First room complete!

The new kitchen is officially operating as of today. It feels so exciting to have now moved in! What a fantastic job Dad has done. 

This area of the house has always been somewhere to gravitate towards.. filled with natural light and providing a great outlook into the backyard and down the driveway to the front. It also now provides a great view of the standard roses and camellias along the northern fence and the new little white fairy lights along the back. There are summer storms rolling around tonight and it has just started raining outside. So lovely to hear the rain soaking into the lawn and gardens. 

Old kitchen.. End of an era

The kitchen that I have been using for the past 6 months (on the front north western corner) has served me very well (as it has for others before me.. especially Lorraine and Catherine). The sun floods in during winter providing so much welcome warmth. The cupboard doors and red and chrome handles are quite 'retro' and the white painted timber shelving and shadow box are lovely. Dad is going to re-use the shadow box as a detail near the new front door entry.. in fact many of the existing materials such as the beautiful old solid doors and windows will be somehow incorporated into the new house design.. very special, I think. 

New kitchen.. a fresh new era :)

Just cooked my first meal tonight in the new kitchen. I love it. There's a new home for everything and it feels so functional. It also feels very luxurious to have a dishwasher again!

Painting..

Meanwhile, the new dining room (formerly the kitchen in the back flat) is being painted at the moment... a clean, fresh white - to tie in with the kitchen. We are also looking at carpets for this room - thinking some sort of natural berber or sisal. 

Stage 2..

I will be moving into the back bathroom (south eastern corner) soon, which will leave the front bathroom area ready to start transforming as 'Stage 2' gets underway...

 

Christmas plans

We put up some little white fairy lights on the weekend. They're so cute.. dotted all along the back fence. 

The plumber also came today to hook up the gas and water in the new kitchen. Really looking forward to hosting Christmas dinner in my backyard, using the new kitchen :)

A productive weekend

We managed to get lots done this weekend which is always a rewarding feeling. 

DAD'S WORK IN THE KITCHEN IS DONE

Dad has finished everything in the kitchen now.. Splash back tiles are in, the small white mosaic tiles on the bench 'hob' have been grouted and the timber hob painted white. 

All that's left now is for the plumber to come and hook up the gas and water. Will be very exciting to start using it! ;)

'LITTLE GEM' GARDEN

I planted another 'Little Gem' (Magnolia) near the front side corner of the shed, and have surrounded it with Japanese Box to tie in with the Box planted in front of the standard roses nearby.

LAVENDER GARDEN

I also tidied the lavender along the northern side of the house. It has been growing there for many years now and should respond well to a good trim!

BEFORE...

The lavender had become really woody and each plant had grown to a different size. There was also a timber frame around some of the lavender plants, and the space to the left of the garden was grassed and a bit difficult to mow properly. 

AFTER...

The plants have all had a big trim and should hopefully thicken up into low bushes. I will fill a couple of the gaps with new plants next weekend. I also dug out the grass on the left side to make the garden bed stretch to meet the driveway, and have removed the timber garden frame to neaten things up. 

Will mulch the gardens next weekend. 

A NEW LIFE FOR OLD POTS

I had a couple of old terracotta pots which were getting pretty tired, although it didn't feel right to get rid of them altogether. So I have painted them a neutral brown-grey colour to freshen them up and tie in with the fairly neutral colours of everything else. Not sure yet where they will go or what plants they'll house, but am hoping they will look nice somewhere... will see.