Our Kitchen

White Verandah has been a hub of activity in the last week....

Tiling, painting, electrical work, plumbing ( I have toilets and showers!), wardrobe fitout, window covering measure.......

I have not taken many photos because there have been lots of tradies in and out and it has been a mess..

I have been feeling a little edgy with so many tradies coming in and out, now that she is all painted up and the kitchen is ready to go, a few dings can happen here and there - which i am sure is completely normal but nevertheless hard to watch...nail biting...

So in the mean time here are the kitchen pictures I took the other day to tide us over until I can get in over the next couple of days to snap the progress...

Oh.. the urges one must fight not to grab a chux and give that baby a wipe over....

kitchen light fitting sneak peak, it snuck into the photo....
They are not hanging yet, but should be suspended by the end of this week....Squuueeelllll.

mmm. dead blow flies aplenty on window sills - it's killing me..

The daddy and I unwrapped all the floors tonight and vacuumed the whole house..It was joy to see the floor again...probably the only time I will EVER say that vacuuming this floor was a joy.. There is little dust left, all ready for the crew of painters required tomorrow to gloss up all my favourite bits- skirts, archs, doors, mud room cabintry...

The trees... *sigh*

Thanks again Simon and Co for delivering what I had envisaged - there is just so much love for it...


 Grateful much xxx

Oh and a warm welcome to White Verandah's newest likers and thanks for being here to the ol' faithfuls x

Melissa x

loving....

wordless weekending

littlest muffins birthday

Our littlest muffin has just turned six....such a cliche' but the years have just flown... I think I may have even said that last year, but i guess it is a mothers prerogative to say it every single year we watch our littlest and dearest grow...

 early birthday morning, bed hair, unwrapping, cuddles, kisses and smiles...

 special treats to share with school buddies...

splatted little ice cream cake creations
Not exactly how they looked in the picture but ever so tasty..

I'll post a little how to for these - fun to make but a little tricky

 birthday girl providing some pre dinner entertainment for the family

 self chosen special outfit for reading with poppy... Well poppy started reading to the birthday girl, but she soon took over..

 after dinner, we headed outside to fly poppy's little helicopter, which last all of mmmm 5 minutes before the birthday girl flew it way above the trees and into the paddock across the road..

 we waited for poppy and daddy to find it......they didn't..

so a back up plan of some gymnastics/cheer leading moves that poppy has made a habit of every single visit put smiles back on their faces - including poppy's..

(featuring another self chosen ensemble of nightie and socks?? - her fashion sense is......eclectic..)

 I wonder at what age poppy will be able to sustain this tradition until?

Happy birthday our little sweet cheeks

We love you buckets full

Mummy xx

musical making

 The girls school put on the most amazing musical every year, where the children write, perform, record and produce the songs and then stage the end of year musical... CD's for sale and all, simply heart warming...

So the mamas got to work yesterday to do some making of the costumes...

Just part of it .... still more to come....

 all different colored birdy wings for the little uns of the school....

 Just so happens, that one of the mamas has her very own little country craft retreat nestled in the green hills. A perfect little spot for busy mama hands, just three sets, working madly - cutting, dying, sewing & chatting on the sunny sunny day we had.

sweet little hats, all 20 of them sewn up with two mamas, two machines and a whole lot of gusto in approximately 15 minutes ( school pick up was looming....) the other mama was busy offering encouragement and tying the ribbon...

We marveled and gave each other a big pat on the back at the end of the day....

I have to say it - us girls, mamas, goddesses - whichever you class yourself as, can achieve so much together - amazing....

Oh and I forgot it at the time, but must mention now... yesterdays post was my 100th... Oh White Verandah, how i wish we could have celebrated together with a glass of bubbly, you and me, sitting...together....Instead I will stand in the mud tomorrow where you should be standing (and soon will be or else...) and toast my 100th post.. Big thanks to all of you gorgeous people that are coming along for the ride, I sincerely hope you are finding it enjoyable - I am, at times, censoring so much of the stressful, yukky, whingey bits to make your ride more pleasurable - enjoy xxxxx

And a picture of the kitchen yesterday before i go - I took 56...but i'll just share one..

Melissa xx

Kitchen tap love....

I stared at her today and sighed, like she was a new addition to the family...

Yes... you can see water in the sink, it works, water actually flows from this beauty...

I had chosen the Perrin & Rowe Ionian tap which looks like this:

  and ordered the butlers sink without a tap hole, as I was going to have the tap installed into the stone behind the sink.

Lesson number 306 in my owner builder advice.....measure, measure and measure.... Remember how I shared that the feature nosing (ledges) on the windows were a last minute addition... clearly an impulsive one led by the heart and not by the head... 

This gorgeous little ledge meant that the tap did not fit in the stone behind the sink... Oh well.... Plan B : 1. find a stone mason that was willing to drill a hole in the butlers sink or send it back interstate where it came from...thankfully a said stone mason was found - thankyou!! and 2. choose another tap - introducing the Perrin & Rowe Picardie in pewter complete with white porcelain handles that fits perfectly into the newly drilled hole..  *sigh*...

So that's her.....my baby... Oh how i cant wait to wash some vegies here...

You can also just see in this last photo my nifty little bench bin complete with chooki bucket under bench in the corner...

Now.....splashback choice...I had initially thought glass for the ease of cleaning..Think i have changed my mind though - too modern...bought some samples of little square travertine tiles but think i may just go white tiles??

Can there be too much white?? No , didn't think so, or is that just me??

Excuse the dark photos...they were taken during a rainy patch..

Thanks for visting

Melissa xx

We have stone...

a full audience to watch the island bench stone being installed..

I am over the moon with how the stone has come up and I just cant wait to cook in that kitchen!! Thanks Simon and Co for all your hard work on the kitchen and cabinetry - could not be happier with the end result....

bathroom benches with basin..

our bath arrived

and the roof was finished on the man cave...

laundry trough in place...

little chook snacking away on the mower after daddy mowed the lawns...

full frontal..

The last week has been chaotic again, trying to coordinate everyone so that we can mooooovvee!! I am growing more and more impatient excited by the day as the light is finally at the end of the tunnel..

The plumbers,tiler and electrician are madly working away...

I picked up all the taps, toilets, etc for them to be installed today and may have squeeled a little when I laid eyes on my kitchen tap.. It was being fitted when I visited the house this morning - so pictures will be coming very soon..

Naturally there have been some issues with getting everything right for the plumbing fit off - basins arriving with no waste, wrong size waste, missing things from the order, etc, etc.. But hopefully it will be all sorted by the end of today and all the taps, basins will be in place...

Pictures to come...

Melissa x

planting

 I am finally back on line after a little hiccup with our internet connection...argghhh

In the sunshine on the weekend we planted some neighbour's begone trees that my mumma kindly bought us as a little happy house pressie - thanks mumma xxx

 little hands make light work...

daddy dug the holes with Shaun & Mel's special hole digger which made the job so much easier - thanks Shaun & Mel...

 the most exciting part of planting....trailer ride..