Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Mar 27, 2009 4:14 pm Hello everyone, I've been lurking on here for a little while, searching through posts and finding a lot of useful information and answers to many of my questions. My partner and I have just signed a prelim contract with Homebuyers Centre to build a 4x2 in Perth, Western Australia. We are so excited about building our first home, but oh my god we didn't realise how much stuff we'd actually have to choose! It's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Anyway, I've got some very general ideas so far that I'm thinking of going with, but I'm not sure if my ideas look good in my head but then will actually look terrible in real life. I have loved looking through everyone else's pictures and great ideas, so I thought why not ask your opinions. The rental we are currently staying in has large (500x500) porcelain tiles and we love the look of them. We want to have 500x500 porcelain tiles in our living areas (open plan) and would like white/off-white tiles. I like modern looking homes with something a bit funky. For the kitchen I am thinking grey and white. The kitchen is a corner kitchen like a modified U shape (one end of the U being shorter). I think we have decided on white valencia (dimond gloss range) for the bench top. For the cupboards/drawers we are thinking formica storm, laminex charcoal or laminex gunmetal. I want furniture in the hosue to be black or dark brown, and use red as a feature like a bright red rug etc. Do you think a grey and white kitchen will suit? Will a white bench top look okay with a white floor, or is this too much white? Any ideas/opinions/advice/discussion would be great! Thank you in advance for any replys Kara Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 2Mar 27, 2009 5:09 pm Hi Kara, I can imagine how excited you must be Your colours sound good, I love grey and white, and a white benchtop with white floor...I think is ok....you will have contrasting cupboards. 500x500 tiles are good, 600x600 are even better even though I got 300x600, LOL, offset by 100 just for a change..... sorry if I am confusing you, there are so many choices, I like big tiles too. Having said all that I would definitely wait for the experts advice, I am just like you and get totally indecisive sometimes Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 3Mar 27, 2009 6:32 pm Haha thanks for your reply. You're right, there are SO many choices. I just hope I don't do it all then when I see it go 'whoops.. that looks bad!' haha. Which I guess is why this website is a great resource! I don't know how to post pictures, but if you go to the following web address, I love the look in picture #18 -#21. http://www.metrostyle.net.au/boston.asp I don't like the look of that kitchen though - I would choose a block colour grey. I do love the red rug though, I will getting myself one of those!! The couch we currently have (which isn't very old we would like to incorporate it if possible rather than sell and get a new one) is a dark grey (the type that almost can sort of look blue grey sometimes). So I'm thinking that couch, white floor, grey and white kitchen, brown or black furniture, red feature? Or do you think the kitchen would be better off in a colour like espresso? Oh the decisions!! Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 4Mar 27, 2009 6:44 pm karakarakara Haha thanks for your reply. You're right, there are SO many choices. I just hope I don't do it all then when I see it go 'whoops.. that looks bad!' haha. Which I guess is why this website is a great resource! I'm pretty sure we all think that at some point!! Gawd I know I am, so I'm really trying not to think about it all too much now that my colour selections have all been done. 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 5Mar 27, 2009 6:45 pm Espresso is a dark brown, I have it in my laundry, we are also having an entire bar (top and cupboards) made in this colour with a timber look laminex on the front, which I can show you next week but...what do you like best - browns or greys. I like the sound of reds, greys, blacks and whites. The benchtop here is espresso Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 7Mar 29, 2009 1:54 pm Hi Kara, Congrats on signing up with Homebuyers! We too are building with them and have just signed the contract and received the colour selection/prestart folder. We signed the prelim contract in late January and have only just received the formal contract now! We have signed it and are now waiting to get the prestart date and plans. We are building 4 x 2 Aussie Alfresco Games. I would love to hear your experiences with the builder and am happy to share mine! I like your colour ideas so far...and you are right, there is a lot to choose! We too would love large porcelain tiles but they aren't standard and would probably cost alot. Our contract doesn't allow diamond gloss benchtops either so you better check that too We are a bit stressed about getting the colours right too. We have chocolate/espresso furniture which I would like to incorporate but want to go with black/grey/white colour theme throughout the house. I am interested to see what other people think of this???? Our current idea is to go with a black benchtop, and white cupboards in the kitchen with a timber laminate floor/ or grey tile (neither of which are standard inclusions). We are hoping the timber look floor will help incorporate the furniture. We will go with similar colours in the bathrooms including black/grey tiled floors and then grey carpet in the bedrooms. Does anyone know of an interactive website to test colours in kitchens/bathrooms/whole house etc. Kirsten BUILT with Homebuyer's Centre - Aussie Alfresco Games viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16668 Moved In - Dec 14th Painting all but done - Jan 11 Front Landscaping - Feb 8 Moved In PICS Page 43 Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 8Mar 29, 2009 2:34 pm Hi Kirsten, Thanks for your reply! It's great to speak to someone else who is going through the same builder, and I would love to keep in contact! We are building the Madison from the Fifteens range. We only just signed the prelim a few weeks ago, and have been told that our colour selection book will be ready in a few weeks, so you are definitely quite a bit further ahead than us. Where abouts are you building? Our block is NOR. Does the prestart folder tell you where we can choose the tiles from? Our sales person so far has been great and answers all my questions via email really quickly. How have things been for you so far? Is the dimond gloss range considered an upgrade? I think in the beginning I asked our salesperson if all gloss finishes were included as standard, and he said yes - but I will have to double check this one - thank you for the information! We deleted all the flooring and window coverings from the contract because we didn't want their standard inclusions and it will be much cheaper to it ourselves after handover rather than upgrade with the builder. Colour selection is hard hey! If there is an interactive website I would also love to know about it - that would be so helpful if it did exist. Good luck with prestart and keep me posted with how you're going! Kara Building with Ventura homes (WA) Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20516 Slab: 17/04/10, Bricking started: 12/05/10, Bricking finished: 2/06/10, Roof frame done: 11/06/10, Colorbond on: 14/07/10, Lock Up: 19/08/10, Cabinets: 25/08/10, Tiling done: 28/09/10, Electrical: 2/10/10, PCI: 29/10/10, Keys: 4/11/10 Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 9Mar 29, 2009 2:38 pm SuH - yeah I also love the idea of reds, greys, blacks and whites so I think we will go with that and just hope it turns out ok! Is that your laundry? It looks great! Building with Ventura homes (WA) Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20516 Slab: 17/04/10, Bricking started: 12/05/10, Bricking finished: 2/06/10, Roof frame done: 11/06/10, Colorbond on: 14/07/10, Lock Up: 19/08/10, Cabinets: 25/08/10, Tiling done: 28/09/10, Electrical: 2/10/10, PCI: 29/10/10, Keys: 4/11/10 Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 10Mar 29, 2009 4:56 pm karakarakara SuH - yeah I also love the idea of reds, greys, blacks and whites so I think we will go with that and just hope it turns out ok! Is that your laundry? It looks great! Yes tis my laundry, see the espresso is very dark brown...where is the grey brigade I probably would not have the espresso in my kitchen, it's not a huge area and I needed to keep it open and fresh and nothing heavy looking. Stick with your first ideas if you can, you usually end up coming back to what you first thought. Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 11Mar 31, 2009 10:37 am We liked the Madison as well but decided to go with a modified aussie alfresco to fit our 15 metre wide block! We are building in Wellard (SOR - opposite end of Perth to you guys). Our experience with builders so far has been okay, and our salesperson was initially very helpful, but now not so much. I think it is partially because we are first home buyers and don't really know what we are doing!! We are using Keystart finance (not the shared equity one) as we didn't have a deposit, and because of that we must have a finished house (deluxe package on Homebuyers prelim contract). This includes blinds, flooring (carpets, vinyl) etc and is far from deluxe. The prestart folder has the suppliers of roof tiles, paving, brick work, ceramic tiles, laminates etc etc. The ceramic tile suppliers are Crosby tiles or European Ceramics both are in Osborne Park as well as a few other locations. The standard range at Crosby's isn't huge and we haven't been to the other place yet. The diamond gloss range is not allowed according to our prestart folder...I have no idea why?? I too want to know where to find an interactive colour website.... Here's our current colour ideas which we need help with... Kitchen Benchtops: Onyx Cluster Squareform Laminex Cupboard Doors: Some form of white Floors: timber laminate like Heritage Walnut or Avignon Oak...don't know how to post pics Walls: something neutral??? Ensuite/ Bathrooms Floor tiles: Anthracite Wall tiles: Plain gloss white or Carara Grey Feature tiles: Contempo Grey Frieze or Carara Grey Frieze Vanity Top: dark grey/black Vanity cupboards: White BUILT with Homebuyer's Centre - Aussie Alfresco Games viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16668 Moved In - Dec 14th Painting all but done - Jan 11 Front Landscaping - Feb 8 Moved In PICS Page 43 Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 12Apr 07, 2009 9:58 pm Definitely agree with the part about being first homebuyers and having no clue about what we’re doing! I have found browsing through this forum to be very helpful though. I can’t wait to get our prestart folder! How has all your selections been going? I saw your bathroom tile selections on the other thread and they look nice. Did European ceramics have a better selection than Crosby? I’ve looked at Crosby before but haven’t been into European ceramics yet. I’m disappointed diamond gloss range isn’t allowed – I like shiny stuff dammit! Building with Ventura homes (WA) Building thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20516 Slab: 17/04/10, Bricking started: 12/05/10, Bricking finished: 2/06/10, Roof frame done: 11/06/10, Colorbond on: 14/07/10, Lock Up: 19/08/10, Cabinets: 25/08/10, Tiling done: 28/09/10, Electrical: 2/10/10, PCI: 29/10/10, Keys: 4/11/10 Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 13Apr 08, 2009 10:19 am I definitely liked European Ceramics (Osborne Park) better than Crosby's. There was a colour consultant there who was fantastic!! We went in with our carpet and timber laminate samples (which we were unsure about) and our ideas and she did the rest. Of course I loved what she picked and we will write it all up officially this weekend Next on the list is exterior colour/ roof/ bricks etc. The list seems never-ending!!! BUILT with Homebuyer's Centre - Aussie Alfresco Games viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16668 Moved In - Dec 14th Painting all but done - Jan 11 Front Landscaping - Feb 8 Moved In PICS Page 43 Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 14Apr 08, 2009 12:47 pm kirsada Hi Kara, Does anyone know of an interactive website to test colours in kitchens/bathrooms/whole house etc. Kirsten Try this one. http://www.mycolour.com.au/# Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck! - Dalai Lama Re: Colour advice for a newbie! 15Apr 20, 2009 8:33 pm Hi Kara, So, did you get your prestart folder?? What's the latest with your house?? BUILT with Homebuyer's Centre - Aussie Alfresco Games viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16668 Moved In - Dec 14th Painting all but done - Jan 11 Front Landscaping - Feb 8 Moved In PICS Page 43 a building inspector should be able to tell you about any major problems but we need a floor plan with dimensions to clarify options for extra bedrooms ... sometime an… 1 8715 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 15579 Thank you so much for the effort. We will use it to talk with builder. We also had idea of building duplex instead and seeking suggest ions. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106744 11 13817 |