Bathroom Ideas

One of the first questions facing most aspiring home builders is whether to work with an architect to custom build their house project or to build a cookie cutter design by a high volume builder. Both options can provide excellent results. I think the decision really comes down to the level of input, time and engagement you want to put into the design and construction process and to a large degree the choice is often based on the budget.

For our own build, we would have chosen to go down the custom route but realised early on that our money would stretch a lot further with a volume builder than a bespoke builder. We may not have a one-of-a-kind Metricon Hudson but I don’t feel that we’ve compromised on our ability to personalize the home to our taste. If anything, I feel that it’s been a good collaboration between us and our builder and most of the changes we wanted made from standard were readily accommodated. You can read more about our modifications in this post.

The standard Hudson is a two bathroom, two powder room design but in our version, we turned the ground floor powder room into a full bathroom by replacing the coat cupboard with a shower. I’ve spent countless hours flicking through magazines and my Pinterest boards are now full of ideas for the bathrooms. The internet has been a great source of inspiration for this project! I love it!

For the ground floor bathroom, my idea is to give it a ’boutique hotel’ feel by changing the sliding window into a picture window and putting in a floor to ceiling mirror and floating vanity. This is one of my favourite looks for a bathroom and think it will give it the wow factor!

Floating Vanity

Picture window in the ground floor powder room

Love the picture window and floating vanity

Floor to ceiling mirror

For the ensuite, we went for one of the standard customisation options of adding a freestanding bath and a feature screen in lieu of the stud wall (as per the Laguna display home at Homeworld). We also added a double rain shower and full wall tiling in the contract but really haven’t given much thought to the colour scheme.  Budget permitting, I’d love to have a timber platform for the bath to sit on like Alyssa and Lysandra’s “blocktastic” ensuite.

Metricon Laguna Ensuite

Game changer on The Block

For the girls’ bathroom, we felt the standard window was on the small side so we increased the dimensions and changed the profile to awning. We also added full wall tiling, a shower niche and upgraded the vanity from laminate to Caesarstone. 

via Metricon

For the upstairs powder room, I’m toying with the idea of using wallpaper to give it a point of difference. Nick’s not convinced so the jury is out on that one.

Wallpaper on one wall. What do you think?

Simple textured paper is  probably the safe option

 

Fruit Trees

When we met our landscape designer Emily on site this week, it had only been my fifth visit to what is to be the future forever home for our family since buying it in May. Isn’t that crazy?

The first time was at the open house inspection and I remember walking through the front door and making a beeline straight for the backyard. I was in and out of the house in a few minutes only to pick up a marketing brochure and the agent’s card. I don’t think I even bothered to have a proper look inside the house but I recall being wowed by the number of fruit trees in the garden.

Whilst we talked to Emily about our landscape plans for the new garden, I couldn’t help but notice the trees were now in full bloom and the abundance of fruits around the backyard was really quite impressive. There was a whole garden full of oranges, grapes, lemons and even pomegranates just begging to be picked and eaten!

Trees in all their glory

I must say it surprised me to feel a twinge of sadness that soon these trees that were undoubtedly much loved by their previous owners will soon be demolished. I did ask Emily if they were salvageable but she didn’t think they would survive the months of heavy construction. So, I guess it’s out with the old and in with the new.

Landscape Plans

You know that saying ‘when it rains, it pours‘? Well after weeks of not much real action, it has been a busy week on the admin front. We signed off on the demolition quote after much deliberation on the contractor to hire and a bit of haggling over the fine print. And as I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, our file is also now with the Metricon design team working on preparing all the plans, drawings and reports required for council submission. One of these reports is a landscape plan showing the proposed hard and soft landscape works and planting schedules including proposed planting location, species, heights and spreads.

Landscape Plans

Nick and I had our initial landscape consultation with Emily from OutThere Landscapes and Design to discuss our ideas for the front and rear garden. If first impressions are anything to go by then we are in very capable hands. Emily was not only knowledgeable about the ins and outs of our local council requirements but she was so easy to talk to and shared a lot of common aesthetic. We left the meeting confident and happy that she fully understood our vision.

So what is ‘the brief‘ I hear you ask? Nick and I are no green thumbs so we are going for something practical that looks attractive but requires very little upkeep. We want a relaxing space for our family to enjoy and a child-friendly backyard where our kids could run around and play to their hearts content.

We also want a seamless transition between the indoor and outdoor living spaces by putting in decking that wraps around the whole back section of the house. The bucket list is brimming with nice-to-have’s that at this point are heavily dependent on how well we stick to the budget. One on the wish list is the in-ground concrete pool that we would love to build before the new house but is now on the wait list after handover.

Here are some of the ideas for the front garden

Front fencing with slats to give the house some definition

Paved pathway to the front door

Timber decking around the portico

For the back garden, I envision a lush weed-resistant lawn worthy of a world class golf course with low maintenance perimeter plants. I’m also dreaming of an outdoor entertainer’s delight with built-in barbecue and an inviting oasis to put our feet up and enjoy a glass of chardy.

My idea of a perfect outdoor living space

Dream pool

Collage of beautiful images for the side garden

I can’t wait to see our vision for the exterior reflected in Emily’s landscape plan. It’s so good to be ticking things off the to-do list! Baby steps…

 

Wheels slowly turning

Something that has become glaringly obvious to me since we jumped onboard the building wagon is that this whole journey requires the patience of a saint.

As someone who craves instant gratification, patience is a virtue I haven’t mastered yet and I find myself in constant need of a reminder that good and wonderful things take time!

Well this week we are seeing the wheels start to turn ever so slowly with our file progressing in the Metricon queue. We are now officially in ‘Council DA Preparation‘ stage. Woohoo…another small step closer to the much anticipated and longed for build start!

I was pleasantly surprised to get a telephone call from our customer support consultant so soon after being informed via email that our file had been handed over. She seemed to be up to speed with our job, which is great news given the number of variations we made at contract stage. I can’t wait to see our plans re-drawn to incorporate all these changes.

Here’s hoping Metricon delivers on their timeline and our DA submitted to Council by mid-August 🙂

Things I’m coveting

This house building business is proving a real test to my budgeting prowess or lack thereof! I’m finding it increasingly easy to let the heart overrule the mind and get carried away by the excitement of building the dream home.

During the idle weeks prior to contract signing, I made a lot of modifications from the standard plans. Of course, these were not freebies but I was mindful to get the most bang for our dwindling buck and luckily the mods I decided on didn’t make a huge dent to our bottom line. Who woulda thought changing the window in the powder room from the standard sliding to a picture window worthy of a 5-star resort would only set us back $35? Money well spent I reckon!

Lindrum Powder Room

Don’t I wish all the upgrades were just as cheap! If money was no object, I would absolutely love to have these gorgeous things in our dream home.

Caesarstone Calacatta Nuvo

Jetmaster – indoors and outdoors

Egg shaped stone bath via The Block

Dedon Swingrest

Time to start buying lottery tickets perhaps?