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!