Stairs

The entry and stairs have been an ongoing dilemma.  Lots of competing objectives, such as making it look great and open, but providing an air lock.

My current thinking is to try and avoid all those competing objectives and focus on the top three, namely:

·    Do something reasonably economical while still achieving a high end look, if anything we propose sounds expensive and there is a better way, tell us!

·    Make the entry feel as open as possible

·    Give us some storage near the entry

Given those three objectives, some of the conflicts get resolved. 

1) The stairs will be closed in, we will have storage under them.  I know it makes the area feel less open but I'm pretty confident a closed stair will be cheaper to build and we want the storage.  I am particularly excited about what we might be able to achieve storage wise under the landing.  A great place to hang keys and the like right near the front door.

2) We will have glass ballustrades and a square profile stainless steel handrail.  The glass will help to make it feel more open and add to the look.

So, a couple of pics to illustrate our thoughts.  We're basically taking little bits from each stair design and putting together our own.

We like the clean glass connection with the stringer here (i.e. sitting in a grove in the stringer with no visible hardware), but in ours the stringer would sit on top of the plaster wall (or whatever material we decide to finish that feature wall with) and the risers would be closed as below.  We would prefer a square profile brushed stainless steel handrail.

We like the riser and tread effect of these (as in the approx. 2/3 tread material / 1/3 alternate material riser), with the wood bit in a darker stain and the white in whatever finish we choose for the stringer as illustrated above.

I am imagining we might put some very low wattage led light strips (given how much length there will be overall) under the upper riser lips.

We are imagining the first two stairs, or landings being platforms, no stringer or balustrade (they are under the 1m BCA requirement).  The double height exposed portion of the front of the second landing would be finished in the same material as the lower third of the risers (indicated in red).

Black area is stud wall to stringer height.

I imagine the stringer and glass balustrade would continue over the upper landing.

Under the end of the stairs we would like a small storage nook and access to the under stair storage area.  The blue box indicates a shallow storage unit, something like 600 high cupboard, a shallow draw or two with key hanging and shelves above (detailed design to follow).

Thee grey box indicate a door providing access to the under stair storage.

The door to the left is through to the family room.  The first set of sliding glass doors on the right are to the outdoor paved area, the second cavity door is into the living area.  Upstairs is the parents zone!  See the design page for more details

An afternoon pulling weeds

I spent yesterday afternoon pottering around the block pulling out the worst of the weeds.  With the dandelions now over a metre high I figured it was time!

Despite my regular visits, this is probably the longest time I’ve spent at the block in one session.  Although pulling weeds is one of my least favourite pass times, it felt nice, the outlook is amazing.  I think I fall in love with it a bit more every time. 

The water was almost glass.  The two boats mid river looked pretty sad drifting backwards with their spinnakers sagging.  It was so quiet and it seemed my company consisted of a few cows in neighbouring paddocks and bees who always appeared to decide to target the weed I was about to attack.  Later, some young kids started playing on scooters down the street.  It took me back to my skateboard and billy cart days in Melbourne.  It would be a great street for billy carts, maybe a modern equivalent will return to fashion in time for grandkids (but in this day and age they would have brakes and that takes all the fun out of it).  I can just see the kids slowly progressing up the street and the daring ones mastering starting at the top of the court.

I met the new neighbours from across the street.  They moved in two days before Christmas and had both their families descend from interstate to celebrate with them.  I hope we manage to get in with a bit more breathing room before next Christmas!!  They have a young bub and a 4 year old boy.  From what I saw their house went up in record time.  I’ll have to ask but my guess was about 10 weeks from start to handover.  He did mention that it took him 3 months to get it through council; I’ll have to ask if that was planning and development or just development.  Their place is all weatherboard, which is interesting given they had the same covenant as us in respect to the external finish being 70% masonry or textured.  Apparently the developer is reasonably flexible.  In their case, the builder had built a very similar place in Brighton and the developer was happy with photos of that. 

The real estate cruisers where out in force.  Mostly couples, they cruise by pretty regularly, probably at least one every 10 minutes.  I’m sure we will probably come to resent them over time but it wasn’t that long ago that we were one of them.  So for now, I look at them and smile, and in my mind I wish them success in realising their dream.  The self-interested part of me thinks, “go on - buy that block next door, keep the demand up and push values up”.  On that front, there is a place going up about 4 blocks up that looks pretty nice.  It is on the block next to the one we originally looked at (but was sold a few days before we decided to commit).  It looks massive with lots of glass.  It is mostly constructed out of superblock, basically a double size brick specifically designed to be rendered.  They look to be getting pretty close to rendering and the interior is well progressed.  I imagine they will be joining the neighbourhood pretty soon.

I spent a fair bit of time staring at the block below us, trying to imagine what someone might build there and how it will affect us.  I’m confident we will be twisted around enough to be looking mainly down the street and whatever they do will have very little impact.  With a fall of 1m in about every 4.6m anything they build will be at least 4m below our lower floor level, probably significantly more if they want to use the depth of their block.

This picture is taken from close to the top NE corner of the block and is close to the angle the house will be on.  You can see the driveway for the block below us and the green electricity box (and if you look closely a couple of stakes) which mark the border with our block.  The developer has recently started developing the next stage, which includes the hill to the left which you can see the brown line across.  The front blocks along there will be amazing.  I noticed the first of them sold the other day for $280k.  Ouch!  It looks like it will be a while before those titles are issued, they have only just started carving out the road and putting in the initial survey pegs.  When complete, that stage will include about 23 blocks.  Our stage included 18 blocks, of which only about 7 have sold. 

Another developer is also developing some more blocks just down the road, that looks like at least two reasonably long cul-de-sacs with the beginnings of joining up the two parts of Oceana Drive across the top.  It will be great when that gets joined up, it is only about 680 metres of road.  I suspect the current development will probably take care of about 200 of that!  I hope it isn’t another 10 years before they close the gap!  There are encouraging signs of fill being dumped in the gully at the Howrah end which is the only really challenging bit, maybe moves are already underway! 

The picture above shows where I’m talking about.  The current gap in Oceana Drive is represented by the black and red line.  The black lines are an approximation of the subdivision that has started. The orange ring is approximately where someone has started to place fill in the gully.  If you are interested in where Clarence Council are looking at taking the area and you suffer from insomnia, you might what to have a look at their strategic plan.  The main item of note is their goal to eventually link Oceana Drive with South arm highway (I suspect via Tollard drive).  With the North Point development continuing along Tollard Drive around the other side of the peninsula, it is inevitable that these area’s will eventually link up.  It makes sense to me that that will happen in the undeveloped valley.

Anyway, I managed to clear about half the block of the worst of the weeds before it got too much for me, next time I’ll bring a spade!  I took my first load of garden rubbish from the block to the tip.  That’s a place I’m going to get even more familiar with over the next few months as I clear out all the stuff from the old place.  I came home to mow our existing lawn.  It feels like a chore and our current block is only about 700sqm, I’m going to have to cover as much of our new 1150sqm with things other than grass as I can!  I dread mowing those slopes!  The amount of garden, and how to establish some privacy on a corner block is going to be “fun”.  I think it is time to price some rock!

The En Suite

We are progressing pretty well in respect to planning the en-suite.

We have fallen in love with a concept, it remains to be seen if we will be able to achieve anything like it! 

En Suite concept (Click to enlarge)

This rough diagram represents how our wall will be laid out.  Ignore the awful colours! 

En Suite Wall Layout (Click to enlarge)

The left hand side is the shower, with the black line representing the glass shower wall.  Our dream double shower!  About 1900 x 1100 ... Ahh ... I can hardly wait!   I've discovered a handy unit for the hot water line that will allow us to deal with the distance from the hot water unit without wasting lots of cold water, or waiting.  It doesn't even need a return line!  Very handy!  I just have to find a source now, but at least it is an Aussie innovation so it shouldn't be too hard to find (he says hopefully).  Anyway, I digress ...

The white box at the top is the window, with the mirror under (I know, I need to make it wider!).  The two mirror image vanity units sit under that.

On the back wall we will have a storage unit with drawers at the bottom, a cupboard on the left and open shelves on the right. 

En Suite Wall Unit (Click to enlarge)

You can see how it is all laid out here

En Suite Layout (Click to enlarge)

The end wall on the right will be extra thick to allow a few cutout shelves in the shower

Holidays are nearly over

It is depressing to think I only have 4 more sleeps before I’m back to work!

Looking back over the holidays, we’ve made pretty reasonable progress towards realising the dream.  We’re feeling much more settled on the design and have progressed to starting to decide on PC items (builder speak, Personal Choice items).  We’ve started to get pretty hooked on a particular design for the en-suite which I’ll talk about in a future post and have been cruising the tile shops.  We have also settled on a kitchen design and I’ve been talking to a couple of kitchen people.  We are also pretty close to buying the toilets and bidet.  What do you think of these?

I was going to go the in-wall hidden cistern option but got hesitant about future problems and access so I have decided against it.

Bench tops, cabinets and vanity units
I think I now know more than I care to know about laminate, acrylic and stone bench tops and melamine, laminate and two pack cupboards.  I suspect however that I’ll learn more about the pros and cons of all the options as we continue through the process of selecting materials, colours et all for the kitchen, scullery, laundry and vanity units.  We’re also looking at getting an entertainment unit built in a similar style to the waterfall island bench.

I think I’m leaning towards acrylic bench tops, probably something like Infinity from Hafele.  I like the invisible joins and the look and feel of them.  They are repairable, non-porous and pretty flexible in how you can use them (wider profiles etc.).  They come in a manufactured 38 mm wide product and sheets for custom manufacture.  We’ll probably use standard 38 mm across the back and in the scullery/laundry and wider custom manufacture for the island bench.

The Kitchen

Ignoring the colours, this is the sort of look we are going for.

The island bench will be about 2700 long and 900 wide.  It will have one solid end at the scullery end.  Similar to the one illustrated here.

The lounge side will have a 300mm clear overhang, as will the view end, to create a breakfast bar.  This will give us a smidge over 2200 of cabinetry under the island.  That will include 600 dishwasher, 400 double bin (with a small drawer within), 600 cupboards under sink and 600 drawers.

The back wall will consist of about 1800 of bench, 900 of freestanding oven, another 1800 of bench followed by the fridge.  They will be mainly drawers.

The Scullery
Really, it is a pantry with a sink in it.  The idea is to keep the mess out of the kitchen.  On the front wall we will have drawers, then sink, then more drawers with a couple of overheads and the window in between.  We’ll make sure the door into the scullery allows the fridge door to open right back!  Our new fridge, like most, requires the door to swing right back to get the drawers out for cleaning.

On the back wall we will have the full height pantry, followed by a full height appliance cupboard, followed by bench with drawers under and an overhead.  The theory being that appliances will be right next to the bench where they will be used.

The Laundry
The front wall will have two huge deep drawer units which will effectively be laundry hampers.  They will have small shallow drawers inside them at the top for delicates bags etc. in one and shoe cleaning in the other.   This is followed by the sink unit and the bench top over the front loading washing machine.  The dryer will hang on the wall above it.

The back wall will be one full height for vacuum cleaner, brooms etc. and one drawer unit with overhead.   The iron will sit on that bench top and the board will hang next to it.

Thoughts
Overall, the aim of having lots of storage space has been achieved.  We've got the clean look we wanted and great view throughout it.  It will all get plenty of Northern light and the breakfast bar provides great space.

I worry a little about the amount of full height pantry space and wonder if we should have a bit more.  Ideally, I would have liked to make the laundry a little bigger too but I'm sitting on the boundary offset.

2012 A special year.

Well Christmas has come and gone and we saw the New Year in with a bang! As has become our tradition, we watched the fireworks from the water only about 100m from the barge.  It was pretty special.  Very fitting for what is shaping up to be a pretty special year for us.  We hope that in 2012 we will be celebrating Christmas and seeing in the New year with our extended families in our new house.

Since my last ramblings a few things have happened.  The most important one being that we’ve settled on a designer and accepted his quote.  Since then I’ve been bombarding the poor guy with a number of variations and total redesigns.  Last time I posted a version, it was up to V12.  We’re now up to V20 with a few unsaved ones in between! 

The madness started after having sent off a set of plans to the designer.  We made the “mistake” of reviewing all our past attempts and came across one that grabbed us and got us re-thinking the garage location.  The objective being to reduce the footprint up and down the block and minimise the amount of cut / fall.

I guess the other thing that resurrected the old plan was the decision to try and get the Guest Bedroom back in.  We had eliminated it early on thinking it was just more money we didn’t want to borrow, hopefully we will be able to keep it!

The Lower floor plan (click the picture to enlarge)

Here is the lower floor plan.  Moving from left to right, we’ve incorporated the garage on to the left end of the house.  One less wall to build, a better position for the driveway and more outdoor space at the NE corner (but we’ll have to establish some plants to get some privacy).  The garage is a little narrower than I would have liked but I’m using every bit of block width I can.  The bedrooms are a good size with generous built in robes. 

On the storage front, I am not totally happy with the linen cupboard placement but you can’t win on everything!  Ideally I would probably move it into the back of the cupboard in the bedroom closest to the family room but that would make the two kids bedrooms “different” and would no doubt put someone’s nose out of joint!  We will probably close in the stairs and get some storage in the entry that way.  We’ll make the end wall under to top end of the stairs 300 deep (just to the left of the front door) and put some little drawers, key hanging and the like under there.  I imagine I will try to squeeze the server rack, patch panel, video distribution and the like under the stairs too but I’m not sure on code requirements in that respect. 

The three area bathroom layout is as we’ve always wanted it.  A central powder room separate from the loo and bathroom will allow the two kids to procrastinate simultaneously in the mornings!  It is a little far from the living, and through the family/rumpus which is less than ideal but it works. 

Two of the other things that drove us to this design where the entry and the placement of the living area.

Get some Wow factor into the entry. 
We’ve got a great view and want to achieve that Indoor/Outdoor feel as soon as you walk in.  We’ve got that now with an outdoor room to the right of the entry and glimpses of the view straight ahead and through the living area.

 

This is a rough view from just inside the front door, you can see the outdoor room on the right, and look through it to the living.  You can see the water and mountains behind (excuse the dull overcast background pic, I must put one in from a nice sunny day!  You’ll also have to excuse bannisters and other details … I haven’t worked on modernising them!).

Get the living back downstairs at the Northern end with an indoor/outdoor feel. 
We couldn’t help feeling if we put the living upstairs we wouldn’t utilise the outdoor space as much.  We will no doubt have a few years of developing the outdoor and garden space and figure if we are down there amongst it we will be more inclined to do it!

This is the view as you walk in from the entry into the Living area.  The outdoor room and dining is on the right.  Excuse the furniture and fittings, at this stage it is just about giving us an idea of general layout and that things fit.

This is the view sitting at the dining table.  The TV will go on the wall with the ugly cabinet on it.  The brick wall was me getting my wall types wrong, but we’re starting to think we might keep it that way.

The upper floor plan (click the picture to enlarge)

The upper floor plan has the ensuite sitting on top of the main bathroom to simplify things and gives us a pretty generous WIR (OK it is outrageous, but pretty practical too!).  It is accessible without going into the master suite and a nude dash from it to the master is pretty private (you wont be able to see up there unless you are up the stairs).  The light into the hall should be good as the entry is flooded.

The layout makes it reasonably easy for one person to get up and not disturb the other too much getting ready.

So what next?

I’m waiting anxiously to hear from the designer after his Christmas break and has time to digest all the email’s I’ve spammed him with.  Hopefully I haven’t put him off already and he views it all as inspirational rather than confusing!

Is length better than width?

It has felt like a slow and frustrating week in DestinationTranmere land.

Although we're loving the basic floor plan, I'm still not happy with the entry and how the house is sitting on the block, particularly in regard to the height of the entry vs the back wall.  Basically I've got to deal with a drop 1.4m or bury 1.4m of wall.  The advice to avoid buried walls with all their waterproofing issues has been almost universal (which appears a rarity in the building world, generally everyone gives you conflicting advice). 

On the plus side my "saviour" introduced me to another designer who was really helpful and is in the process of preparing a quote.  Hopefully he will wave a magic wand and solve all my entry / height dilemmas!   Again on the plus side, he confirmed that a flat hidden roof shouldn't be expensive, it should be a pretty economical way to build (less siding etc). 

On the plus and minus side, I've finally found the elusive definitive information about the Tasmanian "Planning Directive No 4" which is almost as hard as finding the right answer to life the universe and everything. 

I finally found it here.  Its aim is to streamline the planning process for the majority of single dwellings in residential zones in Tasmania (i.e. most houses).  It became effective on the 29th August 2011 and it basically overlays the various "planning instruments" that are published by each local council (would be nice if the local councils had links to it!!).

It sets common "Acceptable Solutions" and "Performance Criteria" for six key areas:

• Setback from frontage for single dwellings
• Site coverage and rear setback
• Building envelope (incorporating height)
• Frontage setback and width of garages and carports
• Privacy for single dwellings
• Frontage fences for single dwellings 

Which local council planning zones it applies to can be found in Attachment 2, generally it has been applied to most residential zones.

Basically, if you meet the "Acceptable Solutions" criteria you skip through the planning permit process.  If you have to resort to trying to meet the "Performance criteria" then it is classed as a Discretionary development and you have to go through the planning permit process.

Up until now, I've been working to the Clarence Planning Scheme.  Now with the Planning Directive No overriding it, it is a bit of a mixed bag.

From what I can work out at this stage:

• We are on a corner block with two road frontages so the Clarence road setback of 4.5 metres changes to 4.5 metres in the "Primary Frontage" (which is defined as the shorter side) and 3m on the other frontage.  Overall, a plus for us, we could potentially move the whole house up the block a bit.
• Clarence allowed us a 2.5 metre setback from the side and rear boundary.  The planning directive allows for 1.5 metres from the side boundary but increases the rear setback to 4 metres.  On the plus side the Clarence height setback of 7m has increased to 8.5m (but they don't make it easy ... it starts at 3m on the boundary/front/rear setback and goes up to 8.5m on a 45 degree angle from there).

On balance ... We've gained a metre on the street side and lost 1.5m at the opposing "rear" (which I actually think of as the front as it looks down the street at the view).  On the other hand we've gained a metre in length. 

So, is length better than width?  In our case, with the current design it pretty much balances out,  everything just shuffles SW a metre.  Overall, I think it probably makes a more flexible site (but I'm loath to start re-exploring other possibilities).

Anyway, what are your thoughts?  Is length better than width?

Another version

It has been a good week in DestinationTranmere land. 

I was introduced to a designer / structural engineer through an old friend (who I'll affectionately call "Pirate").  I haven't settled on a name for the designer.  He is shaping up to be my "saviour" so that will do for now!

He had some great suggestions and seemed to be able to anticipate most of my questions.  A modified version 12 (If I really counted from the beginning I'm sure we would be up to over 100 by now) is the result. 

This version has a few pretty major changes thanks to the "Saviours" great ideas, downstairs these include:

• The separate powder room adjoining the scullery has gone.  Given advice that with every extra room you add plumbing too you can potentially kiss goodbye to $10k we decided that it was excessive, especially after relocating the main bathroom closer to the living.
• With the powder room gone, we've moved the main bathroom closer to the living area.  In doing so we've reduced the plumbing runs and lots of wasted water waiting for it to get hot.   We've still got a sink outside the bathroom so the two kids can get ready at the same time and you don't need to go in to the bathroom to use the loo and wash your hands.   
• We've changed the laundry / garage access.  Although this added a metre or two of floor space, it actually reduced outside wall dimensions and is probably cheaper to build.  It certainly makes the entry more practical and makes both walls of the laundry usable.  Wins all around! 
• We've opened up the entry and are planning on the stairs going up being open risers, hopefully adding to the open feel of the entry and giving a glimpse of that spectacular view as soon as you enter.  This also affected the alignment of the living / kitchen wing which has all moved back about 600.  While that has taken away a little space in front of the island bench, it has the benefit of adding some length to the end kitchen wall so that we can now fit an 1800 sliding door in there instead of 1450 that always felt too small to me. 
• With the new bathroom location eliminating some storage and the kids study nook at the back of the rumpus, we have widened the hall and included a study nook there along with some storage.  I think this actually works better.  It makes the rumpus/kids study separate and makes an otherwise boring hall an extra living space.  Ideally I would make it a little wider but I'm already terrified by the 10 extra square metres I've added in this revision.  I try to reassure myself with the hope that I've made it easier to build but I dare not creep that wall out any further ...

Here is a picture of the new ground floor layout (you can see the old one in The Design section). 

Ground Floor - V12

Changing the ground floor inevitably means that what sits on top has to change too.  The major change is the location of the En Suite.  It now sits directly on top of the main bathroom, again shortening and simplifying the plumbing.  Although it is less private, it is also makes it more accessible.  It means if the study was used as a guest bedroom they have easy bathroom access.  Although I still wonder if I would prefer it adjoining the WIR I've been told by a few people that I would regret it because the steam from the bathroom leads to damp clothes.  Of all the changes in this version, this is the one I still question.  As I stare at it now though, I am beginning to fall in love with the simplicity of the new En suite layout.  I can imagine that luxurious double shower, glass with a central opening.   For those of you that have questioned the third shower head, its a handheld to share.  Although on the plan the other shower heads are wall mounted, we're planning on them being ceiling mounted, big square ones!  All perfectly innocent (for once)!

The other issue I currently ponder is whether or not to push out the hall wall even with the front of the master bedroom.  This would allow me to fit a day bed in there which I can't help thinking might make an otherwise corridor space a nice place to hide.  However, The square metre conscience who is always sitting on my shoulder says it is space you don't need and wont use.

Here is a picture of the new upstairs layout (you can see the old one in The Design section). 

First Floor - V12

I am really interested to hear peoples thoughts on the changes!  Please comment!

• What do you think of the changes we've made?
• What else would you change?
• What looks crazy to you!  Don't hold back
• What advice would you give?
• What advice that we've already been given would your contradict?