A year after our initial attempt at home ownership my wife and I were keen on looking into new options for a home. Our baby girl was growing fast and needs an area to play with all her toys, we were also finding out that our storage space was quickly disappearing with all the presents, toys, clothes, and other baby products that you collect.
We started to visit some of the displays again and started looking for land in estates that will provide a few requirements for ourselves.
Being newbies into first home owner builder, we were initially looking into purchasing house and land package, and while this was great for fixing site costs, it made block location difficult for the house design we desired. We quickly developed a set of requirements for our block of land and started looking out houses that matched this design.
Requirements:
- Location Location Location: This was by far the most important decision, we couldn't afford to build in the new estates that are closer to the city and my wife doesn't want to drive so she prefers access to public transport.
- Facilities: Shopping Centres, and key shops. e.g. Bunnings LOL and activities for our daughter when she grows a bit older.
- Next was Siting: We wanted a north facing block. A block that would give us north sun over our main living areas with bedrooms situated over the east side of the house and garage protecting the house from the west sun. This was important not only from a heating and cooling cost reduction but also a lifestyle. We have lived in houses that had rooms etc in the south end of the house and they were always very depressing due to the lack of Sun so we wanted to avoid this in our design.
- House and Block Size: We were after a block that would provide not a large back yard and at the same time not something that is completely useless. We like the idea of a small garden for veggies and some space for the kids to play with our pet rabbit. We noticed a common style of designs with new house is to have the alfresco cut into the backyard with the rest of the house wrapping around it and effectively leaving a very small space of say 2 - 3 meters behind the house.
- House Layout:
- Master + 3 Bedroom
- Ensuite
- Bathroom (not a shower room)
- Theatre room (huge movie fan and have always wanted to build one of these for ever)
- Bedrooms/Games room to the rear of the house to keep noise/kids mess away from the entertaining areas.
- Family & Kitchen Area The wife wanted a house that had these rooms very light and bright and "open"
So off we went looking at new estates and displays to get an idea of what would work for us.
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