We (my girlfriend and myself) have just signed a contract to start building a new house in the Maples, Laurimar Estate. We bought a block of land back in August and it was the last Lot in Barrett Place to be sold (stage 1). We settled in November 2009 but had started planning to building a house in September 09. The Maples Green is only 400 metres to the Laurimar supermarket and shopping complex. It is also close to the lakes, walking paths, primary school and two large sports ovals. There is going to be a tavern, day spa and waterfront cafe as well as a community centre, swim school and kindergarten.
After researching and reviewing volume builders and their display homes etc, we settled on a well known volume builder to build us a house but we had to make a few changes to the front facade to incorporate a front outdoor living area to meet covernant requirements. I asked the builder if they could redesign one of the standard facades to include an oversized porch and an adjoining verandah. The standard facade roofline is going to be brought forward to cover the verandah.
The verandah will sweep around the front wall line from the porch to the master bedroom and will be supported by wooden column posts which forms a part of the main structure of the house. This creates our front outdoor living space which will overlook the Maples Green park. I've added 2 external French doors to the master bedroom which can open out onto this living area from inside. It should be a nice place to have a coffee on a Sunday morning. At night it can be lit up using downlights to feature the wooden window facade, red brick and French doors.
The administration process to this point has been very frustrating and time consuming as I've had to sort out certain things prior to going ahead with it. With the plans now submitted and dispensations sent to council, we'll have a site start in a few weeks, hopefully. 
Just to give you an idea, the house is 31.5 Sq in size which includes the garage and porch areas. The inside living area is 210 sqm (22.5 sq). We decided to increase the size of the garage to accommodate two and a half cars for extra space which we'll use to fit a workbench. Included in the larger garage is a rear roller door for access to the small backyard. We have planned a Grand Alfreso at the rear and have a forward setback from front porch to boundary of 3.5 m. Got to have some space for the Vegie patch and shed! We'll end up planting the front area with native ferns to give the boundary some definition.
We decided to keep render to a minimum (Just the front porch and half pillars) and upgrade to red blend Daniel Robertson bricks with off white mortar to feature the bricks. All window frames at the front are wood stained in Mahogany. The roof will be colourbond Monument (which is dark grey in colour but I've noticed it has a tinge of green). Roof pitch is 25 deg as per developer requirements and inside, 9' ceilings.
As far as inclusions, we have solar hot water, zoned heating and evaporative cooling. We have asked for water tank run-ins to be installed to the toilets for future installation of a water tank and have sound screening throughout the house including the wall in the laundry behind washer and dryer and to some bedrooms backing onto bathrooms.
We have decided to change the rooms around a bit to open up the space near the kitchen as this house is a smaller in comparison to its larger brother which is 35 sq. By opening up the living area between the kitchen/meals/casual, we've intentionally designed the house to feel bigger inside whilst being able to retreat to the TV room further back for quiet times.
We've moved the TV room to the rear of the house which also has access to the alfresco area by way of large wooden sliding doors. The TV room may be used as a pool table room in the future. The casual room/lounge will be near the kitchen and the rear wall is setup for a future fireplace. This wall between the two windows will be a recess to store a frame for future fireplace installation. We may turn this into a feature wall at some stage.
We moved the laundry alongside the garage and internal access is now into the laundry instead of the entry hall. The position of these doors needs to be changed as the laundry and garage doors back onto each other. This will be included in a variation and final drawings.
We've moved the TV room to the rear of the house which also has access to the alfresco area by way of large wooden sliding doors. The TV room may be used as a pool table room in the future. The casual room/lounge will be near the kitchen and the rear wall is setup for a future fireplace. This wall between the two windows will be a recess to store a frame for future fireplace installation. We may turn this into a feature wall at some stage.
We moved the laundry alongside the garage and internal access is now into the laundry instead of the entry hall. The position of these doors needs to be changed as the laundry and garage doors back onto each other. This will be included in a variation and final drawings.
We decided to put double doors on the study so that we can close it off. The plan is to install feature French doors (perhaps similar to the master suite exterior doors) at a later stage.
I'll post up some photos so you get the idea. Click on them for larger images.
Picture are colours/theme of house and garage door (Caoba I think). The render is called Eastern Gold.
Black aluminium window frames will be used along the side and rear of the house and timber sliding doors to the alfresco with added flyscreens. Wood stained mahogany will be used to the front facade including front door and two sidelight window frames. Render will be applied to the rear alfresco and front porch only and the half pillars supporting wood columns under in the outdoor living area.
Photos below are the Bathroom wall tiles and Caesar stone bench tops to kitchen and bathroom/ensuite. All bench tops in the ensuite, bathroom and kitchen is Caesar stone which will shine under downlights. We have chosen Bondi as our Caesar stone.
As for paint, we've chosen Half Hogs Bristle colour to the main rooms and Quarter Hogs Bristle which is lighter to the smaller rooms like bathrooms and toilet.
Shower tiles and feature coloumn
More to come soon!
