Media Room Reveal

Oh media room how we love thee! Since moving into the house this is the room where we have spent the majority of our time. I'm excited to now 'reveal' the finished product to you. 

We had a difficult time finding a media room lounge due to the pop out that council insisted we have. I spent many hours and passed through numerous furniture stores with a tape measure, trying to find something that would fit. Then I came across a beauty at Lyall Buick which comfortably fits 3-4 people and has rolling seat backs so you can make the lounge extra deep to stretch your legs out. I managed to convince Lyall himself to order me one made in a chocolate italian leather (as they only had beige available) and it looks like it was made for the room. If it seems we need more seating I will add a couple of narrow armchairs or perhaps even bean bags if I can find trendy ones. 

I had a lot of fun decorating this room. The entire colour scheme was dictated by two very quirky pieces of art we purchased in Melbourne last year. This room is closed off from the open plan area, so we could afford to make it different to the rest of the house. It's a bit of fun and hopefully captures the imagination in the same way as the many movies that will be watched in this room. 

There are a couple of decorative items on the ikea TV unit which I am just in love with. The woven neoprene bowl is a great home for remote controls, courtesy of The Minimalist. I am also a huge book lover and couldn't resist buying these retired classics that have been brought back to life by the guys at Growing Books. 

This one is such a quirky, fun piece chosen by Tom. 

This piece was my pick. It is incredibly detailed and unusual. It reminds me of when I was an exchange student in Japan and being captived by their culture, sense of youth and colourful stories. 

Our wall mounting equipment and built in cabling is excellent. We could probably do with a TV upgrade though. 

All we need is some popcorn :) 

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. 

   

   

Goodbye Cement Dust

We have continued with our busy week and spent many hours letting trades in and out of the house, making phone calls and cleaning. We can finally say goodbye to most of the horrible cement dust as carpet has been installed.

The guys from Carpet Craft now hold the record for the longest trade to stay at the house. It took the two of them 8 hours to get our carpet down but they did a fantastic job. It is so nice to be able to lay on the floor! The media room carpet in particular is divine - so soft and fluffy. 

Our fencing and retaining has started to go up two weeks ahead of schedule, which is a lovely surprise. We can now see the shape of our backyard and get some landscaping ideas. It has made things a bit tricky as we told the removalist they would have access at the back via a vacant block as the concrete is being poured the same day. Worst case we will unscrew a fence panel for them.

I have to say that I have been really pleased with all of the tradesmen we have hired so far. Everyone has been so lovely and eager to help out, even with jobs that aren't theirs.  Next big job is the driveway, scheduled to be inspected by council tomorrow and poured on Monday. It is really looking more like a home now.

Media Room with carpet 

     

Activity Room

     

Bedroom 3

     

Bedroom 2 (the carpet looks a bit darker than it actually is in this photo)

     

Master Bedroom

     

              

Just before dark last night, with the driveway formwork complete

   

Plantation Shutters Installed

The last few days have been so hectic. Both Tom and I are dead on our feet! We have painted a feature wall, had some more electrical work done, earthmoving and installation of plantation shutters. 

It took our relative who is a sparky nearly 8 hours to put in two heat lights and our fancy ceiling fan. It turns out the fan needed double reinforcing and entirely new wiring at the switch to make it work. Here are the lights and fan, they look fab.

 

    

    

Our plantation shutters are also in and they look beautiful. They make such a difference in keeping out the hot westerly sun in our front bedrooms. The colour in our lounge room is more honey toned than I remember choosing, but I think they are an okay match. The footprints from cement dust all over the floor are driving me crazy.

    

Activity room 

    

Bedrooms Three and Four

    

Main bathroom

    

Master Bedroom (roller blind)

    

Ensuite (still pieces missing under the shutters for each bathroom, as they delivered the wrong size)

    

Media Room

    

A big thanks to Murray and the boys at Abode Blinds for their great work. Next job is carpet!