Hamptons inspired architect design with attached granny flat

I have given our builder a bit of a challenge. Our main living area has a wall hung tv which I would like covered up when not in use. So I’m thinking a double barn door sort of arrangement. We have a LARGE jigsaw (9000 piece, 2mx1.5m) that I would like to put over the barn door. The challenging part is cutting the jigsaw in half without losing too much of the picture. We’ll see how it goes!

Here’s the jigsaw (currently stored in 8 pieces)


Meanwhile here’s a couple of pics of pretty triangles...

Upstairs front facade


Dormer window over pool

That's a huge puzzle! Seems like a shame to cut it in half. What if you framed it and rigged up a system to pull the whole frame in front of your TV instead of the barn doors?

Hi Hillsbuilds, I really like your external details and colours. It actually reminds me a bit of some of the houses shown in a youtube video I watching earlier today of a US based builder, Matt Risinger, where he was visiting another builder's site in Rhode Island (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK8mpJs6OOE).

So are you using basically a full custom builder? Our builder I think are doing around 40+ houses per year with two supervisors etc. So I would classify them as 'small volume'. But to be honest I have still had some issues getting some of the smaller detailed work agreed to, and I think it is mostly because they still like to stick to their 'standard' systems and construction techniques. This is mostly why I typically have done many smaller jobs myself.

When are you due to move in? Looking good.

amilelka, do you mean to have the jigsaw as one piece and either slide it up vertically or across horizontally? I’m going to look at the horizontal idea when I visit the site today. I didn’t think there would be space on the wall, but thinking of the measurements, we might just make it. You know how spaces can be deceptively big or small when there’s no furniture in the room!

I was thinking the vertical solution might be a bit trickier. Automation is out of the budget, so some sort of pulley system would be needed.

I was initially thinking to hang the picture frame off the sliding door rail and move the whole thing sideways. But if you don't have space you could consider other options.

For example you could hang the puzzle on the wall and hide your TV in a pop up cabinet. They used to be expensive but nowadays you can buy a linear actuator on eBay for $100 and have it built into your cabinetry. (We're planning on doing this with our TV).

You could also have a vertical pulley system hidden in your roof to move the puzzle frame up and down. I have seen people online rig this up using garage door motors. You could also use a remote control 4WD hoist (under $150 eBay)

Keep in mind that TVs are constantly evolving, and eventually things like LGs roll up TV may become affordable. You might regret cutting up your puzzle then!

darb74, thank you . Being “hamptons” we certainly took inspiration from American New England architecture, of which Rhodes Island is a part of I think. The gambrel roof in that video you posted is gorgeous!

We are using a full custom builder. They have maybe 4-5 houses on the go. I’ve heard a contractor refer to them as High End, I didn’t realise that, as to me “High End” is something that appears in Channel 7’s Amazing Homes! They’ve been really good, tweaking things as we go along if the design doesn’t translate from paper to RL, or if I’ve wanted to make changes.

Loooong meeting with builder and various tradies on site today, to discuss electrical, plumbing, joinery, landscaping, flooring, jigsaw...

This next pic might seem very boring and unglamorous, but I was very happy to see this package sitting in our garage as we were told it wouldn’t arrive till September. It’s the Phase Change Materials (PCM) that will go into our ceiling areas that have a roof directly above. These act as a light weight thermal mass. They look similar to giant pill blister packs, filled with a type of vegetable oil derived substance. When the temperature rises above a certain level, the PCM melts and absorbs the heat. Then when the temperature cools down in the evening it solidifies again, releasing the energy. In summer, the house has been designed to be well ventilated, and that should carry the released heat away.


Insulation for walls and ceiling is also ready to go.


The granny flat living room curtain wall is almost cathedral-like. Maybe if we had made it stained glass

Took my mum to see her granny flat today. The framework has been done for her walk in shower and the bench, so she sat on it to test the height and determine the placement of the hand held shower, grab rails, niche, etc etc. Result is the bench will be adjusted down by 50mm.

While she is perfectly mobile ATM, we have tried to future proof the flat as much as possible. So flooring materials will be flush with each other, door levers rather than knobs, GPOs at 600mm instead of the std 300mm off the floor, additional noggings for future grab bars, oversized rocker switches, levers rather than twist taps, not too many built ins to allow for circulation space in the future




And our cavity door pockets (?) have been installed.

Study nook on left, guest bathroom on right


Kids’ three way bathroom looking out from the shower area

Insulation upstairs going in. It’s amazing how much it dampens sound, and even more when the gyprock goes on.



Space has to be taken out of one of the kids’ bedrooms to allow for the aircon ducting. So I’ve asked the builder to put in some half/shallow depth book shelving so the space isn’t totally wasted. The frames can be seen here in front of the ducts. The bed will go in the middle under the window.

Scaffolding over the pool area has come down, and it’s lovely to be able to experience that space uninterrupted! The ceiling is panelled at the highest point, as will be all the other raked ceilings. Painted white, the amount of light reflected and brought in is phenomenal.





On another note, this visit was part of a string of meetings with the builder and electrician re lighting, joinery, stairs and the landscape designer to meet up with two potential landscapers for quotes.

Gyprock also delivered today for start tomorrow. These are 13mm thick, generally used for commercial buildings, rather than the std 10mm



Temporary stairs have been removed so no more going upstairs for me, until the proper ones have been installed! Looking up into the void that’s left is interesting.

Second meeting with joiner today to go through the drawings and make final changes.

We got to go upstairs after all, climbing a ladder. Most of the gyprock has been done. Cornices were to go in next week, but as we’ve stipulated joinery to go up to the ceilings and our builder wants to cornice around these as well, it will have to be put back.



Front door opening


Dormer over pool from upstairs hallway


Upstairs hallway


Upstairs hallway looking down onto pool


MBR


En-suite


Kitchen to dining to living


French doors and raked ceiling


Skylight over bathroom


Stairwell windows

That's looking amazing! You're going to end up with a fabulousl home.

Yeah I totally agree it is looking terrific. Looks like the house and window designs are letting in lots of natural light. I think the different angles of the windows gives it some real character too.

The courtyard is a great idea, although seriously how many french doors does one house need?! lol

Hey what are all those wires coming out into your front portico area?

Also how far off completion do you think you are? From what I can gather you are a fairly custom build, so i assume this will take more time than the typical volume built house?

Our neighbours have been asking 'what is wrong with your house?!'....most houses around us are fully up in around 16-20 weeks. We've been going since mid January, and still might be a few weeks away yet? It think it gets more frustrating as time goes on though....

Thanks amilelka and darb74, I’m really happy with how it’s turning out.

darb74, the wires are for lights (white), smart doorbell (blue) and security/keypad lock (black)

As for questions about why it’s taking so long, I get those too! All. The. Time. From everybody, not just neighbours! I guess it’s because most people are familiar only with the volume build process and that’s what they expect. The few friends and family that I’ve brought to the site actually understand that this is a different sort of build when they see it in person. We completed our slab just in time for Xmas last year, and the current expected completion date is early next year. Which means the whole process from engaging the architect to moving in will be 3.5 years! I have a friend though, whose architect-designed house is much more unique than ours, it’s been featured on Houzz.com.au many times, Better Homes and Gardens etc etc. and they took close to 4 years to complete the process. So we were probably forewarned!

I get your frustration though, I’ve been following your build and the issues you’ve had with your windows, flooring, joinery must be annoying, especially as you’re getting so close to the finish line. Just think though that soon you’ll be in your lovely, well-insulated, close-to-airtight house and it will be worth it!

Like you I am happy to wait for a good product at the end. I think one of the reasons we are having some problems is we are possibly treating our build a bit like a custom project, but with a 'non-custom' type builder. This builder we have, are probably doing 40+ houses per year, and also our supervisor is new to this role which hasn't helped.

Maybe we should stop watching Grand Design episodes and just let them do what they want?!

How do you assess yourselves in terms of how fussy you have been? Also do you find you are picking up on issues much yourselves? and lastly how do you feel your building supervisor deals with ideas/issues you raise?

We are kind of made to feel too fussy, and when we ask for things to be sorted out at times it feels our supervisor goes out of his way to do the opposite unfortunately.

Look overall I need to stay positive, because like you say I am sure we will enjoy living in the house and it will be better than most volume builds I think in terms of comfort and natural light etc.

darb74, you know, that’s an interesting question re have we been “fussy” - I had to think about it for a bit!

I didn’t start this process knowing anything about building and building design at all. But while working with the architect, I did lots of research and imaginary walkthroughs of the plans so by the time we had a design to go to tender I knew exactly what I wanted. The architect’s construction drawings set out EVERYTHING, right down to the smallest detail so really all the builder had to do was follow the drawings.

Where he has come across snags (ie where the drawings don’t translate to real life), he’s informed me of the issue and presented a solution. Most of the time I’ve been fine with the solution, occasionally I’ve come up with my own. Any changes I’ve wanted to make have been fine, I’ve never been made to feel like a bother or too fussy. That said though, I’ve not ever had to ask them to re-do work due to poor quality. The builder is very meticulous, the supervisor even more so. They are a small custom builder and have around 3 - 5 houses on the go. The tradies they use they know personally and have used them for years.

I’m almost a bit embarrassed to say that this has been a very stress-free build (apart from the issues with the utility companies at the start which weren’t to do with the builder).

In short I think the quality of the builder has meant that I haven’t needed to be fussy!

Weekly site meeting with the builder, this time the main topic discussed was landscaping. We’ve gotten quotes from landscapers, picked one, and now we’ll meet up with him again to discuss the finer details of the plan. And hopefully reduce costs a little!

Meanwhile the ceiling over the dining and living area has been installed. Even unpainted I love it! Due to a miscommunication, the exposed rafters were not in the plan, but I’m so glad I insisted on them. At the edges of the ceiling I also got them to install pelmets for the curtains to go behind. An energy efficient item, as well as aesthetic.



Coming up in the next couple of weeks, stairwell to be painted, stairs going in, architraves installed. We have decided on Corian integrated sinks and vanity tops for all bathrooms. They’ll take a bit longer to manufacture as we wanted splashbacks to be included in the vanity tops. Less grout to clean!

Amazing!!

I love the way the pelmets were incorporated! It's a great idea and looks seamless.

I love your dining pendant. Do you mind telling me where I can source it from. We are in Melbourne.