Our house featured

Our house featured over on the Stylish Livable Spaces blog recently which you can view and read the article HERE   All images supplied by Louise Treacy Photography

Angie from Stylish Livable Spaces is responsible for our gorgeous exterior and interior colour scheme. I worked with her on getting the exterior colours just right and she was wonderful to work with - I can honestly say it was one of the best things we spent during the build!

As we had alot of exterior elements such as the roof, render, weatherboard, posts etc it was great to get an experienced colour consultant on board. The render colour she chose works beautifully and tends to be lighter or darker depending on the weather and the sun's position. The images below were taken on a very rare sunny winters day so render appears quite light.

To view our colour choices please see this post HERE

Front of house - the garden looking very dormant over winter!.

A Little Update

With Christmas now just around the corner and the year almost over I thought it was long overdue for an update!  Working 6 days a week in my studio as a newborn and baby photographer plus 3 children and everything that goes with it time just got away!

On the home front we have now furnished most rooms in the house.  A few months ago we had our original table re sanded and finished and then purchased these gorgeous bentwood chairs below.  The space looks refreshed and suits the kitchen and lounge.

Back in July we also had the house photographed for a magazine. It was super exciting and was great to experience being in front of the camera instead of behind it.  The feature should come out sometime next year so will let you know!

We have also been planning our new country style garage which will be built in our backyard.  The planning stage seems to have taken forever and we are currently still waiting for council approval - could be a while but hoping work will start early next year.

We have designed the garage to be made in the same colour scheme as the house with a shale grey colourbond roof, dune walls with surfmist panel doors with highlight windows.  We are using a different product for the front of the garage so it looks similar to weatherboards but is still a metal.  Once its completed I will then decide on the type of lights but loving the Hampton style lights from Beacon Lighting or The Gooseneck Barn Light from Barn Lights in Australia.

We are purchasing a custom made colourbond garage system which will be 8 metres by 12 and features 2 large garage doors to the front with a side access door.  Hardest thing has been making a colourbond shed into something a little more country style and pleasing to the eye but with a weatherboard profile on the front, 2 panelled doors with highlight windows plus some fabulous lighting it should look good  -fingers crossed!

America is the always the place for fabulous garage doors and lightning but will have to do out best living in Australia with limited options!

Hopefully in the New Year I should be able to document the start of this project  - until then have a fabulous Christmas and New year break x

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Lounge Room Reveal

After what feels like an eternity with bits and pieces being ordered and installed over the last few months our lounge room is finally finished!  This room has been transformed by plantation shutters, custom built cabinetry and a range of furniture including lounges, side table, lamp and cushions

The TV was also moved to the large wall and its now a beautiful place to relax with the family and especially lovely when we have the fire on as its so cosy.

Here is what we started with - the room obviously had good features but lacked style!  We basically plonked our old furniture when we moved and knew down the track it would all be updated. It's actually been good to live in the space for a while and really work out what we needed

And as it stands today - a now beautiful and styled space that is a joy to be in and matches our dining and kitchen areas

Now that this room is completed we just need to finish the dining room.  Our table top is currently being re sanded and stained ( its been fun without a table for 2 weeks!) and I will then purchase new bentwood chairs and finally the three adjoining spaces will be completed

Suppliers List

Gallerie B   For her wonderful help and advice on planning this room. Custom made lounges purchased through Gallerie B

Daly House  Smaller patterned and grey fretwork cushions

Marble and timber side table purchased by me through wholesaler 

Coffee Table purchased from Provinical Home Living 

Gourd Lamp purchased by me but can be sourced though Gallerie B

Larger grey cushions purchased previously from an Interior Designer years ago

Our Lounge room Make over

My apologies for the lack of blog posts lately!  I used to really enjoy following people's building blogs and found it disappointing that once they moved in all their fabulous posts never returned!  Seems I am guilty of this too - without the fast pace of the build and life being busy there's not as many exciting things to chat about!

We still have so much landscaping to do in the backyard - since hubby's hernia operation back in October last year he hasn't quite found his mojo to get stuck into any of the huge list of outside jobs we still have. I'm hoping to at least do some more planting, paint the fences and gravel all the paths before winter sets in. We are also in the planning stages of designing his garage ( aka man cave)  As it will be seen from the living areas I am keen to add a few savvy design aspects so it doesn't end up looking like a tin shed! We will build it in the same colourbond colours  ( or loving the black doors and white!) that we have used on the house and also clad it in a material that looks more like a weatherboard profile. Add some lights and some pretty garage doors and I'm hoping it should look like a gorgeous country style garage that will complement our house. What he does on the inside is up to him!

This one would be a dream!  Loving the black and white colour scheme

Love this door profile

One area I have been working on is our lounge make over.  We basically moved in with just our original furniture that needed replacing with the idea that this would be a room that would be re decorated when we had the time and more importantly the money as lets face it shutters, cabinetry and custom made furniture isn't cheap- think small car pricing - eek!) I have been working with Belinda from Gallerie B to help me source a few things for this room.

Firstly I started with the window furnishings for the bank of huge windows.  We have lived without anything for 16 months now -  It hasn't been too bad as the view is amazing and I adore our windows but sometimes the amount of light can be just too much and we crave shutting it all out!

We finally made a decision and installed plantation shutters - The options were either pull down blinds ( too modern), curtains ( we had no room for any tracks etc) or the plantation shutters which we already have in the remainder of our house.  I'm happy now that they are installed as when they are open you can still see the view and they are clean and fresh.  Photos below are all just taken on the iPhone and seem alot darker then real life - will get the professional camera out when this room is finished (such a lazy photographer I know!)

Plantation shutters installed - Excuse current lounge and chair!

We also had our cabinet maker install some shelving in our cabinetry. It always felt a little unfinished so we added an extra door and placed three large shelves in the alcove. I think it looks much better now and definitely makes the room look finished

Before shot of lounge

Before new cabintry installed

And After! Still need to tweak the styling on the shelves and source a lamp but a definite improvement!

Next up is new lounges. With Belindas help we chose a 3.5 seater and a 3 seater and will change the configuration of the placement of the furniture with one couch running at the back of the windows and the other facing the stone fireplace so it then becomes more of an L shape.  The plasma TV will then be hung on the opposite wall.

This will be the lounge we have have purchased - it had to be well made and robost for a family of five!

Quick concept of pieces for the room. We will be keeping our square coffee table from Provincial Living but adding a side table, classic lamp and cushions

Material chosen - this does look more beige but above couch in showroom is similar and looks more grey

New side table and a few lamps plus of course cushions I am hoping this space will finally feel finished and a beautiful space to spend time in. I would say it will be a mix of Hampton and modern contemporary as I didn't want it to look too busy as all three rooms ( kitchen, dining and lounge) feature in the same space

Will update you all once the lounges have been delivered and the room finished and styled!