Fairmont NSW - Carmel 23

Hi guys,

Great forums, a lot of valuable information to be found - particularly for first home buyers. My wife and I have just put down our 2k deposit on a house and land package with Fairmont Homes NSW. I haven't seen much/anything on Fairmont NSW, I'm interesting in anyone else's experience building with them or things to consider during the early stages.

http://www.fairmonthomesnsw.com.au/home-designs/carmel

We have gone with the Carmel 23, anyone made any plan adjustments to this build previously? So far we have removed the wall in the main bathroom to create a little more space and added a sliding door.

Look forward to hearing anyone else's experiences!

Welcome I'd be inclined to change the laundry door to off the hall rather than through the WIP - you don't really want the damp and laundry smells getting in the WIP and that will give you another wall of shelves in your WIP. If you don't see yourselves using the IT Nook (I personally hate them), you could knock that out and expand your WIR a little in the vertical bit of it, and maybe have a recess of shelving in the horizontal bit, if that makes sense. What are you planning on using the second living (near the front door) for? You may like to consider closing the entry with a cavity slider or a pair of doors - it makes the space more versatile, as you can use it as a media room with the sound up and not disturb the rest of the house, or even an extra bedroom for guests, etc.

Thank you =)

Great idea on the laundry door, I think that will work much better. We want the IT nook so we can keep an eye on the kids when doing their homework. The second living room will be my football room so I don't drive my wife crazy, maybe down the track we'll use it as a rumpus. Some good ideas, that's why I love these forums

Ah fair enough on the IT nook, yeah I understand why people with kids might like them. No kids here and I have 1.5 rooms dedicated to computers for work and play so they're just a waste of space to me For those uses of that living area I guess you don't have to worry about closing it off then. Good luck on your building journey!

Personally I don't like toilets being in the same room as where I brush my teeth. If at all possible I would try and get the en suite toilet walled off with a door

Look forward to following your build

Thanks Ilaeria and Marmot =)

We had to have the toilet in the ensuite too, its not always possible to squeeze in 2 separate toilets. Some people don't mind (we decided we could live with it). With the main bathroom though, you stated that you moved a wall - did that involve bringing the toilet in to the main bathroom? Like Marmot said, this might not be a great idea. I'd recommend having at least one separate toilet.

My dad built with Fairmont, quite a few years ago now, maybe 10, I'm not sure. His house is really well built and has no cracks as compared to many in the area around him that do. My thoughts;
- Agree with the laundry door comments, you can easily fit a row of shelves at the back of that pantry, TONS of storage! The pantry is wide enough that you could also fit benchtop or wider shelves on one side and then you could fit your microwave in there and possibly other appliances.
- Is the 1.7 laundry at the door way entrance width or at the washing machine width, where will you fit a broom cupboard etc.?
- I would find the Main Ensuite quite narrow, I would chop a bit off the Master Bedroom (which is pretty darn big!) to give it more space, ie. make it 1.5 deep and flip the toilet around.
- Would you consider extending the kitchen island to make a U shape kitchen - more benchtop space.

- The Master Bed is also really wide, if you needed extra storage space you could bring that wall in a little (40cm for linen size depth or 60cm for robe size depth), move the bedroom wall and fit a large sliding door robe on that wall.

- The garage dimensions are quite minimal if you have large cars or want storage, if you have extra width on your block consider bumping it out a little. I would be going for 5.8 x 5.8.

- Increase bath size from the extremely small normal builder size, to a bit bigger, like 1675? I have actually combined my toilet in my bathroom as I really don't like the standard pokey bathrooms that are built.

- Where is North on your block, are you positioned to capture the light in your living areas?

- Bed 2,3 & 4 - what are the window sizes? They may be large for the size of the room. I am going for 1.5 wide windows as I don't want cold bedrooms.

Good luck!

Thanks for the great input! Good to hear Fairmont are ok/good builders.

We are changing the laundry door, the builder confirmed it can happen. Unfortunately he reckons we can't minimize the master bedroom to make the en suite larger. The en suite is one of the few things we don't like, I really want a double vanity but it's just too small a space for it.

Garage we're not too concerned about as most of the available packages we'd looked at until we found this were mostly singles so we're glad to have a bit of extra space, plus we simply don't have a wide enough block. We'll only garage one car.

We upgraded the bath to a Caroma Aura 1600 which will be nice.

First home so we're pumped!

Interesting ideas.

I missed this thread earlier.
Looking forward to Emerald hills .