Sunday, January 30, 2011

a random spew of inspiration


Loving the stark white walls. You can do so much with it and it looks quite modern.


Ok, we aren't going for timber benches but I am loving the brown and white thing they have going...


I love the old timber table. It looks like it has so much history..


I love dark brown and white in a bathroom!


I love seeing the contrast of light and dark. Its not so safe and I admire that...


All my favourite colours! Made for me!


Love the bookshelves with the grey behind...



current decisions made

As of this moment, we have come to the following decisions...

  • window frames - black
  • walls painted - stark white (thats just a description - not sure of the actual paint name yet..)
  • internal common area floors - brown tile
  • carpet in certain areas, bedrooms etc. - brown
  • kitchen cupboards - white
  • kitchen benchtop - macchiato (Essa Stone)
  • kitchen splashback - all stainless steel, as high as the rangehood (at this moment - depends on cost)
  • wet area floor tile - brown
  • wet area wall tile - white
  • bathroom mosaic feature - Natural split plus emperor dark from De Lorenzo (depending on cost) to be put in wall recess in shower only and maybe on tap area of bath.
  • bathroom cupboards - dark brown with a timber finish
  • bathroom benchtop - white
  • feature wall that flatscreen tv goes on - dark grey
  • ceiling fans in - main bedroom, lounge room, alfresco, study
Ok, thats pretty good I think! I know it seems to be a lot of brown, but I saw lots of homes today with brown floors and white walls and they even changed Daddy Piggy's way of thinking! He is old school - cream walls and he came around!

Also thinking that we should go as light a brick as we can - so it doesn't suck in too much heat from the sun (we don't have air conditioning and we do not want to fry!) and maybe as light a roof as we can! A lot of people are going for really dark - almost roofs. If we can go lighter - it will help with the heat.

Another thought is - we should get whirly birds on the roof to let as much heat out as we can!

Eco-smart and $$ smart!

the kitchen cupboard conundrum

This is the style that our kitchen is going to be, but there won't be any top cupboards.

Mr Piggy and I have decided on a brown tile floor. I'm sure it will end up being a mocha or cocoa or frappacino, or some other caffeine-based beverage colour (they all seem to be), so now we are confused...what to do with the kitchen!!?? I don't think we should go dark cupboards because the kitchen is in a little nook without its own window and I don't want it to be a proverbial black hole. We need something that is going to reflect light, not suck light. We may end up getting a skylight once we move in, but thats not the point...we need some light!


We have a few standard colours of Caesar Stone and Essa Stone to choose from - so we are trying our best to choose from the ones we don't have to pay extra for. I was leaning towards a white benchtop, but I went for a read on the net and found people saying on blogs that although the Essa Stone and Caesar Stone is in the high 90% non-porous, it is judst enough to leave permanent marks on the stone. These stones are not natural, they are man-made so they can be porous to a degree. I am a little concerned by the poeple that say they have permanent red wine stains etc. Scary.

So it seems we have chosen our stone - Mr Piggy likes dark stone (but not too dark) so we are choosing Macchiato in the Essa Stone. (So you see my joke now in the caffeine-inspired coulours... ;)
Just listen to the Macchiato description... "A mellow coffee tone with cinnamon and cocoa fragments creates a warm and comfortable look" hehehe - the marketing department impresses me... I want to eat it! Its a brown that verges on a dark tan and it doesn't throw any yellow when artificially lit. I like that.

So now, what cupboards to use in a kitchen with brown floor tiles and a brown bench...

This brown benchtop is quite similar. I love the white cupboards in the kitchen area and I love that you could also laminate the other side of the bench in any colour you want - like a brown to match the rest of the area!


The benchtop on top of the white cupboards looks devine! (We will have handles on cupboards though...and remember - no high cupboards...)


The drop in sink looks good (thats our standard so hooray for the standard!)


The underbench sink is nice but I have a feeling...too $$.


Also, if you were going to have an under-bench sink, you would need a drainage area for dishes, so you would need to grind a bit of the Essa Stone - which would be extra $$

Pity it looks so modern, sleek and fab... :(


White does look fine with the benchtop. I am really liking the feature dark colour above the prep area on the wall. I know this is cupboards and we won't have any, but maybe we could paint a bit of a feature or something?

those three little words...

I now have a motto for the house. Three words that describe exactly what we are going for...


Raw

Natural

Sleek

featuring 'mosaic'!

I have been noticing a lot of feature mosaic tiles in bathrooms. They look beautiful and I know they are very $$ but they are gorgeous! I know the show homes have to look pretty and its their way of conning you into upgrading (where they will make a tidy little commission) but I am allowed to look!

PS. Sorry there aren't any bright colours in here - just not into that personally!

Even the kitchens are preddy...



Metallic is really being pushed... preddy but a hell to clean I would imagine. Also very $$



This is like our proposed shower! Again the metallic isn't for us so we need a cheaper option that is also gorge to the max! We also get the little wall hidey-hole included too!


I am loving how the strip in the wall goes all the way along! I am loving that!

I told Mr Piggy about it and saiud we should find out if we can get it too! He thinks its too expensive...but we don't even know yet! I mean, wouldn't it be easier to do this wall than make a hole like the top one?



As apart of our tender we get a strip of mosaics in the shower - just like the one below. We have to pay for laying costs though, which amount to around $50. I don't care about the $50. I am absolutely fine with that, but the little flat mosaics running down the wall grated on me a bit. I kept looking at them in the tiling place wondering how we could do something different, without blowing the budget. This is what is would look like, below.


Then today, while walking through show homes, I saw something that looked amazing...feature mosaics not as a strip down the wall, but only in the little wall cavity we get in the shower! Brilliant! I love it so much! I went with Daddy Piggy today to get his thoughts on things and he thought it was a great idea too! So now I am seeing these tiles in the feature wall cavity in lots of homes!


Not to fond ofg the feature in this house... I don't like the colour running all the way up the wall...


This tile has a wood grain which I thought was interesting... Made me think though - we don't necessarily need a mosaic tile - you could use another larger tile in this place..


This is what started the craze... Thankfully the cavity in our bathroom will be bigger though...


And if you have a bath (which our bathroom has) you can put the feature tile near the tub! What I love about this is that so few mosaics have been used - which make the whole exercise cheaper!!


I checked out Di Lorenzo tiles and found this mosaic which I love! I love that it is raw and natural, I love that some parts are rough and some are flat and smooth.



just a stone throw away

I am loving the concrete pavers surrounded by stones. It has a real asian influence, looks so clean and modern and if laid right - no weeds to clean up! I would love to have stones done either side of the house, although the dogs would probably dig them up and eat them! Here are some pics from my travels...




I imagine that the lighter tiles would not get as hot in the sun... think about your feet! 

asian inspiration

So much time has passed... my apologies... So back into it!

I have been going through a lot of display homes - we are almost at the stage of making our all important home choices!! How exciting!

Along the way I have been picking up some asian inspiration. It is so beautiful. I love the simplicity of design.



 









OMG I am loving the interior doors with the frosted glass! I have also seen some amazing ones that slide. I like that it has a modern asian feel.



Was unfortunately a little low for me and not too comfortable  :(







Look lovely but the way that they are sewn, it leaves a lip hamging on the other side which would be a major dust catcher!! :(