Designing your dream home - Where to start?

[Aaron Sice]

Dsiplay homes will do nothing but confuse you. don't bother.

your best bet is to sit down and

a) write a list of all the rooms you NEED (kitchen, bathroom, seperate WC, laundry, 4 bedrooms, meals room, living room)

b) then write a list of the extra rooms you would LIKE. (extra bathroom, theatre, double garage, walk in robe, walk in linen, built in robes, activity room)

c) draw a bubble diagram to work out how you want them to relate to each other.

d) find a kitchen that you like in a magazine with the finishes and layout.

e) find a front elevation / facade that you like.

f) hand it to someone qualified to come up with the nitty gritty.

if yu start getting too involved you will get your heart set on something that doesn't work or can't be built. remember, if you are someone who doesn;t understand design and construction, then don't be smart - get smart and employ someone to do it for you.

 

[Sailesh Channan]

When designing our home we engaged an artist who specialised in designing houses. In the interview process we made a list of features we preferred. we also had made a rough sketch of a suggested floor plan.

The artist then came up with several sketches and we ended up choosing a design that we liked. This process also allowed us to visualise the finished product as we had 3D views of the proposed construction.

From here we went to the draftsman to come up with the working drawings.

You will also find that this a much cheaper way to design a house from scratch.

We now use this process with clients looking to design their dream house.

 

[monoply]

Good suggestion there about the rooms you need. Im about to start building my house, and still tossing up about some things, even though plans are finished. Ive been to heaps of display homes, and while most are the same, I just take the odd idea here and there.

Im considering hydronic slab heating (water) at the moment. Not sure if anyone has any feedback. It all sounds good, but I dont know what happens if it ever gets damaged in construction, or springs a leak down the track. Am considering polished concrete, so you most likely wouldnt be digging up the slab if there was a problem.

 

[sue78]

Hi Ian,

It's good to start early. I've been doing it for years and still never get it right.

That's why sometimes it's better to buy a house already built so what you see is what you get.

the house i'm building now is a shocker really. i am so mad with myself. but by the time i picked up the problems, well it had already been approved by council!

it's going to be very very weird....i made modifications to the original plan but did not move the front window. so from the front of the house, the window is not centred and it just looks very horrible with too much brick.

the colour woman suggested that I pave a strip of rock tiles there to cover it up.

also i thought i choose a 225sqm house but actually got the 215sqm house and didn't realize the kitchen was different. Hmmm, lets say there really isn't enough bench space at all. Good thing is that granite bench top is cheaper.

 

[harb]

Have you got that dream block of land yet ? If not I'd start with that first.

 

[BayView]

Hi everyone,

I was browsing some massive homes on re.com today (as I do occasionally) and started wondering, if I were to design my dream home and have it built from scratch, where would I start?!

I have never designed/built any home, let alone my dream home and I was reminded that of the few people I know who have built a house, they always seem to regret one thing or another (eg, kitchen too wide, kitchen not wide enough, or one I've heard is "if I could do it all again, I'd make the living room slightly longer and decrease the back patio", etc).

If you had the opportunity to build your dream home, would you practice first by building some to sell/rent or just dive in and try to get things right the first time on your PPoR?

I thought I'd start by brain-storming a written list of everything I'd like included.

Oh, and the reason I'm starting now instead of waiting until I can actually afford it, is because I suspect it will take 1 or 2 years to refine it and know what I really want it to be like.

-Ian

We've done it already and then sold it 2 years later!

About to do it again. It's great fun!

First, start writing down every feature you want in the house. How many beds, baths, style, colours, fittings, living areas, gardens, roof tiles, etc - let your imagination go mad.

Then, visit a million display homes to get more solid ideas of designs, colours, styles etc.

Then, if you are half competent with a ruler and a pencil, get some graph paper and do a basic floorplan of how you would like the house set out (on your land if you have some already).

Then, look for a draftsman, or architect (they are more expensive) to show them your dreams and plans, and let them go. They will often come up with something different to what you imagined, but this can be better than your ideas, and if not, you have some talks and narrow it all down to something that is beautiful, but works.

Some designers/architects are conversant with Council regs and hurdles, and work around these to design a house that will be passed and a permit issued with minimum fuss. A well established and local designer for your selected area is better; might cost a bit more, but is worth the extra dollars for a smooth process.

Enjoy the ride!

 

[skuzy]

couldnt u go pick a display home, modify it to your preferences, and get them to build it? eg davis homes, etc.

 

[allmine]

We're getting ready for a knock down re-build.
The ideas for the new house came after a lot of eliminations, so it wasn't a case of what worked, but what wouldn't.
I did find that new home displays were good for how not to do it, not being critical here, it was useful.
Then we went looking for individual designed home displays. Found good ideas there.
Another place for ideas was re.com, just looking at homes for sale.
But then the final idea came by standing out the front with a cup of tea early one morning.
I did finalise a list of what we wanted and didn't want to do. Then being good with AutoCAD, I made some simple drawings to start with.
From there, the archetects had no trouble taking it to the next level. They were good for giving feed back on various materials etc.
Homes shows are useful to for product infomation.

 

[Perp]

couldnt u go pick a display home, modify it to your preferences, and get them to build it? eg davis homes, etc.

Because I've not seen any project homes that come close to the aesthetic and level of innovation that my drean home would encompass. Look at Troppo Architects, John Mainwaring, Gabriel Poole, and Glenn Murcutt (he's legendary enough to "not do web" and get away with it ).