Tour Time: The Library

Finally, some pics of my house. I know I’ve been promising them for ages, but somehow they are never quite ‘good’ enough, I always think I could take better ones tomorrow when the light is better. No more. Post now is my new motto.

Ladies and gentlemen, gather around, we are starting our tour at the front door. Yes, I know it is on the side. Yes, I know it is closer to  the back fence than the other outside door. I know you  walk past the bathroom windows. I know it LOOKS like a back passageway but trust me, it’s the FRONT ENTRANCE!

The path to the front door

I have plans for this area (heck I have plans for every where.) I’m actually finding I’m getting defensive about that because a few clients have indicated that it’s not a good thing to make a lot of changes, or have a lot of plans. Apparently it’s ‘going to cost a lot of money’ – well duh, but not everything will, and 1. I only said I had plans, not instant deadlines, and 2. hopefully I will earn money one day 😉 Anyway the plans for this area include some wall art to pull the eye away from the toilet window, painting the concrete and building a water feature on the back of the wall to  the left.

The FRONT door. Yes, really.

My plans for this door at the moment mostly involve it not being white. Actually it has spent a lot of the last 6 months open (with the screen door locked) to  air the house from sanding, varnishing, painting and just because the fresh air is nice.

Until a few weeks ago  when you walked in the front door the hall looked like this.

The front door and hall

Interestingly I went back through at least 8 years of photos and this view only changed with a  christmas decoration or two.

It’s a little different now.

The Library

This is only the beginning. At the moment these are shelves from the old study and the sunroom. After Christmas I plan to  pretty much line both walls with  floor to ceiling (or windowsill) shelves in a walnut stain (to go with my Aunt’s blackwood cabinet). At present the books are merely stashed on the shelves, I can’t wait to  be able to sort them (and have shelves the right heights for them!)

Looking from the front door to the living room

The glass wall on the left looks into the formal lounge room (now the study/salon/craft /sitting room). I can’t show you that room just yet (you  actually can’t see it for  boxes), but looking out of it into the hall used to look like this:

Looking into the hall in the past

Now this is what you see:

The book corner

I love love love my new  feature wall colour, and it doesn’t show well in photos but the new lampshade in the hall is a perfect match which changes into purple with the light, or as you move around it.

New shade and garage sale base.

Now, for a sneak peek of the future.

Having moved from living basically in one end of the house to the other, one thing I noticed was that whenever the doors to the hall were shut (often for heating purposes, and probably more often in the future for privacy) it feels very much like I live in a 2 room unit. I found clients were totally unaware there was more house  beyond the hall. I was looking for a bifold glass door for the ensuite, and a client mentioned she had  2 she was willing to  sell as they didn’t fit her place. Now, nothing in this house is standard, so I didn’t hold much hope oif them fitting here either, and as it happens they are too wide for what I need in the bedroom, but they are only  3mm too  wide for my current doorways. So the other day when I was shifting them around to make more room in the shed I couldn’t resist seeing what they looked like in situ. (All I need to  do  is work out the mysteries of bifold door runners, figure out a way to  shave a couple of mm off and replace the glass (I hate kookaburras –  going to  put some clear or nearly glass in and then frost it myself, and see if I can sell  the awful  birds.) And I can’t wait. They look amazing. I was a little worried that they wouldn’t fit in a house with all but one door painted wood and no panelled doors at all, but I think they are going to fit just perfectly (and it’s my opinion that matters :P)

What do you  think?

The dvd library and door to the living room 'before'

A look into the future. Clearer glass will give more depth, and show the teal blue on the wall ahead.

And looking across the hall from the study out to the bathroom area and sunroom…

Across the hall in the future

Going with not quite clear glass here, it looks into the shower from certain angles, but enough to be able to see someone standing at the cupboard  behind it and let the light through.

I hate waiting. I have no patience what so ever.