My Dream Kitchen

We have now been living here for around 3+ weeks  - time has just flown!  We are pretty much settled in - still have a few more large pictures to hang, the bath still isn't connected and toilet roll holders need to go on ( hint hint hubby!) House has been really lovely to live in and definitely feels like "home"

We have been flat out working on our front garden and have been out there almost every weekend and after work.  Its back breaking hard labour really!  We have so far completed a huge retaining wall, hubby has installed recycled brick edging and yesterday I laid 125 square metres of instant turf almost by myself in between clients ( thank godness mum gave me a hand for an hour!) This morning wasn't a pretty sight - I felt like a 90 year old woman getting out of bed - so sore. Will update with some landscaping images over the next few weeks

Thought I would share with you the completed images of our beautiful kitchen today. When designing our house my kitchen was one space that had to be a stand out feature and be the hub of the home.

Now that we have been living here for a few weeks my kitchen is such a great space to work in and I find myself cooking meals and baking quite often as its a joy to be in. The area is a lovely light filled space with floor to ceiling windows to take in our beautiful view - most people that walk into this room the first thing they say is "wow" which is nice!

With 10 foot ceilings, large cornices, concealed commercial style range hood, stunning marble splashback, soft close drawers and a contrasting island bench.  I also have a massive four metre butlers pantry with a sink, coffee/tea area and a heap of storage - this is such a great feature as it means the mess stays in here and out of the kitchen!

Still need to purchase some bentwood bar stools to finish the island bench - must order those soon

Love our Karen Rosenlund art print - it really suits the space 

Still need to order 3 of these chairs from Relax House to finish the look

Home Sweet Home - Were In!

Finally after 11 months of building we are now calling this gorgeous house our home!  After a mammoth task of moving ( cannot believe how much 'stuff' we had!) we have now settled in and have been here already over a week.

Still feeling extremely tired ( and I may have aged 10 years!) but so happy to be here and finally feeling settled for the first time in a few years. The kids are loving it and even the dog and cat are feeling at home. Poor Charlie our king charles cav went from a small courtyard in our rental  to 1/2 an acre so he is pretty much exhausted all day from running around!

We have already started on the front landscaping building a retaining wall along the front and this weekend hope to lay some turf as the dust is already driving me crazy! I think once the garden goes in the house will look so beautiful - she sure is a house that makes you take a second look and has lovely street presence

My new photography studio also opened late last week and is such a gorgeous space to work in - the natural light is just perfect so couldn't be happier.  I am super booked until the end of the year so looking forward to working with all my clients in this space

I have had alot of people ask me on instagram and email me on the the colours used for the house so thought I would start on the outside and list them here for you.  I just adore the finished result of our colour scheme - it worked so well

Over the next coming weeks I will be blogging and sharing with you the completed rooms in our home so stay tuned :)

Colours used

Roof    - Colourbond Shale Grey
Facia    - Colourbond Surfmist
Veranda posts, garage and weatherboards - Colourbond Surfmist
Windows - Dulux Vivid White
Eves - Mount Aspiring
Render - Mangaweka
Entrance and studio door - Black Cavier

All of the final touches were completed last week including the gables and staining of the decks

Our black sunshine gates and Hamptons style outdoor lights

Our cast iron urn is in its place - just need to bring in soil and start the garden beds

Loving our front veranda - this is where you could find me relaxing with a cuppa!

Weeks 38-39 -Almost there!

We now have 2 weeks to go until our house is completed and less then 3 weeks until our handover and move in date.  I seriously can't believe we are almost there - perhaps that could be why I haven't even started to pack a thing!

Get ready for a whole heap of images of the house so far - still have quite a few things to complete such as carpet, alot of painting on the outside, mirrors/showerscreens and finishing off a few things plus a huge clean but she is almost complete and looking so beautiful.

Super proud of all our designs and ideas now that it has come together - our builder has also provided  a high quality finish which is great. Looking forward to all the decorating now

Our stunning kitchen takes my breath away - so beautiful with a contrasting island bench and that marble!  I am just so in love with it and it really is my dream kitchen. I put so much thought into designing this kitchen - from all the little details such as handles, colours, lights etc and worked with a fabulous cabinet maker.  To the left we also have a massive butlers pantry - its huge and will keep all the mess out of view

ILVE oven being installed

My gorgeous tap

Beautiful Marble splash back - I almost cried happy tears when this was installed last week - really gives the wow factor

Lounge area - custom built TV cabinet will be installed on the right hand side in the same style as the kitchen

Light from Schots - my 3rd light for this area as the previous ones didn't quite work due to the scale of the ceilings which are 10 foot in this area

Entrance door with light - door still to be painted Black Cavier

My gorgeous natural light photography studio

Studio has full bathroom, client lounge area and prop closet

Separate Entrance to studio

Facade still needs lots of painting and finishing off

Driveway completed - still needs to be sealed

Once our formal garden goes in it will look beautiful

Back of house

Thats a whole lot of landscaping that needs to be done!

Al Fresco

Our stunning view!

Dream House - Weeks 34-37

Lots has been happening and its nearing that stressful stage now with so much organising and sourcing items to get everything finished. As Luke is doing all the plumbing he has been flat out every night after work-  I don't think we have hardly had dinner together for a few weeks now the poor thing

Plastering, tiling and painting of internal walls have been finished. Plumbing and electrical fit off almost done.  Everything is coming to together and looking great - even the trades are commenting on how great it all looks which has been nice.

Currently the floors are being polished and we have the excavators out the back doing the second drive and getting the backyard ready for landscaping - we have a huge backyard as we are on 1/2 an acre so lots to do! We have also built a piller for our second drive so now just trying to find stone cladding and a beautiful gate.

Here are some images taken over the last few weeks of the build just taken with my trusty iPhone

My gorgeous front door was installed - will be painted black with the frame white

This was the entrance light I decided on from Beacon Lighting.

Changed my mind and purchased this bigger one from Schots instead. Because of the high ceilings I think this bigger light will work better. Of course they had none in stock so waiting patiently for it to arrive

I may have almost died as my lights were installed  - love them.  Have left them without shades until things are more completed so we don't have any issues with breakages etc  Marble splashback should go in soon too. So happy with our kitchen - its come together just as I had imagined

Our beautiful leadlight window was installed in our ensuite bathroom

Our massive rain shower head in our ensuite - its is huge!

The sheer size of our house from the back still surprises me!  This also shows the before shot of our backyard

Looking cleaner after being excavated

A few weeks ago we purchased this beautiful cast iron urn from Castlemaine - this will go in our front garden as part of the landscaping.  It is so heavy - Luke and I had a lot of fun trying to get it home in his Jeep!

Gorgeous Town & Country Style Stools FOR SALE

Bought from Town & Country Style in Armadale, Melbourne approx 18 months ago are these East Hampton Bar Stools x 3. Finished in a Antique White finish, crossback frame and rattern seat - all in very good condition. Perfect for hampton/french provincial style. The chairs are discontinued now and can no longer be purchased in stores - puchased for approx $350+ each only 18 months ago. Only selling due our new island bench not being wide enough ( and in the wrong colour to suit!).  Must be bought in the set of 3  - $585 for the 3 chairs ( only $195 each)

Dimensions - 54cm W x 52cm D x 110 H - seat approx 65 cm

Please contact me at ltreacyphotography@bigpond.com or call 0433 026 079 if interested or pass onto any of your family and friends in Melbourne. Pick up Doreen, Vic 3754

Houses I Love

Spotted a fabulous article on this gorgeous house owned by Sharnel Dollar on the generalist blog today - The kitchen is to die for!  I think I first saw this house quite a few years ago in the Australian Womens Weekly mag and still have the images scrapbooked somewhere as inspiration when building our home

Read the article here The generalist - American Scrapbook

I also just adore this home too and this one of course was the inspiration behind my own kitchen design with white cabinetry, dark island, marble splashback and similar lights - love!

Read the article here the generalist - One waterfront mansion