Colours

I'm the sort of person who likes a fairly neutral colour palette, and we are planning to paint the internal walls of the house white, but I was thinking that it might be fun to inject some colour into the childrens' wing. I'm getting my inspiration from the houses below.

What do you think of these pops of yellow?

Source: Archdaily

Or perhaps green is your thing?

Source: Neil Architecture

What about this colour?

Source: Clare Cousins Architects

The corridor that runs towards the back of the house will be lined on one side with huge sliding doors (which are the entrances to the kids bedrooms.) The wall on the other side of the corridor is fully glazed with banquette seating running down the entire length. I was thinking of using colour down this corridor (on just the doors and/or wall down the right hand side.) 

If I get tired of it down the track, it's only a relatively small paint job to remedy. Would you be brave enough to use some eye-popping colour in your home?

Home Beautiful

I've been hanging on to an old edition of Home Beautiful since 2005, which features a Victorian weatherboard cottage that was revamped by Melbourne firm, Neil Architecture. I've always liked this house - light, white with pops of lime green. It's as crisp and fresh as a Granny Smith!

The kitchen features white cabinetry with a mix of stainless steel and Gioia marble benchtops. I particularly like the stainless steel ledge against the splashback in the kitchen - what a space-saving idea. Bits and bobs can sit on the ledge, leaving the benchtop free of clutter.

Here's the same kitchen from another angle:

So now that we're finally doing up our old house, this is exactly what we're putting in - however our's will be constructed from marble to match the marble benchtop. Here's an example of what it will look like:

We have specified wall hung vanities in our bathrooms, so the same ledge will also feature there as well.

Love this idea for the bathroom - nice & simple.

Caroline's Kitchen

Here's our preliminary schedule of fixtures for the kitchen -

Legend
1  Doors & Drawers

2  Marble - Statuario Venato Extra

3  TR Ghiaccio Gloss White Glazed Ceramic Wall Tile

4  Merlin Mirror Coat Decorative Glass for Drying Rack

5  Smeg A11X Freestanding Cooker

6  Enware LEVA Tap

7  Blackbutt Timber Flooring

8  Fisher & Paykel French Door Fridge

Now this is one room I just have to get right. Remember there are six of us! I need a BIG pantry and fridge (I'm actually thinking that the one above is not going to cut it) and plenty of prep space. If the budget would allow, I would be purchasing the big guns - WOLF freestanding oven and Sub-zero Refrigerator. And on the subject, can anyone recommend a good freestanding cooker? Have you recently bought one and what do you love/hate about it?

As you could imagine, I do a lot of cooking. One day soon, a roast chicken will not feed our family of six - I'll have to put two birds in the oven! And then when they bring their friends over, it could be three or more!! Now that's a scary thought....

Our proposed kitchen is quite large and there are a number of entries into the room so this should make it a whole lot better to work in, particularly if there is more than one person in the room (and there usually is.)

After living in a number of contemporary open-plan style homes, I've decided that this type of housing does not suit our family. We are leaving the existing walls intact - the kitchen is quite separate from the rest of the living areas. I actually like being in a kitchen without the noise of the TV in the background. However, adjacent to our kitchen is an adults sitting room, fitted out with full-height library shelving and banquette seating - it will be a great area for hanging out with friends or just reading a book in the sun. I can't wait to see this area transpire.

There is plenty of time for me to daydream as it will be approximately another 6 months before construction gets underway.

Bathroom Bliss

Here's the initial schedule of fixtures and fittings for the bathrooms:

Legend
1  Parisi Envy MK II Toilet
2  Marble hexagon Floor Tile
3  TR Ghiaccio Gloss White Glazed Ceramic Wall Tile
4  Rogerseller Zero Washbasin
5  Statuario Venato Marble
6  Contap Maxima Exposed Shower and Hand Shower
7  Rogerseller Wall Soap Basket
8  Ram Park Pin Lever Mixer Wall Set

Still up in the air regarding the floor tiles, but these hexagon tiles are looking good to me. We're using wall hung vanities in the bathrooms. This will give the illusion of space, as the bathrooms aren't huge. Mirrored overhead cabinets will allow for our storage needs.

We haven't worked on the lighting schedule yet, so no idea about what we'll be using the the bathrooms, however a George Nelson Pear CC Bubble Lamp has been specified for the Library - YAY

Schematic Design

Here's the latest floor plan and section, and some of the reasons we selected this scheme.

Lower Floor Plan

Many additions on small lots are built from one side boundary to the other, leaving only what's left at the back as private open space. With our design, the rear addition is only built across half the site, so we end up with some nice outdoor space along the side of the building as well.

And because the front of the house is where the living areas will be located, we have also gained open space by activating the front verandah. If we'd put the living room, kitchen, etc out the back, the front verandah would have become a functionally useless space. The front verandah faces north, so it will be a lovely and warm place to sit on a sunny winter's day.

See the dashed line in the top diagram? That is the maximum height limit. We could have built up to that line. But in doing so, it would have spoiled the scale of the existing cottage. You have to remember that the site is only 10m wide - if we were to raise the cottage to the maximum legal height, what you end up with is a tall, narrow building which looks really awkward. That in turn creates the need for a REALLY long staircase up to the front door, which just looks wrong in my book.

I mentioned building mass in a previous post, and how it can negatively impact on the overall design. If you could imagine a row of small lot houses all built to the maximum height and built right across the site, it's occupants would ultimately end up with loss of:

a) light,
b) outlook,
c) privacy and
d) outdoor space.

We chose to spend more money on the design and finishes, rather than building across the entire available building envelope. Factors such as maximum outdoor space, privacy, outlook and natural light are far more important to us than having a big house.