Color Selection Photos

Here are some random photos.

  Stains - dark stain (left), walnut stain (right). 

We opted for the Dark stain for our front door.  This is the closest stain that could match an upgraded golden oak garage door.  As for the Walnut stain, this will be used for our staircase.  I am aiming for an Ebony stain but it is not available at the moment. However, in the coming days, Elderton will be introducing new shades of stains and with crossed fingers, Ebony stain is one of them.

Form-tek Kitchen & Bathroom Cabinets/Vanity selection

The range of selections were pretty good.  Aside from the colored gloss selection, Elderton had some timber-look options that came as standard also.  This is what I was looking for.  We opted for the Charred Oak for the floor cabinets (back bench and island bench),  and a Designer White door for the overhead cabinets as we wanted a classic white feel in the kitchen.  

Kitchen Cabinets - Charred Oak (right), Designer White (left)

Bench Top (Island bench/ Back bench) - Smartstone Arcadia

Kitchen Colors - Overhead cabinets / benchtops / Floor Cabinets

Shower and Tapwares - Standard and Gold Inclusions

Standard stuff here. As a standard inclusion, we were getting the normal tapware which I found to be short, stubby and outdated.  So, we're looking to upgrade to the next level up for tapware only.  We will wait for the cost and see from there.

Taubman Color Sheet 

From this sheet, we had chosen the paints for our facade, main walls etc.  This photo shows only a third of the whole paint selections.  We opted for the cool/grayish tones for the facade.  The brick shown above the color sheet is the Austral Blackbutt color.

Roof Tiles - Boral Vogue range, Gun Metal Color  

These are roof tiles with a flat-profile.  They are very nifty, I like it!!  Photo taken at Boral brickyard.

Bricks - Austral Wilderness Range, Blackbutt Color 

A stylish brick here.  This would work well in a modern/contemporary design.  We were very pleased that Elderton had included this in their standard range.  Photo taken at Austral brickyard.

Floor Tiles - Bosco Argent Timber-look Tiles
Bosco Argent is the one on the bottom left.  This will be done post handover.  I would love a plain greyish porcelain tile for a contemporary look.  However, I think we're going with timber-look tiles.  Photo taken at TFO.

Aircon and Color Selections

It was a lovely sunny day.  Perfect day to hit the beach for the last time before the cold season begins.  Unfortunately, our day was packed with appointments.

We started the day with an appointment with Peter from UltraAir - the airconditioning supplier.  It was quite straightforward, select the aircon ducts and select the aircon model.  Product is the Actron Air Classic, 17.5 kW.  

The upgrade to ESP+ was very tempting since it will save you approx 60% of power comsumption.  It costed $1,800.  However, we didn't bite. :)  

Later in the afternoon, we met Michelle from Elderton for our color selection appointment.  She had assisted us on every single step.  End results are here. 

Selections for the bricks and kitchen cabinets/vanities were pretty much ok, for us at least.  We didn't need to upgrade since we already loved what were provided in the standard selections.  However, we felt that tapware, garage door and balcony paints needed some upgrades.  So we requested a quote for these items.

Overall, we were very happy with our selections.  We were satisfied on how the day turned up.  I will be uploading some photos of the selections in the following posts. Next up, electricals appointment..

Follow-up After Tender Accepted... Continued 2

As expected, we received the first DA drawings in the post.  We had a review and pointed out to Jessica that the balcony size needs to be revised.  Elderton sent a revised drawing with an updated balcony the next day.

We also requested the relocation of the rainwater tank and aircon from the righthand side to the lefthand side (back of the garage).  This would free up a large chunk of space from the righthand side pathway.   Hopefully, the clearances would be enough to fit the tank and aircon.  

Follow-up After Tender Accepted... Continued 1

.... We visited Boral brickyard.  Since an upgraded promo was included in our package, we selected the Vogue range.  This was the flat profile tiles.  Gun Metal or Shale are our possible colors.

We decided to delete the letterbox from the tender.  We plan to have it done post handover to save some ka-ching $$$.

Follow-up After Tender Accepted

We haven't heard anything from Elderton's office within 4 weeks after we accepted the tender.  The suspense was really killing us.  We spent the last 4 weeks getting inspirations for house decorations, internal and external color schemes, landscape designs etc.  With the plethora of options, we are now screwed!!  Are we going for a warm or cold palette? Do we go for a rustic theme or contemporary design? Should a we go for a timber look tile or a plain grey polished tile? Ok now... don't fret.  We will someday find our groove as we continue to look for more inspirations.

Alas! Finally Elderton contacted us after the 4th week. The latest variation (removal of smart hub and revision for the bedroom layout to make rooms a little wider) came in. Elderton also scheduled us for a color selection appointment in mid-April.

We were instructed to pick the bricks and roof tiles before going to the color selection appointment.  We need to visit Austral brickyard in Horsely Park - which we had already done.  We thought of going for a darkish facade, so the bricks that took our attention were Blackbutt (Wilderness Range) and Orpheus (Whitsunday range).   Next assignment was to visit Boral Display centre to pick the roof tiles. 

Tender Accepted

After a month, the final pricing came out and we accepted the tender.  A payment of $4,000 was also done for the tender deposit.

Final Tender

When Elderton came back from the break, we had requested for a re-tender.  Our major concern was to cut some upgrades and put in some little ones. This was really starting to be a test of our budgeting skills or lack thereof.

Here's the list off all changes we had on the tender/re-tender... (ones with the strikethrough were the ones that we didn't proceed with)

• New layout for WIP-Laundry-Powder-Garage storeroom
• Additional theatre room with sliding door
• Hume Nexus door 1020mm x 2040mm
• Alfresco stacker door
• Window splashback
• Flyscreens to laundry door and alfresco stacker door
• Obscure glazing to ensuite and bathroom windows
• Larger shower in ensuite
• Understairs storeroom (credit for linen removal)
• Soundproofing on walls
• Privacy locks
• Platinum Range Staircase
• Kitchen bulkheads
• Larger benchtop (length 1000mm)
• Benchtop waterfall edges
• Gold range vanities
• Shampoo nook to ensuite and bathroom
• Round rain shower
• NBN smart hub
• NBN wiring provision
• Move gaspoint to alfresco
• Provide weatherproof powerpoint
• Additional 15 downlight wiring provisions
• Facebrick letterbox
• 3x facade wall lights
• Remove ground floor coverings (credit)
• Remove porch and alfresco coverings (credit)
• Entry feature balcony (Facade requirement from the estate)
• Provisional allowances for Landscaping and Tiling
• Plus a discounted 12 months home price guarantee

Overall, we were quite satisfied with the price as it sat on our budget.  We would love to add more but at that stage, we had to limit ourselves.  We were giving ourselves a little buffer for anything that comes up throughout the build process.