#4 - To be a relaxed, care-free, encouraging Mother not at all bothered by children's dodgy decorating skills when making gingerbread houses tomorrow.
#5 - A lovely Christmas day with some spiritual nourishment, great food, laughs with family, a game or two, some performances by my nieces and a spot of backyard cricket......hey, this one might even come true!
This is one of my favourite parts of the house design. The kids have this study nook in the hallway outside their bedrooms. It's 3 metres long so has ample space for them all to spread out. As for the grown-ups? Well, he gets a separate studio, she gets a bit of the kitchen bench.
He comes highly recommended!
So starting this end we have the separate studio, carport then house proper. You can also sort of see the greying of the slab in the areas that have been burnished (i.e. not the carport). It still needs to dry off fully and have another sand and seal then that will be our floor surface!
First up is the entry which includes stairs up to the master bed. On the other side of the entry wall is the lounge followed by play/family with a small wall and large sliding door between, then there will bebuilt-in cupboards and bookshelves on the far wall. The steps down to the meals are from the family room section. There are large windows all the way along the North wall, looking down the block (loads of natural light!). I think I'd like to move in right now!
That's kitchen down the far end and meals up this end. Come...eat...enjoy!
Not only will this burnished slab be our floor surface (except for carpeted bedrooms and tiled bathrooms), it will keep the temperature more constant in Winter by soaking up the sunshine during the day and releasing it's warmth all night. It is also an environmental concrete mix which has 40 % recycled content replacing the cement content. This is a good thing!
... for a lovely view of the pool - maybe! 
To the left is circular permaculture vegetable garden with chookhouse in the centre. More detailed plans of this design do exist but I may be too embarassed to post them here. 
Finally, looking to the bottom of the block (North) we have orchard to the left and grassy area to the right followed by cricket pitch/bowling green/footy oval/future tennis court (!) which leads to a native area right at the bottom with big tall eucalypts blocking the view of a few less attractive sheds. 
It will be done, with a lot of effort on our part and hopefully some helpers too (family! friends!.....hello?........hello?)
I still like it though. It's from Bold & Noble in the UK.
Still, there was some fun to be had...
...though some of us sensibly decided to remain in the car.
I expected these would also be reasons why the slab was not poured today as planned, while Toph was quite hopeful that it would. There's a reason why he is the builder and I just write about it. Slab poured today, photos here tomorrow. Hooray!
I mentioned ink & spindle in this post. These are a few some more of their lovely fabrics. I can see some of the lamps in my future. 
I have also been a frequent visitor to the cloth fabric website, which is based in Sydney, These birds (ducks according to the littlest Huddart) might be a future wall hanging. 
And finally, in this little round-up of current favourite fabrics is Marimekko, a little less close to home but with so many cool fabrics that could be stretched over canvas in this house-to-be-built of ours. 
