Hi everyone,
My partner and I are building our first home; we've chosen Beechwood's Merlot with Terrazza (Seville 1 Facade). We've tried our best to be "smart" about variations and upgrades since this is our first home i.e. we don't want to go too big or too flashy (and land a mortgage we can't handle).
We made only small changes to the plan, the main ones were:
* Removing the bin niche and extending that side of the house by 0.5m
* Removing the niche for the TV in the Living Room (pushed out the wall on either side to meet where the niche used to end)
* Replacing the niche in the Theatre room with a "linen cupboard" (facing toward the kitchen of course)
* Removing the pantry from the kitchen (we'll use the linen cupboard in the previous point for the pantry and I get a bit more bench space). Also in the kitchen we extended the bench to line up with the nib wall next to the fridge space and added a microwave shelf at the laundry end
* Changed the ensuite and WIR to be separate/moved ensuite door to be to the bedroom
Our additional variations/upgrades were:
* Added a sliding door to the hallway leading to the bathroom and bedrooms
* Upgraded the kitchen cupboards to Thermotech Gloss and the benchtops to Diamond Gloss
* Deleted tiling to the entry, kitchen, meals, hallway and deleted to the carpet living room as we're putting in Timber Laminate
* Changed to solar hot water with gas booster
* Upgraded ceiling insulation
* Changed from two single garage doors to one panel lift door
* Changed to sliding doors on BIR in other bedrooms
There were other small things but mostly relating to electrical etc.
Things to keep in mind when you are looking at this design that I didn't realise at first were that the "floor" to the Terrazza is not included (only the roof that is part of the house roof is included) and in the bathroom, the vanities don't come standard with a nest of drawers so don't forget to add those!
I'm a little cautious about giving too much personal info over a public forum so I won't post specific suburb/street or personal details but wanted to share our experience for those who may be considering building their first home.