Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 29, 2010 5:56 pm Hello all! After spending so much time on this site, it all started when we were renovating our first place and then when we decided to build, I have found out so much and loved reading about other peoples homes that I am excitied to start my own building thread!! I also have a blog that can be found at http://bekslexington.blogspot.com/ I will give a short run down of events up until now and then I will make sure to keep this up to date My partner and I brought our first home almost 2 years ago and have spend that time doing the place up. About 3-4 months ago we started looking at land, found a block we loved and put a deposit on. The block will hopefully (fingers crossed) settle in April. We put our house on the market just after the New Year. It went on the internet on the Thursday night, inspections on the Saturday and sold on the Monday!!! We couldn't believe our luck! As soon as the buyers finance was approved we drove up to Point Cook and put the second deposit on to the Lexington to lock it in We put our first deposit down at the end of last year to lock in the 2009 prices which was good. I loved the Lexington when I first went through it and the Q2 has the alfresco and butlers pantry as well as the HUGE dressing room. It ticked all the boxes on our list. We will be having a few variations depending on our site costs which are: - Add the extended garage with roller door access to the backyard. - Add the theatre room extension so that it is as long as bedroom 4. - Add the grand alfresco so that it is still concreted with the theatre extension so that we don't have to deck it asap. - Add double doors to the study. - Extend the laundry cupboards from 2 to 3. - Add drawers to the vanities in the ensuite and bedroom. - Add render to the pillars at the front (we are having the standard Broadway facade). - Add carpet and timber laminate. - Add flysreens to windows. Here is the standard floor plan of the Lexington Q2 and once we have our plan worked out I will post that too. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We have our colours booked in for Valentines Day and I can't wait! We had a visit to Cosham to see what they offered and I was very impressed with their catergory 1 as I have heard that a lot of builders don't offer much, so that was great. Can't wait to keep sharing my progress Bek I'm back Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 2Jan 29, 2010 5:59 pm Yay to your own thread! Looking forward to hearing more.... My house and my rants.... - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=26937 We are in!!!...and still unpacking. Thankfully there are always Tim Tams Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 3Jan 29, 2010 6:01 pm Congrats on the thread Bek! I look forward to following your journey! The Lexington is an absolutely stunning house... I have to stop looking at the floor plan because I start second guessing my own house! Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 4Jan 29, 2010 6:10 pm The beginning of lighting Tonight we went to Beacon lighting to put a deposit on a quote that we got a few weeks ago. We were still happy with all of our choices so we put them on layby. We still have a while to go but who can resist the opportunity to shop We will be having downlights in all the main areas. Fan and light combo for bedrooms 2,3 and 4 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Fan without light for the master - there will be downlights in there Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Outdoor fan for the alfresco area, this will also have downlights Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Pendant for the dressing room which will be in a black and white theme. It will be hanging down like the one at the back of the picture - I love it! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Are my pics coming out to large? Now I just need something for above the dining table and three pendants for over the kitchen bench. I just love looking for things for the new place even though our land hasn't even settled - can you tell how eager I am Bek I'm back Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 5Jan 29, 2010 6:14 pm Love it! We bought this one for our laundry! Being all plastic it's perfect for that area with the humidity from the washer/dryer etc Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 7Jan 29, 2010 6:21 pm Aaron & Erin Congrats on the thread Bek! I look forward to following your journey! The Lexington is an absolutely stunning house... I have to stop looking at the floor plan because I start second guessing my own house! Thanks Erin, I was looking at your blog earlier and loved the 3D of the kitchen - your colours are going to look great. How nice is the black and white pendent, I love it too. I've planned everything in my dressing room around it, will be perfect for a laundry with the plastic as you said. Henley has so many good floor plans, I could easily build most of them which is what I like so much about them - although you do need to stop looking once you have picked one as you do start to second guess Erin, can you tell me how to quote more than one post when I am replying? I have tried ticking two posts and pressing quote, tried ticking two quotes and pressing post reply but both times it only comes up with one quote, I must be doing something wrong Bek I'm back Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 8Jan 29, 2010 6:44 pm bek7708 Erin, can you tell me how to quote more than one post when I am replying? I have tried ticking two posts and pressing quote, tried ticking two quotes and pressing post reply but both times it only comes up with one quote, I must be doing something wrong Then enter to the next line, ready to quote the next one... then scroll back down to the bottom of the page to the other posts that are in the history down the bottom, and click on 'quote' again for any you want to quote... does this make sense? bek7708 Are my pics coming out to large? If you quote them one at a time, that's what I do And you dont have to quote the full post... you can delete bits out etc Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 10Jan 30, 2010 11:13 am bek7708 mpcj Yay to your own thread! Looking forward to hearing more.... Thanks!! It will be good when both houses start and we can compare our brown terrain bricks! What colours did you pick?? I saw the blog, but couldn't make them out. (old age...) My house and my rants.... - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=26937 We are in!!!...and still unpacking. Thankfully there are always Tim Tams Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 11Jan 30, 2010 3:01 pm mpcj What colours did you pick?? I saw the blog, but couldn't make them out. (old age...) It is a little hard to tell in the photos anyway, they never come up exact! We have gone with the brown terrain bricks, they were the only ones in catergory 1 that we liked. We drove past a few places with them and I've looked at quite a few photos and I think they come up quite nicely! I am also hoping to upgrade to the off-white mortar as I think that sets them off! The other main colours are Jasper which we will have for the windows, garage, down pipes, jasper, jasper, jasper the roof tiles are magnum and gutters and facia monument. The render on the pillars will be Ceylonese. We haven't booked anything in as of yet, but I'm pretty sure I will stick with these as I really like them! Is this along the same lines as yours? Bek I'm back Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 12Jan 30, 2010 3:21 pm bek7708 mpcj What colours did you pick?? I saw the blog, but couldn't make them out. (old age...) It is a little hard to tell in the photos anyway, they never come up exact! We have gone with the brown terrain bricks, they were the only ones in catergory 1 that we liked. We drove past a few places with them and I've looked at quite a few photos and I think they come up quite nicely! I am also hoping to upgrade to the off-white mortar as I think that sets them off! The other main colours are Jasper which we will have for the windows, garage, down pipes, jasper, jasper, jasper the roof tiles are magnum and gutters and facia monument. The render on the pillars will be Ceylonese. We haven't booked anything in as of yet, but I'm pretty sure I will stick with these as I really like them! Is this along the same lines as yours? Think so, definitely off white mortar. Deciding between Jasper and Merino/paperbark at the moment. Too many decisions! Looking forward to seeing it on your place! My house and my rants.... - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=26937 We are in!!!...and still unpacking. Thankfully there are always Tim Tams Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 13Jan 31, 2010 8:01 pm Really nice plan Bek, your changes make a lot of sense too Have you got any ideas on colours? Will you be going with Greys / Whites / Blacks to complement your light shade? Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 14Feb 01, 2010 12:57 pm dilla Really nice plan Bek, your changes make a lot of sense too Have you got any ideas on colours? Will you be going with Greys / Whites / Blacks to complement your light shade? Hi Dilla! I really love the plan of this place and adding the extras that we have makes it perfect! We will be going with a browny/beige type theme, boring I know! We had that at our first place and I loved it so I am happy to stick with it. At least everything goes and you can add your splashes of colour to mix it up. The dressing room will be a black and white theme though to match the light. I'm off to have a look at your thread now Bek I'm back Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 - Packing for storage 15Feb 04, 2010 5:44 pm Not much to report So much waiting! We are packing our things to put into storage while we stay with family until the house is built. It's great that we don't have to look for a rental with 2 dogs and a cat, plus you never know how long it will take so it's hard to sign a lease. We're lucky that we have places to stay. Anyways, we are having a garage sale on Saturday so it's pushing us to get everything organised which is good and will hopefully reduce the amount that we need to put into storage. We also saw our bank manager tonight (she is the best, I highly recommend her) and have everything sorted for the sale of the house and then ready for when the land settles. It will be nice having no mortgage for a month or so We can save up for all the extras that we want Also went down to the block last night to have a squiz as a little bird (a girl that I work with also has a block down there but her's is in the previous stage and has already settled) told me that some bitumen was down. It looks like the beginning of the road which is exciting! I hope the construction is finished by the end of Feb so they can do soil tests and work out our site costs. Not long now until our colours either which is very exciting I can't wait. I'm thinking of heading to the Mernda and Cragieburn displays to get some ideas and inspiration, can anyone give me some thoughts on those displays if you have been there? I am going for a neutral/brown type theme. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated Bek I'm back Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 - Garage Sale 16Feb 06, 2010 6:29 pm What a day!! People go mad for garage sales don't they We got everything ready last night, and got up VERY early for a Saturday and started getting ready. Our ad said that we started at 8am and we had the first person show up at 7:10am and he brought something. So we were off to a good start Anyways, we packed up at about 2 with only a little left over that will all go to the salvos now. We were very pleased as we got rid of most of the big stuff and heaps of strange little things that I didn't think would sell. We also made some good money too A long day, but a good one as we don't have as much stuff to put into storage and now I have some extra cash to buy some new things, hmmm, there was a really night light pendent I was eyeing of at Freedom, might have to head there tomorrow now Bek I'm back Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 - 3 sleeps til colours!! 17Feb 11, 2010 6:08 pm So, it's only 3 sleeps until our colour appointment and I am very excited. I think it will feel much more real after that. We have had one visit to Cosham already and I was very pleased with what they had. Does anyone have any tips or advice for the day? Here is what I am thinking so far for the outside and the kitchen: External Colours - Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bricks - Brown Terrain Mortar - Off White Raked Roof - Magnum Gutters and Facia - Monument Downpipes, Meter box, Windows, Garage Door - Jasper Render - Ceylonese Front Door - Charcoal Varnish Kitchen - Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Benchtop - Urban Ceaserstone Kitchen Cabinet Doors - Burnished Wood Kitchen Overhead Cupboards - Ultra White Gloss Splashback - Ash Grey I am thinking Beige Royal for the walls and Beige Royal quarter for my skirtings and other inside wood. I have a few ideas for bathroom but am hoping that they will be able to help me sort out my ideas on Sunday Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated Bek I'm back Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 - 3 sleeps til colours!! 18Feb 11, 2010 6:24 pm Good on you for being super prepared, you'll be a colour consultant's dream! I feel sorry for them when they get clients coming in that spend 4 hours ummming and ahhhing because they haven't thought at all about what they want. Those colours all look great I would ask for the Starphire glass for your splashback if I was in your position. They told us they didn't offer it when we had colours, but apparently they have it now. With the Ash Grey you might get a green tinge without the Starphire glass. We've asked to have it put in and are still waiting to hear back from them. Colours is one of the most exciting parts of it all. Hope you have a patient partner. Mine 'got over it' after a while and was relieved when we were done. I could have stayed there all day Best wishes xo Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 - 3 sleeps til colours!! 19Feb 11, 2010 6:50 pm you sound super organised Bek, thats awesome. You'll find it so much easier if you have an idea of what you want. Having said that, i went in super organised, chose everything with ease and then spent the next month worrying about it! It will seem like forever before something happens though Its such a build up to colours, and then...........nothing Re: Bek's Henley Lexington 933 Q2 - 3 sleeps til colours!! 20Feb 11, 2010 8:11 pm Felistopher Good on you for being super prepared, you'll be a colour consultant's dream! I feel sorry for them when they get clients coming in that spend 4 hours ummming and ahhhing because they haven't thought at all about what they want. Those colours all look great I would ask for the Starphire glass for your splashback if I was in your position. They told us they didn't offer it when we had colours, but apparently they have it now. With the Ash Grey you might get a green tinge without the Starphire glass. We've asked to have it put in and are still waiting to hear back from them. Colours is one of the most exciting parts of it all. Hope you have a patient partner. Mine 'got over it' after a while and was relieved when we were done. I could have stayed there all day Best wishes xo Thanks Fel, I feel like I did most of my preparation on the holidays, it's slowed down so much now that I am back at work. Plus when I was there having a look around I saw a couple that took about two hours to choose a bathroom tile that would do my own head in! Thanks for the tip about the splash back, I have heard that a few times on here so I will add it to my list of things to ask about makoby you sound super organised Bek, thats awesome. You'll find it so much easier if you have an idea of what you want. Having said that, i went in super organised, chose everything with ease and then spent the next month worrying about it! It will seem like forever before something happens though Its such a build up to colours, and then...........nothing Thanks Makoby, I'm trying to be organised, I'm just not good with sitting still! I'm worried about that though - the waiting after colours. I HATE waiting!! Once we do colours and then tendor, we will just be waiting for the block to title. I need all fingers crossed that it doesn't delay as I think Henley have 5 months from deposit to starting build before they raise the prices?? I really hope this doesn't happen! Any news on your place? Bek I'm back 1000000% definitely add insulation. I have in my home and it makes a big difference minimising sound transfer. Insulation is pretty cheap and definitely worth it 2 6211 We are building a house that was planned to be clad in Hardie Linea, our builder has now requested to swap this for BGC Nuline Plus. They look fairly similar and he has… 0 634 Hi, you've probably already resolved this, however, Commbank will probably pay the funds to you after you send evidence the work is done regardless the change in the quotes. 1 35332 |