Well we have been going fairly flat strap over the last couple of months and well the human body can only take so much so we have been feeling a little "under" the weather over the past week and have been taking it easy. We had a very laid back weekend, not really doing a whole lot which i have to say was nice for a change. There is still a lot to do, inside is still not finished totally. Lots of little things still needing to be done such as new door handles for all the cupboards, fixing architraving, cupboards for walk in wardrobes and the biggie....KITCHEN!

We have been looking into how we want to change the kitchen and how we want to arrange it. Currently we aren't happy with the kitchen having one "entry" point into the kitchen. It makes the kitche feel small and "enclosed"

{Photo of kitchen before we bought it}

So we have come up with a plan which gives the kitchen a more "open" plan and hopefully utilizing the space we have well! We are going to get rid of the corner larger bench at the front of the kitchen, which leaves you with a "U" shape kitchen. In the middle of the kitchen we are going to put a "butcher's" bench, which will have double sided cupboards and drawers for storage. It will also have wheels which will be great to use out on the deck (when that get's done!!) as a preparation area.

{Bevan's 3d Drawing of our new kitchen}

{Butcher's Bench}

We are going to inset the pantry and fridge into the wall so that it will also give the kitchen a more open feeling. More wall cupboards will also be added onto the other side of the rangehood.

{Overview of the kitchen & dining}

At this point i have decided on the 9 00mm wide inbuilt oven for the kitchen and the 700mm Gas cooktop. I am not exactly happy with the gas cooktop - I HATE cooking with gas as there seems to be now such thing as "low" simmering with it! BUT it's cheaper than the electric cooktop we were looking at so it wins out!

{Inbuilt oven plan}

I have been looking at some colours for the bench tops and i have found one that i like. Its called Catalana Marble, I thought a plain white for the cupboards would be nice. We thought to add a bit of character to the kitchen and have the "Butcher bench" as a wooden bench top. These are all preliminary idea's so things probably will change but this is where we are up to with it anyway!

{Catalana Marble - Laminex}

{Something like the wooden bench top above for the "butcher's bench"}

On the creative front things have been going pretty slow - i still have heaps of things i want to add to the house and it all looks a bit mish mashy in style but it is going to take a little time to transform it into the style that i like. We had to go to the greenmount dump on saturday to get rid of some rubbish and we found these nice old sash windows which we got 3 for $5.00.

{Old Sash Windows}

I want to transform the window above into a "french" style black board for the kitchen area. The others i am not 100% sure of what i do with but somewhere along the lines of a photo frame or a collage board. Who knows.

{French Country Blackboards}

We have some new additions to our brood of hen's. Introducing Big Red and Henny Penny. My mum and dad bought these two for us over the weekend. They are at the "point of lay" which means they are coming into being old enough to lay so we will get a few years out of these two as opposed to the other who have a limited life left in them.

{Henny Penny}

{Big Red}

{Feed Time}

These two have very defined personalities. Henny Penny is a loving chook (if chooks can be loving} always wants to be around you and loves a pat. Big Red is vastly different. Although she is not in the TOP of the pecking order she will have a "go" at you with a bit of a peck here and there. Very standoffish. She gave Abby (our dog) a few touch ups over the weekend and i think she now has a healthy respect for the chooks. It was hilarious to watch! Mind you these two are getting pick on quite a bit since they were introduced a bit later than the others, These two hide under a laying box all day because they get picked on so much. Is this normal?? I am no expert on chooks so if you have any advice on chooks, i would be more than happy to have some info on them! We have been getting about 2 - 3 eggs a day which has been great. We are currently on a bit of De-tox diet and can't eat eggs for 10 days so the family will be benefiting from them over the next week! We got a HUGE egg the other day - poor chook!

{Our gigantic egg vs a normal egg}

I will leave you with a picture of our VERY cute but naughty dog. Found her like this before i left for work this morning! I didnt have the heart to get up her!