Coming together

Long time, no post!

Our kind-of-custom Arden home is coming together beautifully.  In fact, final inspection date and handover are already booked.  FOR THIS MONTH!!!


Isn't she perfect??

The Limed White render came out a bit darker than we expected, but it's sitting nicely with our other selections.
Monument garage door went on today.  Love it.  Blends in with the Mt Eden columns.  And those cedar battens - drool - that tie in with the stained pivot door.  Love it, love it, love it.

Timber floors are absolutely beautiful.  We went for an expansion joint mid-way along the hallway, to allow for future movement.  They've done such a great job of fitting it.  Much better than last house.  And I'm loving the way you can see straight down the hallway and out the back sliding door.  We'll be able to make a feature of this when it comes to landscaping.

Same floor, different light.  This is in my treatment room on the South side of the house.  Surprisingly bright.  Loving the Dulux Gecko feature wall against Natural White everywhere else.

 Ensuite - so excited by the look of the bathrooms.  It's hard to see in this pic, but the stone has small grey pieces that are picked up on the grey of the tiles.  Sinks, taps and caulking to go.

Not far to go in the kitchen.  Island server bench, splash back and some finishing off.  Having a fridge INSIDE the house again is going to be a total treat.  GET ME IN THERE!!!

Arden have built us a sensational house.  Our supervisor calls us if he's not 100% sure of something, like the position of power points or light switches.  Meeting me on-site to open up for curtain measurements.  Very, very happy customers right about now!

Finding a facade

There's a heck of a lot of choices to be made in this building caper.  One of our first was facade.

Last build, I remember agonising over choosing the face of our home.  Our builder gave us an address lists of other versions of our base house being built or recently finished, and off we'd go, taking photos, comparing, deciding, changing, deciding again.  Agonising.

Not so this time around.

Arden gave us 8 options to choose from, and in less than 2 minutes we were down to a choice of two.

We 100% knew we wanted a raised ceiling in the entry, which automatically ruled out the first 4 options.

Keeping within budget disqualified these two;

Which left the two contenders...

I like them both.  I like them boooooooth.  The portico makes the house look wider and definitely more welcoming.

Do we like the bottom one $1,500 more than the top?  Nope.  Done.  Arco it is!

Probably no coincidence that it's also the facade of our display.
I wonder what percentage of people stick with the displayed version.


Here's a very rough idea of our home's face.

Our roof is a touch darker, and that wall to the left of the column is narrower.  Thank goodness!  I would have LOVED a long, narrow window in here but I misunderstood the timeframes for changes.  The windows in this front room have given me a few nights of broken sleep.  But it is what it is.  And if we're smart with our plant placement, we can balance it up visually again.

The contrast Mt Eden (charcoal grey) render we originally chose for those front columns has changed.  We're keeping it all a consistent Limed White which should make it seem wider and give a cleaner look.  Fingers crossed.  Or the paintbrush will come out!!

Colour me happy

I get that builders make their money through upgrades.

But I don't like it.

It feels like a bit of a scam to me.  And we were swept up in the upgrade frenzy last time around, so this build, there will be no $3,000 feature tiles in the powder room.  No sir-eeee.  Or stacked stone feature wall.  Or any of the craziness that dates and over-capitalises.  We spent $120,000 over the base price last build.    Yes, it DID look amazing.  But our mortgage did not.  And with downsizing that figure one of the key drivers to this move, we had to keep our emotions in check, and make smarter decisions.

One of the MANY things I've loved so far about Arden is their inclusions.  I don't feel like I'm being up-sold at every turn.  It feels transparent.  And I like it.

I was really, really hoping that our colour browse wouldn't sour that, like a particular large builder with a biiiiiiig warehouse of shiny upgrades in Port Melbourne.  (I needed a shower after that experience!).

We're allocated one hour on a Saturday to browse the Arden colour room, with a guided tour by a qualified Interior Designer.  Cool.  Felicity was so adorable, and helpful, and cheery, and made us feel welcome and at ease.  She stepped us through the showroom, and guided us with really helpful questions to eliminate options.

Brick or Hebel?  Hebel.  It was included in the promotion.
Light or dark render?  Light.
Colorbond or tiles?  Tiles.  An upgraded profile was included in the promo too.
Light or dark?  Dark.
Windows?  Black.
Garage door to match the roof or contrast?  Match.

And in less than 7 minutes, our exterior scheme was picked.

Timber or tiled floors?  Timber.  Promo.  Yahoo.
Do you have any images of kitchens or bathrooms you like?  Do I ever - ha ha.
Oh, I know what would look awesome with us...
Have you thought about...

Felicity completely understood the look we were going for, and added value in ways we would never have considered.

Before our hour was up, we literally had every element of the house selected.  It was so stress free, and for the first time, it felt like the fun that people tell me it's supposed to be.

Here's our selections;

EXTERNAL
Render, main - Dulux Limed White
Render, feature - Dulux Mt Eden
Roof tile - Monier Traditional, Barramundi
Windows - Black
Garage Door - Monument
Gutter & fascia - Monument
and if the budget allows, we'll add in this gorgeous stone to the facade columns.

INTERNAL
Walls - Dulux Natural white
Ceiling - Dulux Natural White
Trims - Dulux Natural White
Feature wall - Dulux Vanilla Quake
Carpet - Major Carpets Royal Parade, Cavalade (Cat 2 upgrade)
Timber - Trendline Oak Laminate, Golden Oak
Tiles - Beaumont, Belga Grey GL Porc 450 x 450

BATHROOMS
Benchtop - Caesarstone, Ocean Foam
Vanity - Polytec, Natural Oak
Tiles - Beaumont Belga Grey
Feature tiles - Beaumont Mosaic Penny Round, Cinder Grey (upgrade)

KITCHEN
Benchtop - Caesarstone, Ocean Foam
Cabinets - Polytec, Classic White
Overheads - Polytec, Black Wenge
Feature - Polytec, Natural Oak
Splashback - Glass, Dulux Vanilla Quake

Me being me, it's likely these will be changed, at least in my own mind, hundreds of times over until the final point of no return.  But for now, we're much pleased with ourselves and with Arden for a lovely experience.