The Quattro Plus, Heron Park (building with Commodore Homes)

Finally thought it was about time to start our own thread! We're still in the early phases (ie. haven't even had our first finance meeting with our mortgage broker)... ERMAHGERD!!! Have been reading through everyone elses threads, which has been very helpful and insightful!

So, here's where we are at.

1. Chosen the block (Heron Park in Harrisdale WA... lovely, opposite a park. 381 sqm, fits within our budget, in a lovely estate)

2. We have chosen our plan, made a couple of edits etc.... it's now being drawn up!! Went to see our awesomeamazing-welovehim-sales consultant today and have made a couple of floorplan changes we've been mulling over for a couple of weeks.

3. We have a contracts administrator!!! Yay! *waves*

4. First finance meeting is on Thursday 17/01 (eep!! Ah money stuff just freaks me in general... I'm a designer by trade - digital - so designery stuff doesn't phase me but making a financial decision makes me poo my pants!!!!!)

And that's it! Early days! I've started a blog (partner and I are both puter geeks!) and we've got quite a few samples starting to accumulate. We've got a clear idea about the colour scheme, the textures and materials so that side should be ok! I think???? Hahaa who am I kidding, we're totally going to change our minds on things, aren't we!! Actually the good thing about the blog is I can pop the 'brain farts' in there, and store my 'handy links' and whatnot in there.

Here's the initial floorplan and elevations: http://amazeballhouse.blogspot.com.au/2 ... house.html

Would love some feedback if you have some! Also, any ideas on how we can extend the single front door into a 1.5 (you know, single door with some glass on the side) would be great... think we're a bit stuck there.

Also, is anyone using that fake decking stuff in there alfresco? What are your thoughts? We saw a lot of water staining in some display homes we visited.... hmmmm!

Welcome! You'll find lots of advice and support here.

The most exciting thing is when you get those official plans, you'll get to see what the kitchen and bathrooms will really look like.

The plan looks great! My only regret/concern with ur house is small minor bedrooms, but it was a compromise we felt we had to make to get a good size living area!

For the wardrobes push them to double and put the sliding doors on them, makes furniture placement much easier.

Consider adding as many upgrades in before you get to prestart, depending when you do the loan it means less out of pocket for you.

In the bathroom we moved the taps to the long wall, means if you have a big bath and two people in it now hitting yourself on it, also easier to turn on and off rather then reaching around the vanity. Not something I considered till bathing my niece.

Consider furniture placement before you commit to windows/doorways, they can make things awkward down the track.

Good luck and have fun!

Just a quick one whe are you going to out your washing line? Just noticed there isn't a long stretch of wall down the side of the house by the laundry. And speaking of laundry one of the things I wish I had done is taken out the sliding glass door and had a wall and standard door (either have window in the door or on the wall) that way things can be pushed right up against the wall but many of these things are personal preferance.

Thanks for the feedback!! Very helpful, loving that there's likeminded housey peeps out there!!

Washing line - something I've had niggling at me for a bit! Initial thoughts are to get a slim line fold down on the same side as the laundry, we've got that on our list of things to research (ie. Google! hah!)

Minor bedrooms - would have loved them a bit bigger as well! But agreed - had to be a compromise with the larger living area!

Sliding doors - something I have been considering. Have only seen mirrored ones in the displays, not sold on them (even though they add the illusion of space). Going to research that as well!

Do you think that the double wardrobes will fit in the 2 smallest bedrooms? The biggest one will be fine, but we're a bit worried about the lil ones!

Don't worry ours will be even smaller then yours! Not even 3x3. If you aren't sure they will fit draw in a bed, draws etc and see how it fits. We took the wardrobes put of them because We think it will be easier to put a standalone in later, we don't have kids yet so even if we do their furniture won't be that big for many years to come

We have sliding doors on our linen cupboard and we have picked a glass panel for them, they have a slight blue tinge to them, but they also do ones that are a laminate type finish, they don't have to be mirrors. Though another option is one mirror and another plain.

Oooh I like the sound of your sliding doors! *takes mental note* haaha yep we don't have kiddies at the moment - we have 2 furry babies (who are going to LOVE the backyard sandpit when we first move in!) but will be using 2 of the rooms as 1. a study and 2. a server room (we're both massive nerds, the electrical component at prestart is going to be interesting!!!!!!!)

It was a standard option with our builder so I would think it is the same for most. There was even a choice of frame colour! It's surprising how many things you don't even think of when you first think 'we're going to build a house!'

Well have one as a study and we do hope in the not to distant future to have one as a nursery... But well see what happens there

is there a door through to the main areas from the garage.
niches in the shower area are very handy ,
check tv points you may need to add more also lots of powerpoints,
your design is fantastic love it and the colors you have picked wow

Hi
If your builder does mirrored doors as standard you might even be able to get a slight credit for choosing laminate doors instead. Our previous builder Offered this but they are all very different in their ways.
And if you are 'IT nerds' maybe consider getting an independent quote for all external wall requirements, might work out in your favour? Internals definitely stick with builder.
Ps: your blog is only on page 1 and already looks way beyond what I'd ever be capable of putting together

Ahhh sorry, work has been a bit mental this week, haven't been able to hang out in the forum LOL!!!!

@1rocky - we're adding a door in! Very handy. Glad you like the design & colours, it's all very exciting and we are still at the super early stages!

I've tasked the mister to work out all the wall requirements!!!! Will let him know about the independent quotes for the externals!

Ahhh ze blog!! Digital designer by trade, so it helps out a little with that!!

fantastic krustywan .
it is a very exciting time
i did not know i could get so excited over a house being wrapped in blue

New update!! Ahhhh how do y'all manage to keep on top of things when work gets so busy? I guess the break from thinking "househousehouse" is a good thing!

So the block is still a pile of sand, and there still isn't a road... but things are happening! They're digging big ditches (the mister says it's for power / electricity or something) so things are coming along! Heaps of the houses that are being built in the area are coming along really quickly - it's amazing how fast things happen once the build starts.

We also got pre-approval! Yeeey!!! We're applying for conditional finance at the end of the month, which freaks me out a bit (finance stuff just freaks me out in general!). Once we have that sorted, I'll be happy!

We've also decided to go with wooden decking for our alfresco... which we'll do ourselves. Well, when I say that, I mean Joe, his dad and possibly my dad will be doing the hard yakka, I'll be 'project managing' and handing over tools So all in all, we will be sorting out the painting, decking, airconditioning and front landscaping (and some of the rear landscaping) ourselves. Yeeeesh, don't want to think about how much work that's going to entail over the weekends / evenings..... but I guess it's doable!