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.
