Barn Light Electric lighting is NOW available in Australia!!

So super exciting :) I am extremely happy with my stunning light fittings from Barn Light Electric - which i ordered from the US and had shipped over - a bit late now for me, but they have started distributing them locally in Australia!!!

 

These fittings remain one of my favourite features of my extension, and i just love that they are made by hand - its a beautiful family business story. I still walk into my kitchen and turn the dimmer up and down just to watch them work! 

How my stunning kitchen light fittings from Barn Light Electric were made!

I first saw them on Pinterest, after looking on ebay for antique fittings of the same style. Amazing to see these being made by hand still. I love mine so much! I even put my pinterest screen grab on this blog when i first saw them - before i ordered the three now hanging in the kitchen.

 Best colour ever :)

Installed!

Before and After :)

Now that the extension is 99% finished, i can look at the before pics and really see the HUGE difference. 

  

This is the back garden before - quite a bit bigger. But it was all dug down about 40cm to the lower level of the house:

Here is the back and outside of the house. The rose bush is in the same spot - basically the only part of the garden that didn't get ripped out. You can see where that still lives in the new pictures. 

The centre pic on the right have side of the grid shows the original 'lean-to' and where it ended - about a foot in from the chimney (easier to see in the pic below with the slab poured and lean-to demolished).  

 

 AFTER:

 

You can see the rose bush here - through the back window against the wall. The light is 'whiting out; the left hand fence where the olive trees are you can see in the new back yard photo. 

BEFORE:

This is the shed, carport and driveway on the Southern side of the house:

AFTER:

I'll have to take another picture looking down the driveway! The shed is now a weatherboard outdoor laundry (and shed.. you always need a shed). 

Here's the old kitchen. You can see where the fireplace (home of the oven) is now in the new bathroom. The corner cupboards are where the shower is in the ensuite bathroom, and left hand side - where the sink and vanity is now. 

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The fun part: moving furniture around!!

At this stage - there aren't many jobs left to do - and it basically looks finished - so i had a christmas house warming, with mulled wine and some mince pies - luckily missed the weather that arrived the very next day. 

Whats left?

- varnish, cut and install the quarter rounds

- sort out why the sockets in the living room have no power to them

- fix up the paving issues from being torn up by dumb plumbers who didn't tell me. 

- remove some pavers around the AC drain, and plant some vines in there to grow over the house

- install the security system

- take everything out of the laundry and put it all back in again, but tidy. 

- maybe install an ikea kitchen for a laundry eventually.. next year.. 

- new fridge too please!

it's like a puzzle

then the pieces start to fit!!

Awesome sofa needs some awesome armchair-friends

My ex-living room is now TV room with a sofa bed

Go range hood, please start working again!

BIG worry beads from Third Drawer Down

New entry :) 

How to install a range hood exhaust into a solar span / econo-deck roof, you ask.

<3 my solar span. SUPER insulating and awesome at making than 'rain on tin' noise when it, err, rains. But cheese louise has it been limiting and industrial to deal with. You need to choose and position your lighting when the ceiling gets installed (as they can only go on joins). No down lights (don't like em anyway) and you can't install extra lights or anything else for that matter on the ceiling on from the walls, down the track. No ceiling cavity, nothing can go in there. 

Solar span is two layers of colorbond tin, with half a foot of polystyrene in between. 

BUT

Installing a rangehood later in the building picture. Not so much fun. 

Except i had the worldest hottest roofy. 

step one, drill through to the other side to mark out where the flu will go. 

Then tin snips a circle big enough for your flu kit. 

Seeeee polystyrene. 

And push it through!

The next part i didn't get to observe - but basically - the covering sleeve gets extended up to the sloping ceiling and carefully fit to match the rake. I don't think it was overall too difficult when it actually happened, but working out all those steps and who should do them wasn't so easy. 

And then, it got installed, and wouldn't switch on. Thanks Ilve. 

Ensuite is sweet.. :)

It's not like the ensuite was all smooth sailing. I really wanted dark tap ware from the very very beginning. I spent ages on ebay getting the 'look' only to find that my plumbers would not install tap ware that didn't come from Australia, even if they already sold it here. 

VERY annoying plumbers. They also made sure not to plumb anything 'flush' (close to the walls so i'd have space for a bin under the kitchen sink as requested, for example) and wouldn't plumb anything weird. Despite the law in Australia stating you only need to use tricky tap ware on a new build/ extensive renovation - mine was neither. 

OH well. 

Looks pretty enough now with my Perrin & Rowe. 

Antique marble basin from Ottoman Empire - it's an old turkish basin. 

Cleans up alright!!

Big fan of my shower head :) 

The ensuite is off the main room - as pictured!

Bathroom is finito!

ENORMOUS gap between blog-posts (spent crying over spilt tiles)

After mucho drama from bad tiling (like seriously - who gets two shit tilers in a row??) my bathroom is finished. I LOVE my princess light fitting, and my bathtub. Ill have to make sure i have a bath in it soon :) 

The next drama was the vanity. Made to fit, it arrived and shock horror: didn't fit. It current lives in the laundry, where it really needs to be sold or thrown out. It looks beautiful - but will only work in a 'new' bathroom with perfectly flat walls. 

The mirror is very high - that was a bit of an error. I measured it to fit between the lights, forgetting there was a thermostat for the floor heating only 10 cm below - and so the mirror hangs quite high. Bathroom for tall people. 

Diamante light fitting.

V special custom made arm for the shower curtain. 

My very special non-custom but absolutely loved vanity. 

TUB TIME :)