Developer Approval an Early Christmas Present

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas. Mick and I had a wonderful, though slightly displaced, Christmas surrounded by family and friends. We are very much looking forward to having Christmas next year in the new house though, and we’re one step closer now thanks to our early Christmas present of Developer approval which came through on the 22^nd. I don’t think our builder was able to send it to Council before the weekend, so that’s a job for the New Year. But yay! We’re excited to be moving forward.  Stocklands only wanted one thing changed which was our garage door colour. They wanted it changed from white to off-white or surfmist…so we agreed to change it to surfmist as it matches the balcony railing. I had a slight doubt then about our window colour being white… perhaps we should have changed it along with the railing and garage door to cream but I think surfmist will look almost white and white windows go with anything which is a good option for if we want to change our colour scheme later (this was a tip from our builder).

We also booked our kitchen appointment for January 21^st and we’ve been looking into our splashback options. I have fallen in love (and Mick also) with Calacutta marble but it is expensive as it is a natural stone that is only quarried in one place in the world, Carrara Italy. It’s beautiful BUT expensive and not the most durable option as it is easily stained by acids such as vinegar, fruit juice, tea, coffee, wine etc (which aren’t good things for most surfaces but some are more susceptible to damage than others). An alternative is engineered stone such as Caesarstone or Quantumquartz and of course glass which has been the plan until now. We like the idea of having a seamless finish from benchtop to splashback and a white kitchen to compliment the bold feature wall colours we’re planning on having as well as the natural elements like the timber flooring, skylights and views to the timber deck and backyard. The current favourites for look and price are:

Quantumquartz “Turino” 

http://www.wk.com.au/Quantum-Quartz-Engineered-Stone/Products-By-Colour/Speckled-Lights/default.aspx

and Caesarstone “Nougat.”

http://www.caesarstone.com.au/Colours/Colour-Detail.aspx?Collection=6600-Nougat%E2%84%A2

So, Mick and I plan on visiting display homes and showrooms for inspiration though I have found my ‘dream’ kitchen which we both love. I found it via one of my favourite blogs, B is Building a House and it is a renovation done by Melbourne Designer Jo McIntyre (click here to view website).

Here are some photos of the kitchen:

I love everything from the stone to the handleless drawers. The long dining room table, timber floors, galley-style kitchen and even the doors help give a visual as to how our space would look with those finishes.

I’m very excited to begin the design decision-making process. I’ll have to finalise my mood boards and share them here, I do them up mostly for Mick as he isn’t able to visualise. I, on the other hand, have the entire house blue-print in my mind which has slowly been filled-in with detail like finishes and colours. I often “walk-through” our home J

So on into the New Year, and new house, we go!