My build - colour selections update

Hi everyone. Long time lurker first time poster. We are in the final design stages of our build in North Queensland. I've attached the floor plan and would love any feedback. It's a custom-ish design. We told them what we wanted for each room and they put it together.



Timeline
December 2016: contract signed
January 2017: colour selections
Feb 2017: land registered!
March 2017 - land settles, colour selections complete
April 2017 - building commenced

All looks pretty good imo.
You could possibly change the windows in the main area to 2100 high that way they would go right to the floor and let in more light.
You could also possibly add an aperture (hole in the wall) in the family/ study wall. To let in some light and air.
Could also step out the main bathroom to the eaves to add a little extra space.

The house we live at the moment has the same style of entry. They added feature tile floor to ceiling on the wall that would be your pantry. It add a a really nice feature.
Also if you have kids you could try swapping the bed 4 and ensuite as I would be keen on the bedroom window going out to the patio.
Oh and open the sliding door the other way. And a cavity slider to the pantry.
Lol

Looks a very good layout to me. Any suggested changes would be very minor. Agree with Craigsaurus about allowing some sort of natural light into the Study so its not claustrophobic.

There looks to be a lot of window area for the Theatre at the front. If you actually want this for a home theatre then you might have trouble blocking out the light. Vertical slot windows would look great and easier to block out the light if/when needed. If you wanted this more a living area then the extra natural light is fine.

Nice design, where is North?

Thanks for the feedback!

We already have a change in for the pantry to have a cavity sliding door.

Craigasaurus - do you mean open the stacker door to the patio the other way? It was originally the other way and I asked them to change it because when we were thinking about furnishing the room, I thought if we had a lounge against the study wall we could have a chaise on the patio door side, so the fixed panel should be at that end. But I am definitely open to hearing other thoughts and ideas as to the benefits of having the stacker open the other way.

arcachon - Great idea to add some light/air to the study. I will talk to the builder about this. The theatre has an opening corner window because we can see down to some parkland so wanted to maximize our view of that. We do want to use it as a theatre room so will probably add blockout curtains floor to ceiling.

North is to the back of the block. Breezes are north-easterly in summer and south-easterly in winter so we will have louver windows to the dining, kitchen and living rooms to maximize airflow.

We have avoided pushing anything out under the eaves on the western side due to the heat.

I was a bit worried about the small size of the main bathroom but it will only be used by kids and guests.

I am also a bit worried about not fitting towel rails in the ensuite. We will have towel hooks though and I guess that will have to do.

hi jr15,

i would agree with increasing the windows to 2100 high in the main living areas. it's is a decent way of letting more light in. i do think the study would feel a bit dark. i'd look to add a void in the wall like craigasaurus said (perhaps a feature bit of carpentry or something) or even completely get rid of the door.

i'd disagree with moving the ensuite. having a bathroom right next to a patio isn't the best idea. ideally you'd have another living area, but that doesn't seem possible without a major redesign. i'm not the biggest fan of walk in robes that you have to walk through the middle of to get to the ensuite, but it's the best way to get the best functionality of the ensuite with the private (doored) wc.

depending on you're going to furnish your family room, i'd also look to switch the sliding door as craigasaurus has said. i'd try to align the opening of the sliding door to where your circulation spaces (areas where you would be walking through) are so that you don't have to awkwardly walk around bits of furniture to access your patio. should be as easy as a straight line access.

i feel the area between the dining and family is a bit of wasted space. do you know what you're intending to put in this area? i'm assuming nothing to get a good view of the garden? the OCD in me wants the inset wall bit to align with the kitchen bench, but i understand that would mean the family room would get a bit smaller which isn't great haha.

i'd also maybe suggest looking at the location of the door leading from the entry to the garage. i'm not sure of the width of your garage, but if you're planning on having two cars in there that door might open close to a car, might make it feel a bit cramped. could move it down towards the pantry wall and flip the opening into the entry way, or even make it a cavity slider?

other than those little minor points, looks like a very nice design! pretty efficient and functional.

Thanks for your feedback innerbloom. I will have to give some more thought to the stacker door opening.

I also wondered if the space in front of the kitchen is wasted, but we have kids and they like having a bit of open space to play so this way I can watch from the kitchen or living room.

The garage door originally opened inwards and was in line with the pantry but I changed it so we had the option of a hall table. I am worried about the door hitting the car though so will give this more thought.

The walk through wardrobe isnt perfect but I do like the layout of the ensuite and the huge amount of wardrobe storage we will have, plus it's his and hers. So the benefits outweigh the negatives I think.

We have an internal study and added an aperture to help with light and air.

I would consider putting one up high so you can still use the wall for furniture placement.

I love cavity sliders. You could change the garage door to a cavity slider to save anyone or thing getting hit by the door.

Since you thought about furniture placement in your lounge room having the slider the way it is will probably work best.

In regards to the wir. I've seen these types of set ups where they add sliding cupboards doors so it's more like a hall with cupboards on either side rather than walking through an actual cupboard. Then you could remove the door to the wir and it would feel more spacious.

As it can feel cluttered.

You're definitely limited as to where you can hang your towel. You could maybe fit ones of the above.
There is also vertical heated rails that may work. Or you might just have to Chuck it over the shower screen.

I was thinking about removing the door to the ensuite toilet and having the towel rail on the wall opposite the toilet, but over a bit so not completely in the toilet 'cubicle' space.

We still have the CSD door on the outside of the robes.

What does everyone think?

We have our colour selections meeting booked in for January, I will post updates with some inspiration for the colour scheme we are going for, but it will be warm neutral with greys and natural tones.

We had a pleasant surprise today when we drove around to see the block. We bought the end block on a land release and thought we would have to pay full-share for the fence down one side as it doesn't look like further blocks will be released in that direction anytime soon (the road isn't even build). When we went today we saw the developer has started to fence that side. Our block isn't registered or close to settlement so I am guessing we get that fence for free.

Our land has registered and settlement is in a few weeks!

We had our colour selections yesterday but stupidly I didn't take any pictures. I will probably go back to the tile shop and take some next week.

We have made a few changes to the design like extending the main bathroom to give us a bit more space and removing the ensuite toilet door to give us space for towel rails.

I am hoping we will start building by April.

Here are our colour selections!

Main floors throughout will be luxury vinyl planks in Narvik Glory:


Walls TBC but I am thinking Milton Moon 1/4 but will get a sample pot to test it out:



Ensuite: 600x300 matt midtown grey tiles on floor and back wall of shower, 600x300 taupe gloss wall tiles stacked horizontally, laminex charcoal vanity bench, laminex pearl grey vanity drawers and a grey glass mosaic feature tile:


Main bathroom: 450x450 charcoal matt floor tiles (also using these in laundry and toilet) running up back shower wall, the corresponding white matt for the remaining wall tiles, laminex charcoal vanity bench, laminex super white vanity drawers and a grey marble feature tile:



Laundry: same 450x450 charcoal matt floor tiles, charcoal gloss subway tile splashback, laminex greige textile bench top (this has a linen look finish) and laminex super white cupboards (under sink and overhead cupboards).



I can't wait to see it all come together. I am really happy with our choices except I just want to work on our paint colours a little more. I haven't put up our external facade colours as I have changed my mind about them and need to work on it some more.

Our builder has recently uploaded pictures of another finished home on their facebook and it is absolutely stunning. The quality and finish of their work is just amazing so I am so happy we chose them as our builder.

Edit: forgot the most important room - the kitchen. The island cabinets will be laminex charcoal and the cabinets along the wall will be laminex super white. The benchtop is 20mm silestone white storm with waterfall ends to the island, and the splash back is 600x600 super polished black pearl tiles.

Officially started yesterday afternoon digging the footings! So exciting.