Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts
House update - almost there!
12/27/2010
Hi everyone,
About time for an update! We had another meeting with the architect on December 22nd. Over the last few months he has been working with the engineer, drawing up structural, plumbing and electrical plans, and made a few minor changes to the floor plan to account for these. We also went through the glazing schedule, confirming the sizes and types of all the windows. We also met the builder for the first time!
Latest plan revisions:
There were another 20 or so diagrams/plans with these ones but I won't upload them all - things like updated elevation diagrams, subfloor plan, roof plan, and so on, I won't scan them all :)
Major changes:
- A niche running all the way around the top cornice area of 3 sides of the house - this was because the roof support structure needed a bit more space than what was available (and raising the roof level would have required going back to planning approval) so to keep window sizes the standard height they added a gap. This works out well because it provides a spot where blinds etc. can be installed and then be hidden when they are open - and also allows some niches to be built into some walls.
- Laundry chute location confirmed, after about 4 different options were attempted!
- AV/network cabinet location changed - made it bigger and placed it between the theatre and the garage. Discussions with many AV enthusiasts have let me to believe that cat5/6 will be used for AV in the future (there are adaptors to do so now) so as a result it made sense to consolidate the network and AV runs.
- A step before entering the garage - because the garage is 300mm higher than the rest of the lower floor. I think the step may get in the way a bit, so will raise some alternatives with the architect!
We've also confirmed some floor surfaces:
- Polished concrete in the downstairs hallway (as well as hopefully a polished concrete benchtop)
- Modwood for the decks - modwood is made of sawdust and recycled plastic milk bottles, doesn't require oiling every year or other maintenace, and doesn't splinter!
I've also done some sketchup mockups of some areas to give the architect and builder an idea of what we are after.
Kitchen:
(Appliances are Electrolux oven & induction cooktop, F&P fridge, Robinhood rangehood and Asko dishwasher)
Laundry:
And my work of art, the AV unit!
Construction is now expected to start in March 2011.. which means we may not be in there before Christmas 2011 as we had hoped, but that's ok, we'd rather it be done well than done quick!
That'll do for now, electrical and plumbing to come in a future update!
Before and after - Part 1
9/20/2010
As I alluded to in a previous house update, here are some "before and after" plans of some parts of our new house, compared to similar areas in our current place.
First, the master bedroom (include walk-in robes and ensuite). Note the orientation of the rooms have been adjusted so north is to the top in both cases.
I think you would be hard pressed to find a new house design that doesn't include a walk-in robe - in face many of the pre-designed plans show a WIR and ensuite which combined are bigger than the bedroom itself! Our architect has instead, packed a stack of built-in storage into the area, much more than a WIR could offer! As well as standard built-in robes in both the bedroom itself and the ensuite, there is a walk-through robe on the way in the bedroom (both entrances to the WTR will have cavity slider doors, to allow extra sound insulation and privacy). All of these items will be full-height - making the most of the 2700mm ceilings!
There is also a lot of "low joinery" - about 500-600mm high - in the form of built in bedside tables (extra-wide - just enough space to fit a king size bed in between), and a daybed area near the window. The daybed part will probably not be built initially, to allow for a cot and change table to go there - until we don't need them anymore!
Speaking of windows, there will be a full height one from the bedroom facing the deck, and another full height one from the shower facing the internal deck. Not sure how that shower window is going to work regarding privacy... there are a few details to be worked out!
On to the kitchen/dining/meals areas - yes, these are to scale!
This is one of the areas to gain the most in the new house. One of the hardest parts about doing the map above was working out what room was what in our current house to make the comparison!
At the moment the dining room is the first room that people walk into when they come in the front door, which is not ideal considering how much mess babies and toddlers make when eating! It also means part of the room is basically a hallway which only makes it smaller. The new dining room is twice as big and also features a length of daybed storage (similar to the master bedroom).
It is also physically separated from the kitchen area.. oh the kitchen. If you thought the new pantry looks about the same as the old kitchen - you'd be pretty much right. In fact on the plan above it is pretty hard to spot the old pantry, tucked away there. I've worked out that the volume of our current pantry matches the capacity of the narrow shelf on the eastern wall of the new pantry... and we can't wait!
Also notice the windows - almost all north facing to let in the sun. In our old house the kitchen/meals area - which became the de facto living area - is south facing.
Two of the other nice things we plan for the new kitchen include an appliance cupboard on the end of the bench, and a child gate, built in to the joinery, at the other end. When the child gate is open it is fully recessed into the bench so you don't even know it is there. The meals area will also have a computer desk at one end - which can be used for children to do homework supervised, as a kitchen recipe computer, or as a TV.
So that covers two of the main areas of the house - more to come! In other news, our council plans were approved and in even more exciting news, we will most likely have a builder who can start in January 2011 (given we get all the engineering and detailed plans done by then) which would mean a November 2011 finish! There's a lot to be done before then - I'm currently sorting out my cabling plans (for data/phone/AV/security), which means a lot of researching into home AV distribution as I know next to nothing in that area ... but that's another blog post it itself!
House update - models and pictures!
8/06/2010
It's been a long time since the last update, but plenty has been happening! I just haven't kept the blog updated... here is a roundup of the last few months ... and this post will be light on text, high on pictures!
At our May architect meeting, we saw a cardboard model of the house!
(Apologies for the camera-phone blurriness!)
Note the garden and (fortunately) driveway will not be tiered like that - those are the limits of using cardboard as a modelling tool!
At our next meeting in June, we received the final plans that will be submitted to council, including some 3D renders:
It is long lasting and very low maintenance - basically needs cleaning once every ten years - which is great for people who are, lets say, home maintenance challenged such as ourselves!
Our plans are currently with the Hobart City Council and were advertised publicly on July 21st!
The public review period has ended and I don't know if the council received any submissions, but we did receive one call from a neighbour - saying that if we had any clean fill to get rid of, we are more than welcome to have it dumped on his block!
Last of all, I have been playing with Google Sketchup (which incidentally runs quite well under WINE) to design some of the joinery areas. The most complete one so far is the kitchen:
More work to do on that one - and of course more parts of the house in progress!
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