Weekend developments

Yesterday was very productive. The morning was spent looking online at appliances and using shopbot.com.au, I found and bought a Smeg 70cm oven at a bargain price. Having saved us $2000, I was chuffed at my morning's work and thinking how we could reallocate those funds.

We got everything together, and drove to my parents who were looking after the boys while we tried to get through my long list of To Do items.

First stop was driving to addresses the brick company had given me to look at finished homes that had "smoke" bricks. It was a worthwhile exercise because we realised that the brick had a grey tint and the dark roof tile colour we choose was way off mark.

Very happy with our choice of brick.

I had asked Eden Brae Homes to give us addresses of homes they had built so that we can drive past and see the finished product. Their display homes have so many upgrades, they are not a true indication of what they provide. We got a quick email back saying they cannot give out addresses of past and current clients for privacy reasons. We were not asking for people's names and tax file numbers! Strange that the brick company took the time to look through their records and were happy enough with their product to provide the details.

Our next stop was at a kitchen showroom, Dan Kitchens. We received very little help and were told that they didn't do just island benches because they might be associated with the rest of the kitchen which wouldn't have the same standard as theirs'. In other words, they wouldn't make enough money to warrant doing the job. Apparently (cue smug expression), "nobody does kitchens like Dan". Right. We were hoping nobody else would give us the same shoddy service as Dan.





Dan did however have beautiful kitchen drawers with an amazing spice rack insert.

We drove to Castle Hill and dropped into Creative Kitchens. We received polar opposite service and had an hour with the owner who gave us complete attention and excellent advise that changed our view of Eden Brae's associate Home Option Gallery. They had treated us like a production line instead of asking us key questions to find the correct layout and product choices for such an integral element in our new home. We also learnt that the island benchtop design they came up with was not properly supported for its length and weight. Then it came to pricing. All prices quoted were, at the very least, 50% less than prices quoted at Home Option Gallery. Their massive margins meant our limited budget wouldn't stretch very far to get the right design for our lifestyle.

Important tips from Creative Kitchens were

• Drawers 90cm and over should be avoided or have extra support for the weight
• Corian is softer and scratches easier than Essastone but has no seams and is a warmer surface
• All composite stone companies like Essastone, Caesarstone etc make the same product and you use their colour palette to choose who to go with
• The convenience of a drawer for plates, cutlery and cups next to the dishwasher
• Have Essastone edge mitred if over 20mm otherwise you get an ugly line all the way around
• Drawers cannot be retrofitted with soft close runners
• Any light coloured stone benchtop is dangerously easy to blemish with kids around
• The convenience of a bin drawer next to the sink
• Importance of supporting stone benchtops at the right spots
• The wrong and right shades of white in kitchens

In one hour, we learned how far off the mark our choices were with Home Options Gallery.

Next stop was at the Saville display home to walk through again and make sure we hadn't missed anything.

If we hadn't spent those hours looking around, there would have been a fair few regrets. It makes me happy but also nervous about how little time we have left to make the right choices.

Colour Selection appointment - after effects

It has taken a week to want to sit down and write about the colour selection appointment. I would call a 4-hour sitting ludicrous for any meeting duration. I don't know what term to use for our 7-hour stint with no lunch break.

I was already blurry eyed after staying up till 1am (the complete opposite of a great idea) with a bottle of red with Mum and then waking up at 2am and 6am to feed Baby K. We had stayed over the night at my parents since Mum was babysitting the boys. Thank you Mum xxx If I had had to take them to the meeting, it would have lasted 10 minutes.

At 9am, I managed to get myself together and show up to The Appointment on time and with two armfuls of folders, scrapbooks and colour swatches. Hubby Cheezel was with a client so showed up at 10:30am.

The meeting started off well with a quick rundown of the day's schedule (which included a lunchbreak but that went M.I.A. when we began to run behind schedule). It involved

a) Exterior finishes (entrance door profile, entrance door handle, entrance door colour, entrance door glass type, as well as the usual brick, mortar, gutter, window frames, downpipes, meter box colour, etc etc etc).

I spent about 30 minutes on building up a colour scheme around a dark brick colour (PGH's "nutmeg") but changed my mind after spotting "smoke".

It took probably an hour to choose the door colour because the consultant we were working with simply handed me a huge bundle of colour cards that had 8 shades of every colour in Taubmans' entire range, and expected me to choose one colour from the 1000s in there.



Cheezel and I agonised and umm and argghed while the consultant sat with a blank/bored look. We wanted a bold, bright welcoming colour so ended up looking for a bright firecracker red. Amazingly, Taubmans don't do bright reds so we were handed another bunch of colour cards (!) for Bristol's range. At this point, I was irritated with the consultant's lack of knowledge and her insistence that we go for what "most people get". She also did not have all the samples and colour cards to adequately display our choices. We ended up choosing Corinthian's "Madison" with translucent glass panels. We settled for Bristol's Hi-C Red for the external door face and frame.

b) Kitchen layout, design and finishes
The kitchen layout is a galley style with a 4100mm bank of cupboards against the wall housing an induction cooktop with rangehood. There is also a 2900mmx1000mm island bench housing a double sink. We have dropped the ceiling over the kitchen with a 300mm bulkhead to separate it from the large living area. There will be no above counter wall cabinets (may put them in at a later date) but I will be putting in floating shelves for display objects and a clock etc.

I cook a lot and I'm sure my boys will be doing their homework on the island benchtop when they're older. The kitchen will be getting a decent work out.

We chose laminated kickboards in brushed aluminium to match appliances, the island benchtop to be in Essastone 40mm (see picture) with stone slab end to one side, and white laminated cupboards and drawers.


c) Interior finishes (internal doors, paint, )
Our internal doors will match the wall colour. We've chosen Taubmans "Living Proof Silk" paint (3 coat) which is a $1000+ upgrade but you can wipe it clean without taking the paint off.

I chose 3 colours to anchor our house around : a warm white, coffee, and a pale/egg shell blue. From the Taubmans range, those colours translate to "Ocean Pearl", "Coffee Break" and "Angora Blue".

d) Plumbing
At this point, I had one or both my hands on my head at most times. Choosing two shower heads almost tipped me over the edge. Cheezel was offered and accepted an apple from the plumbing consultant since he hadn't even had breakfast and it was 2pm.

Square, above counter basin we chose for ensuite (we're having twin basins *bliss*)


We also chose toilets with concealed cisterns. We have not chosen tiles yet but I want them large format in a charcoal colour.



I vaguely remembered being asked about towel rails. At that point, I nodded mutely and would have agreed to a pit toilet if asked. If you don't know what a pit toilet is, don't look it up on Wiki especially after eating.


On a prettier note, here's the bathroom colours I'm going for (I love the use of art in the bathroom):











e) Blinds
I prefer soft furnishing windows so curtains are the go (eventually.. we're going to have no window treatments in most areas for a while). At this appointment, I clicked off my brain and went into standby mode. The blinds consultant asked questions and Cheezel answered. No one was home over my side of the table.






After talking blinds, we went back to the original consultant to choose cupboard handles and other bits and pieces and almost ran out when she printed out our selections and asked us if it was all correct. Hmm quick glance pretending I was reading was all I could muster. I handed it back knowing I'd be able to review it all and change my mind. Now that, I CAN handle.

If you are also building a house, I highly recommend checking the manufacturer's website for every item you choose. Some of them even have pricing so you can easily see if it's worth going direct to them instead of the builder. We were told our window frames couldn't be white because Stegbar's colour range is very limited. I was very disappointed to have to choose beige. I wanted absolutely no beige in the house. Yesterday, after looking at Stegbar's website, I learned that their colour chart is actually substantial and they have exactly the same colour ("surfmist") that matches our Colorbond garage door. Bye bye beige.

I came across Taubmans colour consultation service while browsing online and immediately the idea appealed to me. When I emailed them for details, they came back with magical words saying their designers will select every colour required internally and externally even on non-paint finishes like Colorbond gutters and aluminium windows etc. I called and confirmed this on the phone because I thought I misunderstood the email. Nope, they are willing to help as much as required for a total "look". All this for $150! Granted, I have not seen their qualifications or any colour schemes they have come up with. I'm willing to throw in the money and spin the wheel to see what shade of white pops out.


I've emailed them an itemised list with colour charts for every option on every conceivable finish we need to decide on. Also included photos of special features we've added, furniture we have, how every room will be used and my sources of inspiration. They will review it all, call me to discuss everything in more detail. Apparently that should be enough for them to give me a complete colour scheme for every room with a detailed run down on where each colour is to be used. They will also give me brushed out DL sized painted samples of each colour they recommend, so that I can hold up the sample to the wall and see what it would look like instead of having to paint out samples onto the wall.


Sounds truly like a godsend. If I get a colour scheme that mixes mint green and peach in the family room I will reconsider my original colour palette and be happy with my own colour blindness. I mean colour choices.