Re: Our custom design on 2acre - Updated Pics 21/06/12

Broom · Apr 23, 2011 8:32 pm

Hi All,

Been following several threads on here for a while now & finally it's my time!

We have 2.2acres near Gawler, it's got a tiny 2 bedroom house on the block already, nicknamed the "shoebox" which my family of 4 moved into in January this year after selling our last house. We have to knock the shoebox down once the new house is up as per council approval. Looking forward to being able to look out my kitchen window & watch my new house go up.

We have also already built a "American barn" style shed to use as storage of furniture etc during the build. My husband is also very handy so he spends plenty of time in there :wink:

We've had our own plans drawn up by a draftsman & have taken them to 4 different builders for quotes. We have decided to go with a small, family owned boutique builder who I actually worked for for a couple of years. We always hoped to go with them but thought it would be naive to not compare their price with others. We feel comfortable going with these guys as I have seen 1st hand the pride they take in their work & really trust them. Well I hope they don't screw us over, the directors & site supervisor we at our wedding! :lol:

We have a meeting with the builder on Thursday to sign contracts :z:

Anyway, thanks for reading & I will put some plans up shortly

Broom · Apr 23, 2011 8:37 pm

Here is our house plan

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff440/BroomJ/House.jpg

We've made a couple of changes since I scanned this. The windows at the front are now doubles & we have taken out the joinery to the family area & have made the cavity bigger to fit a TV unit. Also have added a linen cupboard to the left in the hallway before the doorway to the rumpus area.

Broom · Apr 23, 2011 8:42 pm

And here is my husbands pride & joy....

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff440/BroomJ/IMG_7363.jpg

We have also already made our exterior colour selections

Roof - Jasper
Gutters - Jasper
Fascias - Evening Haze
Bricks - Boral "Nickel" (from the metallix range) they are a very rich chocolate brown colour
Mortar - White & ironed/rolled
Render to portico - Evening Haze
Panel lift door - Evening Haze
Windows - Precious Silver Pearl (Powder coated anodised look)

Mclaren · Apr 24, 2011 10:33 am

Oooh lovely - wow what a huge Alfresco! Love the rest of the plans too looks great - looking forward to following your build! Your hubby is lucky to have that shed - most men would be very jealous!! Good plan though gets him out of the house! :lol:

ness'n'troy · Apr 25, 2011 10:01 pm

wow your plan is stunning!!! Love it! and that shed is awesome!!

cant wait to follow your build!!

dreamcometrue · Apr 26, 2011 11:37 am

Great plan Broom. We live close to Gawler at the moment but will be building at Golden Grove on 1/4 acre. Would like to have had more land but I wanted to move a bit closer to the city, mainly for my two adult sons still living with us. I don't really want to move too far country although I love it but am not a spring chicken anymore and figure it would be better to be close to good medical facilities (by that I mean not likely to get closed down or lose services) as we plan to be in the new house a looong time

Broom · Apr 26, 2011 12:42 pm

Thanks! we are very happy with our plan now, I think the kids will appreciate their own area too, especially when they are teenagers!

My husband is very happy with his shed, he is in his element out there. Between his ride on mower & shed I never see him! hahaha

Dreamcometrue, Golden Grove is a lovely area & definitely close to all facilities. We brought our 1st home together at Surrey Downs so up that way & it we were very happy there. I grew up in Gawler & my parents still live there & as my husband works away 2wks at a time I like to be close to them. We wanted a lot of land for the kids to run wild (currently aged 3 & 1) we were originally looking more around the kersbrook area but I was nervous about bush fires & also freaking out about the kids driving through the hills when they were older - yeah, ages away I know

thirsty · Apr 26, 2011 3:26 pm

Men and their sheds hey :roll:

Its nice and big too.

Congrats on the acreage living and good luck with your build

Velouria · Apr 26, 2011 4:04 pm

Hiya Broom,

Very nice house plan. I like the rumpus area with the store room off it - perfect for stashing all those kids toys (I have kids similar in ages as you - 3 and 18months) and we are drowning in a sea of toys at the moment. Can't wait for the new house and their designated rumpus room (with doors so I can close off the mess)

I look forward to following your build. Any plans for your couple of acres (horses, vines etc?)

We had a similar sized shoebox on our property that we were living in before my second child was born. As the new house was going to be built very close to it we sold it and had it removed (it was on stumps). Is that an option for you rather than demolition? Pictures on my doom and gloom thread if you are interested.

Broom · Apr 26, 2011 10:07 pm

Velouria

Hiya Broom,

Very nice house plan. I like the rumpus area with the store room off it - perfect for stashing all those kids toys (I have kids similar in ages as you - 3 and 18months) and we are drowning in a sea of toys at the moment. Can't wait for the new house and their designated rumpus room (with doors so I can close off the mess)

I look forward to following your build. Any plans for your couple of acres (horses, vines etc?)

We had a similar sized shoebox on our property that we were living in before my second child was born. As the new house was going to be built very close to it we sold it and had it removed (it was on stumps). Is that an option for you rather than demolition? Pictures on my doom and gloom thread if you are interested.

Not really sure what we are going to be doing with all our land yet :th:

we don't want any horses but maybe some sheep to mow the weeds? We have planted 9 fruit trees & will have a vegie patch soon. We plan to have a large manicured area around the house & then the rest will just be for the kids to run amok. We really just wanted to enjoy some open space

I had a look at your old house & it appears to be in a much better condition than ours. Although we are surviving the shoebox, it really is a dive. From memory it was built in the 50's or 60's, it is lightweight like yours but I think if someone tried to remove it it would just crumble hahaha.

wildorchid · Apr 28, 2011 5:06 pm

Hi there!
love your plan.
how many m2 is the total living?

Pugs · Apr 28, 2011 6:03 pm

love the house design..love the shed..

love the alfresco.. nice and big plus an outside kitchen

Broom · Apr 28, 2011 7:45 pm

Thanks

The total living area is 241.28m2

Signed our contracts today :z:

SO excited!

They have asked us to do all our selections over the next couple of weeks (good thing we know what we want) They will organise all the working drawings next week and then the building approval is done through a private certifier & he apparently has 10days max to approve it. They think slab will be poured late June/early July.

wildorchid · Apr 29, 2011 9:46 am

where do u do selections?
ur slab will probably done before ours....lol

Broom · Apr 29, 2011 3:11 pm

Selections....
Tiles - Choice of Italia Ceramics or Beaumonts @ Norwood. We have already checked out both & found our favourites at Beaumonts
Joinery - Gawler Custom Joinery Specialists
Stone tops - Adelaide Marble
Bricks - We specified what we wanted which was from Austral Bricks
Sanitary Ware - Reece Plumbing
Paint - Solver at Maylands
Electrical - Selections & layout at Clipsal

Already picked our flooring, solid timber - Spotted Gum fixed to battens

Mclaren · Apr 29, 2011 3:15 pm

Sounds like you're all organised! :z:

* jas * · May 01, 2011 12:47 am

Plan looks great and the kids will love the land.

dreamcometrue

Great plan Broom. We live close to Gawler at the moment but will be building at Golden Grove on 1/4 acre. Would like to have had more land but I wanted to move a bit closer to the city, mainly for my two adult sons still living with us. I don't really want to move too far country although I love it but am not a spring chicken anymore and figure it would be better to be close to good medical facilities (by that I mean not likely to get closed down or lose services) as we plan to be in the new house a looong time

Sorry just had to say Gawler is in no way country, we mere old country folk think of it as part of Adelaide in being a city lol.

Broom · May 01, 2011 8:21 am

Hahaha, yes Gawler isn't really a country town. It takes me about 40mins to get into the city with the new Northern Expressway which is not too bad.

rebeccaT · May 01, 2011 1:13 pm

As long as north east of gawler doesn't get swallowed up in the one big city of Adelaide......
I will protect our semi-rural lifestyle for all it's worth

Broom · May 05, 2011 9:14 pm

Yay, we're up to selection stage now!! ::celeb::

We've been powering through our appointments, we did Beaumonts yesterday.
Seriously not looking forward to the bill for that one hahaha. We went for 300x600mm rectified porcelain tiles up the walls & 300x300mm porcelain to the floor. I think it will look stunning though, will post tile pics soon.

Joinery today, we did the layouts to kitchen, bathrooms etc but since we are having 2pac throughout it was hard to finalize colours as you pick off a paint swatch which is tiny. We narrowed down to a few favourites & we are getting samples made up & mailed out.

Adelaide Marble, Clipsal, Solver, & splashback people (don't know name) all next week :z: