Our Custom Hamptons Inspired Home - We are in!!!

Oh congrats, how exciting! We are still waiting on our permit. Starting to get impatient LOL.

Do have a thread I can follow?

Ohh lovely.

Yes I know what you mean. I've promised Hubby that I'll wait to decorate... but secretly just want to sell off most of our current stuff even though there's nothing wrong with it and we'll get peanuts for it compared to what it'll cost to buy new stuff! Oh well. It will be a work in progress.

Oohh i just discovered your thread!! I love love your plan. It's going to look amazing. Your staircase inspo is gorgeous!

Dani_J
Oh congrats, how exciting! We are still waiting on our permit. Starting to get impatient LOL.

Do have a thread I can follow?

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Yet to get myself a thread. I plan to do that once the house is demolished and I feel I would have something to report every few days. Right now it feels a little slow.

I understand your frustration waititng with the Planning permit process...... this took us a few years. Are you Vic based?

Thanks lovely. I just took a look at your thread and I am so sorry to hear of your troubles with Watersun. Glad you have some great advice from fellow forum members (Tash's is a gem) and really hope a new builder will get things going for you again soon x

Fair enough. I was the same. Took a year before it started to actually feel 'real' and didn't want to bore everyone with the little details, although some advice early on wouldn't have gone astray!

Yep, we are out in north west Melbourne. Where are you?
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I use Houzz so pics are from the app.






This is what we have at home (yes we have "finished" building and are almost done decorating... ) In my almost finished library

Okay ladies and gents, in today's update I'm going to present my internal colour selections for the kitchen (cause let's face it, it's the best part and we spend the most time stressing over), and I would greatly appreciate any advice/ feedback, particularly regarding tile and stone choices.

Oh and did I mention I have been OBSESSING about tiles and benchtops for the best part of a year?! I have been in and out of a dozen tile shops, been to all the main showrooms for each stone supplier, yep Caesarstone, Silestone, Essastone, Quantum Quartz, Smartstone, you name it. I have tonnes of samples littered all over my study floor. I don't know why but I just find it incredibly difficult to choose this stuff, maybe because there are so many lovely options to choose from.

Anyway, my general approach to things is "less is more" and keeping to a fairly neutral palette when it comes to permanent fittings. I figure you can't go wrong with this approach as additional colour and patterns can be introduced through styling. Though I do wonder if my choices are a little boring at times. Case in point is our kitchen. Most of the Hamptons style kitchens you see have the traditional white shaker cabinets paired with some sort of white or grey stone/marble top with white subway tiles. That's all fair and well but I would like to be a bit more adventurous with our kitchen splashback and introduce a bit of colour. Let me show you what I mean...

KITCHEN INSPIRATION:



This pic above was one of the first images I collected on Pintrest and I was instantly smitten with the idea of a blue-ish splashback...



The pic above cemented it! I really love this kitchen with the combination of white and blue although it's slightly too traditional for my taste with the built in range. If you haven't checked out Melinda's website, do yourself a favour. You can find it here: http://www.melindahartwright.com/



And this one. I decided early on that we weren't going to have overhead cabinets in the kitchen as a) I'm short so they are no fun to reach, and b) I wanted windows like this either side of the rangehood to allow in some natural light. Like this, I am also thinking of tiling to the ceiling, as I think it would look weird if we stop just underneath the range. Thoughts?

So all this led me looking all over Melbourne for blue subway tiles (harder than you think). I found a tile I liked early on at Beaumont Tiles but dismissed it as being too blue initially. But after collecting a dozen samples, it's the one I keep coming back to. I initially had it paired with Caesarstone Alpine Mist which I had chosen before this tile, but I am worried that together it will be too busy. Recently I have been leaning towards London Grey, though also considering Frosty Carrina.

CURRENT KITCHEN CHOICES:


Our cabinets will be like this - shaker style in Polar White with a satin finish.


Current stone favourites above. Hard to decide which one...

Current tile choice is Agrestic Blue Gloss. These pics don't do it justice. In natural light, they look more blue than grey. They also come in two different sizes (75x300 top and 75x100 bottom). Not sure which is best.



Here are the stone samples alongside the tile and cabinet colour sample (London Grey middle, Alpine Mist right). Sorry about the poor lighting.

What do you guys think? REALLY need your help on our benchtop /splashback combination as this has been driving me nuts for months!

I definitely want to stick with Caesarstone as I just love their range, but I don't want a benchtop that is too veiny, if you know what I mean. Though I don't mind the veins in the Alpine Mist as they are white. And is the idea of a blue-grey subway tiles terrible? Am I better off with sticking with the safe option of white instead?

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I'm voting for the smaller tiles with London grey.

A friend of mine has done their bench in the supernatural marble with a contoured edge (ogee) and has blue grey subway tiles.

I think yours is going to be devine!

White subway in a Herringbone for mine. Not going for black handles with shaker cabinets?

I agree with Yvonneh the smaller tiles with the London grey. I think alpine mist might be a bit too much with the tile. If it was a white tile I would do alpine but not blue. I am doing a white beveled subway with bianco drift stone and white shaker cabinets can't wait till it all comes together in the next few weeks. Love the Hampton style and am paying homage to it in my modern home with an industrial twist

Dani_J
Fair enough. I was the same. Took a year before it started to actually feel 'real' and didn't want to bore everyone with the little details, although some advice early on wouldn't have gone astray!

Yep, we are out in north west Melbourne. Where are you?

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We are North East.

I love the tiles in the kitchen inspiration pics...... I will be showing the husband these ones....... exactly what i have been trying to describe to him - thanks

Particularly have been trying to explain the white subway tile.

Beautiful options.

We ended up with subway tiles too, and went for the longer ones because the interior designer we spoke to said because they were slightly uneven edges the smaller they were the busier the look. That is not necessarily a bad thing, just depends what you are wanting to achieve.

Here is a pic of our splashback.



I think the Alpine Mist would look the best as the others have a creamy tinge and with white cabinets I think the white streaks in the Alpine Mist will really compliment.

This is the montauk from boutique homes. Best hamptons style we've seen so far.

I think if you love the blue tile look then do it! But if you think you might get sick of it later down the track then probably safe to stick with white. You can always incorporate the blue into your accessories. A lovely baby blue KitchenAid would look grand in the white kitchen. Also you can be bolder with your benchtop and go the alpine mist to spice it up a bit instead of the plain marble look. That was my reasoning behind the white subways and bianco drift top. Originally I was going to go a marble subway but couldn't find the perfect one and also thought I might get sick of it. Was also planning on doing the London grey until I saw bianco drift in person. Omg! The samples don't do it justice. The samples look beige but on a benchtop it is a beautiful soft Greige with subtle charcoal veins. Also a few glitter pieces thrown in which satisfies my industrial edge. Have you seen alpine mist on a larger scale?? So hard to invision what the benches will look like from a small sample.

Oh and my walls are Dulux vanilla quake. I'm in love with it. It's a beautiful soft warm grey that actually seems to change colour in different lights. Might be worth looking at....

There is a build on Coral homes Kikki that has used those tiles offset for splashback & they look beautiful. We are doing them in white herringbone but longer version (think maybe I should've picked stubby ones ) both colour consultants suggested the long. I love London grey but have you looked at organic white ? I haven't seen large slab but have been told it throws a grey (we are hoping to use it) I think whatever you choose will be beautiful

What pattern will you be laying the splashback tiles?

I like the shorter tiles if laid brick bond, but the longer tiles if you are going a herringbone pattern.

I think the paler, Frosty Carrina benchtop against the coloured tile will give great contrast - and it will compliment the white cabinets. Some of the other benchtops might look a bit beige against white cabinetry.

If you selected a white splashback tile then I'd introduce some more colour/texture with the benchtop. Probably pick London Grey.

I originally wanted a white on white kitchen. Thinking, like a lot of people, white won't date and as kitchens are pretty 'permanent' it's a smart investment. I saw an almost all white version of my kitchen (in a display home) and thought it looked too stark and clinical.
I've chosen Ash Grey Quantum Quartz benchtop with a similar textured tile (to your blue tile) but in white gloss as splashback.

You need to start a thread so we can follow

I agree that an all-white kitchen can look clinical and stark, BUT I also think that's mainly only in display kitchens or the two minutes that a real life kitchen is tidied up for a photo (to be uploaded to this forum ). Otherwise unless you are fanatical about keeping things tidy and have no kids, there's going to be non-coordinating items scattered around anyway that break up the white lol.