Oh so many display homes
So we have been looking around at various display houses since well, actually just before we settled on our block of land. We had from the start intended to build with Porter Davis as one of our friends had also been through a similar build and reading through the homeone forums they seemed to have the better response than most. I understand that no build will be perfect and that nearly everyone will have issues with their build but it is how these issues are managed that makes some builders stand out more than others and this was an area that Porter Davis seemed to do well in after many many hours researching and reading through homeone. We visited a number of Porter Davis homes and also visited Henley and Metricon to get ideas on styles, layouts and if we found a house we loved with any of them we could have been easily swayed.Porter Davis Amalfi 33?
So initially we were interested in the Amalfi 33. The large family, separate dinning and the WIP/Laundry behind the Kitchen was an interesting layout. The best thing we liked about the Amalfi was the huge ensuite with the also huge SPA. We looked at these plans for some time, in fact I'd sit there for most of the night trying to picture where furniture would be placed, how the study would be layed out, wondering if I could turn the living into a theater? We also asked other questions like why is BED4 in the middle of the house? Other things seemed to not quiet right. Toilet located between between BED2 and BED3, and then then looking at the display house the bathroom was so dark because it has no outside windows, then again.. hang on its not a bathroom..
The more and more we pictured our daily life in this house the more it just didn't seem to work. I think the biggest turn off was BED4 being smack bang in the middle of the house, and also how long it seemed as you had to walk before you found any part of the house from the entrance. If anyone has been the the Amalfi display you will know what I mean. It feels like you enter the house and then have to go down a long corridor before you find any rooms.. Oh wait no BED4 is on the way.. sigh... The final turn off was with BED2/BED3 not having really any separate space from the main living area or where guests would go to do their business in the toilet/bathroom.
After speaking to our consultants (friends who we must have bored to death) they agreed with our points. So as of this moment the Amalfi 33 was no longer.
Porter Davis Queenstown 33?
Okay, so back to the drawing board, the Queenstown 33. Looks a bit better, separate rumpus room quiet large as well 4.2x4.9 meters a good medium size theater room, can you tell we love our movies yet? BED 2, 3 and 4 are to the rear / side of the house. BED 2 separated from BED 3 and 4 that would be a good guest room, nice central alfresco, dinning and formal lounge. It looks great on paper.. doesn't really work to well with the "northern aspect" we are after. But we thought this design will match our lifestyle a lot more. They even have an ensuite spa option in lieu of the WIR in ensuite. Separate study nook. Great! But.... when we went to find a Queenstown 33, the display and the standard floor plan were completely different, I believe it was the Chisholm Option (see below), which basically moved the alfresco into where the rumpus room was and moved the rumpus to where the dinning area was and then moved the dinning in between the two? And as much as we wanted to think it would be okay, we just couldn't trust or imagine it, we had to see it built, but none of the Queenstown displays actually matched the standard floor plan. What a shame really..
Queenstown 33 Chisholm Option
After this we went looking for a similar design...
