Wednesday, April 29, 2015

The Middle Child

Okay onto the decorating plans for my middle child and son number 2 :)

His favourite colour is green so he wanted a vibrant green on his walls. Lime green can be a bit overwhelming so we decided to also mix in some navy and grey. His walls will be similar to my eldest's with the stripes just with different colours. So far we have picked Dulux Zatar Leaf for the walls with Dulux Passionate Blue for the large stripe and Dulux Timeless Grey accents. Here are some of the inspiration pictures:









I also want to create a bit of a rustic/industrial feel with wood and metal. He will be having the barrel cupboard I bought for the boys' current room. You can see it in this pic:



So I'd like to add a few other elements in the form of shelving and keeping his bed bare wood. Inspiration:



I also like the idea of adding some map elements. Maybe an old looking world map made into a pinboard so he can record his travels and I love the map fabric that you can choose to cover a chair with at Fantastic Furniture (I'd go the Wing Chair):




Not entirely sure yet!

Again I am yet to choose soft furnishings but there's no rush. He will also have a chrome pendant from Bunnings:

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

The Plans Are Here!!

Well all excitement here this morning. I was walking out the gate to walk my kids to school and noticed there was something in the letterbox. Turned out the draftsman had dropped off the Preliminary Plans :D I've had a look over them and I am very happy- they are pretty much exactly what I asked for. I only need to talk to him about two small things (he's listed the French doors as aluminium framed and I'd like timber and he appears to have left the window in our current bathroom which I'd like removed as it will become an internal room). I have pictures but you'll have to excuse them as they aren't the best.

So here's a pic of the current house layout (the porch is at the front of the house, it's a bit confusing the perspective he's drawn from):


Then this is the proposed extension (again from the backwards perspective):



And this is the view from the front with the new roof:



The draftsman has said that once we give him approval of the plans he will go ahead and do up the proper ones for council submission. Those he said he should be able to have to us early next week. Eeeeeeekkkk it's getting closer!!!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Eldest Child

I went back and read some of my earlier posts and it's pretty funny just how much my ideas have changed. Also how much letting your kids have a say in their bedroom changes thing :P I thought I would update you on the plans for the kids rooms given the current plan is now nothing like my original idea. The kids have now given their input and we have adjusted the design so that they are happy. I'm a pretty big believer in kids having input in their own space (of course then it's my job to make sure it's something we can both live with ;) )

This post will be about my eldest son's room. He decided he really wanted a Navy bedroom. Our room sizes aren't massive but given the floors will be white we should be able to pull off the colour without it looking too dark. He also likes red and is a big fan of British TV (Dr Who is a favourite- the 9th doctor. The 4th is mine) so we decided to go with a light British theme/colour scheme. So far the blue we have picked together is Dulux Passionate Blue with Dulux Red Box and Dulux Vivid White accents.

I'd like to add some stripes to the wall to make it interesting. This gives you an idea but I'd like it lower and slightly thicker.




I don't want to be too heavy handed with the British paraphernalia but we will have a few nods in the room. He has a desk which I really want to try painting like a Union Jack:




I'd also like to paint his bed red like this one:




He's also very into Science- especially Astronomy. I'd like to add some star maps over his desk like the one here:



 I have found a cool globe light at Bunnings for only $25 which he loves. He also spotted me pinning these and wants them for his wall:






I'm yet to pick rugs, bedding and curtains that I like but I will be going for something a bit more neutral I reckon to counteract the busy-ness of everything else. I have also picked out a chrome pendant light from Bunnings:



As you know though my family and I are very fickle with these things and can change our mind at any moment :P




Friday, April 10, 2015

Wedding Anniversary

No signs of the Preliminary Plans yet, though I wasn't actually expecting to see them when I was told I would ;) However in other news it's my husband and my Wedding/Handfasting Anniversary today- together for 12 years and married for 5 :)








Also for good measure, my favourite photo of us :D


Friday, April 3, 2015

My Most Recent (and Final Hopefully) Plans

Okay I have finally uploaded a picture of the newest plans- the ones I recently gave to the draftsman so that he can use it to draw up our plans properly:



So as you can see it's very similar to the last ones I drew except without the upstairs and the second living is now a bedroom and mudroom. The circles with an X in them that you can see are where I want lights and I have my bath back in the bedroom. I had thought maybe I shouldn't have it in there and had second guessed myself. However I was rewatching one of my favourite renovation shows the other day and the host said "Makes sense [to have the bath in the bedroom]. After all the main purpose of having a bath is to relax and how can you do that if people may be coming in to relieve themselves." Very true albeit a little gross haha.

The builder also talked to us about making the gable a steep pitch. I didn't think we'd be able to because of building regulations so I had abandoned a steep gable but the draftsman was the one who suggested it so it must be fine. Knowing that it's possible we are now going back to our gothic revival style house idea. We are replacing all the windows anyway now (with double glazed ones) to make sure we meet energy requirements and to counteract our lack of wall insulation, so why not! It won't be heavily gothic though, just have a bit of that Gingerbread House look about it.

We have also made the decision to definitely stick with the weatherboards. It's going to be more expensive but in the end my husband and I just plain prefer real weatherboards. We love historical type homes and weatherboards just look nicer on older style homes, even though vinyl has come along way. I'm also tossing up cladding the bottom concrete part of our house in the stone cladding you can buy. I think it would look nice with the weatherboards. That's something we'd do down the track though- heaps more pressing and expensive things to get out of the way first! Here's a picture of what I mean- even with the same colour exterior and door I want (oh I think I forgot to tell you I'd changed my mind on that too lol):