Decisions ... Decisions ... Decisions !

As many of you would know from reading my blog, late last year we decided to look into building a house on our acre block down the road.  I was pretty excited about it and had some plans drawn up by a company, Harkaway Homes, which we thought would be great.  We also went to a local company which does Queensland/heritage type houses. The upshot of it was … boy, is it expensive to build a house!  We thought about it for a while … if I’m not 100 percent sure about something I let it sit for a while and usually the answer will come.  It did, in the form of, well, we are not going to go ahead with it.  It is just too expensive, so we are going to stay where we are and make improvements to what we already have. 

Luckily we don’t live in an ugly house … we love it here!  To tell you the truth, I think I’m a bit relieved.  Sometimes maybe not being rich can mean you make better decisions!

Anyway, since we will not now move, we decided to improve!  We are looking into extending out our main bedroom (which is quite small) and the kitchen into the side veranda.  The sun goes over that side of the house and is unusable as it is too hot … and it directly looks into the windows of our next door neighbor … those two circumstances definitely keeps us away from that side of the house.   It will mean the veranda will still go right across the front and down one side, but the sunny side will be a bit more useful.

We also want to put a deck out the back (which is the main job we’ve always wanted one) across the back of the house ... french doors across the back of the house leading out onto a huge deck.  It will be enclosed on three sides and open at the back.  It means we can put a huge garage underneath it for the cars and we can open up underneath the house, which is nice now, but will be pretty good when we’ve finished. 

This picture below really caught my attention for a veranda … much smaller than what ours will be, but the style is perfect for what I want …

 

And a dreamy one!

 

Since we are on a bit of a renovation swing, I thought I would cruise around the Queenslander houses for sale to pick up a few tips.  Wow, there sure are some pretty houses out there for sale.  The one below is not really my style … a bit too minimalist for me, set up for sale I'd say, but for some reason it caught my attention … I love the white and wood and clean style  … I could imagine living in this house !

 

Following are just some pictures which I thought are really nice and eye-catching …

 

Of course this house is at Ascot, Brisbane and is over $1 million, but it sure has some lovely ideas to take away.  I love the way they have the topary trees on the veranda up against the rail and I also love the way the hedge is behind the picket fence.  I'm thinking about starting over again with my garden ... for the third time now the grasshoppers have come through and decimated my roses ... I think it is time to give up the cottage dream and plant what will grow and look good all year round.  I can't take the heartbreak of all my roses being eaten ... here one day, gone the next ... continuously! 

 

I thought this was a lovely way to tone down the sun into the deck.  Is very pretty, but also useful.

 

Comments

[Cori. G]

Hello Vickie,

I've been lurking about your blog for some time now and decided that I should just introduce myself, so Hello! My name is Cori and I live all the way around the other side of the world...or do I? My geography is so bad :0.
I don't remember how I found you all those months ago, but what I do know is that I love to come back and see what is going on in your world...it's such a beautiful place to be.

xoxox Cori G.

[Mandii]

How exciting to renovate! Your house is already amazing I cannot wait to see any improvements!!
mandii

[June]

Hi Vickie, My first time leaving you a comment, but certainly not my first visit to your blog. I love your blog and have for quite awhile. Your plans for your house sound lovey. Good luck in this process.

[Pearl Maple]

Congratulations on the new plans, lots of exciting ideas there, french doors are the ultimate in shabby chic.

[Annette]

Hi Vickie,
Im glad you've made a decision, at least you can get excited about something now and get some things underway. Your plans sound great and I love those outdoor entertaining areas. I look forward to see the progress with your extensions.