Our built-in robe/closet remains doorless :(

After settling on a couple of Corinthian mirror doors in the middle, with two plain doors on the side I got a Corinthian representative to measure up for a quickslide system.

We were told that we will not be able to go with the Corinthian doors, because they can't be trimmed. When we built the bulkheads out of steel frame and then had gyprocked, we didn't take into consideration the 12mm thick plywood that we would be using on top of our Hebel floor (upstairs). And then with the glue and timber floor on top of plywood, it threw out the measurement between the floor and bulkhead, making it slightly shorter than the height of the 2.4m doors we had planned on using :(

I was, and still am - devastated.

Back to the drawing board now, even though I don't like any of the options left:

• Solid timber doors - will cost a small fortune
• Melamine doors - hate the look of them. Also, we've been recommended these would need 3 doors, but we have 4 compartments??!!!
• Custom joinery doors - painted in two pack these will cost a fortune! Also, can mirrors be nicely embedded on these???

Oh, and the skirting boards are in the way as they were installed all around the rooms, prior to the built in being installed. So we will need to have an infill on both ends of the robe.

Can this get any worse?

If anyone has any suggestions on a practical, not ugly and not overly expensive solution to our sliding door dramas, I would love to hear from you ❤

B

Help me style this buffet!!!

So, I finally purchased some candles today for my Freedom hurricane lamps. But, I am not sure if they are the right colour or size. They are yellowish. Eeeeek! Also, they were $35 (for both) after 30% off at Target. Is that a good price? Sounds a bit exy to me, but I was desperate so bought them anyway. Do you think the colour looks ok, or should I return them and find some white and or wider ones instead?

I am planning to have the frames painted black and prints replaced. I've rasied them 25cm above the buffet. Is this an ok height to hang them? Or should they go higher? Our ceilings are 2.7m.

I think I need a few more books ... and some fresh flowers for my currently empty fishbowl-type vase. But cheap pairs will have to do for now :P

So, what do you think of my styling so far? I would love to hear your suggestions on how to improve it.

B

Shelves or doors for powder room and kids' bathroom vanities?

Firstly, thank you Madonna, K, Heidi and BourbonandPearls for your comments and advice on my Buffet styling post.

And now for the drama....

We've still got three vanities left to get made and I would like to have them ticked off the list as soon as possible. But, I am not sure if we should go with drawers or doors. By doors, I mean a shelf in the middle. And by drawers I mean two drawers, one on top of the other.

The vanities we still need to get done are 720mm & 620mm long. One is in the upstairs powder room, and the other two are in the two kids/guest bathrooms (one upstairs and another one downstairs).

In an ideal world I would prefer drawers for the outstanding vanities. However, my concern with drawers is that the top one would be able to fit just a small amount of tiny bits and pieces since our undermount basins are HUGE and... well undermount. Also, they will be wall hung and 250mm of the floor meaning that they wouldn't be very deep. On the other hand, I think the drawers would make our vanities appear longer, which would be a good thing, as the two bathrooms are of generous size...

I don't mind the shelf in the middle, however, I think they can be annoying to use and find stuff that's at the back. Am I over thinking this one?

What do you think is more practical in kids bathrooms? Plenty of towel storage or lots of small bits?

This is our floor plans so you can see where the bathrooms and the other powder room are in relation to the bedrooms:

• Downstairs
• Upstairs

This for example is the upstairs bathroom.  There is room for potential storage against the wall on the left, under the window.

We've so far had two vanities installed, our 3m long ensuite one with plenty of storage and a 620mm one in the downstairs powder room. Both of these vanities have doors under the basin, and they work well at the moment. I've actually taken out the shelves from under all the basins, as we have plenty of storage in the ensuite, and in the downstairs bathroom, I don't keep much apart from the cleaning products and toilet paper.

And our vanity, with lots of drawers which is why I don't mind the doors under the basins. I've taken out the shelf out of one of them and use it for towel storage, and the other one is used for cleaning and beauty products etc.

B

Buffet and some progress

Firstly, we've had some teeny tiny door painting progress, and the cabinet maker has finally installed the pantry door handle. Here are the glass doors MrB painted and installed the door handles on.

Kitchen to foyer door, sitting room doors, and the kitchen to foyer door again with the new pantry door handle in view :) - our pantry is under the staircase.

And this is my lame attempt at styling the buffet *shy*. I desperately need your help with this one. Any generic or specific product recommendation you've got I'd love to hear from you. If I was go go ahead with either of the two sets of frames I would paint them black and obviously change the prints. What do you think?

And finally, I mentioned in my previous post that the wall above is one where the portable gas heater point is. Although we haven't yet purchased the heater, the plan is for it to be against this wall for the colder winter months. Also, MrB isn't overly keen on the buffet along this wall ... he things it looks strange being next to the dining table. What do you think? Below are some photos of how fits in with the large open living space we are working with.

B

Three months late but here at last!

Remember my buffet and tv unit post? Well, they were 3 months late but are finally here. Mr B picked them up this week so we've finally got some furniture now :)

I must say I am really disappointed with Nick Scali. Firstly the items were meant to be in Adelaide by the end of February, and then when I emailed them asking what was going on they kept ignoring my emails until I asked for a refund. They then told me the items were here and ready to be picked up. When we rang the warehouse, we were told that they are not ready for pick up but are instead in Sydney and yet to be forwarded to Adelaide... Then there was drama over not being able to pay the remainder of the balance at the warehouse... When I asked if I could transfer the money via netbanking, they sent me their account details, but not the exact amount remaining... I gave up waiting for their response, so we went to the nearest store and paid the remainder prior to picking up from the warehouse. I am yet to receive a reply from them. LOL. Very sad really.

We like both items but I am unsure if we will be able to mount the tv unit to the wall, on top of the skirting boards... even though we've added bracing to the steel frame in place where it's meant to go. The unit is extremely heavy, and deeper than I thought it was... But we will see.

We've put the buffet along the wall where it can be seen from the kitchen, in between the dining room and "meals" area. MrB is not happy with it being there, and besides this is the wall where a portable gas heater is meant to go... I hope to take some photos of them both in place so you can hopefully provide me with some advice. I've pathetically styled the buffet, and am looking forward to your advice on that too :)

B

1.55m bedhead/headboard. Too high?

As always, I am moving at snail pace when it comes to actioning things around the house. I am still contemplating what height of the bedhead to go with. I really like the tall ones, but are they timeless or likely to date? Will it look too tall in our bedroom? I've drawn up the layout of our bedroom, with a 1.55m tall king size bed. Our walls are 2.7m so there will be 1.15m in between the top of the bedhead and the ceiling. Does this look ok?

Also, there is just over a meter on each side of the bed for the bedside tables.

Oh, and as much as I love the wingback style bedheads, I've decided to against it, as the sheets are apparently a pain to change and the style is more likely to date....

But back to the height of the bedhead. What do you think of 1.55m as per the drawing below? Too tall? Just right? Or could I possibly go even higher?

B

Front fence - getting the proportions right

The brickkie I organised to meet last Saturday never turned up. I've managed to find another bricklayer who came as a recommendation from a friend. We should hopefully get him around to our place in the next few weeks. But before I see him I would like to figure out what wall-in-between-the-pillars-height to go with and whether to go with a flush wall/pillar look, or to indent the wall a bit? I would love to hear your thoughts on what to look for when deciding the height of the wall, and how to get the proportions right.

I am still hoping/wanting a hedge behind the fence, on the inside of the front yard.

A flush wall with the pillar fence.

This one to me looks out of proportion and unfinished. Which is what I would like to avoid, hopefully...

B

Towel rails for our ensuite. Yay or nay?

I ordered the rest of the towel rings and toilet roll holders and MrB picked them all up yesterday. Thank you KL for helping me decide to get the same towel rings for the rest of the vanities! I also ordered an 800mm matching towel rail to see how it would look in our ensuite. I am not in love with the round fixtures, but at least it matches the toilet roll holder *shy* and the shower mixer. I originally wanted very square towel rails, but they are all heated, and it seemed like a waste of money buying them and then not using the heating feature...

So, what do you think of these rails. Yay or nay?

I don't mind them, but don't love them either. It's kind of a big decision though, as we need three for the ensuite, three for the upstairs bathroom, and one for the downstairs bathroom, so 7 in total. Which is why I am paranoid about making the wrong decision. Eeeeek.

This is the ensuite wall where we need the towel rails:

B

Towel rings, rails or hooks? Which do you prefer?

We recently had a towel ring pictured below installed in our downstairs powder room. I think it looks great. I would like to get the rest of the bathrooms finished and am however wondering if the robe hook or even a small towel rail would be more practical? I am particularly worried about the ones which will be in bathrooms that kids will be using in the future. What do you think? From both an aesthetic and practicality point, which do you prefer?

The towel rail below is 600mm long so probably a bit too long to be above the 600mm deep vanity? Would love to hear your thoughts <3 p="">

Images all from Tradelink

 

B

Help me choose a colour for our custom made upholstered bed.

Life's been extremely busy lately, but I'm back! :)

So, I am back onto the design of our timeless custom made upholstered bed, and am having trouble deciding whether to go with charcoal or light grey. I like both these colours but am wondering which one, if either, will work with our blackbutt floor. What do you think? 

Also, the plan is to eventually get a rug for under the bed, so I guess I should consider the rug colour before deciding on the bed colour? 

Again, I like shades of grey and charcoal, as well as black and white combos. 

What colour rug & bed combination would work well with our timber floor?

• The bed linen will be ALL white.
• Our walls are Whisper White, a very very light grey.
• There is a large North facing window in the bedroom so there is a decent amount of natural light.

Look forward to reading your suggestions, as always.

B