First Build - Madora Bay - Cabinets installed!

Hi All,

I am loving reading about everyone's progress and this forum has been really helpful so far.

My husband and I are planning our first house for slab down in March next year.
We have recently completed pre-start however we have until slab down to make any additional changes prior to be charged for each variation.

This is our plan:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151710999127119&set=a.10151710998967119.546110.519552118&type=3&theater

We have made some slight changes to this existing plan and will post when we receive them. We have actually extended the garage to the boundary by 1 meter and extended the garage door also.
We have also extended the secondary bathroom by one meter which has pushed out the 3rd bedroom by one meter.
The layout of the bathroom has also been changed as we have extended the shower size.
We have changed our ensuite shower to a double shower extending the whole wall length and inserted a shower recess 1 meter long.
The only other structural change we have made was just extending our alfresco by 3meters overall.

We have made our colour selections and hoping we haven't made any mistakes?

Roof - Colorbond Windspray
Gutter & Fascia - Shale Gray
Front Render - Charcoal with Windspray pillars
Paving - Brikmakers Storm Cloud (Granite Collection)


Bathroom Colours:
Ensuite - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151711009432119&set=a.10151710998967119.546110.519552118&type=1&theater

Main Bathroom - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151711009567119&set=a.10151710998967119.546110.519552118&type=1&theater


The Kitchen is as the same Black Laminex and French Black Essa Stone Benchtops with a lime green glass splash back.

Has anyone ever had straight black laminex for cupboards? I know it is a bit of a gamble but we originally had midnight rendezvous benchtops with a grey laminex but after seeing a midnight rendezvous display at masters we saw how dirty and mucky it looks so we flipped the grey to the benchtop and put black as the cupboards. Has anyone else used black for cupboards?

We are thinking of putting a light timber tile throughout the house once it is built.

So far very excited and welcome and comments on anything that looks like it should be changed? This is our frist time building so really appreciate others opinions

Really interested if anyone has any ideas for our plans?

Hi and welcome to the forum

Your plan looks great, I love the big open living area onto the alfresco Your feature tiles for both the ensuite and bathroom are gorgeous as well!

I've not seen straight black laminex for cupboards before but have seen the really dark woodgrain ones, burnished wood and blackened linewood and they looked great.

I look forward to following your thread.

Hiya! Welcome to the forum without a doubt you will find it very useful! We certainly have

Two changes that DF and I made that I thought I'll mention were 1) putting the manhole in the garage and 2) getting a broom area put into the laundry cupboard for brooms, mop and vacuum.

Look forward to following your thread and seeing you around the forums

I really like the feature tile in your main bathroom

Hi there! I love your selections, they remind me a lot of ours as we went for blacks and greys too. We used the straight black laminex on all of our cupboards and I love it! The only complaint I have is that it's not the easiest to keep clean, finger marks show up wherever you touch and it can be quite streaky when you try and wipe them off. But I've found a microfibre cloth and windex works well
Your choices will look fantastic together, don't doubt them. If you would like to see photos of my house and the similar colours, feel free to have a look at my thread

Hi Everyone!

Thanks so much for making me feel welcome - I am very excited to be a part of it and share our experiences!

Kaylah - love your house and love the fact that dark colours look awesome in the kitchen and bathrooms. You have totally pink my mind at ease with the choices we have made.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with tempered glass sinks?
I am interested in purchasing this sink:

http://www.novetec.com.au/product.asp?brandID=184&productID=1576

I am wondering if this would scratch or age really quickly??
Any feedback greatly appreciated

Glad I could help I don't know anything about the glass sinks, but it does look pretty amazing on that website!

Floor plan is awesome, mine is similar but on a smaller scale, smaller pantry and WIR etc, yours is awesome, love the location of your alfresco.
LOVE your tiles, all of the colours and textures of them, and willl look very striking with the black laminate. Very very nice. This is going to be a great thread to follow.

Hi All,

Thanks for all your comments - haven't been on here for a while as took a break for Christmas from the house stuff

However am back in full swing at the moment trying to purchase the items which we are supplying to the builder.

These are the things I am looking at for the kitchen currently:

Induction Cooktop
[/url]http://www.harveynorman.com.au/smeg-cm-induction-cooktop.html[url]
or
http://www.harveynorman.com.au/westinghouse-90cm-induction-cooktop.html
or
http://www.harveynorman.com.au/fisher-paykel-cm-induction-cooktop-2.html

Does anyone have any of these cooktops? This is the first induction I am buying and want to make sure I am not limited by pot size or different items that I may be cooking at the same time.

Kitchen Sink - has not changed from previous post - saw it at the display centre and love it!!!http://www.novetec.com.au/PDFs/Blaq%20Sinkware%20Brochure_web.pdf

Kitchen Sink Mixer
http://www.appliancewarehouse.com.au/p- ... mixer.aspx


I have now added a Basin into our Main WC - love the idea of washing hands before coming out of toilet!
WC - Hand Basin


Has anyone installed this sink? If so, do it have much splash back because of the angle of the slope? We are looking to install a mixer onto it.

Please advise anything you can think of guys - it is all very helpful!

Whoops forgot the link to the hand basin

http://www.caroma.com.au/bathrooms/basins/liano/liano-hand-wall-basin

Hi englewestern,
Welcome to the joys of building. Content have lovely designs and I reckon they are also great value for money. Very spacious too!! I believe our future neighbours who have recently finished their content have a very similar design to yours. Keep us posted, looking forward to following.

Your sink is divine!

I haven't had an induction cooktop before so I don't know much about them other than you need certain types of pots and pans which are expensive.

Heya Guys,

Just wondering if anyone has any advice to give first timers with when it is time to stop making little changes....

I am driving myself crazy trying to get the perfect house!!

When is enough enough

i am in the same boat englewestern must stop now
love your sink
i am getting the blanco induction cooktop .
i have already bought the saucepans etc. they have been on sale.
just make sure your get the pans for induction cooktops

When you've run out of cash or the bank loan is beyond your capabilities??? Haha
On a serious note, keep some reserves as you'll be surprised how much you are going to end up spending finishing everything off. Budgets are meant to be broken when you're building or is that just my experience?

It's a tough battle that you face with yourself and your hip pocket. Your eyes do shopping that your wallet just can't cash in! I say keep going until you get blisters from reaching in the pocket too often It's your dream!

OK,

Just going through the final (and we mean final) rethink of the house.
This might sound strange but trying to think of all the little things.....

Does anyone have a powerpoint in their WIR and if so what do you use it for generally?

Hmmmm. I've never had a pp in a WIR. Not quite sure what you'd need it for. Unless it was huge and you were putting a dressing table in there and needed an outlet for a hair dryer or GHD or something! Or maybe an extra for the vacuum cord?