Our Custom Hamptons Inspired Home - We are in!!!

Hi everyone

Since we are now a few weeks from our site start, thought it was time to share my experience with you lovely people who have been an inspiration and help to me over the past 12 months. So here goes...

[b:1q7pcziv]September 2015[/b:1q7pcziv] - We secure our dream block of land after 18 months of waiting due to lots of persistence, a bit of luck and a winning sales consultant. It's a corner lot, creek facing frontage in a thoughtful and strictly planned estate. Due to scarcity of land and overwhelming demand, we pay a premium and sign an unconditional contract. Promptly burst into tears. Exciting but scary!

[b:1q7pcziv]January 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Start designing our floor plan. We decide on a double story to make the most of the views. 3 bedrooms + study is plenty for the two of us. Lots of backwards and forwards with our architect.

[b:1q7pcziv]June 2016 [/b:1q7pcziv]- Sub-division completed. Loan application in, our bank doesn't want a bar of it. After 10 years banking with them, they reject us just because they don't like one of the clauses in the land contract. Re-submit to another bank. Valuation comes up $50K short. We knew we overpaid but if it wasn't us, someone else would have. Current home needs to be refinanced, own funds required. Land settles.


[b:1q7pcziv]July 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Start researching private builders. Some with no capacity, others way over budget. Start getting quotes.


[b:1q7pcziv]August 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Quotes come in slightly over budget without allowing for all upgrades. We review our floor plan, painfully decide it's a bit big for what we need and have to go back to our architect to reduce.

[b:1q7pcziv]November 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Narrow it down to two builders recommended by family and friends. From the start one of them gets our vision and is all over it. Great attention to detail. Fantastic customer service. Decision made. We walk away feeling excited and confident.

[b:1q7pcziv]November 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Tile selections completed after months of obsessing. And I mean OBSESSING, like visiting numerous tiles stores all over town and spending hours every night poring over Pintrest!! Though still can't decide on a tile for the kitchen splash back.

[b:1q7pcziv]December 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - All of our upgrades have pushed us over budget. The refrigerated cooling, 2-pac shaker cabinets, Caesarstone, you name it. So hard to cut back as I want everything LOL but we try.

[b:1q7pcziv]December 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Developer is causing headaches. Expected but annoying. The facade we have our hearts set on is deemed too traditional with two gables. Try to explain we are going with a modern, coastal look but won't budge. A bit shattered. A bunch of other issues to sort out such as a corner treatment. Lots of backwards and forwards.

[b:1q7pcziv]December / January 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Contracts drawn up. Review documents and fine tune details with builder to reduce number of provisional items. We end up over budget again! Decide to get the driveway done ourselves and owner supply the appliances.

[b:1q7pcziv]February 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Contracts finally signed (hurrah!) with one variation and $5K under budget. Builder starts permit application process.


[b:1q7pcziv]February 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Meet with our broker and submit our loan application. Nervous and keeping our expectations low with regards to the valuations.

[b:1q7pcziv]February 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Developer approval finally obtained. Thank goodness as architect is about to throttle them after all of their drawing amendment requests! Facade amended to one gable and approved.

[b:1q7pcziv]March 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - We receive amazing news - our loan is unconditionally approved, valuations exactly as per our loan application - no shortfall to cover! We are in business!! All thanks to our kick-ass broker. No way we could have done it without him.

[b:1q7pcziv]March 2016[/b:1q7pcziv] - Loan docs drawn up and signed. We pay builder balance of our 5% deposit. Insurance obtained. Now just waiting on the permit which should take 1-2 weeks, with site start a week after. Hoping for a slab down before Easter!!!

If you're still reading, thanks for taking the time. Pics to come...

Woo! Following. How stressful.
Looking forward to seeing it come to life


Building with Perry homes: viewtopic.php?t=84756

Our land.

Bottom pic in photo layout shows our lovely stone retaining walls. Though the one on the right has been built at a weird angle which might make driving in a little difficult... if the slope doesn't! Might have to lower the garage slightly to reduce the gradient. To be decided once builder gets out on site.



Below is the view to the creek standing on our block. Across the road has since been tidied with mulch and new shrubs put in. Eventually a walking track will be installed as well

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My Mrs lives hamptons style. We have issues with the perceived maintenance headache with weatherboard look homes though. Did your architect have any thoughts around this?

Blocks these days are often so narrow that it feels like you are living on top of each other! Where we are living at the moment, we can't have our windows and doors open unless we want to hear the kids and dog next door squealing their heads off LOL. So we decided early on that we wanted a corner block to give us a bit more space and privacy i.e. no neighbours down one side. Obviously there are cons to this such as increased costs (fencing, corner treatment etc.) and being more open to would be thieves, but we decided it was worth it.

The other issue where we currently are is that there are always cars parked opposite, a pain when trying to reverse out. Hopefully with the creek instead of neighbours across the road, this won't be an issue anymore.

Our block faces north west, so we designed the home so that our living areas face east and capture the morning sun. The garage will be on the boundary so as to make the most of our "corner" and should also block out most of the afternoon sun. Though we do have a void window upstairs that will probably cop a lot of heat! Thinking we will need some reflective film on that later on...

Though having a master bedroom upstairs to enjoy the beautiful views was an enticing prospect, we decided that we did not want to be going up and down stairs all day! So we have the master downstairs. A big master, double ensuite and WIR was top of the priority list this time round. I've put up with a single vanity for 10 years - finally no more waiting for hubby to brush his teeth or fighting over the sink when we are getting ready at the same time, ha ha! We also threw in a double shower for good measure!

Also downstairs is a study/home office for hubby who often works from home. An open kitchen/dining/living area that leads out onto an alfresco was a must, as was lots of windows and light.

Upstairs probably won't get used much, so it's just two spare bedrooms for when we have guests over and a games room. We've had a fantastic theatre room with a screen and projector that we unfortunately just don't use all that much. So this time round we decided on a more versatile games room that will have a large screen TV and a place where hubby can play his videogames... Yes, they never grow old apparently!

Our builder recommended the following product which we are using for our first floor (as we are having render to the ground floor). It looks like weatherboard but it's actually a light weight cement sheeting and hence it a lot more durable and much less work to maintain.

http://www.jameshardie.com.au/products/external-cladding/scyon-linea-weatherboard/


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Hello, what a roller coaster! Looking forward to following your build, we are also looking at a hamptons style, currently in the design phase. We'll likely be using fibre cement boards too as cladding, hopefully with brick on the inside so reverse brick veneer. I believe it does require repainting every 10 yrs or so to keep it looking good. Personally I think it would be nice to be able to change the colour/look of the house! Good luck!

When it came to our facade, as much as we like the more traditional Hamptons look of full weatherboard and ornate windows, our estate requires the homes to be quite modern in appearance.

After looking in and out of many display homes for ideas, we came across a facade that had a modern coastal look. With it's part timber cladding and grey and white scheme, it was sort of a nod to the Hamptons without being overly traditional.

The only catch as I mentioned earlier was that we had to forego a second (rear) gable roof as our developer felt it was too traditional. I was a bit shattered at the time but I am pretty happy with the end result. We also had to add a corner treatment.

Re exterior colours, in the earlier stages, I asked New Home Visuals to mock up an example for me - see below. At that stage, we were thinking the front and side porticos could be in a darker colour whilst the rest of the home was the same colour.

NEW HOME VISUAL MOCK UP - DEC 16


At present, we have nominated the colours below. I really just want to have similar colours to the above display home which is pretty much the whole house in one colour. But our developer won't allow this. Further, the developer is insistent that the render colour for the corner treatment needs to be different from the main render so for the moment it is the same as the linea boards. Though to be honest, I don't really want the corner to stand out that much!

Anyway, so I am now thinking of going back to something similar to the above mock up where the main portico and corner portico are the same. But I think we will still have to make the linea boards and remaining render different colours! Going with a private builder, luckily we have the luxury of trying some sample pots when the time comes and seeing what works best.

FYI our current exterior colour choices are (TBC):

- Render (excluding corner treatment): Dulux Shale Grey
- Render corner treatment: Dulux Grey Pebble Half
- Linea Boards: Dulux Grey Pebble Half
- Roof: Boral Vogue in Twilight
- Gutters, Fascia & Downpipes: Colorbond Surfmist
- Windows: Pearl White Gloss
- Cappings: White
- Front Door: Wattyl Astor White
- Garage Door: White

The other issue is that our builder uses Taubmans, though I've chosen Dulux colours as it's easier to find examples on the web. Can anyone tell me if you get Dulux colours mixed up with a Taubmans base whether they end of much different, or whether we would be better off just selecting from the Taubmans range?

Any recommendations/ opinions on our exterior colours are very welcome!Save

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Thanks for following. That's interesting about the reverse brick; have not heard of that before. Is that for extra insulation purposes?

Well 10 years between coats... guess we can't complain too much!

I really love your layout and colour scheme so far!!

If you're looking for an idea of what shale grey looks like, have a look at my thread as our exterior render is Taubmans Shale Grey. It's a very subtle grey if that's what you're looking for




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Love the sound of your build!

Your paint can be mixed and matched to any colour. Personally we prefer Dulux, wattyl and Haymes over Taubmans. We have used them and find Taubmans a bit more difficult to get a good finish. But then we are amateurs. A professional will be able to advise what works best for them. 😊

You're house looks lovely. That is exactly what I am after. Thanks so much for sharing. I will check out your thread!

Yes, the reverse brick veneer is for better insulation. We are trying to incorporate passive solar where possible. We have covenants on our facade too but they were made 30 years ago so we are hoping we can get around them. So eg it says no metal roofs (I really want colorbond surfmist) but I've noticed recent builds with CB roofs in the area.

I really like you colours! Very similar to what we are looking at. My inspiration was lifted straight too the dulux website, there's a pic of a gorgeous Queenslander in Miller Mood and Lexicon Half trim.

So now onto some internal colours...

In keeping with the modern/ Hamptons/ coastal look we are going for, we decided on a few must have early on (read in "upgrades" here LOL). It was important to us that you get this flavour as soon as you walk in the door - yes first impressions are everything! All of the new Hamptons style homes have gorgeous timber stairs stained and painted in white.

At one point when we were trying to cut back costs, Hubby dared to suggest we go with cheaper stairs. Well no guess who won that one! For me, it would not be a Hamptons home without the right stairs.

Along with the stairs, we will be having white timber cladding on each side of the stairs as shown in the pics below. We also plan to have a large feature pendant, though we will need to save for this one cause they cost $$$!

OUR STAIR INSPIRATION:





Timber flooring is also a must. This is something we are going to do ourselves as we have family who lay floors for a living. We are yet to decide on the actual product as still weighting up laminate vs engineered boards, though I think we are leaning towards the latter. Our builder will kindly "pin" on the skirtings so we can lay the floorboards underneath the skirtings and won't need to have that unsightly quad. The only place we'll have quad is around the kitchen benches as this can't be helped with kitchen needing to go in first.

As for colours, I don't want anything too light. I love that french grey reclaimed oak look, and possibly something a little darker. Prefer slightly longer, wider planks also.

FLOORING INSPIRATION:




Walls will be a light grey of sorts, similar to the above. In my research, colours such as Solver's Kitty Grey or Dulux's Tranquil Retreat are common choices. The former has a bit of beige in it, in certain light, which can bring warmth to a room, whereas the latter is cooler in tone.

As I mentioned earlier my builder uses Taubman's, so I am torn whether to choose a colour in this range or stick with a more common colour. For now we have chosen Taubman's Marble Mist which is very similar to Kitty Gret, but I think we'll end of going with something less greige, as I prefer to keep with cooler tones. Boy I already feel sorry for whoever our poor painter will be. I am going to drive him nuts with lots of sample pots!!!





Ceilings, skirtings, architraves, internal doors and window frames will be builders white, with all except ceilings to be in a semi gloss. Skirtings will be slightly larger than standard (18mm) and a bit traditional looking.

Lastly, our internal doors will have a traditional feel. We've gone with a shaker style profile from the Corinthian Moda range:




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Gorgeous. We have kitty grey walls and love them, very flexible with different schemes. It's a solver colour but can be tinted in any paint - we opted for dulux - and so I'm sure that you could tint Taubmans with it?

Aww thank you! Glad I could help. I've subscribed to your thread - can't wait to see the end result!


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Your build sounds amazing. Love, love, LOVE the coastal/Hamptons style - trying to capture that feel in my build.

We are building with Masterton Homes, they also use Taubmans paint.
I've chosen 'June Fog' for all interior walls with trim and doors in Crisp White.
External, I have one corner of cladding and it will be 'Ageless' this will be against a fairly neutral brick (PGH 'Stone').

Really looking forward to watching your progress.

Just found your thread. Looks like fantastic choices can't wait to see them come together

Thanks for sharing. Just looked up June Fog and I really like it. Similar to Kitty Grey just with a tinge more grey. Will definitely keep in mind

Thank you. Will continue to post more of our internal selections over the coming days, some which I'm not sure about so will definitely need some advice!