I've changed my mind again -.- We did a check of the size of our block and to make the house fit we would have also had to rip out 2/3 of the driveway and another concrete patio area. Plus we'd be getting dangerously close to the 50% roofed land area regulation that we have here. So it's back to the design we liked before I even started the blog. It's called The Brighton and it's still by Kitome but it's a two story design. This means our slab can be a lot smaller but we can still have the space we need and we won't have to worry about removing our other concreted areas to make it fit.
Here's the outside view of the Brighton:
And here are the house plans:
The only issue is it's a little too wide for our block given that two
story houses need to be at least 3 metres from the side boundary. So we
are changing it so that 1.8m is removed from the width. This basically
equates to removing the side verandah and space equal to that. We will
just have a smaller dining area (which is fine because it's still pretty
big) and we will have 5 bedrooms instead of 6. We'll move Bed 4 across
getting rid of Bed 3 and just increase the size of the study slightly to
account for the little extra room from removing a bedroom. We will also
get rid of the laundry/toilet addition at the back as we don't need a
laundry or third toilet. Hopefully this will also make it cheaper as
this one is more expensive than the other plan.
In other news I picked up the Dining Table today and I am so happy with it. Such a bargain given it's solid timber (and very heavy) yet cost me less than half the price of an 8 seater setting from the local discount furniture store (which is cheaply made, so nowhere near the craftsmanship and longevity this table has).Totally loving Gumtree right now!
When moving it I managed to trip over my son's bike and land on my bum with the table on me- so co-ordinated! It's finally in the shed though awaiting my makeover. I feel kind of bad about painting it now because they even oiled it for us but the top will still be wood and so will the seats (just stained a darker walnut colour). I'm also not going to paint the underneath of the chair seats because they have all been stamped as it's part of the Flinder's Collection. I'd like the stamps to remain :)I cannot wait to sit at this and eat as a family!!
I have been having so much trouble but I think I have finally found something I like that is also really cheap. I started looking at outdoor tables instead of indoor ones as I wanted a fairly solid simple table but they're either too expensive or not long enough. Turns out Ikea had a cheap outdoor table that will suit the look I am going for and also seats 8 people. The Angso Table:
Which I would pair up with these quite Provincial looking Ingolf chairs also from Ikea:
The Ingolf range also includes matching bar stools that I could use for the breakfast bar:
I'm having a bit of trouble finding a dining table that I really like that doesn't cost the earth. All I really want is a nice solid timber table in white but a lot of the white dining tables seem to be coated in laminate or plastic. I have however found one at a reasonable price that I quite like which is the Cancun table from Freedom
I'd white wash it just a little more though.
I am going to have a look around the second hand stores before I commit to buying anything though. Hopefully I can find a solid table that I can sand back and white wash/paint. I also may have to wait until the house is built before I can really pick one as I am not sure if the size I want will fit in the space I have. I would love a big 8 seater so fingers crossed.
Dining chairs I do have picked though. I found heaps that I love but so many of them were so costly. I had no idea dining chairs could even be as expensive as some that I saw ヘ（。□°）ヘ
I found these Millicent chairs from Freedom though which are pretty reasonably priced and come in both black and white. I thought it would be pretty cool to alternate white and black chairs around the table just to make it visually interesting:
I really love the simplicity of the chairs, which again manage to suit both the provincial and modern style that I need them to.
I have been to-ing and fro-ing on what I want to do with the lighting in the Kitchen/Living Dining area. I have had so many ideas although all involve at least one chandelier. I think I have finally settled on something though
＼(^▽^＠)ノ
Like I said I always knew I wanted a chandelier in either black or white. I thought I might scour eBay and see what was on there as the budget isn't huge and I thought I might find a bargain. I found a few different ones that were well priced that I really liked and I noticed they were all by the same seller and that the seller not only offered free shipping Australia Wide but had a website too. I thought I'd check it out and lo and behold the company is actually fairly local. Their name is Ivory&Deene and if you are a fan of pretty chandeliers that are also quite cheap then I suggest you take a peek at their website. I have been umming and ahhing but I am now pretty set on the 12 arm Cassie black vintage chandelier:
It's just stunning and under $300 as well which is unbelievable. I have always wanted a chandelier. ( ˘ ³˘)❤
Originally I was thinking of having 2 chandeliers but I didn't realise the ceilings were cathedral (don't ask me how I missed that haha) and I also thought the space probably wouldn't suit 2 as it's not exactly huge. I also want to have a bit of a modern mix throughout my house to complement the French Provincial/Victorian pieces and stop it looking too over the top.
I did some searching on google images and found this which I thought was pretty perfect for the look I was trying to achieve:
I love the look of the chandelier in the centre and the down lights discreetly lining the centre of both sides of the slanted roof. Obviously I would just have the one big chandelier right in the centre of the room though. Even though the down lights are a more modern looking fixture I think they complement the old fashioned looking chandelier nicely and would help prevent my home from looking tacky which I want to avoid. I found these on eBay by a seller called bestlightings:
They are pretty cheap and are also LED meaning they should be cheaper to run and also last longer (which is good because I don't think I'll enjoy changing light bulbs on a Cathedral ceiling!
I also found this funky floor lamp from Freedom that I thought might work for the Living area:
It's a nice mix of modern with the chrome but also has that old fashioned look. I really love it and I think it makes a nice sculptural looking piece as well as being functional as a lamp!
And I think that's about it for the lighting in that space. I may need to wait until these lights are in to see if I need anymore.... and for that I'll probably need the house 。(⌒∇⌒。)
