Come on baby, light my fire...

 The time has come to turn our attention to our lounge room, proposed fireplace.

Our choice back HERE was for an Ecosmart, Bio ethanol Fireplace

When we designed the house, we knew we wanted a fireplace to be the focal point of the main lounge.

 I was keen to have a room without a television...somewhere for adult entertaining with no black-box in sight! (Televisions are installed in the playroom / snug and family rooms). 

We initially installed gas fittings, anticipating a gas insert but after seeing the Ecosmart display at a Grand Designs Show, we were swayed by this new, clean fuel and visually more substantial option.

The room is large so the scale was, in my opinion, perfect. 

Fast forward to this year (The Year of The House!) and we have spent the last few months designing our custom made fire box and obtaining bio ethanol burner costs. Those quotes, now in hand, have almost tripled since we first entertained this option, as more information about bio ethanol use has become available with its increased adoption.  Many commercial establishments, and early adopters, are now removing theirs due to high fuel prices and health concerns relating to the lack of flues. 

Long story - short? We were back to the 'drawing board'....

With the fireplace surround already framed and gyprocked to accommodate a 2 metre firebox, without major re-hashing, we had very limited options:

Lopi Linear: 1550 mm wide

Real Flame Simplicity: 1800 mm wide

Jetmaster Horizon: 2000mm wide

To be honest, the Real Flame was my preferred choice. 

The representative met me on site (the only one to do so) and was extremely professional. I loved the product, the variety of options and the overall look of this fire compared to rivals. This company even do a 3300 mm version. W O W! And money-wise it was a very close call.

But balancing the look I wanted with size (width) and budget had me ordering the Jetmaster Horizon Lowline Inbuilt in the 2000mm wide option (I customised the log / coals feature)

I've ordered a 'frameless' version so we can square-set the plaster up to the firebox. 

It's not a deep nor as high as we'd wanted but for our budget, and the pre-built wall cavity, still creates the grand focal point we initially desired. It has a one month lead time which is also pretty good too...

Above is how I hope it will look...

P R O G R E S S !

x KL

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You are very welcome and encouraged to comment, I love receiving feedback!

asystole

a·sys·to·le

(ā-sistō-lē)

Absence of contractions of the heart.
Synonym(s): cardiac standstill.

[G. a- priv, + systolē, a contracting]

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

The Strand by Whiting Architects (2015 Australian Interior Design Awards)

 Many about the ol' blogosphere use the phrase "Be still my beating heart" to describe their reaction to a particularly gorgeous image. 

Nah. Not me.

My ticker skips a beat.

How perfect is this lounge room? !!!!!

H E A R T S T O P P I N G....(in my humble opinion)

*Sigh*

 x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. 

You are very welcome and encouraged to comment, I love receiving feedback!

Desperately seeking answers....a colour quandry

 Today was spent doing more painting....and finally the last of the upstairs ceilings are finished. Phew!
I have been told by 'the boss' David, that I am NEVER to design a house with these style of ceilings again. LOL. ATM, I don't think I want to design a house again, EVER.

 The time to commit to the wall colour has now arrived.
They are currently undercoated in un-tinted white which is very cold and stark. I'll paint most of the walls in the same white I've chosen elsewhere in the house; Dulux Natural White (ceilings are 25% strength). I want to break up the cavernous open plan area upstairs by adding charcoal features (Dulux Domino) and also to tie with downstairs.
It's just the where to start / stop issue that's making me nervous!

 Feature walls look best when used to highlight a single wall with no openings and paint starts and stops in internal corners. I'm wanting the feature walls here to be dark to recede them and to delineate the hall as a separate entity to the large lounge room.
I'm happy that the contrast achieves this in the renderings above.

 I also want some WOW factor when looking up the stairwell from the entry, to the main living above, so had planned that shallow recess to be dark too...

See the little nib wall on the right, above. According to 'ideal plan' it should be white but does that look odd? Unbalanced? Help!

And is it too much ?

 I had envisaged the end wall (with the two windows) and seen below, to be charcoal too. Eeeek!
I am SO overcome with indecision!

Some more deets: The floors are to be a wide plank, light to mid toned oak. The kitchen charcoal with a white island. A large dark hued carpet square will be inserted into the lounge room where there will be white slip-covered sofas. All of those dark walls will have substantially sized artwork on them.

Here's a plan, the RED lines showing where I'm considering using the dark wall colour.

I would dearly like your input on this...and be forever grateful!
...if you've never commented before,
or do so regularly,  
PLEASE share your thoughts!

x KL 

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My Luxe Lust List.... # 4 : Fur Throws

Well this one's guaranteed to divide the masses!

But it's definitely on my Luxe wish-list whether real or good quality faux.

And there is no better time to drool over the decorating possibilities of these scrumptious throws than now as we head into cooler weather.

 

 

Opinion?

x KL

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happenings

The blog world and pinterest seem full of images of both red velvet and rainbow cakes. I attempted my first rainbow concoction for Mum's birthday on Sunday. The outside was a bit ordinary but inside....Yay!!!! Happy Birthday Mum!

This is how we spent our Saturday....

...completing an eight hour marathon, painting sealer on all walls and ceilings in the final area to be finished upstairs; the lounge and hallway. It looks very 'white' and bland now. I'm reassured that my intended charcoal feature walls are going to break all that space up a bit!

The weather here has been so odd. As you can see from the pictures above, Saturday was gorgeously sunny, dark and stormy and back again. Sunday was the same. We headed to Sydney for Mum's birthday with the sun shining and temperatures of 30 degrees.

When the storm above hit, the temperature plummeted to 17 degrees and we were stuck, stationary in a traffic pile-up on the M1 for two hours! By the time we got to Mum's, the weather was pleasant enough to eat outside again. It felt very Melbournian!

Ordered my final P.C's for the main bedroom ensuite yesterday. A Caroma Cube wall hung pan and three individual, heated towel rails by Kado. Bought the kitchen sink too, this under mounted Franke double bowl one pictured above. The luck of the Irish was with me as I got the sink for a tenth of it's retail price as it was an ex-display model.

There are only a few very big-ticket items still on the list now.

Carpet. Timber flooring. Rendering and the pool. Oh, and landscaping, driveway and two kitchen's worth of joinery.... and handrails! Eeeeek!

At least were making some forward progress!

 HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY 

for yesterday too!

x KL

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Shopping, House Progress and other important thoughts...

 A few weekends ago, David completed the construction of a small deck on the middle level at our place. It provides a link between the large entertaining space and stairs, to a wee rear courtyard and a clothes drying area. It also allows access to the external pool W.C and a secondary access to the laundry / lower kitchenette. The Merbau timber still needs to be sealed, the stairs stained to match and a privacy screen added but its another thing to cross off that list! Yay!

In MAJOR NEWS...the lounge room is ready for sanding! We had a professional plasterer here last week and once we trim the windows (goodbye weekend) we'll be all systems go for sealant and paint! The main bedroom en suite ceilings still need a top coat and then they'll be ready to paint too, after which waterproofing can begin! Hallelujah!!!

Post Christmas, my love of Gold has continued unabated...this sweet gold cushion from Castle adds a dash of glitz and comfort to the dining chair I use at the laptop. Whilst I was shopping there (online of course!) I added these pillowslips to my cart for J's bed.

Styled bed (Left) via The Design Files

The bench I ordered has arrived; it's the perfect length for the end of our King sized bed. It will remain in the guest room when we move into the main bedroom though for seating and as a luggage drop zone for guests. It's white linen so until the plaster dust is finito it's staying under packaging wraps!

 Today I bought this cute hand made silver ring by Von Treskow. I have several pieces of their exquisite jewelry and love that this 6 pence ring mixes rose-gold and silver together! I was extra lucky to find it heavily discounted in a one-day sale at a local store.

 I finally tracked down (yes; like a super sleuth! Ha ha!) a gorgeous, leather wrapped round mirror as lusted after HERE. This pic is of it in brown but mine is black. And I got is below cost! 

*happy, happy, happy dance*

I'm thinking of featuring it either in the entry or above the fireplace. ?

I pinned the below, left image, when I first laid eyes on it. It is Olivia Palermo's living room and I coveted both the Hermes tray and the mirror encrusted cushions. I've pinned many more images featuring these two items on my Pinterest boards but now happily own them too. Mine are those pictured below, right!

After my long winded post HERE regarding my newly completed shoe cupboard, I found some US sourced plastic boxes on eBay that fitted all the requirements I needed. I made an initial purchase of ten and am happy with them so have ordered twenty more. Will show you the cupboard again when sorted! I think the Ikea office boxes would have worked equally well but I was swayed by the convenience of online shopping / home delivery again! (I was house-bound with the plasterer all week and awfully impatient, LOL!) Would LOVE Ikea to sell online! *sigh*

Have you noticed the new-season ranges are being released ATM? I'm thrilled to see that leather pants / jeggings are still fashionable (I invested in a pair two winters ago) but would like a new feminine tunic or shirt to go with them. All the items below are from Country Road. I bought this dress and blazer but the blazer was tiny...so unfortunately, back it went. Looking forward to seeing these tops when they're available!

 Country Road has one of their eagerly awaited spend-n'-save promotions on currently too. I made use of it to buy the dress above, the pretty pink tea towel (Yup, a concurring colour addiction as posted HERE) and the beige / black pillowcases seen below, for J. They haven't been delivered yet, (there is no local CR Homewares store so I'm buying online again) but I'm hoping they will go with J's Pony Rider quilt which I bought eons ago (read about it HERE) which needs some pillowcases to go with it. Fingers crossed that at 30 % off, these work!

And I'm toying with this little fox pillow for him too. It's sooo god-damn cute!

Loving the idea of leopard / ocelot print slip-ons for winter. They look super comfy and casual. Now I just need to narrow down the choice!

Just like the decision to buy a new wallet. I'm definitely heading into the need rather than want category for this. A good wallet is usually a long term commitment for me. Any recommendations?

Ceasarstone will soon be releasing their latest range of composite stone surfaces. I am very excited about the Calacatta Classic due for release in July. There could be a new contender for the kitchen island!

 Decisions! Decisions!

Stayed tuned! Exciting times ahead!

x KL

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You are very welcome and encouraged to comment, I love receiving feedback! 

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whatchaupto?

 We're approximately at the half-way point of the school holidays here. 

Christmas / New Year celebrations and catch-ups with family and friends have dominated the last three weeks, along with lots of lazy sleep ins.

Below is a snapshot...

And here's the extended version for those that like deets!.....

A very well priced outdoor modular from Myer...do I / don't I?
The black and white combo is hard to find, as is the compact shape...
BUT, will it rust....?

POK cutlery tray $199 now $39. Good protection for my new gold cutlery, no?

There are good mags and ho-hum ones. Same goes for individual editions.
THIS one, THIS edition...W.O.W.! Don't miss out!

My head's still being turned by round, equestrian hardware mirrors.....
Have tracked down a 'maybe'. . .

There's good bedlinen bargains to be had...Drooled over this set at Adairs before Christmas and now it's even cheaper. But do I NEED it? (I'm trying to be good!)

I didn't know I needed this ottoman till I spotted it in a wholesaler's 'super specials'.
I think it will look terrific at the end of the Guest Bedroom bed.

David and I are still debating the upstairs flooring choice. Balancing budget / quality / aesthetics and what the heart wants is HARD. An ongoing, and time consuming quandary....

We're still 'puppy-sitting'. No complaints here...am a bit smitten (am cooking the wee thing special meals....WTF!?) J is in LOVE and enjoying every minute...
and he's away from gaming. Hooray!

He even made a dog kennel with David. On the tools. Highly supervised.
Boy heaven!

David goes back to work next week and had intended on doing lots here in his break; but didn't. 
One 'top coat' on the plastered lounge room walls (the last room to be done) was achieved though. Puppy play, beer and chillaxin' (his term!) distracted him somewhat!

The girl's bedroom wardrobes received handles....yay! and I got to vacuum, vacuum, vacuum.
Please note the carpet is temporary glamping....not the finished floor!

Daughter # 2 turned 22, which we celebrated at a Austrian Schnitzel hous and followed up with watching a new Disney production Frozen. Highly recommended.

"....do you wanna build a snowman...."

I've been trying to convince David that this method of Christmas Tree storage is the way to go since...I do it all. He thought I was nuts till I showed him this picture from a like-minded genius.
Maybe next year...

Congrats to my darling friend GB on his recent engagement. Woo Hoo !

Are you feeling pastels? Pink? Dunno why, but I am. Just a wee pillowcase indulgence ATM....

I hate finding a favourite dress is poor quality. I received a refund but I would have preferred to keep the dress. Even pure silk should be able to withstand more than one wear!

The investigation on main bedroom en suite flooring has begun. Marble, yes! White with black, Black with white..? Another quandary!

Nothing like celebrating the new year with an OLD friend! We've known each other for 48 years!
Emptied a few of these!

Love these pineapple lamps. Adairs tempting me again....

Camping; 'Over-safety cautious Mummy style'. Am I helicoptering? J and a mate didn't mind.
 It's a fun sleepover idea!

How's your break been...
Whatchaupto?

x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment, I love receiving feedback! If you enjoy my ramblings, perhaps consider following by Email, Bloglovin' or Google+. Join this site via Google Friend's Connect so I can follow you too!