonderful person in my life.  My sister and I have so many fond memories of staying at  my grandpa and grandmas house and being fed wonderful food  - she was such an amazing cook and her food was just so yummy. Some of my favourites were her famous potato salad, chicken schnitzels, and her array of amazing cakes. One of which is her apple crumble cake.

As she became older she hasn't cooked for many years but with the help of my mum we managed to loosely note down some of the recipes. I can't quite master it like her but its pretty close. This cake is one of my own children's favs - they call her Oma  and she loves them dearly so here is her recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

OMA'S GERMAN APPLE CRUMBLE CAKE

Cake Base

100grams butter 

1/2 cup Castor sugar

2 eggs

1 cup Self Raising Flour

Splash of milk

Tin of pie apples ( large)

Method

Melt butter and cream sugar. Mix in eggs. Add sifted flour and a little milk. The cake batter needs to be a little stiffer then a usual butter cake recipe. Pour cake batter into a lined round cake pan.  Drain tin of apples and add a thick layer on top of cake batter

Crumbs

75grams of butter

1/2 cup of Castor sugar

1/2 cup Plain Flour

I packet of Hoyts Vanillin sugar ( this can be found in the spice isle in Safeway/Coles - it s a small yellow packet)

Method

Melt butter, add sugar, flour and vanillian sugar and work together until moist crumbs form. If crumbs are too moist just add a little more flour.  Sprinkle over the top of the apples. Place in a 180 degree fan forced oven for around 40- 45 minutes. Cake needs to be cooked fully especially in the middle. Once cooled sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy either warm or cold with a cup of tea!

My sweet gran on her 94th birthday

Nine months -time flies!

I can't believe we have now lived in our house for 9 months exactly today - time has seriously flown!

With the Melbourne winter certainly set in not much progress has been happening with our garden but we do finally have some large areas of concrete and stairs leading down to the second level in the backyard.  I would have loved to used a french pattern travertine in a soft grey but the cost was crazy!  Just this area alone in concrete cost 10K!

As we are up so high winters here are FREEZING!  I don't think I have stepped out the back for quite a few weeks.  Our back deck is also looking very dirty and sad as we get the weather directly most times from the south. Nine months in though I am pleased to report that no matter what kind of weather Melbourne throws at us this house is solid as a rock as you just don't feel it at all when inside - goes to show how well this house is built.

Looking forward to spring time when we will finally lay some instant grass and start planting the garden beds. Hopefully once this rain stops and drys things out a little will also start by bringing in the bob cat and start moving soil around ready for planting our bare rooted trees all along the back and side fence.  Landscaping our 1/2 acre is a rather big task but we will get there over the next few years

We even had a little visitor in the backyard the other day!  Meet Flickr who is Coopers pony - she is now back in her paddock where she belongs! Kids loved it though

Over in the front I have planted a few more bare rooted trees and also ordered some beautiful David Austin Roses in white and soft pink for the garden beds - these are my favourite roses hands down so can't wait to get them and see them take off in Spring. Have also ordered 2 climbing roses for the 2 front veranda posts

David Austin Roses will be planted along our verandah in white and pink

Typical Melbourne winters day!

In other house news we are planning on decorating our lounge room - this room needs need new couches, plantation shutters on the large banks of windows and some joinery - hope to show you some progress on this area soon!

Home Beautiful Magazine - Beautiful Rooms Competition

One of my favourite interior magazines and one that I have been reading for around 20 years now ( showing my age -  although I started very young!) is Home Beautiful - I still have boxes of past copies that I can't part with

Now that our house is completed it was the perfect opportunity to enter in their annual Beautiful Room Competition - I have my fingers and toes crossed!  This year I have entered two spaces in our home  - one being our gorgeous Hamptons style Classic Kitchen and the other our recently completed Entrance. These rooms are my favourites in our house and spaces that I am very proud to call our own - it would be a dream for any of these spaces to feature in this magazine

I certainly think they fit the brief of being 'Beautiful' but now would love your help on voting for either of my spaces for the "Peoples Choice Award" Voting is completed on facebook and only 1 vote per 24 hours is accepted per space

To vote for my kitchen please click on this link and vote for my kitchen
VOTE FOR MY KITCHEN HERE

To vote for my entrance please click on this link and vote
VOTE FOR MY ENTRANCE HERE

Colour & Finishes - Our Forever Home

I regularly receive emails and phone calls from my lovely readers who would love to know the colours and finishes we choose for our home - they are listed in a few posts but thought it would be best to have a new blog post listing them all so its easier to find

The exterior colours as as follows

RENDER - Dulux Mangaweka - appears quite dark but once painted and with different light this choice was perfect

Roof    - Colourbond Shale Grey
Facia    - Colourbond Surfmist
Veranda posts, garage and weatherboards - Colourbond Surfmist
Windows - Dulux Vivid White
Eves - Mount Aspiring

Entrance and studio door - Black Cavier

For the interiors

WALLS                        Dulux Natural White
TRIMS/DOORS           Dulux Natural White 1/4 strength

FLOORS

Tasmanian Oak with a satin waterbase finish
Carpet from Carpet Court

LIGHTS

Entrance - Schots in Collingwood Melbourne www.schots.com.au

Kitchen Lights

Pendant Lights purchased through www.hamptonsstyle.com.au

Exterior Lights - purchased through Milton Lighting www.miltonlighting.com.au

Images by www.louisetreacyphotography.com.au 

 One of Melbourne's best newborn and baby photographers