Glorious!!!!

The whole overall view looks even better in real life T! Was driving back from Northbridge this morning and needed to waste some time whilst somebody slept in the car, so came for a drive by. Love that huge rock you have in the garden too - what a great feature. You'll have a great garden/area for the kids - gorgeous!

hey nina - sounds like you and I are stalking each others' places now too! Thank you for the complement. yeah, we love those rocks too. Oh, and as for the colours, I will post up soon. But pretty much decided now on Swampy. Took a friend from work (who has an architecture background - she was the one that put us in touch with the architects we used - and great taste and she LOVED the colour. And the bricks. So that was enough for me!

kiwi - nice to see you back on my thread! you world traveller you.

greenfish - tiles are through Beaumonts. But I am very underwhelmed by Beaumonts at the moment. They did have a colour consultant there, but wasn't in the mood to speak to her (I went for a visit again this morning, spontaneous decision with mum here as she loves all this stuff) as I discovered today that ALL the tiles we had chosen have red stickers on them = extra laying charges.

OK, so I have been dying to post chronicle photos and I finally feel like we are at a substantial enough stage where I can. Here goes...

South East
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North East
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In this last pic, if you look closely you can just see the steps from the living room sliders down to the lawn. We love these although the intention was to have only 2 not 3, but Zen raised the height of the whole slab. The plan is to back fill with some earth to raise the lawn and make it level.

The brickies did a great job on Friday, but have been told to wait till Monday as Zen want to do some frame corrections. Fine by us (although I am getting excited about the bricks and had hoped they would be up while mum is visiting...). I was talking to the brick supervisor about how neat his commons are and he seems to take real pride in his work (he is 41 years old and has been laying bricks since he was 14.5 yro ). Fingers crossed for next week... Our frames are looking a bit tired and getting soaked in a few places so we hope the roof can go up ASAP...

Seeing as I am in the mood, below are our kitchen plans and a question I just posted in the Kitchen Corner:

Hi there - Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the optimum distance between kitchen benches and islands? We have 1320mm but I am wanting to cut this down to give more room on the stool side which then flows into the living. We are at frame stage and when I was in the kitchen today I felt like it was massive whereas the lounge area was cramped. I have heard some people say 1200mm is ideal. Is 1100mm too narrow?

Here are our kitchen plans:

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Thanks!

Looks good T
Good to see you have steps, we also ended up higher at the laundry and so now need steps, but we don't have any as yet
Maybe the brickies will still come and stack bricks, our guys spent a whole day just putting bricks up on the scaffold In preparation for laying, your frames are looking tired some of our are still exposed since Jan16th, cant wait to have them covered, they don't even look green anymore

I LOVE YOUR HOUSE!!! it was so good to see it in the flesh cos now it all makes sense. thanks so much for sharing it with us in march (and you too gogo, makes it so much more personal)

ok, we have 1300 between back bench and breakfast bar and to be honest (I AM SORRY) but I wouldnt go anything less. It is one step from back to the bar...so no extra steps are needed and therefore wasted..but the big plus is 2 can pass.

I would hate it to be smaller..cos I would get pushed into the bench by hubby or a kid..ALL THE TIME
this way we walk past each other no probs and one can be at the stove and get around them without someone moving forward so your crutch is touching the bench/ drawers and being squished. I know you dont want to hear it...but you will thank me and just get skinny stools..

your hubby aint small...he will need some space to walk past them both...
(as in not fat...!! just not a dwarf)

We have 1670, I think it might be too wide??

wow - between your island and bench?! That is rather wide if you are carrying food / pots... I just got out the tape measure and 1320 seems wide to me. (I hear ya though kiwi!). I read on another thread that 1350mm is advised to be the widest you go. DH being on the tall side wants as much space as possible, but I am tempted to shave it down to 1200mm...

ok, so mark out 1200 on the floor NEXT to something solid a wall etc ... or a buffet and move the table into an L shape... etc, so it is like the kitchen design and then you and dh pretend you are in there making lunch. Making your OWN lunch not each others and see how you go. so one has spag bol cooking, and one is a sandwich. use all the things you would and remember..you also need to include the stove as that is on the turn at 1320 on the plan and you have a tight opening if someone is at the stove and then you have the BB corner.

you need the fridge and each 3 seconds wash your hands..

if you can work around each other ok at 1200 go for it. if you bang into each other more than 3 times..FORGET IT
it will drive you insane.

as kids get older they bring kids back with them..who are tall and have vomit in their hair (from the custom design thread!!) they will drive you nuts as they go and get some water from the tap...to pop a pill....

kiwi - you are extremely persuasive (and graphic!). Spoken with experience. Just to clarify - I would still keep the 1320 between stove / fridge and island, plus the 1300 on the other side so plenty of walk space to the pantry. Just bring the island closer to sink so 1200mm there only. Whaddya reckon? A pretend lunch practice thing might be the go, tho'. Good tip!

bringing it over.


nar...1200 from bb to sink is too small IN MY MIND

I recon 1300 all around, but go make lunch and see......

Ha ha ha, oh my god kiwi, is that what we have to look forward to as they grow up?! Laughing still! Although why should we expect anything less knowing what we got up to, pinching a bit of everything from the parents booze cabinet and making a lovely cocktail to take to the "disco"!

As for kitchen measurements - checking ours now - as in whe we're living and what were going to have.

Yep 1670 down the long wall (oven wall) and 1200 from the short wall (window/cooktop to end of island bench.)
Probably not to much of a problem for me considering the occassional time the oven goes on

yes, watch out people, gogo is opening the oven door to get something out.

oh, people are watching cos it is like an eclipse!!
watch your backs...oh, you dont have too cos there is HEAPS OF SPACE!!!!

im yelling a lot ay.

Oh dear, we're stuffed too then as only have 1.2m in our plans (but we only have 1 m where we are the mo, so it will feel lovely in comparison!)

1.2 m o oh, no spag bol and a sandwich..one or the other!!!


sunshine is it weird we are going from my house to yours. tonight?
ha ha

it is only 10 cms..I am sure in the big scheme of things, it will be fine!!

Yep, the lovely life of teenagers, they want to believe we dont know what they get up to
Yeah right, i was innocent
Mind you my DS has had a few big nighters and one night I had one of his friends whom I have known since they were 5, in my bathroom vomiting, crap everywhere, black sh!t up the walls over 1.5 high wtf, what the hell is it and how did it get there (This coming from a nurse) and he tried to tell me he hadnt vomited or been drinking, he has ben warned he is only allowed in the downstairs bathroom in the new house, the johnno vomit room