day 2

day 2 of demolishing in the hacienda a.k.a desert storm

 

xx

let the games begin!

so the builder has started on our next stage of renovations. hooray! we are kitchenless (and livingroomless) for approximately 8 weeks or so- but since we completed the laundry way back when, we can use that as  a makeshift kitchen. and in preparation i baked truckloads of lasagne and curries to line our freezer!

- step 1 remove beloved brick wall

keep you posted! xx

kitchen appliance shopping

well, hello harvey norman match anything sale and welcome to the hacienda, european appliances. the husband and i, after much online research and stalking of appliance stores, have purchased our appliances for our new kitchen. so, armed with print outs of great deals from online stores (try www.appliancesonline.com.au/)(p.s sale on now!)we trudged into said appliance store this morning........ and got some great deals. so my kitchen appliance stipulations were:

1. euro stainless steel appliances (preferably matching brands)

2. induction cooktop

3. double pyrolytic oven 

so maybe i was dreaming a little..... but this is what we ended up with:

blanco induction cooktop- only 3 burners but we don't have the brain capacity to operate more than 3 at the same time (p.s. if you don't know about induction heating do yourself a favour and google it- you'll never look back).

 blanco under cupboard rangehood- boring but necessary- apparently it's important to look at the amount of air they actually move (particularly with induction cooking), most of the pull out ones are a waste of time. this one is 650m3/hr which is no where near as good as a big industrial one but will do the job for an induction cooktop (apparently).

 

bosch pyrolytic 65L wall oven- self cleaning goodness

 

can't go past a miele dishwasher- no man handling of our riedel wine glasses and deadly silent.

so nothing matches apart from being stainless steel but i wasn't happy with the whole range from one particular brand so i had to mix and match. did i say i? i meant "we"- yes it's "our" kitchen.

 

kitchen wishlist

we are busy drawing up our plans for the big living room and kitchen renovation. so i'm busy doing my "product" research........ i.e. shopping. first up kitchen sink:

amazing afa exact 1208 under/inset double sink from reece $849 here.
next up, kitchen tap:

 

teknobili oz t7 pullout sink mixer $379 here. 

blatant reece plug: for anyone who doesn't know reece have ridiculous warranties for all of their products, if anything breaks they send a plumber out for FREE to fix it. if you have had problems with dodgy cheap mixers in the past and have had to replace numerous cartridges you will be relieved to know this.

and for some colour:

yellow bentwood stool (pic from danneventhire.com.au)

  

thoughts? xx

wardrobes

the new wardrobes in the back 2 bedrooms have been installed. hooray! so we will move into one of those bedrooms while we do the main. a wee reminder of what they looked like before:

 before

after

ahhhhh organised bliss.  it's an opaque white glass door and a mirror door. and i just realised i've lived without a full length mirror for 6 months- can't say i've really missed it!!

cost: approx $900 fully installed check with your local wardrobe peeps.

ottolenghi crush

if you're not already a fan of yotam ottolenghi - get on board! 

i fell in love with him when we were living in london and visited his islington restaurant. he is known for his regular "vegetarian" column in the guardian and received a bit of criticism since he's not actually vegetarian. beside the point really, his recipes are heaving with delicious vegetables and a mediterranean/middle eastern vibe. 

you can find some of them online at guardian.co.uk or ottolenghi.co.uk or do yourself a massive favour and buy either/both of his books ottolenghi: the cook book or plenty on amazon.

my favourite ottolenghi recipe of all time is the vegetable paella- it is absolutely divine and is on the menu at our house tonight! you can find the recipe here.

 enjoy x

wednesday magic

seriously, how exciting is it to come home to an exciting package in the mail?! now make that an unexpected present wrapped in gold with a fluoro pink heart! now you're talking wednesday magic! i really think delightful gifts like this make the world go round. if you wanna make someones day just send them an unexpected present in the post (and wrap it in gold!)

and my gorgeous gold package was a bounty of beautiful things!! a bunch of very appropriate lps (a recent obsessions), a book (self confessed book loverrrr) and the most amazing white pom pom cushion (lovingly designed and made by my friend). 

now let's have a show of hands for who thinks heidi needs to branch into homewares. 

 
check out heidi's blog.

xx