Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 18, 2014 1:59 pm Hi all. After weeks of searching and looking here and there, trying to get suggestions, sneaking at other's threads, I have got so much useful info regarding house design that I feel I have learnt so much but still more to do I am sure. Well, me and my partner got ourself a block at this one estate-Calleya near Jandakot-South of Perth. It's a 375sqm block with 12.5m frontage ( 55% site coverage ). When I started, I even did not have any thoughts on what I actually want in my home, then after weeks of thinking (hopefully I got some things right ), and changing this and that, I have got a plan in place- though not final. Here's my plan: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I put the master bedroom at the front (Garage for my block is fixed at the left side). Let me know what you think of the open plan kitchen we have got with living/dining facing all the way to alfresco. I have been wondering how I should take the laundry off to the shared bathroom area rather than putting it as it is. Just that when you enter the home, it will be visible. I just am not able to figure out where to put this in. I am thinking of moving the AV on back of Garage but then again, all of the other bits need changing. My block only allows 55% site coverage as mentioned earlier which restricts us to making too many changes on a narrow lot. Hence it has been very difficult. Any one got a better idea-would love to get some. Looking forward to hear everyone's ideas - and super excited for the build when it does start.... Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 2Aug 19, 2014 12:06 am Hi, congrats on getting land in calleya, very difficult estate to get into. My advice regarding the laundry is move your kitchen closer up towards the alfresco end and slot your laundry in between your kitchen and garage. You could move the entrance from the garage to come through the laundry instead of your hallway. Benefits of this could be that if your running washing machine or dryer at night it won't be heard. Where the laundry once was you could utilise that space towards the bathroom (so that the shower door and bathroom door don't touch?) and toilet (put a wash basin so that someone can wash their hands if someone is in bathroom?)towards located towards bedroom 3/4? Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 3Aug 19, 2014 12:37 am Congrats on your new land Alishine143. The plan looks great and probably I would not change much to this. By the way what is the percent of the total living space to the land area? I can see the distance between the living wall and fence is 1.86m and you could potentially add 0.36m to the width of the house which would be nicer. It will also allow to create a scullery (I think it would be a great feature as you don't have a sitting area on the front and the guest will end up directly in the living/kitchen area once inside, so scullery would be the quick hiding place for some dirty dishes ). You could ask the council for extra living area up to 5% if required. (Calleya is a premium estate and I think one should maximize the area of the house for good resale value if required in future ) I would also put a SD/door between the WIR and ensuite otherwise the WIR would be full of steam in winter Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 4Aug 19, 2014 11:25 am oneskyabove Hi, congrats on getting land in calleya, very difficult estate to get into. My advice regarding the laundry is move your kitchen closer up towards the alfresco end and slot your laundry in between your kitchen and garage. You could move the entrance from the garage to come through the laundry instead of your hallway. Benefits of this could be that if your running washing machine or dryer at night it won't be heard. Where the laundry once was you could utilise that space towards the bathroom (so that the shower door and bathroom door don't touch?) and toilet (put a wash basin so that someone can wash their hands if someone is in bathroom?)towards located towards bedroom 3/4? Thanks for your post. Calleya's land release process was kinda an online thing. It was not cheap for me though. I did not get the block that I wanted but still it's ok for a start. Regarding the entrance from the garage, I did look at it initially then had some other ideas, may be i will give it a try. Thanks for the input. And I did not realize that shower and bathroom door touching. Great pick! Like I mentioned, I am so new with all this building ideas and arrangement, it's so good to get some feedback from generous ppl like you. Much appreciated. I have been chopping and changing too much; I hope it does not come back to haunt me wrt cost. Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 5Aug 19, 2014 11:28 am Ozlizz Congrats on your new land Alishine143. The plan looks great and probably I would not change much to this. By the way what is the percent of the total living space to the land area? I can see the distance between the living wall and fence is 1.86m and you could potentially add 0.36m to the width of the house which would be nicer. It will also allow to create a scullery (I think it would be a great feature as you don't have a sitting area on the front and the guest will end up directly in the living/kitchen area once inside, so scullery would be the quick hiding place for some dirty dishes ). You could ask the council for extra living area up to 5% if required. (Calleya is a premium estate and I think one should maximize the area of the house for good resale value if required in future ) I would also put a SD/door between the WIR and ensuite otherwise the WIR would be full of steam in winter Hi Ozlizz, Thanks for posting here. Regarding the percent of total living space to land area, I do not have any clue; I should now that you have asked. All I knew was we can only build 55% on our block that excludes the alfresco and the porch (not too sure on Porch though). THanks again. I will get this info from the developer. Update: I had asked for a new design to see how it looks and I received it just now. Let me know your comments. This ticks my boxes. I am just worried about living areas facing west. That side is west for me. Should i flip it! Will love to hear back your comments. The new plan: Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 6Aug 20, 2014 4:46 am Hi Alishine - I found your thread! Well done for finding the land you did from what people are saying it will be a very good investment! I liked both those plans - I didn't think the laundry was a problem where it was on plan one, it would have a door so it could be closed and it would be handy to have it near the kitchen. But your second plan has it behind the kitchen - even better! If the 2nd plan ticks all your boxes then that is what you should go for. Just remember the door to the back yard from the garage, and you also seem to have lost the door into the house from the garage. You've also lost the sliding door to the WIR - and as was suggested you might want to consider one between the ensuite and WIR too. I'd consider having doors on the audio visual as it is directly next to the living room on plan 2. And you've lost the portico Good luck with your build Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 7Aug 20, 2014 11:50 am MalSannie Hi Alishine - I found your thread! Well done for finding the land you did from what people are saying it will be a very good investment! I liked both those plans - I didn't think the laundry was a problem where it was on plan one, it would have a door so it could be closed and it would be handy to have it near the kitchen. But your second plan has it behind the kitchen - even better! If the 2nd plan ticks all your boxes then that is what you should go for. Just remember the door to the back yard from the garage, and you also seem to have lost the door into the house from the garage. You've also lost the sliding door to the WIR - and as was suggested you might want to consider one between the ensuite and WIR too. I'd consider having doors on the audio visual as it is directly next to the living room on plan 2. And you've lost the portico Good luck with your build HI MalSannie, Thanks for the reply. Hopefully it will be a good investment and a place for us to call home, sweet home. The 2nd plan was just a draft to be honest; just the way kitchen/living and bedrooms will be orientated. The changes that I am trying to put in are as follows: 1. Raked in ceiling at AV 2. Adding wash basin in common toilet. 3. Adding bin drawer, MW recess and making the FR recess 750mm deep to include a double door fridge later on. 4. Moving the kitchen sink to the right edge. 4. Increasing the alfresco area if possible 5. Getting the robe arrangement (4Xshelves, with End panel and shelf n rail) 6. Adding in doors at enty of WIR and ensuite 7. Adding doors from garage to entry hall and back way. I am seeking for some answers with respect to living/dining area on my plan. Where do you think I put the living area to be in-hanging the TV. DO you think putting the TV on the back side of the ensuite and family area around that makes sense and dining area infront of the benchtop. Why I am asking is the AV room is near by as well so just wondering whether it will look good for AV room and family area to be so near. Also is it a good idea to have a door at AV room ? These are some changes I am trying to do. I have still not thought about window size in living areas. Would love to get some ideas as well ! Thanks all! You all have been so generous. Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate_New Design 8Aug 22, 2014 8:31 pm Howdie all, Considering my block orientation and passive cooling, we have made some changes to our plan and come up with this new plan where the living/dining is from east to west with alfresco on south west and bedrooms on the south east side. Here's the plan: OK here's what I am thinking 1. Do you think an entry for laundry should be from the kitchen in the above plan ? 2. Is AV room small ? My site coverage is at the edge now with this plan. Need to lose some space if I have to increase in another area. 3. Is the entry to the minor bedrooms ok like that. It was so hard for us to fit in 3 rooms there. We had to sacrifice the previous activity area just to avoid having all the bedrooms at the west. Well only bed4 is west facing though alfresco will hopefully shade that western sun. 4. I will put in door from garage to back. 5. Can you tell me what windows size I should put in the family room (It is currently 25cX910 only). I am planning to put a small window near the cook stove so that any sleek can pass through when cooking. 6. I will move the sink to the right side of the benchtop and make the alfresco a bit bigger as well. Well if everything goes well, this will be my final plan which I am hoping to build. Thanks a lot. This forum has been awesome to get so much valuable info for ppl like me who hardly knew anything for a start and here I am writing about my plan, asking questions and all really I feel like I have come a long way already and yet the journey has just only begun !!! Thanks Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 9Aug 23, 2014 3:35 am Hi Ali, I think your minor room entrances are fine - the only 'problem' I'd have is the fact bedroom 4 window opens to the alfresco - which might not be very nice for whoever is using that room. I think the audio visual size is fine and losing the activity is not such a big deal - it is more important to fit in what you need. With windows you can pretty much do what you like. Would you use the wall between those windows in the living for a television maybe? In which case the 2 narrower full height windows would be what you wanted. I don't live locally, but I've been told it is a good idea to go to the showrooms of window shops to get a good idea. Or do the builder you'r considering have any show homes that are similar/have those windows? If that was my plan I'd consider changing the bath and basin around in the main bathroom to not have the window on the western side. Ie, rotate the bath 90 degrees and move it to the wall where the basin is, and vice versa (and move the window). Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 10Aug 23, 2014 11:14 am MalSannie Hi Ali, I think your minor room entrances are fine - the only 'problem' I'd have is the fact bedroom 4 window opens to the alfresco - which might not be very nice for whoever is using that room. I think the audio visual size is fine and losing the activity is not such a big deal - it is more important to fit in what you need. With windows you can pretty much do what you like. Would you use the wall between those windows in the living for a television maybe? In which case the 2 narrower full height windows would be what you wanted. I don't live locally, but I've been told it is a good idea to go to the showrooms of window shops to get a good idea. Or do the builder you'r considering have any show homes that are similar/have those windows? If that was my plan I'd consider changing the bath and basin around in the main bathroom to not have the window on the western side. Ie, rotate the bath 90 degrees and move it to the wall where the basin is, and vice versa (and move the window). HI MaSannie, How are you doing ? I still felt a bit bad about losing the activity area though. If not were for this passive solar thing, I would have sticked with the previous plan. But anyways, hopefully this latest plan will not be that bad . I am planning to use the wall of the AV to put the TV on. And that idea about changing the bath and basin around seems good. I will throw that to my builder. THanks aye! I am planning to visit some display homes over the weekend and have some idea. Have a great weekend ! Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 11Aug 24, 2014 12:47 am I'm doing very well thank you - hope the same is true for you! Enjoy the display home visits - can't wait to go too in October when we're over there. Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 12Sep 02, 2014 2:33 pm MalSannie I'm doing very well thank you - hope the same is true for you! Enjoy the display home visits - can't wait to go too in October when we're over there. Hi Malsannie, Had been a bit sick last week. Now back . Is your block also 375sqm ? I visited few display homes. We are going with this plan . Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The thing I am worried is the width of the living area. It is only 4.5 (if 1m is taken from walkway-that leaves only 3.5m) Is that a small size for putting in sofa or lounge?) I also think the benchtop facing the living area could have been longer but because of that entry to the laundry it's tough. Is it a good idea to put the entry of laundry from the living. I believe this laundry is slightly big for my liking but just dont have any idea at the moment to come up with more suitable plan. I just need to amend the kitchen area and laundry and will take this plan. Regards, Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 13Sep 02, 2014 7:48 pm hi some things to think about. are your washer and dryer in the L'dry front loaders? if so you could have them under the bench space and add more in, giving you a bigger bench area Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 14Sep 03, 2014 4:38 pm I would put a standard single door on the laundry instead of a sliding door that way you can extend the bench all the way to the end and that gives you more bench space. My build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68002 Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 15Sep 03, 2014 4:46 pm 2-cupcakes-pls hi some things to think about. are your washer and dryer in the L'dry front loaders? if so you could have them under the bench space and add more in, giving you a bigger bench area It is front loader. Thanks. Do you think the laundry is big on the plan ? Thanks Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 16Sep 03, 2014 4:49 pm Burnsfirsttime I would put a standard single door on the laundry instead of a sliding door that way you can extend the bench all the way to the end and that gives you more bench space. Thanks for the suggestion. Actually I was thinking of putting the laundry not near to the kitchen and move it to normal bathroom setup in common suite. I am more worried about the living area being too narrow. I cant increase the area of home as I am on maximum site coverage. Hence just looking for some suggestions as what to decrease to increase the living area width. Thank you Best Regards, Sandi:smile:: Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 17Sep 03, 2014 4:52 pm Hi Alishine, glad to hear you've had time to go see some show homes - sorry to hear you've been unwell and I hope you're feeling better now! I don't really know about the sizes of the living, Ours will also be similar size about 4.6m wide and people will also have to walk through it. The show house very similar to our plan has 4.9m and from the pictures my sister took and on the website it looks like there should be ample space. Maybe you could have a look on your builder's website for show homes that have similar dimensions for a living room? That would be the best/easiest way of knowing! Or measure the rooms you have where you live currently to get an idea. I have my measuring tape out all the time Our block is a bit bigger at 520 - but we're not as close to the city as you are! Re the kitchen and laundry, have you considered switching them around? Then you'd have that bit extra for the kitchen. This is a very quick mock up - I'm on my way to work, but just so you can have an idea what I mean. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ You could then also make your WIP longer rather than as square as that, and add a bit of bench below the window instead if you thought it was still too little bench space. I don't think the laundry is too big at all, I had to jiggle things around on my plan to get it a bit bigger. It is nice not to have a cramped space to wash, sort out and maybe even iron your clothes. Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 18Sep 03, 2014 4:55 pm Also, have a look at downloading sweet home 3d. Then import your plan as background picture by setting the sizes etc, then you can add walls by 'tracing' the background pic. Once the outline of your living is there you could place furniture and edit them to match the sizes of your sofas etc - then you can get an idea of size. But much much easier to find a show home with similar size living/family room and go and have a look for yourself. I think it should be ok Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 19Sep 03, 2014 5:07 pm MalSannie Also, have a look at downloading sweet home 3d. Then import your plan as background picture by setting the sizes etc, then you can add walls by 'tracing' the background pic. Once the outline of your living is there you could place furniture and edit them to match the sizes of your sofas etc - then you can get an idea of size. But much much easier to find a show home with similar size living/family room and go and have a look for yourself. I think it should be ok Cant thank you enough Malsannie. I will do that. A similar display home has around 4.8 m area in meals area and on the living. This includes the walkway as well. So considering that, hopefully the living space on my plan will not look too crampy. Anycase, I want to increase it. I am also concerned about WIP door obstructing the Fridge door and viceversa, Thanks and happy working Sandi Re: My first build-At Stockland's Calleya Estate 20Sep 15, 2014 10:49 am Hi Guys, Unfortunately budget wise the plan is costing me bit more. Hence I had another plan in place. It is simple but fits my budget. WHat do you think about this Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Please provide me your feedback on how we can improve this or obvious upgrade things which might be needed to make it more attractive and comfortable living. Thanks hi guys. Please be nice. First time home builder in Qld. I would like some feedback please on whether I should build my granny flat first before my main house at the… 0 4763 So it looks like we finally have some movement on site! Definitely later than expected, but I'll take any progress at this point. I'll drop by over the weekend to get… 5 29212 |