A beauty on Better Homes and Gardens USA


My 'Flashback Friday- Family Home Number 2' post explained how we sold our last house and had 60 days to renovate our new family home to a liveable state for our newborn Master H.  The kitchen was one of the main priorities as it looked like this-

I loved the last modern kitchen we designed in Family Home Number 2 with glossy white 2 pac doors, glass spashback etc.

The kitchen we designed in our last home

But this time I thought I would stick with more of a traditional look.  I found myself drawn to the classic look of Provincial style kitchens in magazines and A-M's gorgeous kitchen featured on her blog 'The House that AM Built'.-

Cape Cod Designs- AM's kitchen

We didn't want to make any structural changes to the house until we had finalised our major renovation plans so were restricted to a small u-shaped kitchen design.  Sadly, I didn't think to take any proper photos of our completed kitchen but here are some quick snaps I took with the iphone before we moved out and the house was a complete mess!

Now with our major renovation and extension, we are able to change the layout of the kitchen.  I am pleased that we will be able to have more storage, an island bench and study nook.  I found great inspiration on Houzz and numerous blogs and have been busy pinning to my kitchen board on Pinterest.  Here are some of my favourite images and main inspiration-


Georgica Pond Interiors- Mel's Kitchen



'Building Our House of Grey and White' Blog- Natasha's Kitchen

 


Cabinetry and layout inspiration.  Pinterest

 

Study nook layout inspiration.  Pinterest

 


Study nook inspiration.  Pinterest

 
I'm really pleased with the kitchen plan and selections that we have settled on and it's great that we are able to reuse 90% of our exisiting kitchen.  I can't wait to show you!

In 2006 we took the opportunity to upgrade from our first home to a property closer to the city.  We purchased a lovely little Queenslander from its original owner.  The house was very much showing its age and in need of a makeover!  The house is located in a DCP (Demolition Control Precinct) so any plans had to meet specific guidelines to maintain the character and architectural style of the home and be approved by Council.  And while the house was on a 579sqm block it was subject to the Residential Design Small Lot Code because it had an average block width of less than 15 meters.  We stayed on in our first home and left the house unoccupied for 6 months while we planned our renovation with a builder.    



Our first goal was to relocate the one and only toilet from a cupboard (on carpet!!!) in the second bedroom and close off the tiny opening allowing access from the kitchen.



What were they thinking?



Other than that, there were no major surprises or issues to deal with.  We chose to open back up the front verandah that had been enclosed at some point and close off the side sleepout to create a third bedroom or study.  We removed the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen and dining areas and added a back deck and new rear stairs.  It was an expensive exercise to replace all of the aluminium windows with traditional timber double hung windows but well worth it.  We saved money where we could by opting to paint the interior (never again!), replace the battens under the house, erect a garage and fences plus landscape ourselves.  We organised our own contractors to paint the exterior, do the tiling and polish the floors to make more savings.  It was a busy three years of hard work but we were more than happy with the results.

We completed the landscaping just as I became pregnant with our first child.  Perfect timing to relax and enjoy our family home!  But then we spotted the 'For Sale' sign on a house a few doors down the street...  and as if welcoming our first child into the world wasn't enough to worry about, we purchased another property and listed our home for sale.  I must say it was interesting having real estate agents visit us at the Mater Mothers Hospital to sign contracts and breastfeeding in the car while our house was open for inspection!  We negotiated a 60 day settlement on the sale of our house so that we had this period of time to renovate the new house up to a liveable state for Baby Master H.  Looking back, I don't know how we survived!  We were crazy to inflict this upon ourselves but I'm glad we secured a great property.
  

4 week old Master H and our Family Home.