The Pool Begins!

After many long months of saving and fantasising about having a pool, ours has finally started this week. We are using a local company who have an excellent reputation and so far they are living up to it! 

Yesterday excavation, plumbing and installation of the shell was completed all in the one day. The crew will be back tomorrow to pour the concrete beam and surrounding area for paving, then electrical installations on Friday. By mid way through next week it should all be done, including the travertine paving (which I am in love with). 

The pool is surprisingly bigger than I expected and certainly fills half of our backyard. The water tank is in such an annoying spot but once we install decorative screening you'll never know it is there. The colour of the shell is from the biluminate range and called 'pearl'. I can't wait to see what colour it reflects with clean water and sunshine.

My next job is to order glass fencing which we are a bit nervous about installing ourselves. I've heard good and bad reviews about Bunnings glass fence so I am still debating if they are the right choice. 

Here are a couple of shots which are a bit dark from the storm that came through last night. 

Looking forward to sharing more later this week!

Taking The Plunge

This year is escaping so quickly. After a long time without the back yard being finished we finally paid the deposit for our pool and some landscaping!

The local pool suppliers have been so busy that their books are closed for this year and waiting list is up to March next year! Luckily we got in early and have been given the first week of December as a tentative time for the pool going in! 

After a lot of deliberation we decided to go with compass pools and are installing an X-Trainer 5.8 x 3m plunge pool. It isn't a huge pool but we really wanted some of our yard left over. It is going to be a mineral pool and we chose to upgrade to a bi-luminate shell in pearl (it sparkles oooh!). Below you can see the very rough plan have drawn up for the backyard. 

While waiting for the pool we have also had our alfresco paved using the same tumbled cream travertine that is going around the pool. I can't believe the difference paving made, our outdoor area looks so much bigger. Travertine is so beautiful too! 

I am really looking forward to sharing our backyard transformation soon :) 

The Living Room

After a very long blogging silence I am finally back with a little update. It blows me away to think that we have been in our house for a year and three months now. The time as gone by so quickly and it does still feel like there is a lot to do. Perhaps that is just the reality of owning a home - always something to finish, improve or repair. I still have a few rooms to furnish and we finally are at a point where we can pay for our pool installation! I am waiting on an engineers report then it is all systems go. For now I am going to share part of the room that will someday soon look over the pool.

The living room feels like it has been the most difficult to 'finish' and I don't know that it is quite there yet in terms of styling. It is however turning out to be a favourite room with the morning sunshine, fireplace and open airy feeling. I do still need to replace our old lounge which is too wide and makes it a bit squishy near the buffet.

This first shot is looking from the alfresco to the fireplace. I recently had the lovely gilt pendant from freedom installed (as if we needed more lighting) and it really finishes the room. I was able to work in my old coffee table from vast interior and this room kind of has a coastal/scandinavian fusion going on.

I don't often show shots of this side of the room to people because the lounge is too close to the buffet but a narrow alternative should solve that. Tom had this stunning resin artwork commissioned for my birthday and it is incredible.

 

This shot shows the window side of the room and soon I will be able to show the picture window with a plunge pool outside! The big window was the best money we spent - what a difference if makes to the light and feel of the room!

I had always intended on painting the walls in this room yellow, like the feature wall in our entryway. As much as I love yellow, I am so glad I left his room neutral. The pops of aqua and yellow are enough all on their own. That's a quick living room glimpse for you! Hopefully I will be back posting soon with pool progress photos :) 

An Insta-Glimpse of Our House

It has been a while between blog posts. I have been spending a lot of time with the interior design of our home and still have a few more rooms to finish. The living room in particular has been a long process and is just waiting for installation of a final item (I am a little embarrassed to say its a chandelier given our excess of lighting). 

It has been 9 months since we got the keys, which is hard to believe! It has flown by. 

We are still working on the backyard and are in the process of getting quotes for a pool. I can't wait for the day to come when I can walk out and find a lovely landscaped oasis, rather than a giant patch of weeds and dirt. 

To break my posting silence I thought I would share some of my recent Instagram posts with some sneak peaks of our decor. I love Instagram, it is such a great source of inspiration for interior design and shopping as well! If you would like to keep up with my Instagram feed you can find me under @MelSalaris. Enjoy!

Hashtags for brands featured in these posts include: #ahoytrader, #lsart, #kmartaustralia, #targetaustralia, #westelmaus, #typoshop, #designtwins, #mimco, #beaconlighting, #patchnyc, #templeandwebster, #freedomaustralia, #aurahome, #rusticbydesigncreations, #ebstyle, #ikea, #katespade, #commoncircus

The Festive Post

Looking back over the last 12 months it feels very surreal that we have been in our home for half a year and that we have had our first Christmas here. I'll admit, I seriously underestimated the amount of work that it would take to 'complete' our home and landscaping. It is still very much a work in progress for 2015. 

We had quite a large group of people for a formal christmas dinner and for the first time our house had bedrooms full of visiting relatives. McDonald Jones certainly build great homes for entertaining! It was a dream preparing the meal in our new kitchen and giant oven - our old oven could barely fit a roasting dish, let alone enough food for a small army! The house came up beautifully with our christmas decorations so I have a few photos to share. 

With the passing of the festive season I wanted to wish everyone all of the very best for the year ahead. Thank you all for reading and sharing in our building journey - we still have some exciting projects ahead to share you with.