Holiday, Holiday, Holiday - Hey Hey Hey

Well this is my LAST holiday until the house is built, this is it, no more travelling, Margaret River is likely to be a break for the next two years and so I decided to go all out.... not really I only have 10 days but we are off to Vietnam in just over a week. Oh yes, I am the queen of last minute holiday bookings and I am actually really looking forward to it. Its going to be insanely busy with us running around with a guide EVERY day but I really want to see everything.

One thing I am really excited about is a place called "My Son" which is the ancient ruins of the Cham dynasty between the 4th and 12th centuries AD. Sounds interesting and I'm hoping to get there in the cool of the morning and just wander around quietly.

I don't think this style of architecture is going to match our house but to be honest, its pretty impressive, even with all our modern technology archaeologists cant work out how they made the bricks stick together!

Getting Storage to Look Good

Its hard making storage look pretty, its either really cluttered and congested or it could be hidden and never used. But there has to be a compromise between showing all of you "Stuff" and not being overwhelmed.

I think these houses have done well in combining the practical with the aesthetically pleasing... what do you think?

Final Kitchen Design

Well my kitchen designing days are over - its done and i think it looks pretty good if I say so myself......

I have extended the kitchen all the way to the recess in the dining area which gives me that little bit of extra space. I think it looks much more balanced now and a little bit bigger.

Not much more to say other than I am very happy its done.... now onto retaining walls!

I have Good News and Bad News

Well I went and saw our lovely neighbour last night and I have some very good news. While she has to confirm with her husband, both are quite excited about us building and are happy to allow us to put full length windows in the bedroom. So yay, very exciting, very good news. Its all so wonderful and good.

The bad news relates to the retaining wall separating our block and the block backing onto our block. The shire seem to have "misplaced" the engineering drawings for this wall so no one is sure how deep it is. My builder would like me to build a retaining wall to retain the soil sitting in front of this wall where I am sure we can dig it away and make the entire section flat. All this depends on how the wall is built and at this point, no one seems to know. So unless I find the structural drawings for this wall it looks like I am shelling out $9,000 to retain a retaining wall.... does this sound silly to anyone else besides me???

Updated Kitchen Design

Well I have finally after much nail biting received my kitchen plans back and I think I really really like it. It looks great... I think. It looks practical and it looks warm. I am hoping the dark wood will really just draw you in and make it feel like its a very used space.

I am keeping the white stone - minor drama about coping with marks and constant cleaning but I think I'm convinced.

So what do you think?????

A Divine Idea

I think there are some amazingly clever people out there in the world. Perfect example is Fiona Thomas from Antiqutea found (here)

In her own words "Antiquitea is all about bringing back the art and pleasure of the English High Tea. " What a lovely idea, I was only saying the other day I cant wait until my house is finished and I can actually invite people to tea - a very similar idea to the lovely Fiona above. Except I want a lovely silver tea set and keep eagerly scouring ebay for one........

Saying that I would perfer an alcoholic high tea with champers but really..... im building a house and most definately need it.

New and Exciting Products

Well I have been checking out every ones blogs lately and have found some wonderfully exciting products which I would love to use in my house.... however most of these are not yet available in Australia but hopefully it will happen soon.

Of course I have my lovely 3-form splash backs..... beautiful Eco resin filled with organic material like sticks and bear grass but what about these for lovely beautifully designed ideas to make your house that little bit different.

This product is called Domino by a company called Pordata found (here) - beautiful and sleek and a great idea giving you storage without losing any of your light.

What about this product called Barkskin by Caba Company found (here )- hand pounded bark - Very natural and beautiful - they have some different and inspiring ideas on how to make things just that little bit more interesting.

This one I love - LitraCon found (here) - light transmitting concrete - I love this idea, it would make for some very interesting spaces ... hurry up and come to Australia.

And Finally Lamlux (here) - Resin and Wood mixed to create the most amazing patterns, they use it to make furniture and I cant help but think the lovely clear gaps help to make the wood look even more beautiful.

Oh and my husband did call me back ... at 2.45 in the afternoon all blustery about how I always seem to find new ways to spend money. Apparently the people he works with were divided on the linen costing issue - 60% thought it was a fair price to pay while 40% thought I was insane. In the end my husband did what any good husband would do " Honey - if this will make you happy and we can afford it - get it"

Thank you my love

Remember "Happy Wife, Happy Life"