Miscellaneous

We currently have Spectra Lock from Laticrete http://www.spectralock.com/product_information/introduction.aspx for our grout in our showers. We unfortunately didn't come across this early enough to have it used for other areas in our bathrooms. The difference in the state of the grout elsewhere ie near the bath and that of the shower is incredible. Our shower still looks brand new after 5 years. We'd like to use this or something similar for the tiled areas.

Study Update 1

We like the inbuilt lighting for the desk

Outdoors/Alfresco

We like the big tiles of the alfresco area below.

This is the look we'd like with our courtyard. Modern but with a slight Asian feel. Can you believe that we have the same metal artwork as on the wall in the picture! We currently have black clumping bamboos against our wall screening us from our neighbours garage and we love it. We currently have charcoal outdoor furniture for our alfresco area so the colour scheme would work.

Bathroom

We haven't really found any pictures of bathrooms that we really like. We generally like simple, clean lines with light walls and perhaps dark floor tiles. Malcolm would like one of those shower heads that is generous with the water that comes out. Not sure how water saving this is, but I believe they have more water-efficient ones now?!? If possible, we'd also like the shower heads to be removable.

I have, however, found examples of washbasins that we like. It needs to be wide and come out forward quite far away from the tap as I hate it when the water drips everywhere off your arm when you're washing your face. If possible, we'd also like it to be one piece as the exanples below. this means its easier to clean as there'll be less areas of joins. Floating vanities as the middle picture would be nice but not a necessity.

I couldn't save the picture but the site below has a double basin that is in one piece. This would be ideal. It is the middle picture with the word "bathroom" on it.
http://www.scfinteriors.com/consumers.html

In the meantime, we will keep looking for images that we like.

Laundry

As with the kitchen, we'd like the wall cupboards to go all the way up with no empty space at the top. We like how the bench top goes over the top of the washing machine so things don't fall into the gap.

We like the big sink also of this laundry
Washing baskets with integrated cabinetry front is a nice idea
A hanging clothes rack as below is important to hang up clothes which has just been ironed.

Study

It's been hard finding photos of exactly what we want so I've included a collection of photos, none of which are quite right!

This probably comes the closest in terms of the modern look. We envisage this set up along 1 wall from floor to ceiling, with perhaps 2 "spaces" for chairs/computers like the one above. We like to have big drawers down the bottom where the children can dump their schoolbags etc without it looking cluttered. The shelves above the desk we initially wanted open as we want to be able to see our selection of books and games but this picture does seem tidy so we'll think some more on this. We also didn't want the bench to be empty the whole way more like the last 2 pictures.

Similar concept but a study rather than a kitchen!

Kitchen Update 1

I forgot to add that we also like image 7 and 11 from this website

http://www.wonderfulkitchens.com.au/home.html

If possible, we'd like the drawers to be able to open with pressure then release (I hope that makes sense) so it can be opened with the hip if both hands are full.

We like the Hafele swing and tandem pantry

http://www.scribd.com/doc/42066503/kessebohmer

We like the colour scheme of this kitchen, except we don't like the veneer timber looking cupboards!
I am not sure if the room in the corner is the pantry or laundry. Looks interesting thats all, better than a corner pantry!

Kitchen

Some pictures of kitchens we like. We've commented on the features of each kitchen that appeals. Big double sinks are a must. We'd like a tap that can be pulled out to be able to wash those big pots easily. We prefer doors to have more of matte finish rather high gloss so we don't have to keep wiping fingerprints off. Same applies of spashbacks. We don't want any tiled spashbacks. I don't like the grout in between the tiles. (Can you see a pattern here...). We'd like full extension runners on all drawers and ones that don't bang close (I don't know what they're called). You'll probably see from our selections that it appears we like the concept of the island bench. However, we'd prefer to have the sink and stove not on the island bench itself, although this can be played around if space does not permit.

We like the natural looking stone finish on the bench top and the integrated dishwasher. This isn't a must, just something that we like. The small amounts of black trim also appeals. That's what we've got in our home at the moment.

This kitchen may be similar to what ours will be in that the wall will be facing the outside. Having windows to let natural light looks nice. Although I don't know how practical this will be with cooking splashing onto the windows etc. We actually chose this because we like the non-handle cabinetry look. but we don't like the BIG space above the cupboards...only there to collect dust!

We like how there is storage for commonly used items eg kettle, toaster etc that can be closed away when not in use as in picture below.

We like the clean lines and handle-less cupboards!

We found examples of pantry solutions should we not have a walk in. The website below picture 5. I couldn't save the picture.

http://www.wonderfulkitchens.com.au/storage.html

Hafele also has a system whereby shelves are on the doors itself and when they are open, the shelving on the inside gets automatically pulled out. I'll scan a picture when I have time.

I have to go to work. Will post more at the end of the day.

Feature stairwell

Here are pictures of interesting stairwells that have caught our attention. We realise that we may not have the width or length, just trying to get some photos to capture a certain feel. We also like the third stairwell in Brian's blog!

We included this here because of the stairs but we also like the feel of the house (ignoring all the stainless steel in the kitchen...)

We really like this one!

We've included this one in case we end up going for a standard staircase. The storage system seems good, we have a lot of difficulty accessing our understair storage easily at the moment

Facades

Here are some facades which we like. We like the modern look with a little bit of stone, a little bit of timber. We like the wide open entrances to the houses.