My 'other' life (away from blogging!)

I accompanied my son on a school excursion yesterday to the Gosford / Edogawa Commemorative Japanese garden and Regional Gallery and Arts Centre. His grade three class are learning about Japan and this garden is special to us as a family as it is where my husband and I were married!

The garden was a gift to the people of Gosford as a symbol of cultural exchange and friendship, by our Sister City Edogawa. (near Tokyo in Japan)

It was designed in accordance to the original principles of Japanese design of the Heian (700AD) period. The gardens were officially opened in September 1994 by the Mayors of both Gosford and Edogawa.

This garden is now one of the most popular tourist attractions on the New South Wales Central Coast. It is based on a traditional 'Shuyu' (strolling style) garden. The meandering pathways lead to traditional Japanese features including a Japanese teahouse, raked dry stone garden (Karesansui), stone lanterns and a pond filled with Koi fish.

                
The children had a guided tour of the garden conducted by a volunteer who skillfully explained the Japanese aesthetics and philosophies of this garden. Then they enjoyed another tour, this time of the art centre and made their own printed cards.

My son's graphic Koi card!

It was a very relaxing, and relevant trip for all. (I needed a wee nanna nap when I got home!)

What life do you lead away from your Blogs?

x KL

My hubby's current 'mistress'!

I get so much pleasure watching the exciting progress of other blogger renovation or building projects, but of course occasionally I can't help feel a bit envious too. It's not that we're not motivated or lacking in ideas....the opposite in fact, but my hubby's so very busy building other people's 'dreams' that ours is on the bottom of the priority list. I can't blame him either; everyone has heard the jokes about the tiler / electrician / plumber's houses being the ones most in need of their trades!

So I thought I'd share one of the projects he's been building for some lovely clients. I took these pictures this afternoon and he reckons it'll be finished Friday. Mmmm. Here's a peek...

The rear of the house. I love the cantilevered forms!

A side verandah with glass balustrade and pivoting screens for privacy and shade

 The massive cantilevered Corian bench floats over the stairs. Amazing engineering!

The upstairs powder room in secreted into a flush joinery wall and employs mirror to visually double its size.

The main bed en suite is spectacular! It includes a huge walk in shower and an outside shower too! The freestanding bath is yet to be installed. Washbasins from Minosa.

The kitchen is streamlined with hidden appliances. Those shelves will be hidden behind sliding, painted back, glass panels.

Darling hubby 'action snap' - welding the fireplace ready for installation. Love the floating roof!

Main bed feature window

One of two identical bunk rooms containing 4 x beds each. (To be installed) Mirror reflects the space and the hand wire- brushed and waxed floors. So glad that jobs complete! Exhausting just listening to updates!

Hanging stairs! They'll look better when all this building 'stuff' is removed! My job for tomorrow?

Not obvious, but the detailing is amazing. Secreted cavity 'walls' extend from juxtapositioned walls to meet at the corner to isolate the television room.

 Gotta love technology! The television remotely 'swivels' to be at 90 degrees to the wall it's on for 'outside / deck' viewing!

Polished white concrete upstairs delivers continuity inside and out. Inside is hydronically heated for chilly months.

A very cute plunge pool with waterfall feature sits within the front courtyard

When the question 'What handle will we use?" becomes a bore; resolve the dilema and detail your own!!!

Using my trusty iPhone, I took a quick snap of anything that I thought looked interesting. I took 87 photos! It was really difficult to 'cull' the selection to just these. Next week furniture is arriving and I hope I'll get some final, finished shots to share with you before hand-over. There are no facade pictures as the driveway concreting was being done and I didn't want to trip over any of the working army!

Hope you enjoyed the glimpse into this spectacular house.

x KL

ARCHITECT: Steven Isaacs at Architecture Saville Isaacs
BUILDER: David Workman (Aka; Hubby!) at DRW Constructions Pty Ltd

A perfect distraction.....

Don't know about you, but this is where I'd like to be at the moment. Breathe in. Hold. Exhale. Repeat. Aahhh!

More monochrome delights!

When I was trawling through my saved images today I found these beauties.  Modern interiors using my favourite palette of black, white and grey. Joseph Dirand has a very unique aesthetic and an incredible eye for detail. He often retains classic elements of the architecture, which soften the often minimal, modern lines and his generous use of traditional materials such as marble and parquetry create elegant interiors that I adore.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

x KL

WORLD'S GREATEST SHAVE

My 9 year old son has joined the 'World's Greatest Shave' team at his primary school in order to assist fundraising for the Leukemia Foundation. We have a very dear friend and Mum of two littlies who is battling with this.

I am so very proud of him!

Amazingly, his inspiration for this comes from an equally young peer; Abbey ( yes, a very pretty little girl!) who at the tender age of 10 or 11 (she's currently in year 5) has beautiful LONG hair and has organised this at school!

Wow.

I'm in awe!

My son has been growing 'the 'do' in preparation for ages. He has mastered a very cool Justin Bieber flick (OMG don't tell him I wrote that!), and I suspect the blindness the fringe is causing is helping him count the days.....till September 19.

They have currently achieved 50% of their $5000 target!

 I know I have a very small readership (I appreciate every one of you!) but I thought I'd still 'put-it-out-there' to the blog world. If you can pass this on, especially for Abbey and the foundation, Jack and I would be stoked and perhaps we can make a difference!

Donations can be made publicly or privately via

http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/personalPage.aspx?langPref=en-CA&registrationID=379959

or go to 'The Worlds Greatest Shave 2011' website and type in Abbeys name under sponsorship.

And I'll definitely post the 'after' shots! Word has it we're going to be a local media 'hot-spot!'

x KL