Decisions decisions!

Decisions decisions .......We live in a lovely bungalow in a very pretty little village with trees and shrubs everywhere -

its full of lovely people, the school is in the next village and the city is only 5 miles away. Wherever you are in our home you can hear birdsong - my friend is very clever and can tell me the type of bird just from hearing their songs but not me I'm not that good - anyway the reason I am dribbling on is...we need more space. I can hear my Mum saying well we lived in a smaller place than this when you were we little and we managed very well - what do you need more space for - it will only be more to clean....I know Mum I know but we just do need more space...these days most homes have more than one bathroom  (she lives in a bungalow on her own and she has two loos)

 there are four of us and someone always wants to go when someone is in the shower....I feel I am waffling here so I will push on - it became a case of move or extend..well when we bought this place I remember pulling up outside and thinking we cant afford that - from the outside it looked lovely - once we got through the door I realised why it was within our price range - to cut a long story short - we have absolutely gutted the place...lets just say the bathroom shower curtain hid the hole in the bath and even the two bottles of bleach that we used on day one of living here still didn't sort things out enough. The cupboard doors that fell off whenever you tried to open them wasn't funny. So room by room - we worked our way through.  Dad was alive then and being a builder and stonemason by hand not to mention a fab all around diy-er - he was a God send!  Everywhere I look I can see him - feel his love......could we move - absolutely not - we looked but just didn't see anything that we liked better than here.

SO.....
plans were drawn up and planning permission sought - it was granted in Sept of last year but we didn't want builders working through the winter months so we decided to save a bit more and wait - well we are ready - very scared but ready.  Hubby's job was under redundancy 2 years ago so he took another position with same company hundreds of miles away for less money - I am so proud of him as he has worked his way back up and passed where he was before. The fear is always there though...so we have been deliberating for the last few months but we have chatted long and hard about it - he is 37 so we still have hopefully plenty of time to enjoy it

WE...
are going to extend the side of our bungalow into the side garden - it will house a 21 ft 9 by 12 ft 2 kitchen/family room. After that our existing kitchen is going to have both walls taken down and one built in the middle making my daughters bedroom and wait for it ...my craft room much bigger (YAY!!!) and then if we are still hanging in there - knock through from our bedroom to the integral double garage and steal a 1/4 of it for our en suite shower room.  The dust and the dirt will absolutely drive me crazy I know it will but I sooooo hope it will all be worth it.

I am busy looking for inspiration for the kitchen - I can see farrow and ball pain being used by the gallon, definitely yearn for some Cath Kidston fabrics and totally love the country family kitchen look with a big table and chairs at one end where the children can do their homework as I prepare the evening meal!! Idyllic - in reality we will only have money left for beaks on toast and the children will be sat arguing about whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher!!!!  To start me off though here are some piccies that I have been putting in my favourites folder - I am sorry I don't know where they came from - I have been building my collection for quite some time

Love the lightness - definitely has to be a hand painted farrow and ball finish I think - we have found someone who makes their own kitchens - he is very reasonable I am told (price wise) - will take quite a bit longer than normal as he has been poorly and just does a bit now to keep his hand in - I don't mind - it will take a couple of months before the extension is ready - I have said I will paint it myself to keep the costs down -

 am I MAD????

Totally love the style and again the hand painted finish!

Would love an aga - just because it looks nice - don't have a clue how they work but to be honest Father in Law gave us a brand new cooker that goes in a oven housing - its in the garage waiting to go in its rightful home!

Have noticed a lot of the kitchens I like are light blue - very clean looking!

Totally love the light in here - we were going to have bi-fold doors all along one end but the builder has suggested it may not be such a good idea as it means a lot of weight on one runner - suggested we go with  large double doors and then a long window at either side - what do you think???

Definitely have floor to ceiling cupboards on my want list - one for the oven and at least one maybe a couple for pantry/crockery and pans etc and for brush/ mop and hoover etc then have a vision of a large island so Hubby and I can work alongside cooking without getting in each others way!

Like the painted finish alongside the stained wood - lovely effect!

I am a total lover of all things purple - wonder if its got anything to do with Cadburys Dairy Milk wrappers - anyway when I saw thing I just thought OMG WOW!!!!!  I love it!!!!  but could I live with it???  I think so!!!

What I liked about this one - was the mixture of painted and wood again and like the lantern plus look above the cooker - the metal hooks on the wall - very useful - like it - like it!!!

 Yum - scrum - love the above - not sure how I would feel as time went on about the colour but love the style of the units especially the large one on the left hand side and think I have to have a butler sink

really love the large unit at the back of the room 

 and the unit above too

love the soft chocolate and the duck egg blue combination!

Just like ours Grandma's used to have - that is what appeals to me!