Our Home in Hoya Progress Report No.1

Joists and Bearers

Building is progressing at great pace and we are finally getting an idea of what our home will really look and feel like.

Sometimes I think the house looks HUUUUUGE and others times, just perfect size for two of us, a few pets and a massive garden. 
From the top of the block she doesn't look so big. The two pics below show how she sits into the hill. This is something I wanted. Not a huge pretentious blot on the landscape. 

The side view of the build, however, shows that there is quite a slope on the block.






John can easily stand under the balcony that opens from the master bedroom.

I suppose that size can be considered relative in many situations. It is all a matter of perspective. Check out the house from the bottom of the block. It seems to span the width of the block which I assume is because of the slope.

I am still struggling to find ideas for the breezeway gaps. This one is between the living area and master suite. It is slopey and on the southern side of the house so won't get much sun. Any idea anybody? 

My latest bright idea is a simple metal structure that will support creepers. 

Something like this? Post a comment or suggestion.

John's been practising his drone skills again so check out his latest video. 

We are visiting Our Home in Hoya every fortnight so why not follow my blog for regular updates. 

We have broken ground!

We are off and digging! What more could we ask for. There is a sign, a portaloo and a water tank full of water. 

Here is a bunch of photos and a video so you can watch the build with us and give us lots of ideas about landscaping. 

Majestic piles of dirt perfectly frame the portaloo. 

It was a glorious Autumn day which shows off the portaloo nicely.

View from the top of the driveway. It curves to the right as it descends down the hill.

Dirt, glorious dirt! 

The view is amazing. 









My mind is in overload with landscaping questions. The block is naked so I have free reign. Well not exactly. John has a fear of gum trees crashing through the roof and fruit trees that are too large to harvest. I will collect some ideas for trees and ask you all for your opinions. 

Progress report coming again in a couple of weeks. Please follow my blog so you don't miss an episode. 

Trust me, I am not doing the earthworks. 

Colour selection for a new home

We have been "working" on this house build for many months now but alas, no start date as yet. The weather in south-east Queensland has been particularly unfriendly this week that little would have been done on the build even if construction was underway. 

The decisions have all been made so we can relax a bit and just wait. 

Here are some of the colour choices we have made.

Roof. Our current home has a black roof. It looks fabulous but I have always been a bit suspicious that it doesn't help the house stay cool in the summer so it's a "no" for our new roof. I wanted a colour that will blend into the landscape and there will be a lot of roof visible from the road so why not go green? Green roofs seem so out of date so it's also a "no" to green. When there has been little rain for weeks the block looks more like a sandy green so after much discussion, internet looking and samples arriving in the mail, we have settled on COLORBOND Surfmist ®. This will also be the colour of the rendered external walls. 

http://colorbond.com/colour/surfmist

According to the Colorbond website, Surfmist "embodies qualities of freshness, purity, timelessness and independency. Snow, the mist from the sea and surf, pure white sand, and the billowing sails of yachts all remind us of this colour." Yes OK, today I am going with snow.

http://colorbond.com/colour/monument

Gutters. We wanted a contrasting colour to create lines and liked the idea of black so COLORBOND Monument®

it is. A "strong, confident colour that is unashamedly a city colour." Yes, very sheike. As you can see by the photo, a whole roof would look brilliant and also feel brilliant if living in a southern state or close to the arctic circle.  

John and I love timber. It's look, feel and smell. We will have big wooden pillars on the porch and verandah posts. There is something about timber that is raw and natural yet defined. 

We are also practical. Our current home has a floating wooden floor. Looks great but we continually worry about the scratches. It also gets mopped with steaming, soapy water. Something that should never be done as it opens the pores, just like a steam room. 

The tiles we have chosen for the hall, dining, lounge and kitchen are timber look. Is this cheating? Um, maybe but they are also beautiful. 

www.nationaltiles.com.au

I have taken a photo from National Tiles to demonstrate just how beautiful timber look tiles can be. The photo does not do them justice, but this is Nordic Latte, our chosen colour. 

There is not much more to say about colour. The rest of the house will be the modern, 'on trend' colours of nothing really. Off-white, black benchtops, white cabinetry, black bathroom floor tiles. 

Let's hope next week is a bit more interesting than this week has been in house building world. 

Remember to follow my blog if you want to be alerted when something interesting happens. 

Looking for a house design

Picking a house design is not an easy task when you have a large block that is also sloping. Not sloping in one direction but two. We realised we would have challenges with the block when we bought it but were always confident we would find what we wanted.

We had a list of 'wants':

• open spaces.
• large windows and lots of airflow. breezy.
• natural light.
• a space for indoor doing.
• room for a spa that didn't need a bush track to get to.
• welcoming.
• not big.
• not pretentious.
• be able to see outside while sitting in bed for the morning cuppa.
• maximise views of the mountains.

I also had the idea that the house had to sit 'in' the land rather than be pretentiously perched on it for all to see. It couldn't be like a concrete pimple on a bodybuilder's back. You get my meaning? John wanted a skillion roof from the very first discussion and I understood why. It gives a modern look and would also fit with my idea that the house had to look settled into the landscape. 

We found many photos and drawings online that we thought were the sort of thing we wanted. Here are some of our favourite picks. 

Storybook Designer Homes create homes with High Quality Traditional, Modern & Contemporary Architecture. 

This is a home built in the Samford Valley by baahouse to be a tropical retreat for a granny. It was the big verandahs with huge doors that appealed to us. 

This design by Pivot Homes was one that John found. We were impressed by the large verandah that seemed to float above the landscape. 


I found it very hard to accept that there wasn't a building company in SE Queensland that had the perfect design for us already in a project home. Why not? I think partly because there seems to be the need to squish as much home as possible on your average, now not very large city block. Surely 'acreage' homes would have what we wanted but I was disappointed there also because if you live on acreage you require 4 bedrooms, at least 3 toilets, study, media room, a few lounges, cellar and of course life cannot be lived without a butler's pantry. Note I have called it a butler's pantry not butlers' pantry. Doubt if I will have more than one butler in my lifetime. 

After weeks of searching and lamenting the fact that we might have to go to an architect or draftsperson, a design that looked like a good starting point was found with a GJGardner home. There were things we wanted to change but the bones were there along with 3 toilets for 2 people, 4 bedrooms, office, library and the inevitable scullery. Just another name for a butler's pantry.  

After weeks of back and forth with a patient chap at G. J Gardner, who couldn't quite believe that we didn't want 4 bedrooms, 3 toilets, a spa bath in the ensuite and a library but 'needed' a massive studio, we settled on the design. The garage has been moved to the western side of the house and the powder room has been removed. 

It isn't a big or fancy house. That is not what we want. 
Now we had to work out how to hang it off the hill. How much will be slab and how much stumps and where to plonk it on the property to minimise excavation and build costs, plus line up with the sun? That's enough house planning for one day. Check back soon for my next post.