Brick choices??

We had a look at Austral yesterday to start narrowing down the brick and tile choices.

This one we like the look of and it will go nicely with the greys, mushrooms and charcoals that we are thinking about...

It is called Austral Latrobe.

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We will probably have a nice charcoal roof tile and either monument or woodland grey fascia/gutters and garage door.

Not set in stone but at least it is nice to know that there is something we like and it wont be too much of an upgrade.

Now its even easier to follow our build...SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL!

Whilst updating the blog tonight I came across a new gadget on Blogger which enables followers and readers to subscribe to our Blog by email...

How groovy! That means every time I post something new, you will get a message in your inbox telling you there is something new!

Hopefully others will start using this NEW gadget too.

That's all for tonight :)

Soil tests !

Cam got a call on tuesday from a guy who was at our place to do soil tests but couldn't get through to the backyard because the side gate was locked. We were surprised anyone was there, given that we had only just paid the deposit 2 days prior. So far so good Metricon!

We also received not one but THREE, pieces of mail from them. A card, a general letter and today a letter following up another phone call Cam received from the Customer Service Coordinator.

Things are obviously moving along nicely which is excellent.

Next decisions to make will be marking out a possible electrics plan...

Kirsten.

Deposit Paid...Woo Hoo!

Today we took the biggest step so far. After a 2 hour meeting going over our Preview Estimate with SC Mark, it was time to put our money where our mouth is...

We spent the vast majority of this morning adding subtracting and discussing the finer points of what will be our dream family home.

The major features

• Extra wide garage
• Bigger eaves
• Higher ceilings upstairs and larger doors throughout (2550mm)
• Aluminium Southern Star windows and doors except for a timber bipart leading out to the Grand Outdoor Room
• A lovely Madison Pivot Corinthian Front door (photo below) with a large bar pull handle

• Increased depth of robes in main and 4th bedroom to 600mm instead of 500mm so our clothes will fit, also mirrored doors on both
• Increase depth of alcove in Main WIR so we can fit a bench seat for dressing
• Ensuite vanity upgrade
• Fowler Regent Soft close toilets throughout

• Fowler Regent inset basins throughout
• Caesarstone benches to ensuite, powder, bathroom, kitchen and laundry
• Vinyl gloss cabinetry throughout
• Clark Epure Undermount sinks to kitchen

• Added extra basin to family bathroom (2 instead of 1)
• Flush tiled shower bases

Not to mention my 2 favourites that have passed the muster so far (sooooo excited)

• Boral Silkwood Engineered Timber Flooring to kitchen, dining, lounge, hall and entry
• Jetmaster 6000TRSI gas log insert fire (wall mounted) to Sitting Room downstairs (YAY - Mummy's sanctuary!!!!)

So happy that everything is moving now!!!

These are a few of my favourite things...

We are still making the decisions, apparently when building a new house in the end you make over 50,000 decisions during the whole process. I think we have already surpassed that and we havent even started the build.

I thought I would post some photos of the features we have decided upon...

These will be our basins and taps in the ensuite

 This oven is the one I have selected instead of the stand alone cooker, the reason being I hate the gaps that exist between the oven and benchtop, too hard to stop food from going down the edge. I also love the extra drawer underneath to store baking trays and racks in... genius!

Our ensuite but we arent having the shaving mirror.

The kids bathroom will be similar to this but the mirror wont be as big.

The grand outdoor room, a bit dark but the size is magnificent

Our sitting room will look similar to this with the windows being slightly more narrow. I think we will also put some art or a family photo above the Jetmaster... This will be my sanctuary :)

An idea i have for the lounge/family area

I would like pendants like these over the dining table I think.

Thats all for now...

Decisions Decisions...

Well the tour of Studio M turned out to me better than expected with Mark our sales guy taking us on a private tour to look at standard options and some of the upgrades that we have decided upon... We then spent another 45 minutes going through all of the changes. All this and we havent even paid a deposit yet!

Another appointment with him is on the agenda (this time without Lachie who got bored of looking at stuff fairly quickly, Hamish slept the whole time which was good).

Here are some of the options we are considering at the moment

• Increased ceilng and door heights both upstairs and downstairs to 2550mm maybe 2700mm downstairs
• Increased eaves to 750mm to increase building efficiency
• Brick infills, flish mortar joints
• Garage extension and provision of single width roller door for backyard access
• Double glazed windows again to improve efficiency, although as of 2011, Metricon have further increased the amount of double glazing included as standard as all new homes at 6 star energy rated (they cost a little more because of this too!)
• Bipart timber door to Outdoor Room
• Upgrade to Grand Outdoor Room
• Upgrade to pivot Front Door much like this one

• Ensuite upgrade to look similar to the display at Lyndhurst

• Although we are still hoping to be able to include a walk-in-shower for added luxury (read: less cleaning for me :) ) But apparently this is not requested all that often and we arent sure if we will be able to do this at all without deleting the bath, which is not an option!!!

I will leave the list for now. I really should be in bed at this hour especially since I will be up to tend to the newborn in a few hours time...

Kirsten

Studio M tour booked

Things are moving along nicely. We took a trip to Mernda to have a look at the facade and I must say it was lovely. We also have some good ideas about colours which is also good. At this stage we are thinking of getting the render of the front facade done post handover. It looks as though it might save us quite a lot of money, we will have to discuss with a renderer before deciding though.

I have worked out the kitchen design finally and it is just a matter of getting that priced up. Serious as though you spend so much of life using the kitchen it is really important to get it right!!! I'm considering overhead cupboards that lift up over the stove with a cabinetry shelf between them and the bulkhead. I am concerned about being short and not being able to close the doors once they're up.

We have an appointment at Studio M in a few Sunday's to have a tour and get an idea of the basic categories/standard inclusions. It's a start.

More soon...