Kitchen Reveal

When we think of decorating we envision relaxing bedrooms, gloriously finished lounge rooms and grand dining areas. The kitchen isn't a room that you might think needs a lot of work in the decorating department. I found adding the right appliances, bar stools and finishing touches trickier than I first imagined it would be.

We decided to go for white appliances against our yellow splashback, and this was always my plan when I put in the white saturn switches. We love our De'longhi kettle and toaster and find it to be quite functional having them on the bench rather than in the pantry. Our Nespresso machine is also white but was exiled to the pantry as there was just too much clutter on the bench. We added a double power point in the pantry and Tom quite likes the coffee maker in there - he tells me its like visiting a tiny cafe each morning.

I found a fabulous white tray at Ikea which is now home to rosemary, basil and oregano for cooking. Our bar stools were a nightmare, and after many photoshop mock-ups, one set of horrid looking Ikea stools and hours of internet browsing I found our Xavier Pauchard stools. Tolix stools are everywhere at the moment and I was avoiding them at first. The wood grain inserts changed my mind though and they are so super sturdy. Mustard yellow is a really hard colour to match and the stools are more lemon, but I'm happy with the result overall.

We do intend to install cupboards or perhaps wine racks above our fridge when finances permit. Speaking of fridges, I am obsessed with our Samsung purchase. It is the most functional fridge I have ever owned, not to mention the biggest! All our kitchen needs now is a lovely big glass dome housing a delicious looking cake. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as we do!

What's in a name...

The time in our new home is passing by very quickly. We have been working on the inside rather than our gardens and grass because the weather has been so frosty. 

We paid a trip to Ikea last weekend and purchased some bits and pieces. It was a bit disappointing as many of the items I was after were not in stock after a 4 hour drive to Sydney. I think I will be sticking with Internet shopping from now on.  We have so many rooms to furnish and decorate that it is going to take a while! I'm nearly done on our kitchen, laundry and media room which I will share soon (still waiting on a few pieces). 

Our house plaque arrived this week, after much indecisiveness about what to write on it. We have opted for Hale Kai which means 'Home by the sea' in Hawaiian. Hawaii is our happy place, so we wanted to capture some of that spirit in our home. 

It was hard to decide where to put the plaque but after surveying all of our neighbours we picked a spot. You can also see in these photos that our driveway is finally losing its patchiness and fading slowly to a better shade. It's still much more pink/terracotta than the sample though (fade driveway, fade!).

   

   

   

Driveway and Letterbox

It's hard to believe we have now been in our new house for 12 days! Since going back to work last week, the weather has been miserable and it gets dark so early that we have been really limited with the work we can do on the house. We have been so blessed to have gained lovely neighbours on the occupied side of our block, as well the two houses beyond them. We have had meal deliveries, bottles of wine and lovely cards. Very happy indeed with our little neighbourhood. 

Our driveway was laid just over a week ago and we also had a concrete path laid down the side of the property with a step to our laundry. It has taken forever to get the sealant on with the continual rain and it is still very patchy due to not having a good chance to dry out. Overall we are really happy with the colour and shape. The streaks will fade in 2-4 weeks and the colour will come down to a few shades darker than the paperbark roof. A big thank you to Ben and the guys at Mid North Coast Concreting for being so wonderful to work with! 

We also purchased our letterbox and I spent yesterday painting it in the same colour as the moroka on our facade. I also learnt to use a drill to put the numbers on - I felt quite pleased with myself other than the number 4 being a little wonky!

Our path turned out great and next job is for us to edge the right side with treated pine and put in some white pebbles and possibly some simple plants (probably bromeliads, which seem to withstand my 'care'). We will also start on the gardens at the front, put down turf and order our side gates. Given that we are in the middle of winter we are going to wait on the backyard landscaping until the weather is finer and our creative vision is clearer.

Next weekend we are making a trip to IKEA as well as some of my favourite stores in Sydney (love the Minimalist in Surry Hills). We have nearly finished decorating our media room and laundry, which will be the next photos I will have to share :)

Officially Moved

On Tuesday we spent our first night in the new house and after several gruelling days of cleaning and moving bits and pieces, we are all settled. 

This week we have arranged to have Telstra and Foxtel connected and to our immense surprise it was all done quickly and without any problems. Our oven door was fixed today and the driveway is half completed - just awaiting a second coat of sealant. If the weather stays clear a path will be laid at the side of the house and our mail box will go in as well tomorrow. 

The house itself is amazing and feels so huge for just us two. We are really enjoying our fireplace, the cosy media room and our beautiful master suite. Between the king size bed we splurged on and ensuite (that raindrop shower is glorious), I feel like we are living in a hotel! 

Most of our furniture has worked really well in the space (minus one older Nick Scali lounge which is too big). We just need to save some more money to finish furnishing the interior. 

I'm going to decorate one room at a time and will reveal them as we finish each one. For now I do have a 'reveal' of our front entryway to share. I tried my hand a painting a feature wall and have collected some great artwork that fits those big recesses.