Black Pool - The Stalemate is Over

For the past few weeks we have been battling quite painfully the pool company about a colour. Today we have very exciting news to relate.

The war has ended. No sides have come out a clear winner ... the pool company will now have to wait until next year to complete the pool because of delays and we will have to pay a bit more money in order to get something we are happy with but at least things are finally moving forward.

So we have come up with a specialised colour with a wonderful company called Gemtex. Its a mix of these tiny little glass beads and quartz. At first we brushed this colour off as being too blingy however after talking it through with them we are going to use the darkest quartz mix possible and a very high ratio of black glass to clear in the hopes of getting us what we want.

Saying that there are very few pools done this dark so its going to be quite interesting to see how it all comes out.

Win number two is once we are off we are really off. The pool tiles and headers are going on this week however this will all freeze until we come back when they will finish this off.

Excitement plus in the Vintage household today. Progress .... when hard won is sweetest of them all!

Latest Purchase - Outdoor Chairs

Lately we seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time discussing out plans for our outdoor area. Its amazing just how much needs to be considered before actually making a move - provisions for lighting and retic ... how high do we want this step to be, how many chairs do we want to fit in the outdoor table.

Speaking of chairs - over the weekend we found ours and proceeded to make a decision and hit the "sold" button.

These heavenly little beauties are from Masters and are simple and elegant and oh so comfortable! 

Obviously no table or paving as yet .... carpet seems to be our preferred mode of outdoor flooring but we will get there, one item at a time!

Light & Pretty - Decor Inspiration

Sometimes you just need something light and pretty to get you through the day .... tell me these don't make you want to go back and re-design a room in your house?

Special Weekend Post

There are some people in your life that although you don't see every day make you think about the way you live your life.

For me this is my Aunt. Although she lives over the other side of the country her softly spoken, never speak a bad word about anyone, always laughing voice is often with me when im trying to figure out how to deal with a situation.

In my head I can hear her saying .... "Now love ... just ignore the sarcasm he just used, it will shit him even more thinking he's not getting to you" or my favourite "Just have a drink and you wont even care what he said"

The reason for today's special post and thoughts about those people in your life that are with you in thought if not body ... it's her birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AUNTIE NAT .... My thoughts and best birthday wishes are with you all the way over the other side of the country!

Now all my lovely bloggy friends are also wishing you well!!!

Travel Photo's - Scotland

So you all know I am now part of a photo club ... It's actually quite sad really, I'm not the most confident of people and every time I approach one of these "Photo Experts" I totally freak out and either start rambling or end up sounding like an absolute ditz.

Last weekend I went to a Camera / Coffee shop to ask a few questions about my lens and the guy who was helping me suggested I buy a hood. I took out my camera so we could see what I would need and suddenly ..... he gasps.....

"oh my god, what happened to the lens?"

Apparently a bit of the plastic (non essential plastic mind you) had chipped off. Funny enough I remember the exact moment it received this piece of damage and thought it was actually a bit of a funny story ...

"funny you should ask," I said "I was up the top of a tower in this derilict castle in the middle of an old farm and it was raining and really slippery, Obviously as its very old the stairs sort of wind up and they are not even .... I happened to lose my footing and slipped down half of them on my bum .... both the camera and I ended up with a whole bunch of really terrible bruises"

Instead of looking at the funny side of the situation .... me sliding down the spirals in my ass he chose to give me this look which to me meant .... I should have put even more of my body on the line to save the camera.

Obviously the actual lens itself isn't damaged, Its just a little chip out of the plastic and to be honest, what do you expect when you explore old castles, run down hills that half way down you realise is more of a cliff and get attacked by goats when you least expect it (another story for another time)

Anyways, In this particular instance I sounded like a ditz. The one good thing that came out of this meeting was he convinced me to submit two photo's for judging at the next club meeting.

Now did I agonise over which photo's I wanted to submit. Hell yes! But before I lost my nerve I clicked send and now they are gone .... here goes a 10 day nervous wait.

I am hoping that the constructive criticism they give will help me take better pictures on my next holiday! So for your viewing pleasure .... the two photo's I have submitted for judging.

These two I was considering but didn't make my top two list .... what do you think - Did I make the right decision?

Progress - Glass Pool Fence - Self Installed

My husband is a genius! All on his own he installed the first section of glass pool fencing! Its apparently not very hard and the big bad fencing companies should watch out with their ridiculous prices because .... Anyone can do it!

Also note the lovely dark granite paving we had to install as the posts are core drilled through them and the rather large footing below. 

To the left of the pillar there is going to be a gate, which currently being made but we are half way there and boy is it exciting! Progress has never looked sweeter!

Enough Is Enough ... Isn't It?

There has to come a point where you think to yourself ... enough is enough. For the last few weeks the pool has been a major drama and it only seems to get worse. 

Let me start by clarifying the situation: 

1. 8 weeks ago now we did our colour selection and chose a black pool interior colour
2. We were told 2 weeks ago after we had purchased the header, tiles and step treads that colour wasn't available.
3. We looked at the options available but none were even close to the original colour we chose
4. We went down and view the "best of a bad lot" but were not happy with how light it was
5. We suspended all works on the pool until the colour dilema had been sorted out
6. Other options were were given are much more expensive and we will have to pay additional funds

So it has gone back and forward with the woman from the pool company saying I had to pick something, this has obviously delayed everything and the pool will now not be finished before Christmas.

So on Monday I sent the pool company a pleading email to help get this sorted

Good Morning XXXXX

As per our discussion on Friday morning we are currently waiting for you to give us a price for the alternative product and colour recommended by yourself.

I am sure with all the delays regarding colour we will not be getting the pool before Christmas but we request your prompt response as the whole colour issue is causing us a great deal of stress and worry.

As we have stated from the beginning the dark colour of the pool was a major priority for us and with the change of supplier to XXXX the lack of dark options within our price range is not only disappointing but distressing as we had already purchased all of the accompanying products for the original black pearl option.

I am sure you are extremely busy with a number of different pools at the moment however if we can just get the colour sorted it would take a lot of pressure off Ben and myself and we would then be happy to wait until after the holiday to finish the job.

I hope you can understand our position and help us to find a way to solve this problem.

Miss V

So a pleading email from myself begging to get this sorted .... Outcome - Nada!

That's right, this particular company have not yet even responded to my email. 72 hours after my email and I have not heard a thing from anyone. 

MISS V IS NOT AMUSED!

Cost vs Cool

There comes a point in every new build or renovation where you find something either very cool or something that will make your life unbelievably easier.

On the weekend we found our Cost vs Cool moment and it I have to say this particular service is book very cool and very tempting because it would make life so much easier.

As far as landscaping goes, there is so much to think about and the pressure to "get it right" is huge, well for me it is anyways.

On Sunday we attended one of those home expo's and found a company that take the guess work out of landscape design.

They sit down and work with you on putting together detailed plans for your back and front yards. How many plants, how big they will get, how high will they grow? 

To me this sounds like heaven, you have a fool proof floor plan to work off and it takes all the thinking out .... running retic and pipework for lighting .... easy.

Now the downfall .... these plans cost between $2,500 to $4,000. For me I really just don't know if its worth it, we did well with out last house without the plans .... god I want it I just wish it was a better price.

Hence the title, it's certainly a very cool concept but is it really worth it?

Pool Colour Options ...

So the pool drama continues unabated .... phone messages unreturned, people telling me what I can and can't have, husband stressing because he doesn't like anything else or else he doesn't know if he will like it or not and that is 100 times worse.

Its all just so stressful and to be honest ... it sucks.

So I thought I would break things down into more manageable chunks .... lets start simple.

What do I like and what don't I like? Lets start simple.

I don't like those washed out pale coloured water pools. Some people may but for me they just don't have the depth of colour I'm looking for.

I think the pale substitute they are trying to get us to use would look something like this which really just doesn't do it for me...

What do I like? These colours are just that little bit interesting, they are rich and different and would look lovely with the granite we have already purchased!

I like them a lot .... can we get this look and feel from the options provided ... I just don't know.

Intimidation ... via Visa?

So my sincere apologies for not being around so much this week, I am actually right now desperately running around trying to sort out visa requirements for our trip. Oh yes, the places we have chosen to visit, think Russia and the Ukraine require extremely stringent visa paperwork. I think on on-line dating profile would be less invasive to be totally honest.

Its also insane how long these things take to get sorted .... we are rushing everything through, paying exorbitant amounts of money and still we are going to be pushing it.

Also while I'm on my lovely little rant did you know that on top of the Visa you have to pay to be invited to visit the country. Oh yes, you pay someone to invite you to visit and only after you have an invitation can you actually apply.

This would have to be one of our more extreme trips .... it all seems rather dark and scary right now and although I'm sure it will be fabulous .... my knees might be shaking right now!

Shades of Grey and Black .... Pool

Do you ever have those moments when you realise that something is just not going to be easy ... that every single little things is going to go wrong one way or another with a particular project.

For us this poisoned chalice is our pool. Firstly we hand dig said pool out, secondly, the the paver we chose and loved is too slippery meaning we had to go back to the drawing board and try again.

Drama number three - the actual pool sand / colour supplier is no longer being used by our pool builder... not a problem you may think however the new supplier doesn't have a black colour option (See original option above) or any option even remotely close.

Yesterday was spent visiting the new supplier trying desperately to find a black colour that might just do the trick. 

So still having issues - the one they suggested - below is to light grey .... we don't want light grey, it will make the water very wishy washy which is something we really didn't want. The idea behind a black pool was to make a statement ... this pale shade of grey is just too weak a colour to achieve what we really wanted.

Now this colour I found certainly does what I want it to do. The big question here is ... how much more will it cost us .... it has pretty black shiny stones, and clear pieces of glass .... it is exactly what we originally wanted (Minus the glass) however it appears we will be having to pay an awful lot more for the same thing.

 

Here is my question - is it fair for us to have to pay more to achieve the original look simply because the pool builder have decided to change suppliers without letting us know. 

Off the Beaten Track - Chernobyl

So obviously we love to travel, we love to explore and learn and come away with a better understanding of the history, culture and people of the places we visit.

Not all history is good and happy and bright, sometimes its the darker things that need to be recognised and not forgotten. This trip our dark moment of the trip is a visit to Chernobyl just out of Kiev. This makes me somewhat nervous .... these things always do however I can also imagine it will be an incredibly interesting journey for us to make and I'm actually fairly excited about this particular part of the trip.

In my head its going to be a little bit haunting ... a whole city evacuated in a matter of hours ... take a look at some of the photos .... So my question is, would you visit or is this a step to far off the beaten track?

A Brave New World ...

So most of you know I am a fraidy cat .... oh yes, the idea of meeting new people and putting myself in new situations sends me out in hives. However last night I braved the terror (I did make my husband comes with me) and joined a photography club.

Once a month they meet, discuss new products, talk through different ways to improve photo's and really just talk about something they love.

When I went to Scotland hubby brought me a camera to keep me busy and although I use it I really don't understand how to use it. 

 

Ok that may have been an understatement .... Really, what person goes to a Camera Club without knowing what type of Camera they own.

Cue embarrassing moment 

Club Member "So what type of camera do you own?"

Me "A Canon" 

At this point he just looks at me expectantly, waiting to expand .... apparently its a bit like saying your car is a Holden .... Oh dear!

Anyways, I am also going to start getting into some photo editing software so I'm hoping my lovely Christmas Holiday will be filled with lovely professional looking photo's for me to share with you all.... First I just have to work out how to turn it on .... jokes, I do know that!

A Home Gym.... Can Be Pretty

In my opinion a home gym should be a place you really want to come to so for me .... it has to be pretty.

I have just started putting ours together and already I'm in love with it!

Pretty billowy curtains, lovely storage options and nice soft light make this a place I'm starting to want to come to.

It still needs something motivational but I truly think I'm getting there!

Going Back to My Inspiration...

It seems at times I get lost in the details .... I lose myself in a colour or texture instead of remembering the picture "at large"

So today I'm going back to my inspiration .... these rooms are what I aspire to achieve. 

They don't seem fussy or particularly formal, they don't even really have one focus point, everything is soft and warm and just waiting for you to sit down and put your feet up. They are interesting spaces but don't have one particular detail that stands out, for me these rooms are all about soft layers that just build you level of interest.

This is what I need to remember when I'm obsessing over something silly .... this is what im working towards and this is what I will hopefully end up with.

Flowers in a Bathroom?

I found these very amazing flowers which I just knew would look lovely in my bathroom.

Flowers just make me happy and these are no exception ... don't you think they just soften the space .... all those tiles just make everything "cold" these add that much needed touch of warmth! I am thinking other than lighting bedroom and bathroom are now complete.

Still trying to focus on the entry and media room .... its endless!

Still Not Right ....

These frames are going to be the death of me. I think the problem is that I have been agonising over them for so very long I just want them to be perfect.

So take three on the gold frames .... I have now used a textured wall paper and painted it the same colour as the walls. Hopefully this will soften the look somewhat .... god I don't know. Its all so hard ... How on earth do you make decisions like this and know they are right ....

So its out there now .... I need your help. Do you like the patterned wallpaper of the barely there look???