Have been half watching the current block series - and watching on DVD some old Aussie Grand Designs series and has made me think.
Who remembers the old Grand Designs of the Italian couple from Sydney, building in Byron Bay. Massively overspent on their house and (at last count) made something like 78 changes to the plans during construction?
They also installed a kitchen worth around $200,000, imported from Milan that came with it's own Italian installer - because it had all the latest mod cons and gadgets and Milan style.
Watching the series again - and not to many years later - the very expensive, ants pants, kitchen now looks dated, with superseded appliances and cabinetry systems.
The same can be said for other houses where they've put in miles of wiring for (now wireless) electronics and especially built spaces for outdated TVs.
We're currently renovating our kitchen (then laundry - then bathrooms plural), in a modern but classic style that won't date - with no fancy gadgets like steam ovens or built in coffee machines - mainly because we wouldn't use them, but watching GD has imprinted again on my mind that renovations are best kept simple and leave the gadgetry as something that can be added/removed as required.
That being said - if I were to build I'd definitely put in solar heated water under floor heating, e glass, self cleaning windows and a roof garden.
Who remembers the old Grand Designs of the Italian couple from Sydney, building in Byron Bay. Massively overspent on their house and (at last count) made something like 78 changes to the plans during construction?
They also installed a kitchen worth around $200,000, imported from Milan that came with it's own Italian installer - because it had all the latest mod cons and gadgets and Milan style.
Watching the series again - and not to many years later - the very expensive, ants pants, kitchen now looks dated, with superseded appliances and cabinetry systems.
The same can be said for other houses where they've put in miles of wiring for (now wireless) electronics and especially built spaces for outdated TVs.
We're currently renovating our kitchen (then laundry - then bathrooms plural), in a modern but classic style that won't date - with no fancy gadgets like steam ovens or built in coffee machines - mainly because we wouldn't use them, but watching GD has imprinted again on my mind that renovations are best kept simple and leave the gadgetry as something that can be added/removed as required.
That being said - if I were to build I'd definitely put in solar heated water under floor heating, e glass, self cleaning windows and a roof garden.