Colour Selections - HOG

Another appointment we had was our general colour selections for the house which included anything else other than plumbing, electrical,kitchen, landscaping.

We had to choose our external colours quite quickly so they could be used as part of the approval process through stocklands. For this we had to firstly visit PGH Bricks in schofields and run through with them the colours we wanted to go with. I didn't really find them too helpful. We pretty much told them what we liked, said that we didn't want to do anything other than standard and the lady we had just wrote it all down. She didn't offer any guidance or anything, which i was hoping for even though i knew what i wanted its still nice to listen to other ideas, and as long as it was standard i may of been willing to change my mind.

They set up a little display as per below so you can see all the colours together. If you head to a previous post about external colours, you will see some more info on what we have chosen Click Here

At HOG we had Sarah to run through the external selections with. She was so nice, and offered some really good opinions and guidance. We had to choose the eave colour, the colour of our front door, whether we wanted off white mortar or natural mortar, what type of finish we wanted - we went with Ironed. I wanted the flushed finish but this is an upgrade for Eden Brae. Actually, they dont even recommend it, apparently they had some quality issues and sarah said if we wanted to select it then besides paying extra we would of had to sign a form to say that EBH are not responsible for the outcome of the work - so with that in mind we declined and went with ironed finish instead.

To finish off externals we had to also choose what colour our rain water tank was, downpipes, electrical box aswell. We chose the same colour as our gutter - monument. We also opted to upgrade our clear glass on the front door to translucent, and also changed the handle to the omni trilock handle. A massive big handle to go with the massive door that hubby wanted.

The internal colours appointment was a lot more involved as i couldn't be prepared as i was with knowing what we wanted for externals. First of all we went through the wire shelving in the WIP - REALLY NOT AT ALL impressed that EBH only offer wire racking in the WIP - i have never eer seen this in any house i have been into! stupid standard inclusion and something i think they should atelast offer is basic melamine package. For us to upgrade our WIP was going to be $807 - uuummm no thanks! we will stick with the wire and get something done post handover.

Wire shelving in the linen press im ok with, so that will stay. Wire racking in the robes also not a fan! surely EB could step up and offer this as standard like masterton do! it looks so much better when you walk into a house and see a proper built in with the proper shelving and not just a basic wire rack. We will update our robes to some decent shelving, racks and drawers post handover. The credit we got back was minimal, so for now we will leave it all in and atleast we can hang our clothes when we move in, just in case money is tight and we can update straight away it will serve its purpose.

We chose all our handles. there were only about 3 too choose from. They were ok. Nice enough. Gainsborough "Liana" are the handles we have through out as part of the luxury upgrade.

We chose all the privacy locks, cavity slider pulls, door stopper, deadbolts, patio bolts, upgarded the size of our mirrors in the bathrooms to one piece that filled the space from vanity height to line up with the tiling on the shower. The ensuite comes with 2 mirrors for each basin, we changed this to one big mirror instead. We also discussed the fly screens and will get pricing on the superscreen for the front entrance to it looks nicer than the diamond grill ones. We need a screen on the front due to the BAL19 rating.

We then moved onto paints. This was hard. all the colours looked the csame under the light. I had agonised for weeks over the paint colour. You are limited to only certian paints they call "2 coat paints: a brochure received at tender listed the paints, and once we remove all the yellow tones, and the really dark ones we were left with maybe a dozen to choose from. All of which look the same of a piece of card only an inch square. I had to try and block out what they looked like at HOG and run with the ones we picked at home under natural light. In the end we chose the taubamns Marble Mist, and Tahira white for the skirtings. I have since painted a canvas with the 2 colours, and even though the Tahira White looks too white atleast its neutral so it will go with everything and its something that can be changed easily so im not fussed at the moment.

Paint colour with our flooring and our carpet colour. It has a grey tinge to it, hint of green in the colour too, which should tie in nicely to the sarsen grey laminex for the kitchen. I went to bunnings and asked for the code to see what the undertones are, i wanted to make sure we didn't have a yellow undertone. The Marble mist is made up from Raw umba and Orcha, they are both relaly earthy colour the raw umba is a relaly dark green, almost black, and orcha is an earthy yellow. Seeing it with my flooring i love it. I have no second thoughts about it at all.

This photo gives you an idea of the sarsen grey kitchen cupboards, essastone Crystal chalk bench top, the timber look panel represents the flooring, and then the paint colour. Looks nice and neutral and the floors will be the feature.

Once all the colours were selected we then waited a couple of weeks for EBH to email through the PCV with all the pricing. It would be great to get the pricing straight away as its a long time to wait when all the other pricing comes through so quickly. And any major change you want to the prices that come through then take another few days to a week to receive the new quoted price. Its a long drawn out process. Then because the PCV's are raised, you have to sign them, but then you have to write another email to say you want them removed and another PCV is sent through with the removed items. The paperwork/admin side of things is crazy! Ima highly organised person and it still did my head in, i ended up getting a folder to put all the paperwork in to kee it in order as there was paper everywhere.

I try to subject each email appropriately as i find looking for something later on is a pain if the subject line doesn't detail it properly.

Almost 3 weeks on and im still questioning things through HOG that i need clarification on before confirming. Yawn! its getting boring now - i just want to move onto the next stage.

To summarize the colours appointment if we take out the kitchen and plumbing selections we did on the same day then the colours was a good 4 hours all up, it goes so fast though so it doesn't feel like you are there for that long, its a really long drawn out day, and i went in fully prepared, new our budget (not that it mattered because prices weren't given on the day) i knew the look i wanted which helped. God help those people that walk in having done no research at all, it must take them hours to choose. 

I also thought i would get more guidance from the colour consultant. I was under the impression that they help you choose colours that compliment each other, run through trends and give you general ideas, there was none of that, the classic line of the day was "oh its your house you have to ive with the choices" OR "its all new, no matter what you choose it will look nice".

More random photos, just because i can! lol.............

Internal Doors Through out painted in Tahira White - Upgrade

Changed laundry door from standard sliding door to this glass door, translucent glass

Shower screens for both bathrooms 

Omni Trilock Handle Upgrade

Updated Driveway

Driveway finish - COVE

Driveway Colour options - We selected Gunmetal

External Colours

We have our external colours picked out. I'm quite happy with the choices. We went standard with everything. The other bricks i liked were about $1500 to upgrade to a D range brick, id hate to think what the upgrade for H grade brick would be worth.

We were hoping for Flushed mortar finish but have been told Eden Brae don't do it, they have had too many quality issues with it and if we did want it then it would be a further upgrade plus we would need to sign a form stating that the builder takes no responsibility to damage caused to the bricks. I don't want to risk this so went for the next best thing "Ironed" finish with off-White mortar. No confirmation on costs for this upgrade yet. Im expecting $300-$400 for this.

As part of the upgrade package we were able to choose from the Monior "Traditional" tile range and have selected the Barramundi Colour. Standard colour range, and from driving around the estate its the most popular colour of choice.

FaceBrick - Chosen Brick from the standard builders range is Mocha. Its got deep grooves and a lot of texture too it, at first we thought stocklands wouldn't accept it, but we got confirmation they will which is great i was worried we would have to upgrade the bricks. The other colour we were considering was Surrey from the standard range. Eden Brae give you about 9 choices. and of those i only liked 2 of them! nearly every single brick i picked that i loved was a H class, Big $$$ to upgrade! No wonder either there are some really beautiful bricks out there. But we are sticking to a budget and have to decide whats more important to us, and for me id rather spend money on the inside than the outside.

The bottom half of this sample shows the brick with the off-white mortar.Ironed Finish

Gutters & Fascia - Choosing gutters was easy, These usually blend in with the roof, so the chosen colour is monument. Seems an extremely popular colour choice for gutters. Blends into the roof perfectly, Teamed with the colourbond Dune Fascia, the 2 colours blend so nicely together.

Windows was really hard for me, I was disappointed to realise that Airlite/Stegbar builders range didn't include a Dune colour. The closest colour that we liked was the APO grey, it has the same undertones to it without standing out too much ( i hope) this is one thing i will not be sure of until i see it and just hope that we have made the right decision  There are about 9 colours to choose from and they were either white or really dark, and i wanted to consider what it would look like from inside the house looking out and i feel that the dark window frames would stand out to much when we want such a natural bright feeling throughout the inside of the house. So given these factors APO was the only one we could go with. I could of had a custom Dune colour made, which would mean custom fly-screens as well a very costly upgrade of at least $2000 i was told, so decided to just stick with standard.

Garage Door - A no brainer! For once an easy choice. We went with Dune. It will be a sectional garage door. The Infill panel above it will also be dune. I'm disappointed we even have to have the infill panel. I DO NOT like it at all - wish we could have bricks. Unfortunately we only have standard ceiling height there isn't enough space above the door for a row of bricks so we have no choice unless we pay $5000 to upgrade the height of our ceilings - Anyone got a spare $5000 they could lend us to make it happen (Jokes)

Eaves - I was originally going with a colour option to tone in with the brick, but after speaking to colour consultant she advised that i need a colour that compliments both the garage door and the windows. I couldn't choose anything to dark and the CC thought that the surfmist colour had the same undertones as the Dune and also complemented the APO grey. I went with her advice. At the end of the day its just eaves, i dont think anyone will tell if its a white, grey white, creamy white.... etc

Front Door - We have chosen the mother of all doors! its huge! its grand! and does make a statement as you enter the house. Its such a shame that we have to cover it up with a fly screen (BAL 19 regulation) but nevermind! Hubby has his heart set on the beautiful door so we stuck with it! Colour for this will be walnut, a dark brown colour to compliment the brick, and will also compliment any wood decking we want to do out the front after handover. I think we will also upgrade to the translucent glass a swell just for the added privacy. And get rid of the ugly diamond grill screen for a superscreen - much like the crimsafe option. At least it should keep the front entrance looking nice still.

Driveway - A choice as standard for either concrete or the pavers. We went with the concrete. The pavers do look really nice. but with the sloping driveway i feel you may lose the effect a little bit, im also worried about the weeds growing through and the pavers sinking after time. We have chosen the standard cove finish in the gunmetal colour. The driveways all seem to be this dark charcoal colour, and have since found out that generally the driveway matches the roof tiles.

Seeing all the colours together is so exciting! I cant wait for them to start building it! But thats months away. We probably wont see bricks until February 2014. Lets just hope my tastes are still the same as they are now! These colour options we have chosen now will be sent to the CDC and stocklands for approval along with the plans for the DA. Will be nice to get the DA approval and have it all offical.

This front facade will change slightly! We have been able to get rid of the cladding, which im so happy about, and i have to try and ignore the infill panel! and hope that once its painted to match the garage door it wont stand out.

The only thing we haven't been able to confirm is whether or not we should do stack stone on the pillars of the portico. Di Lorenzo prices are way too high so i think that it will be too costly, and probably something we can easily get done later on down the track if we wanted to give the house an extra lift above standard. There is also the option to render the portico pillars as well if we wanted too. I've heard stocklands like at least 3 elements to the front facade design. So will be interesting to see if they are still enforcing this or not. If they do then render the front pillars will most likely be the cheapest option for this.