Inside Flooring

We're going to organise the inside flooring after handover.  This will delay moving in for a little bit but gives us more time to shop for the ones we love.
Alot of display homes we've seen have porcelain tiles which look like floor boards because of the wood grain feature - see photo below.  We've also found a really nice external tile for our portico and alfresco which has a sandstone appearance.  The main thing affecting which tile we select is the cost of installation.  In the process of finding a recommended tiler in our area.  In terms of carpet we like the waffle pod style and will most likely choose a mocha brown colour.

Colour Selections

Wow there's so much to choose from at the Colour Studio Norwest.  We had a 4 hour appointment to choose everything for external and internal colours.  Christine (our dedicated colour expert) was very helpful.  We chose a few items from the standard range and upgraded much more!  

Roof - Colorbond Woodland Grey

Gutters, Downpipes - Woodland Grey

Fascia, Eaves, Windows - Surfmist

Bricks - Austral Symmetry Earth
Portico piers - Rendered Surfmist

Mortar - off white ironed

Garage Door - Caoba timber grain

Internal walls - Warm smoke

Ceiling, skirting, internal doors, architraves - Illusive White

Bathroom vanity - Macchiato

Bathroom cupboards - Mocha

Bathroom, Laundry tiles - Hamilton Latte

Kitchen bench - Ceaserstone White shimmer

Kitchen cupboards - Pumice

Kitchen overhead - Satin White finish gloss

Omega Gas cooktop and 900mm Omega oven

Added fly screens, shelving to built in wardrobes, pull out bin instead of microwave space, pot drawers, sorrento doors, bright chrome door handles, plus much more!

April 2011 - May 2011

Display home shopping was so exhausting.  We went to Oran Park, Masterton village, Clarendon village and the very old-fashioned homeworld Kellyville.  

After several weekends of searching for THE one….we made our way back to Oran Park where the shortlisted homes were.

It was between Masterton Symphony, Eden Brae Saville or McDonald Jones Havana.

The front runner was McDonald Jones because we loved the floor plan.  It didn't matter how many homes we looked at something was telling us that this was the one!  We can see our future in this home and the display home has a good vibe.

We made a few changes to the plan:

• added sliding windows in children activities room
• deleted built in desk and added linen cupboard for extra storage space
• removed decorative vase cavity and replaced with toilet door so it's separate to main bathroom
• entrance hallway coffered ceiling
• kept the entrance door like the one on display
• kept the fancy interior doors for the main bedroom, home theatre, pantry and sliding doors into children's activity room

Next step is the site survey and soil test…… well the results are in and we've been advised that highly reactive soil = deeper slab and more piers = $$$$.  Also because of driveway gradient being too steep to meet Council guidelines and Aus Standards we now have to introduce 2 steps into our garage.  Don't mind having to do that but it's the inconvenience of having to find someone to remove approx 130 tonne of spoil from our site and pay them for the labour.  I've been told it won't be cheap (but what is when you're building hey!)

October 2010 - March 2011

Well after years of renting we have taken the plunge and purchased our 1st block of land @ Glenmore Ridge.  OMG we about to build our 1st home!!!! We decided on impulse to attend the Stockland information session late Oct 2010 and just before our holiday to NZ mid Nov 2010 we signed the contracts for the purchase!!  We used Glenmore Conveyancing and were very happy with Sandy's expertise and friendly service regarding our settlement.


Late March 2011 = land registration.  Lot 211 is officially ours!!  The block is north facing 16m x 33m and is positioned very close to the future shopping centre.


We are renting and paying the land mortgage now which means tight budget but the end result of having keys to our brand new home is going to be worth every cent.