Can't beat a family morning out to a brick display centre in the baking hot summer sun with no shade and the heat bouncing back off every brick surface from all angles. You'd think being Queensland that they'd put up a shade cloth or 2!
Anyway sun hats at the ready we peruse the display and confirm very quickly that only the linea flat roof tiles in charcoal grey will do for us, not that we'll see much of them way up there on a double storey home but we know they will look beautiful. Might need to consider making a view hatch to the roof just so we can show them off, erm may be that's getting a little carried away? Must be the affect of the heat.
Nice, simple display can get a feel and over all impression of how the brick looks on a larger expanse, better than the 6 bricks stuck on a white board at Studio M.
Like one brick from the standard range and another from the category 5 upgrade will see if we can get that priced by our SC.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Prelim is Ready
Got a call from our SC today letting us know the Preliminary Contract is ready for us to give the once over. Booked to do this Saturday as we will have to go through it point by point to check our wish list has been added correctly, see how much we've spent so far and if there are any alterations that need making.
Looking forward to Australia Day at the beach tomorrow.
Looking forward to Australia Day at the beach tomorrow.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
What Shall We Have? A Trip to Studio M
Time to get serious about what finishes and colours we want to put in the house as surely the preliminary contract would be ready soon. Nice drive down to Robina, found Studio M really easily where we were greeted with a warm welcome and as this was our first visit the young lady showed us around explaining which finishes and products were standard, upgrades or included in the Neo Dusk promo. She was quick to point out that she didn't know any prices and that would be covered in the colour selection appointments. I found that both frustrating and disappointing as I like to have all the facts at hand before making a decision. Might as well put a kid in a toy shop, tell them to choose anything they like and hope they have enough pocket money to cover it when they got to the check out. It could end in tears!
After the whirlwind tour my partner and I were slightly shell shocked we'd spent so much time designing the interior that we had given no consideration to how the exterior might look. No one said there would be bricks, roof tiles, window finishes, gutters and downpipes to decide on. First time house builders naivety had just struck!
Bricks: nothing in the standard range grabs us, picked 3 options in different upgrades so will need to go to Boral and Austral to get a better idea of how they look.
Roof Tiles: oh those flat ones are lovely. Another upgrade. Charcoal grey
Garage: slimline in a colorbond finish. Dark or light which will it be? Yeah at least this is standard.
Gutters and downpipes: standard to match roof or garage
Window frames: is that all the choices? Not impressed better go for black then.
Glass: clear is standard wonder how much to get grey tint.
Carpet: the promo carpet is not great and will need replacing in 3-5 yrs. Will cost about $2500-$4000 to upgrade. At least the carpet guy could figure out approx square meters and help us with costings
External door, taps, basins, toilets all promo. Well that's an easy choice then.
Wardrobe doors: mirror in all bedrooms plus one set of glass for master suite. The frameless ones look nice but how do you open them. Finger prints all over them and a couple of chipped nails and presto I have them open. Nice looking but zero points for practicality.
Baths: upgraded to extra deep and long baths
Floorwastes: upgrade to smart tile
Basin wastes: upgrade to chrome pop-up
Staircase: has to be the timber finish and yes you've guessed it that will be another upgrade
That just leaves the kitchen and bathroom benchtops, cupboards and vanities and paint colours. Not much then!!! We have been here 3 hours already and I am losing the will to pick up yet another laminex sample so quit while we're ahead. (Having a touch of deja vu and design fatigue after only having done this for the business 6 months ago). So with heads in a spin we take a very tired and fed up 4 yr old to the beach as promised what a great way to unwind.
Can't recommend enough how important going to Studio M as much as possible prior to your colour selections is. Otherwise you could find yourself super under prepared and in for a lot of very fast decision making. Give yourself the chance to make considered choices that you know will work for you before hand rather than making snap decisions you could regret.
We will definitely need to come to Studio M again as there are all those laminates to go through before we can narrow down exactly what we want for the kitchen and bathroom finishes. Also can't make up our minds whether to go browns or greys at this stage.
After the whirlwind tour my partner and I were slightly shell shocked we'd spent so much time designing the interior that we had given no consideration to how the exterior might look. No one said there would be bricks, roof tiles, window finishes, gutters and downpipes to decide on. First time house builders naivety had just struck!
Bricks: nothing in the standard range grabs us, picked 3 options in different upgrades so will need to go to Boral and Austral to get a better idea of how they look.
Roof Tiles: oh those flat ones are lovely. Another upgrade. Charcoal grey
Garage: slimline in a colorbond finish. Dark or light which will it be? Yeah at least this is standard.
Gutters and downpipes: standard to match roof or garage
Window frames: is that all the choices? Not impressed better go for black then.
Glass: clear is standard wonder how much to get grey tint.
Carpet: the promo carpet is not great and will need replacing in 3-5 yrs. Will cost about $2500-$4000 to upgrade. At least the carpet guy could figure out approx square meters and help us with costings
External door, taps, basins, toilets all promo. Well that's an easy choice then.
Wardrobe doors: mirror in all bedrooms plus one set of glass for master suite. The frameless ones look nice but how do you open them. Finger prints all over them and a couple of chipped nails and presto I have them open. Nice looking but zero points for practicality.
Baths: upgraded to extra deep and long baths
Floorwastes: upgrade to smart tile
Basin wastes: upgrade to chrome pop-up
Staircase: has to be the timber finish and yes you've guessed it that will be another upgrade
That just leaves the kitchen and bathroom benchtops, cupboards and vanities and paint colours. Not much then!!! We have been here 3 hours already and I am losing the will to pick up yet another laminex sample so quit while we're ahead. (Having a touch of deja vu and design fatigue after only having done this for the business 6 months ago). So with heads in a spin we take a very tired and fed up 4 yr old to the beach as promised what a great way to unwind.
Can't recommend enough how important going to Studio M as much as possible prior to your colour selections is. Otherwise you could find yourself super under prepared and in for a lot of very fast decision making. Give yourself the chance to make considered choices that you know will work for you before hand rather than making snap decisions you could regret.
We will definitely need to come to Studio M again as there are all those laminates to go through before we can narrow down exactly what we want for the kitchen and bathroom finishes. Also can't make up our minds whether to go browns or greys at this stage.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Floods
Wow what is happening 75% of Queensland is underwater and now Brisbane is a wash. Fortunately both our home and business are up high and dry. Have lost power at work so had to shut and am now either at home watching the news or looking at the flood water rising over the Centenary Highway and near our block of land which an elderly neighbour reckoned may have gone under in '74. The land is fine but unfortunately the same can't be said for so many others whose homes have been completed trashed. It's going to take a long time for Brisbane to recover from this.
I also couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the news coverage of the Toowoomba tsunami at first I thought it must have been a third world country having a flash flood not a town right here on the doorstep. Absolutely terrible - they had so little warning.
Many suburbs here are totally cut off with no power or food and the media only seems to be focusing on the CBD and inner suburbs and the flood peak on Thursday. Let's hope it doesn't go as high as they are predicting and goes down quickly. I have been on the weather site and the river is at 13m at Jindalee.
Strangely it is a beautiful sunny day and there are loads of glorious butterflies everywhere.
I also couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the news coverage of the Toowoomba tsunami at first I thought it must have been a third world country having a flash flood not a town right here on the doorstep. Absolutely terrible - they had so little warning.
Many suburbs here are totally cut off with no power or food and the media only seems to be focusing on the CBD and inner suburbs and the flood peak on Thursday. Let's hope it doesn't go as high as they are predicting and goes down quickly. I have been on the weather site and the river is at 13m at Jindalee.
Strangely it is a beautiful sunny day and there are loads of glorious butterflies everywhere.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Prelimary Contract
CSC e-mailed us to say that our preliminary contract has been ordered.
Also reminded us to check out Studio M and not leave it all until the selection appointments.
How exciting it's really starting to happen now.
Also reminded us to check out Studio M and not leave it all until the selection appointments.
How exciting it's really starting to happen now.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Upgrades
Possible upgrades we'd like to have.
 |
| Extra Bi-Fold Door |
 |
| Kitchen Window |
 |
| Cedar Cladding |
 |
| Technica 600mm Ovens |
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| Mirror Robe Doors |
 |
| Butler's Pantry |
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| Ohhhh What A Nice Sink |
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| Super Smart Doors - I bet they cost loads! |
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| Nice pool (Lindrum at Underwood) |
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| Stair Lights - Lovely Carpet |
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| Extra Large Bath (add $200) |
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| Cantilever Stairs "Oh Yeah Baby" (add $8000) |
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Studio M
Back to work after a lovely relaxing break.
Got e-mail from CSC today with address of Studio M, Tile Studio and electrical. Even provided a little map to make it easier for us to find. Everything is in Robina which is on the Gold Coast and will take us about an hour to get there but hey we can always make a day of it and go to the beach afterwards, if it ever stops raining! The beach would not a bad idea with a 4 yr old in tow as he'll be a bit tired after the drive and going round a showroom. Luckily for us he loves looking at house plans and choosing colours especially if he can take samples home with him so hopefully we can keep him engaged long enough to start getting a feel of what's on offer.
Studio M have samples, colours, doors and door handles, kitchen and bathroom ideas, taps, tiles and much more for you to put your mark and style into your home. They are open Saturday 9.30 - 3.00 so you can have a browse, start gathering ideas and see what options are available.This will be worth a visit as we haven't really given this much detailed thought and believe you can never be over prepared. Nothing worse than turning up to the colour selection appointments without an clue then ending up making pressured decisions which you may live to regret. (Think we'll get Nana to look after the boy when we have our selection appointments).
Websites Studio M and Tile Studio
Got e-mail from CSC today with address of Studio M, Tile Studio and electrical. Even provided a little map to make it easier for us to find. Everything is in Robina which is on the Gold Coast and will take us about an hour to get there but hey we can always make a day of it and go to the beach afterwards, if it ever stops raining! The beach would not a bad idea with a 4 yr old in tow as he'll be a bit tired after the drive and going round a showroom. Luckily for us he loves looking at house plans and choosing colours especially if he can take samples home with him so hopefully we can keep him engaged long enough to start getting a feel of what's on offer.
Studio M have samples, colours, doors and door handles, kitchen and bathroom ideas, taps, tiles and much more for you to put your mark and style into your home. They are open Saturday 9.30 - 3.00 so you can have a browse, start gathering ideas and see what options are available.This will be worth a visit as we haven't really given this much detailed thought and believe you can never be over prepared. Nothing worse than turning up to the colour selection appointments without an clue then ending up making pressured decisions which you may live to regret. (Think we'll get Nana to look after the boy when we have our selection appointments).
Websites Studio M and Tile Studio
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