The bench tops above are concrete.

I went to Sydney Exhibition Centre on Sunday for “Grand Designs Live” and I picked up a business card from this company that does them.

What do you think?

Before this I was I thinking engineered stone. But I do love stainless steel bench tops, but I wouldn’t have them from the island though, just the benches against the wall.

Ultimately, price will be the deciding factor.

That company also does concrete BATH TUBS!!

I found that quite exciting, after just viewing this image

decorpad

.  .  .  .  .

On Friday, my cousin got married in Newcastle! It was beautiful weather. Then on Saturday we went to the Hunter Valley. (Never a good idea when the purse strings are sooo tight, they could suffocate you) Then that night was my good friends engagement party in Valentine. And on Sunday morning we drove back to Sydney for Grand Designs Live. We both entered the competition to win a free ticket to the show, I didn’t win, but hubs did, so that was good for our hip pocket, at least.

It was a super lovely long weekend with my husband! I never get to spend day time with him because of our conflicting schedules, so it is really exciting when we can, especially if we can do something for us.. like no commitments, so it was good to fit a trip to the Hunter Valley in there.

My friend does this song way better

This lovely lady sang at my wedding!!

Hi Erin! xoxo

My husband and I were not watching x-factor by choice, just fyi We were tucking into some home made hamburgers and it came on and we didn’t have clean hands to touch the remote.

(ahhh yes, we have downgraded to mince as our meat of choice) Thank you mortgages.

.  .  .  .  .

K, back to the renovation

Everyone in my real world is LOVING the reno updates. They crave them.

I have wanted to do a renovation since I was like 4 years old.

Then I was denied my own bedroom while growing up, having to share with my sister and that just added fuel to the fire. Then Mr W and I bought a BRAND NEW apartment that didn’t need any changes… ARRGHH I am about to bust.

I CAN’T WAIT TO GET MY GRUBBY LITTLE MITS ON THE KEYS TO THIS HOUSE.

Then get my grubby mits on a sledge hammer!

On Friday we signed mortgage documents. WOW! For the first time in my life, I am in debt. Oh wells.

.  .  .  .  .

Thinking of purchasing these 2 items

Danze towel rail to go on the side of the island bench next to the sink in chrome

What do you think?? Does it match my tap?

The total length is 50cm. Is that too long?? Where I hang my tea towels now is the handle of the oven and that is 50cm from outside edge and 40cm internal. So I guess the same.

and this Perrin & Rowe soap dispenser. (but I have NO IDEA how much this costs, prob a million dollars.. can’t find any other chrome freestanding soap dispensers with an old world design)

“SOLD” Sign picture.

I went and checked on our house today. I checked the mail box too and there was mail for ME!!! How exciting!!

It was a confirmation of our Miele order.

Watching the Renovators Finale right now.

That is definitely not all till settlement.

Next thing is to continue searching for odds and ends for the kitchen:

• Induction kettle
• A tea towel rack for that will be adhered to the end of the kitchen island where the sink is and in the same curvy, sexy style the tap is in.
• Working on the kitchen plans, as best as I can for the few images I have and the sketches I made (there is no floorplan) so it is all guess work for the time being.
• the 2 pendant lights that will be over the island bench.
• HOT WATER SYSTEM!! Seriously! Some one help me out!!!!!

Gas? Gas with the tank (have no room, well there is room on the side of the house without the driveway, but that is on the opposite side of the house that the 2 bathrooms are on. Just one of those little boxes? (Rinnai infinity??) What about solar? Is that even and option. We are on a budget!

Here is a picture of my rough floor plan for the kitchen/family room that I drew up in Illustrator. (the yellow squares are down lights and the round are the pendants)

The triangle shape of the bottom wall. That is currently where the pantry is built in to. So I am not too sure what we will do with that. Thinking maybe we won’t use it here in the kitchen, but remove the right side wall and use that space on the other side. I wonder if I am making sense???? We will figure it out when we get in there.

The boxes to the left of the fridge is the sliding door entry.

So that is it roughly! I wonder how much it is going to change! Probably a LOT.

 . . .  Till Settlement.

The bank manager had the week off last week and from this week we are going to hassle her to get the funds sorted so we can arrange for an earlier settlement.

The quicker we get in the better. I would ideally love a new kitchen by Christmas, but I think I might be pushing my luck. Plus I don’t want to rush important decisions.

Yesterday, my husband purchased this dishwasher. It is a different to the model we had chosen.

Bosch Dishwasher

Appliances online had it for $1497 but my husband bargained it down to $1236

He also purchased my beloved tap!

For $144 cheaper then RRP

(just on the quiet, the Perrin and Rowe tap was more then 1k) and this price is no where near that.

Next on the list of things to do this week is to meet with 3 real estate agents, all of them are on the street that we live on and discuss renting out our apartment.

I am getting really sad about leaving our apartment. I have had an incredible time living here and there are so many PROS to being in this location. I will dedicate a blog post to it very soon! (Hopefully to wet the palette of people interested in renting our apartment)

Yesterday I purchased the kitchen sink.

I have been sitting here for 5 mins trying to come up with a witty ‘kitchen sink’ pun, but I got nada.

I am not very clever.

The sink is exactly like the blanco one I posted the other day, except the bowls are the other way round.

I went back to the disastrous Harvey Norman at Alexandria and picked up a Franke sink that was in a damaged box, or something. Everything was a bit disheveled but all the components were in there and none were damaged.

I rang my brother in law (the plumber) to check and he said to go for it.

The sink was $692 down to $199.

Did you read that right???

$199

So that is the first bargain of the renovation, I hope there is more of that!

Here is a picture of it.

It’s only a small picture.

Winning appliance is currently having a sale and the Blanco sink is on sale for $479.. more then 50% off for pretty much the same thing!

Tomorrow, my husband is on the hunt to get the best possible price on the Bosch dishwasher we want to buy. Apparently, Harvey Norman are now having a dishwasher sale.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be updating you on Dishwasher and tap purchase.

All that is left to decide on is:

1. Kitchen company and or builder/cabinet maker
2. Pick pendant lights that go over the island bench top
3. Pick down lights, how many and where
4. Splash back
5. counter tops

Well that list is very broad! I am sure there a million and one other things in between that require decisions.

Today I placed an order for our kitchen appliances.

On saturday I was at work, so the husband came by the Winning appliances closest to my work. He had a look around and then waited for me to finish work at 4pm and I joined him. We browsed and narrowed down our search until we came to a decisions. By that stage it was 5pm (closing time) So we left and went home. I tallied up the total and we were at 12k!

Ouch.

The budget I set was max 10k for:

• Oven
• Range Hood
• Induction Cook top
• 2 gas side burner
• Dishwasher

We already own a microwave and a fridge.

So then it was back to the drawing board on a few items.

We decided on Miele for most items. Miele is having a good deal on products and combinations.

If you spend more then $7.5k there is a 5% rebate. (this seems to have no end date)

If your purchase an oven a cooktop and a rangehood you get a free set of telescopic racks (which was on my list of features I wanted the oven to have or be an optional accessory. These are normally $299 on their own) You also get a baking dish and the total value of this is $648. This is valid till the end of October.

If you purchase and induction cooktop, you also get a free set of pots and pans. Valued at $499

The oven, induction cooktop and the gas side burners I liked were all Miele. I wasn’t too thrilled with the choice of rangehoods, but had to purchase a Miele rangehood so I could get the runners and baking dish.

Here is what we decided on.

OVEN

INDUCTION COOK-TOP

GAS 2 SIDE BURNERS

RANGE HOOD

This range hood is 900mm. The gas hob is 270mm and the induction hob is 570mm so they will be able to sit side by side with a gap and still be under this range hood.

We did love a Miele dishwasher. And if you purchase a Miele dishwasher you get a cutlery set by Alessi valued at $249. However, we were hovering around the 10k mark, so I decided to pick something else.

I haven’t placed this order yet, but I am pretty certain we will get this dishwasher.

Its by bosch and is $269 cheaper then the Miele.

Winning Appliances is having a sale starting tomorrow, till Saturday. I am going to go there tomorrow to see if this dishwasher has come down in price.

I also think I have picked a sink- 1 and 3/4 bowl. This is an under-mount sink and requires the stone cutters to cut only one hole. (even though I think 2 separate bowls look better, I need to watch the $$$)

and of course my tap.

Now, if you are wondering if the gas hob and the induction hob are going to look weird together, fear not.

Here is a picture from the current issue of Belle Magazine that converted me.

source

That is an example of what I am going to do, however, they have another hob on the other side as well.

I still needed a gas hob, for woks and something I do quite regularly is I place a capsicum on the burner and char grill it. I was thinking we could just use the barbeque, but I don’t know how to turn the bbq on, nor can I be in 2 places at once and don’t wish to run from the outside to the inside while cooking a meal.

I have fallen head over heels with this tap:

Gessi Romance

Although, this tap is right up there with the one above.

Perrin & Rowe Aquitaine

So, I guess I have chosen the tap style. Now where to find the best price. The first one is $608 in Aus but it is the equivalent of $303 from a UK website, they conveniently do not ship outside of England. Great.

I know I have been a bit of a tease, but I thought I should do a post with all the images of the house

There is A LOT of work in there….. arrrghhhhh