We have started our New Build process and have picked G.J. Gardner as our builder.
We have a block and have chosen the Casuarina 229 plan. We decided to extend our Garage and Master Bedroom to give more space/ storage. I love cooking and found the island bench to be quite small - 2.2m long. We decided to extend the depth to 1.2m and opted for an under mount sink closer to the right side of the bench, freeing up more space for prep on the left - Hoping that this will be an ideal solution!
We love the layout of this home and it ticks most the boxes. My only concern is, bed 2 and 3 are only 3.0x2.7. Which is smaller than our previous home. Did anyone have regrets when they built this room size? These will be used as children's rooms. Both have built ins and as this plan has a study and activity Room, we figure, toys, desks etc will be kept in these rooms rather than the Bedrooms.
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We will be in this home for quite some time and have to factor in that these children will eventually grow into teenagers (sadly)
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Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Casuarina 229 - G.J. Gardner 3Sep 29, 2019 6:00 pm  darb74Hi Krystalkis, That looks like a pretty decent plan and GJ Gardner at least in our area are well regarded. With your plan, in terms of room sizes the smallest we have had from memory is 3m x 3.4m. We got a queen bed in so that it ran lengthways along the 3.4m section. Bedhead was against the window and there enough room either side, but we also had 3.4m on the long side. So realistically you won't easily get a queen bed in a 3x2.7m room, but singles and doubles should be easy enough with maybe a small desk as well. Because these two rooms are on your facade, you won't be able to easily do what we have chosen in our current build. That is, to set the window heights to around 1m only. This way we can more easily put the bedhead against that wall. One other thing I just noticed on your plan. This is a personal thing and would be a simple change for the builder....I don't see the value of a small 'study' near the entry, I just don't think it will get used much so far away from the main living areas. I would replace this space with a decent WIL and spin it around so it faces the main bathroom. You already have a 'linen' closet nearby, so this would be a great coat cupboard. Personally I would also change the Lounge entry to allow to shut off better, with double 720 or 820 wide Cavity Sliding Doors. Then I would add a full height (2340mm) glass door that allows that whole living section to close off....near where you walk past the pantry. Then if you say add a decent split system aircon (super efficient they are), you can easily heat/cool that whole area of the house only if you decide to. These changes are not structural, and would be relatively cheap and easy. But this is just my own personal tastes from designing our own house recently. We took our builder's plans and redid most of it using Google Sketchup and lots of discussions with our draftsperson and sale consultant. Anyhow good luck with the build, but your plan already looks good. Any other questions just ask. We are particularly focused on energy efficiency in terms of the design and construction with our place, as I want it to have that great natural light and free winter heat from the sun. We are still not at handover but it is coming up fairly well. I love your ideas! We have opted for cavity sliding doors on the lounge area as this will be the 'Good Room' free from dog paws haha. With regards to the study, the idea is to have it facing that way so that when the hubby uses it on his work from home days, it's not going to disturb the 2 front rooms as much. We have also decided to add bifold doors to this space, so if eventually we decide to change the rooms purpose, it should be easy to do so. The idea you had for the windows are also great as these rooms will get smashed with sun so we already intended to tint the windows (dress them accordingly) so if they are floor length (which i have a feeling they are) making them higher will also give that bit of privacy! Also with regards to you sectioning the area for the purpose of cooling - we did toss up the idea of using splits as opposed to ducted as we did this in our old home and it was VERY cost effective, being able to run only 1 or 2 units at a time. We had 4x splits. With this house we will probably opt for the ducted as the wall space is limited in the smaller rooms and eventually we will be getting solar, so hoping this will help with the running costs. I really appreciate your post. Thank you Re: Casuarina 229 - G.J. Gardner 5Sep 29, 2019 8:15 pm  Steve4216Welcome! I am building with GJs also, in country NSW. They have a great reputation here. Where abouts are you building? You'll find BR 2 and 3 aren't bad, maybe only use a double bed in there, as the 2.7 depth doesn't leave much to walk around, but you have so many living areas that you aren't refined to living in your bedrooms. Because the doors don't open directly into the bedding area, you are fine. Bedroom 4 is a different story, that's a single bed room. We looked at this plan, but couldn't work out how to make the kitchen/laundry work. The pantry not opening onto the kitchen would annoy me, and the laundry has a long walk way to a tiny laundry. Other than those two things, we liked the plan. Looking forward to following! Keen to keep an eye on this build! Yes i would have to agree with you! I really wanted to join the island to make more of a U shape kitchen allowing for more bench space, but that pantry makes it difficult. I'm not even keen on WIP and Butlers Pantrys - I would love a wall pantry. We had a 4m Island in our old place and were SPOILT! But in terms of our location/land it's worth the sacrifice. Still something i will raise with the builder but i think it will just be 'one of those things' We are building in Brisbane Re: Casuarina 229 - G.J. Gardner 6Oct 24, 2019 1:53 pm  krystalkis Steve4216Welcome! I am building with GJs also, in country NSW. They have a great reputation here. Where abouts are you building? You'll find BR 2 and 3 aren't bad, maybe only use a double bed in there, as the 2.7 depth doesn't leave much to walk around, but you have so many living areas that you aren't refined to living in your bedrooms. Because the doors don't open directly into the bedding area, you are fine. Bedroom 4 is a different story, that's a single bed room. We looked at this plan, but couldn't work out how to make the kitchen/laundry work. The pantry not opening onto the kitchen would annoy me, and the laundry has a long walk way to a tiny laundry. Other than those two things, we liked the plan. Looking forward to following! Keen to keep an eye on this build! Yes i would have to agree with you! I really wanted to join the island to make more of a U shape kitchen allowing for more bench space, but that pantry makes it difficult. I'm not even keen on WIP and Butlers Pantrys - I would love a wall pantry. We had a 4m Island in our old place and were SPOILT! But in terms of our location/land it's worth the sacrifice. Still something i will raise with the builder but i think it will just be 'one of those things' We are building in Brisbane Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅  13 Apr 2019 32 QLD Junior Member 17 Apr 2014 12 VIC Junior Member Re: Casuarina 229 - G.J. Gardner 13May 17, 2020 12:02 pm So far so good  It's really taking shape now the plaster is on! 05 Oct 2017 16 Junior Member Re: Casuarina 229 - G.J. Gardner 18Jun 10, 2020 2:29 pm darb74Hi Krystalkis, That looks like a pretty decent plan and GJ Gardner at least in our area are well regarded. With your plan, in terms of room sizes the smallest we have had from memory is 3m x 3.4m. We got a queen bed in so that it ran lengthways along the 3.4m section. Bedhead was against the window and there enough room either side, but we also had 3.4m on the long side. So realistically you won't easily get a queen bed in a 3x2.7m room, but singles and doubles should be easy enough with maybe a small desk as well. Because these two rooms are on your facade, you won't be able to easily do what we have chosen in our current build. That is, to set the window heights to around 1m only. This way we can more easily put the bedhead against that wall. One other thing I just noticed on your plan. This is a personal thing and would be a simple change for the builder....I don't see the value of a small 'study' near the entry, I just don't think it will get used much so far away from the main living areas. I would replace this space with a decent WIL and spin it around so it faces the main bathroom. You already have a 'linen' closet nearby, so this would be a great coat cupboard. Personally I would also change the Lounge entry to allow to shut off better, with double 720 or 820 wide Cavity Sliding Doors. Then I would add a full height (2340mm) glass door that allows that whole living section to close off....near where you walk past the pantry. Then if you say add a decent split system aircon (super efficient they are), you can easily heat/cool that whole area of the house only if you decide to. These changes are not structural, and would be relatively cheap and easy. But this is just my own personal tastes from designing our own house recently. We took our builder's plans and redid most of it using Google Sketchup and lots of discussions with our draftsperson and sale consultant. Anyhow good luck with the build, but your plan already looks good. Any other questions just ask. We are particularly focused on energy efficiency in terms of the design and construction with our place, as I want it to have that great natural light and free winter heat from the sun. We are still not at handover but it is coming up fairly well. Actually we built with GJ Gardiner about 7 years ago and have a small study at the front of the house. We find it ideal. My husband uses it as a office. Our house faces east so the room gets lot of light in first thing in the morning which we don't want with a bedroom. All our bedrooms are at the back of the house. |
