Our original house

After renting in Rose Bay for 4 years we wanted to buy a property and loved St Ives on the North Shore. We bought a 3 bedroom  bathroom single dwelling and lived there for 15.5 years until we demolished the house. All 3 of our kids were born in the house and we have  lots of good memories. We also got our two dogs at this house.

We added a swimming pool and changed the kitchen when our oven packed up. Otherwise we did not make many changes.


























Daughters room (we had already packed things):





Our two sons room (pre dem painting had begun and mirror cupboards been removed)








Our bathroom (original from 1950's) except for the vanity that had to be replaced. Our shower door broke and because we knew we were rebuilding we used a piece of plastic for about a year as a shower curtain.













Main bedroom:

Day 2 selections

Our day 2 appointment was set for 13 Feb 2017 and it involved going to Di Lorenzo to select tiles and carpet, then choose our staircase and lastly the electrical appointment.

We arrived and met with James Treble, Interior designer, that was going to aid us in our selections (part of our package).

I had brought photo's of kitchen and bathroom we like so James can get an idea of what colour scheme we like.

We knew we wanted to stick to the standard tiles so we can stay in budget. 

James made the hard decision much easier and we chose our floor tiles for in and outside . Upgraded the size to 450 x 450. 

We upgraded the underlay to 10mm and it was quoted as $8/square metre

We chose Tempo Ice white Gloss for the wall tiles - standard range. (laundry) and Steel Gloss tile for bathroom tiles (standard).

The tiles are ceramic.

The carpet we chose was Quest Rochford - colour: Downly Fluff . 

The middle darker colour is our floor colour (it is lighter and more grey than the photo) and the lighter tile is our bathrooms, laundry, balcony etc ie wet areas

We chose the carpet on top.

For the stairs we had upgraded to the one as per display home with the glass. The only thing we changed was the tread on the stairs.

The electrical appointment was hard but we were well prepared. We had gone though the display home and in each room worked out where we felt we needed plugs, light switches etc. As you add things on the plan they show it on a screen and a total so you can see how much each. individual thing is. It sure adds up quickly but we did not want to be short on plugs. We had to decide on how many downlights per room etc.

We made provision for a pendant light above the stairs for post handover.

We selected 3 pendant lights for the kitchen

We put ceiling fans in each room - fanaways

We also put fans in the rumpus room, upstairs enclosed balcony (off main bedroom) and in the alfresco

Changes made / selections

I have been wanting to update the progress of our Eden Brae Waldorf 42 (opal facade) for ages but never find the time.

Our timeline so far:

Sales advice signed - 9/10/16 and paid $1450 deposit
Tender meeting - 15/11/16 with Sara Amorelli
Tender acceptance 21/11/16 and paid $2500
Contract appointment 21/12/16 and paid 5% deposit
1st colour appointment 24/1/17 - shutters/blinds, aircon, kitchen, plumbing
CDC lodged 31/1/17
2nd colour appointment booked for 13/2/17
Commencement of build 30/04/17

Changes made:
* Study - added a sliding cavity door
* lounge - changed to tiles
* Dining room - window to stacker door 
* Media room - sliding door instead or window as it leads out to our existing pool. Changed to tiles (kids going in and out to the pool so tiles will be easier to mop)
* kitchen - straight island rather than a long island with a short L shape (no charge)
* laundry - deleted sliding door and replaced with a window and a glass door (may change this to a normal door as we will have to put in a doggy door)
* main bedroom faces North so it didn't make sense to have the WIR behind the bed and no windows. We put the WIR on either side of the room as you enter and the bed against the wall with a long highlight window
* bed 2 added a window to another wall to get a cross breeze (more natural light)
* bed 4 added a window to get a cross breeze (more natural light)

Colour selection (not signed off so feel free to advise):

EXTERNAL
* Brick - I loved Smoke but it was over $8,000 to upgrade. We decided to go with the standard range and chose "Stone" (previously was called "Cement"). 
* Roof Tile - Horizon Profile Monier tile - Barramundi (part of $1 promotion)
* Gutter - Monument
* Front door and timber windows (bed 1 balcony) - Quantum Timber stain - Dark Oak
* Laundry door and hinged garage door - Dune
*Fascia & Garage door - Dune (photo's on the internet look lighter than the sample card)
*Aluminium windows & doors - surfmist
* Driveway - Gunmetal Concrete
* Flyscreens on all windows were included free (at tender)
* Roof insulation increased to 3.5 and walls to 2.0 (was added on tender by Eden Brae- no charge)

INTERNAL (still playing around with colours in my mind and may change when we choose our flooring)
Amy that works with James Treble came with us to our various appointments and she was so valuable and helpful with choices.

* Kitchen Benchtops & bathroom benchtops- Essastone Silica
* Kitchen cabinets - Polar white natural finish
*Splashback - Glass - latte (standard incl)
* Bathroom cabinets - Silver Riftwood
*Trims - Crisp White
* Walls - Gemini Silver

UPGRADES
* off white mortar$426
* obscure glazing to Bed 1 ensuite windows and toilet, to Bed 2, 3 ,4 windows $233
*upgraded front door to Madison range with translucent glass $1535
* added privacy adaptor (lock) to powder room, bed 1 ensuite, bed 1 WC, Bed 2,3 and 4 ensuite $330
* Platinum package insulation to include internal soundscreen acoustic wall insulation to all internal walls $2750
* Basix requires a 4000l rainwater tank and we upgraded to slimlime. Council then requested a 5000l.

Blinds appointment - met with Ashley and she was so lovely and efficient. Told her we wanted roller blinds - some are blockout, some are doubles and some are sunscreen. We accepted quote of $6125. It may be cheaper post handover but there are problems with that so we decided to eliminate headaches. It we got some blinds motorised it would have been $7837. We received the quote on the day and had a week to accept to get the 5% discount. We signed and had to pay a $250 deposit

Aircon - we have the 19.1KW aircon with two zones included free. We have decided to upgrade to :

UNIT MAKE ……………….. ACTRON
FROM MODEL …………….SRA201E /SRA203C
TO MODEL…………………..ERV4-19AS/CRV4-19AS ESP PLUS PLATINUM with 4 ZONES
FROM CAPACITY…………..19.1KW
TO CAPACITY………………..19.3KW
PHASE………………………….SINGLE
ZONE 1 – LIVING/KITCHEN/DINING/LOUNGE ZONE 2 – STUDY
ZONE 3 – BED 1/RUMPUS ZONE 4 – BEDS 2, 3, 4
PRICE: $ 3,593.00 GST INCLUDED

It uses far less electricity, has more zones and keeps temperature more constant. We have two weeks to accept this quote

Plumbing - met with Peta and this seemed one of the harder appointments. 
We were happy with the standard taps and basins adnd changed the upstairs bathrooms to a smaller showerhead that can be removed to use as a handshower. We loved the look of the included big square Dorf Jovian showerhead but we heard the water pressure is not very powerful.

Upgraded:
* the toilet so that there is no gap between wall and toilet +_$240 for 5 toilets upgraded ( easier to clean)
* kitchen and butlers pantry tap to have a pull out sink mixer 
* we require two ovens and so chose two Smeg Ovens that will go in a tower. We will get a seperate gas cooktop 
* went for an undermount rangehood
* will get the laundry sink in the counter

We still need to confirm quote and sign

KITCHEN
We had put a $15000 allowance as we knew we wanted to make a few changes
We went for a straight island rather that the L shape (no charge) - it is no the length of the opposite counter.
* gone for all draws and no handles
* cupboard with two 17l bins
*provision for a dishwasher in main kitchen and butlers pantry
* increased cutlery draw size from 450mm to 600mm
* increased eight of cupboards and put bulkheads (we have raised ceilings)
* put a cupboard above fridge
* cold water point

LAUNDRY
Since we got rid of the sliding door we have more counter space and will probably go for something like the laundry from Porter Davis
Will go with Squareform benchtop - Pure Mineralstone (to math the Essastone in the house)

Day 1 Selections

I was so nervous for this day as we had to decide so much in so little time. Luckily we had Amy, who works with James Treble , to help us. She was very knowledgeable and helpful and made the decisions easier. We also had assistance from Amy Tanner.

Complete Home Consultation DAY 1

Date:                     Tuesday 24^th January 2017       

Start Time:          9:00 am        

Duration:             Approx 6 Hours          

We had to discuss colours for gutters, skirting, driveway, front door, garage door, plumbing, blinds, air conditioning , kitchen, door handles and doors.

Choices we made:

Brick :  Stone

Mortar: Off white (upgrade)

Roof Tile: Barramundi Horizon Monier 

Joint type : Ironed

Gutter: Monument

Fascia: Dune

Downpipe: Dune

Windows: Sufmist

Garage Door: Dune

Eaves: Surfmist

Water tank : Dune

Using the PGH Visualiser (not using our actual house) it looks like this but it is not accurate:

The combination that PGH showed us was like this:

For the kitchen we chose:

Polar White Natural Finish Cupboards

Silica Essastone benchtop (standard)

All draw kitchen at the bottom (upgrade) with no handles

For the bathrooms we chose: 

Silver Riftwood natural finish for the vanity cupboards

Silica benchtops

Changed all the showerheads to Caroma Pin as meant to be more powerful spray. Left the powder  room with the Dorf Jovian showerhead

for the house we chose:

Walls : Gemini Silver

Trims: Crisp White

Front Door: Quantum timber stain - Dark oak

Driveway: Colour on concrete  - Gunmetal

We changed the kitchen island from a L shape to a long island, got an oven tower with two Smeg ovens.

We upgraded the aircon to a more efficient aircon and have 4 zones

Chose roller blinds - some with blockout and some with sunscreen. We decided not to go with motorised blinds. We paid a deposit with Abbey blinds and Shutters and we can change things closer to the time.

Some other choices / upgrades we made:

The glass splashback for our kitchen (standard) against out stone counter (Silica)

What the blinds look like

Colours for the blinds

We chose the door handle with the two dots that is in the standard range.

We chose the straight standard handle for our front door (we will get two for our double door front entry - one is just a dummt handle)

We upgraded the toilet so that we will have no gap between toile and wall. Less dusting and cleaning and a neater look. This will go in all the bathrooms.

Chanhed the kitchen tap to this pull down mixer tap in both the kitchen and butlers pantry

Standard toilet roll holder

The small white shower head is the one we chose for the upstairs showers.

Driveway colour - Gunmetal

Front Door stain - Dark oak

Bricks

We are building the Waldorf that is in the prestige series so we were able to choose bricks from range A & B then the costs started going up.

Range A : Dorset, Hampshire, Kent, Surry, Outback, Coral, Wheat, Dark Rum, Silica

Range B: Gibson, Kalahari, Sahara, Simpson, Sinai, Gravel, Stone, Smokey Grey, Ghania

We chose Stone (previously called Cement)

We chose off white mortar (upgrade) and ironed

Eden Brae Waldorf 42

I went to Homeworld Kellyville to see Metricon as I loved the Liberty and the Franklin. The Liberty could not fit on my property but the Franklin did. I got brief help but did not find the lady very helpful. I took a wonder at a few builders and that was when I was introduced to the Waldorf by Eden Brae.

I did research and also went to go see the Fairmont by Clarendon that I also loved. I took my daughter (15) to see it and she did not like it and turned me off.

Took my family to see the Waldorf and they loved it. The boys were just so excited to be getting their own room and could not believe they would all have their own bathroom. My 15 year old seemed to make claim to her room straight away and then the boys (12 and 9 ) had to choose theirs.

And so then our journey began in Sept 16

Photos from display home

   Closet by front door

 Powder room

 Study/ spare room





 lounge



  Dining room

 Alfresco



  living room

 media room





  Pantry

  Butlers pantry

  Laundry

  Balcony off main bedroom