Curtains (and blinds) and doggie door

Today more curtains and blinds were installed. Master bedroom, ensuite blinds, main bathroom blinds and sheers in the sitting room.

I am delighted! The master bedroom curtains and sheers were the ones I most wondered about. I worried would they be the right colours? Would they look as I'd imagined?

Well I am pleased to say they look even better than I'd imagined :)

Thanks Margie for doing such a great job! And R for the inspiration.

 

Master bedroom

 

Same from different angle

 

LOVE the box pleat sheers

 

From outside they look great too

 

The sitting room window

 

The ensuite blind is great, too

In other news, we also had the dog door installed for the pugs. It's in the window opening out onto the paved area off the meals area. Took a little while for them to get used to it - but it helped that it is the same style as they're used to at the old place.

 

 

Might need to put a little mat there for them

 

So what has worked?

Going with a Pollyanna perspective, I was thinking about what's really worked in the new house.

First would be the study nook. It was not initially part of the design - I'd just planned to use the spare room as a computer space. But I saw one on another blog and it was instantly obvious what, and where, ours should go. And it's worked so well. BRILLIANTLY in fact!!!

Gone are the days of me at one end of the house and Sean at the other. We sit a few feet away from one another chatting etc. while he watches TV and I surf or do bookwork. I love it :)

The back garden has also been a real success. It is literally 1/4 of the size of our old rear garden. But we're out there all the time! The cubby on an angle (and easily viewable from the rear living area) has been great too. Worth the extra effort it took to get it there.

The laundry drawers in the kids bathroom and laundry have proved so practical. We use them all the time, and it really does help keep the spaces cleaner and neater.

Changing from a sliding door to an open entry to the ensuite has also worked. It's great to lie there and watch the plasma while lying in the spa! While we would have been able to do that with a sliding door there, the open entry and the wall cutout give a lot more light and a feeling of space which a more enclosed design wouldn't have.

Finally the oven. OMG. I love it!!! The auto-start function. The various cooking functions. The sensitivity of controls? It's all so good!

Echo echo echo echo echo....

So the back room echos. Badly! Two young kids, two dogs, a large TV, dishwasher, robotic vacuum cleaner etc. and it can be hard to hear what people are saying. We NEED a rug!

But it's a BIG space. I'd really need a 12 x 16 foot rug or thereabouts. And they cost. Big time. And with a big rug, and a big cost, I need to be sure and play it safe. And I kinda wanted to be a bit more out there and vibrant in that room.

So then I started looking at edged carpets - particularly patterned ones. Some of them are really really inexpensive! E.g. $300 for a massive rug. And that's when I came across the Laura Ashley carpet range. SWOON!!!!! Their Isodore teal/duck egg blue carpet calls to me big time:

But I ruled it out, as I have a large open plan kitchen / meals / family room - so the theme would need to continue across the space - and integral to the kitchen is Mabel the mixer:

And as you can see there are neutral benchtops and a brown splashback to consider, too.

I was bemoaning my carpet lust when a friend suggested I do a teal/duck egg blue and red theme with chocolate. Which I immediately poo-pood. Until I googled and thought what about TEAL and red (same theme I wanted for Adelaide's room) and suddenly got inspired!

It has that slight playfulness I want in the casual living spaces! I can see it looking fresh and clean and modern. And I am really loving it as an idea.

So I started to look up some inspiration...

 

Grass!

There's really not much else to say is there???

 

The front

 

From the path

 

Same from another angle

 

Camellias and lawn

 

Side with magnolias

 

Rain chain properly in place

 

The cubby in pride of place!

And more on the garden

Today saw more progress in the garden. The front has been fully mulched - and in the back they have shoveled it in to place, ready to spread properly tomorrow. It looks great!

Also the whole place has been cleaned up, ready for turf to go in. I can't wait :)  I think it's going to really make a difference to the overall look of the house.

Tomorrow we're also having fence palings installed on the inside of our fence - to stop Oscar from climbing the runners into next door where they have a pool.

Today also saw the cubby being stocked with the shelves and kids' toys. They were so excited to access their beloved cubby and have all their treasures reinstated. Also means the spare bedroom is now basically vacant - which is fortuitous as we bought a spare bed and base for there today. Just a double (we don't often have couples stay - most often it's Grandma who will sleep over if she's minding the kids when we have a late night). Did consider going to a queen - but I already have barely used linen (which I really like) for a double! 

Will probably set that up tomorrow, so will post a pic then. In the interim, here's the latest from outside of the house :)

 

The left hand side and my camellias.

 

The gorgeous gardenias.

 

From another angle.

 

The front. Ready for some turf.

 

The same from another angle.

It's getting even closer...

And the plants are going in! I am so pleased - it's really starting to come together.

I ended up changing a few plant positions. Specifically the Forest Pansy. It was to go in the front left - but it ended up going near my rain chain. I am happy with it there. Also ordered another magnolia. 6 looked good - but seven would put a tree in front of every window and generally would look better. So it arrives tomorrow.

The rock lilies, magnolias, crab apple, pear, hydrangeas and other 'out the back' plants are going in tomorrow. Can't wait!

In other news the Internet was connected today. Phone, too. A big relief!

 

My Forest Pansy. Doesn't look like
much right now - but just you wait!

 

My gardenia hedge. SWOON!

 

I can just imagine this grown and in bloom.

 

A view down the side. Here you can see
my Magnolia and Rock Lily avenue.

 

My lovely luscious pear!

 

My Viburnum Opulus

 

Crab Apple waiting to go in

Turf is going in in the next day or two! That should make a real difference to the overall appearance of the place. Can't wait.

A big day in the garden - part two

My earlier post was from mid-morning. But so much got done today, I figured an end of day post was warranted, too. Gates are finished - so we're now officially locked up! Feels a lot more secure knowing I'm not going to have some random walking down the side of the house.

The soil has been moved around the back, and the landscapers started prepping the soil for planting.

The cubby was also assembled - and the kids loved it! They've not been able to go and play in it, yet - but even seeing it reassembled was cause for major happiness!

 

The assembled cubby - complete with

prepared topsoil ready for turf

 

Looking the other way towards the

paved brick area

 

Down the side - also ready to be turfed

 

You can see the cubby at the end in pride of place!

 

Left hand gate finished now too

 

Looking good!

 

Brick garden bed edging on the left

of the block (looking out to street) 

 

Same taken from street looking back

to the house. You can see the new gate

closed here, too.

A big day in the garden

A big morning today! The brick paving out the back has been acid washed. The plants have arrived. Soil is currently in the middle of my driveway. Side gate is being finished as we speak. Rain chain has been hung. And a small boy's cubby is being put back together!

 

Paving - grouted and about to be acid washed

 

The plants are here!

 

And the rain chain is up!

 

So pleased with the style we chose!

 

Dirt.

 

The cubby being moved into position

 

And assembled.

House and Garden

It's been a big 5 days! We moved on the Monday - and here on the Friday we're basically unpacked. A few things in cupboards waiting for the cubby to be reassembled and populated (and a few things still to be resorted into permanent homes) but the bulk of things are in.

Have had tradies galore here this week. Sparkies had to come back (URGENTLY) when it turned out what was meant to be an inert wire was actually live (as Sean painfully discovered!). Also the water tank was installed. The side gate finished (and the other one started). Warren the landscaper has continued on and we've also had the TVs professionally installed.

Optus were meant to be here yesterday to install the phone/Internet but didn't show. Looks like next week now instead. Probably a good thing. Limited Internet has meant I've kept on with the unpacking ;)

The paving out the back is now all but finished. Warren is coming over tomorrow to grout (or whatever it is they call it). He did the brick planting border out the front this afternoon, too. Plants are arriving early in the week and he hopes to have everything finished by the end of the week.

 

Outdoor paving - all but finished

 

From a different angle

 

Sean's pride and joy - integrated
Internet, cable TV and phone system

Living in the house has been interesting. Having a bigger and better kitchen has brought back my cooking mojo. The dishwasher has been a real boon to Sean who used to do the dishes! I find the kids are eating a larger variety now we eat each and every meal at the kitchen table. And I love the way that music played from my study nook echoes up and down the hall in just the right way so that it is neither too loud nor soft.

I am loving the new bathrooms, increased kitchen storage and WIR (although the latter is still a enormous pig sty - have not started sorting in there yet). The echoing in the family room is driving me nuts - big rug in there is a priority I think.

Really looking forward to having the garden complete, being fully settled and taking a break from 'planning' for a while.

OK - I say that now - but am already tossing around ideas for the sitting room in my mind....