Fires, Kitchen,Pantry, Study...Wallpaper!

High Alert

I haven't updated the progress on the house for a week I think...that's because there has been no progress! But...I am not dwelling on anything negative as it is a terrible waste of emotional energy and all I can think of are the people in Victoria who right at this minute are deciding to stay and fight potential fires or evacuate. Five million messages were sent by the Emergency services today on our phones warning of severe weather conditions and winds. Over 360 schools throughout our state have been closed so I just pray that all the children and elderly are taken to the evacuation centres. On the news they are telling people there will be no warning so leave before 12am tonight before the winds start. Already there have been out of control fires burning throughout Victoria so all emergency crews are on high alert...OMG I don't know what to say...people are fillings up their bath tubs, hoses inside, hoses outside but if there is a similar firestorm like we had 3 weeks ago there will be no warning. This is just unbelievable. I just hope that everybody in the fire danger areas (some are part of Metropolitan Melbourne) are safe. It is so upsetting....





I thought I would show pictures of my 90% completed kitchen...I love my kitchen so much, exactly how I imagined it to be. I designed every single aspect of it, right down to the very last detail. Any body that has ever designed their own kitchen will know how difficult to achieve that 'certain look'. I spent hours with two different cabinets makers (long story hehe) countless hours pouring over the most beautiful kitchen books so to say I am happy is a big thing for me. We are going for the Henna Red glass splash back with under cupboard lights shinning on it. I am sure it will evoke 'strong' reactions from visitors but at least we have a talking point, a bit like a controversal painting LOL

Opening of our pantry

In this picture, I wanted to show you where our pantry is situated...for a reason..

Wallpaper in the Butler's Pantry?

I was reading all my favourite blogs and came across this post by Anna from Toxteth. Anna also wants to do a wallpaper splash back for different parts of her kitchen and bathroom. I think this is a fabulous idea and had been thinking about it for quite a while. She has beautiful wallpaper samples from Porters Paints and I have seen most of the patterns as well. So...I was wondering if anybody would like to comment about what style or colour wallpaper would look nice in my pantry. I know a few wallpaper shops in Melbourne but I wanted to get an idea about colour. The wood in the pantry and study is walnut but dark (I cant for the life of me work out why I picked this colour, must of been in one of my vague, weird moods) but dark it is. I can imagine a blue colour but there is nothing blue in the house at all. This is going to be the fun part...what a funky pantry its going to be!

Wall of pantry

Study Desk

This is our study desk. I also want to put wallpaper her between the two work stations. I can see a modern look here as my boys will use this area a lot. On the opposite walls are the green doors so I need to make sure I link in the two colours. Ginger coloured carpet is on the ground.

Mrs B

House Pictures...

Balcony

The picture above shows the view we get from our balcony. The last panel on the right cuts out our view line of the park. I am not really sure why the council made us put up screening on that particular corner. Just a slight irritation as it doesn't look right but I will get use to it. At least it will protect us from the winds that come through around winter time.

Children's Bathroom

I love this picture! my kids bathroom with their new carrara marble top. The whole room just feels right, I can't wait to see the basins, shower and taps installed. The basins are a beautiful round shape that will sit on top.

Door Handles

These are the door handles I have chosen...you can hardly see them. I didn't want the handles to be a feature and wanted a very clean look. At the moment, some of them are sticking to the granite but they will all be adjusted. My concern originally was that they wouldn't be easy to use but they feel really nice to open.

Powder Room



Kitchen Detail

In one of my favourite blogs DesignTies, Victoria wrote apost about a project she had been commissioned to do by a client. The major design was a magnificent fireplace that desperately needed to be remodelled, in keeping with a contempoary interior. Victoria used the combination of wood and steel strips placed horizontally up the wall. Anyway, I mentioned that there are elements in my home that have used steel as a design element. The first one is shown in the picture above. I wanted a steel strip right around the kitchen island between the granite and the doors...even though the cabintery is not on, you can still see how its going to look. I also have andoised steel fins as a feature on the outside that wrap right around the house. Of course silly me I forgot to take a photo but I might duck around tonight to take one!

Mrs B

Bianco Romano

Our beautiful bianco romano slabs are now at the stone masons being cut for our kitchen as I type this post. We went down to the factory to make sure they use the correct slab for the feature island bench. I have a feeling they are not the slabs we picked out 5 months ago from the marble place and of course I didn't take pictures did I! Doesn't matter, both slabs are stunning and the slab in the photos here will be for the island bench. I told the stone mason to try and not have much of the black stripe that you can see up top. Not that it will really matter as he practically has to use the whole slab for the bench and it is not in a feature section. I am so glad we went for granite and surprised that granite has fallen out of favour at the moment with most new house builds. I love the inconsistency, the colour and texture of the stone.

Here is our Carrara Marble being made for all our other bench tops. Very exciting to see all our house bits around the place.

Our big marble slab on the machine waiting to be cut.

Here is the machine where all the action takes place. I have learnt a lot about stone finishes in the last few days. We are having a mitre cut where you have the joint on the 90 degree. If that didn't make sense I apologise hehe because all the guys were talking to Mr B about it and my eyes started to glaze over LOL I just said I don't want to see joins and I wanted the edges to have a soft feel about them.

Oh...I almost forgot, we have another random addition to our house....according to our stone mason, our bar bench top is going to be Carrara Marble??? When I got home, I looked in all my notes to the builder and no where did I see I had that down hehe oh well, will look beautiful and is just another random moment in my house build. I have a great sense of humour so looks like we are having marble in the bar!

Mrs B