COLOURS APPOINTMENT - BATHROOMS

My hubby and I took the 'Style is in your DNA' quiz to check what 'style' we prefer. Interestingly, we came out as 'designer'. Porter Davis advised us do the quiz as a couple to ensure we were both on the same page. Subsequently, we have tried to incorporate greys and blacks in our build to match the 'designer' style.

When it came to choosing the colours of our tiles to match the 'designer' style, there were not many choices in the middle range category. That is, there were plenty of grey and black category 1 tiles or extremely expensive pure stone tiles but only a few choices in our price range. 

Upgrades we chose:

- extra tiling on particular walls

- stone apron to powder room bench tops

- increased the height of the glass to both showers to 2 metres

- tiling to window niches

- niches to showers

- as below

We stuck to category 1 Essastone bench tops throughout the bathrooms/powder rooms. The tiles were an upgrade, but not too expensive. 

Bathroom Benchtops

Essastone - Piazza (Category 1)

Cabinets

Laminex - Washboard

Tiles

Stratas Nero Polished - Porcelain - 600mm X 600mm

- to bathrooms/powder floors and various walls

White Cloud Marble 23X23 Mosaic

Bath

Kado Arc 1730mm White Freestanding Bath (Main Bathroom)

Sinks

Axa 40 vessel basin (Main Bathroom)

Kado Arc Inset Basin (Ensuite)

Kado Lux Counter Basin (powder rooms)

The below basin was necessary due to the stone waterfall on the front of our powder room benchtops  (apparently!)

Taps

Millie Edge Basin Mixer to all Basins

Millie Edge Extended Mixer

Mizu Bloc 250mm Wall Outlet

Milli Edge Wall Mixer - For Freestanding Bath and Showers

Phoenix Twin Lexi Shower with Square Overhead Rose (Bathroom & Ensuite)

Posh Domaine Square 204mm Overhead Shower Rose (Ensuite)

Shower Screens (Semi-Frameless) - Inclusion

COLOURS APPOINTMENT - KITCHEN

If you view the plans of our home, you will notice there is a galley that leads off the kitchen. Interestingly, Porter Davis won't be supplying us with kitchen cabinets or Essastone bench tops to this part of our home so we had to upgrade these items. Also, we added:

- two bins (1 kitchen, 1 galley)

- microwave hutch

- increased height of overhead cupboards to 920mm

- increased depth of fridge space by 10cm & extended the bench top in galley (fridge side) by 10cm

- changed all lower cupboards to banks of drawers on bench side of kitchen

- Essastone waterfalls to kitchen island and bench top ends

Bench-tops

New Crystal Salt (Category 2)

We preferred the New Crystal Salt as it looked a 'white' whereas we found the Crystal Chalk (Category 1) had an off white tinge. I wonder what the price difference was for Porter Davis? I feel we paid a substantial difference for such a slight difference in the two colours.

We added waterfall ends to the island bench and kitchen bench top end. 

Cabinet Finish

ColourTech - Polar White Gloss Finish

A fantastic inclusion is 'soft closure to all drawers'. We changed the cupboards to banks of drawers on the bench side (not island) of the kitchen.

Kitchen Skirting 

Brushed Platinum

This will run below the kitchen cupboards throughout the kitchen. It has a metallic finish.

Splashback

Belgium Stone Carbone 300 mm X 600 mm (straight stack)

The splash back runs through from the kitchen and continues in the galley. I think it elongates the kitchen/galley wall.

Handles - Cabinets

Hettick - 1160019

Sinks

KItchen Sink - AFA Flow UnMnt Sink                              Galley Sink - Mizu Round 430 Dia Sink

Taps

Teknobili OzT7 SQ P/O Snk Mix                                    Porcher Saga P/O Sink Mixer

- With pullout hose                                                              - With pullout hose

Appliances

Blanco BFD9058FX 900mm Cooker

Blanco BRS902X 90cm Slide Out Rangehood

Blanco BFD645X 60cm SS Dishwasher

COLOURS APPOINTMENT - EXTERIOR

Luckily my hubby and I had visited WOS on three previous occasions to get a fair idea on what upgrades we wanted to make. Basically, on the day of our WOS appointment, we felt a bit rushed and pushed when we were told by our colour consultant we had 15 mins left to choose our colours. We went into a bit of a panic and began throwing colours together to try and quickly decide what worked. Upon review, whilst our interior designer deserved her lunch break, WOS should have provided us with another interior designer so we could properly finalise our colour selections. After all, we are spending a fortune…not just grocery shopping. 

OUR CHOICES:

Bronte Facade option: Exactly as below including rendering, feature bricks and wooden look roller door. However, we have had to change the colour of the feature bricks as they have discontinued the ones in the picture.

Facade Feature Bricks:

Elements Zinc

Facade Render Colour:

Teahouse

Shale Grey

DecoWood Garage Door:

Chestnut

Bricks - Sides and Rear of House:

Industrial Char

Front Doors:

Infinity INF 5VG - Two Doors - 2340 X 840

But we are getting two of the above doors to look like the below, as double entry doors

UPDATE...

Finally, I can give an update on our progress towards our dream Porter Davis home…

We have signed our contract with Porter Davis. Yay! This laborious process has worn my hubby and I out. The many emails, phone calls and conversations with Porter Davis to ensure all our choices/upgrades were recorded correctly was not as simple a process as we were expecting.

I must advise though… The knowledge and support provided by our tender consultant was outstanding and was the main person whom rectified the issues and fixed the mistakes WOS made.

Whilst Porter Davis have been amazingly cooperative and helpful, the many choices offered make the decisions that much more complex.

If things go to plan, our land should title in October and building will commence in November.

FLOOR PLANS

What we love about the Rochford 40 is the;
- openness and size of the living areas
- bifold doors in dining (as displayed - upgrade)
- large window in living (as displayed - upgrade)
- theatre
- kitchen running through to the galley and laundry

What we have changed;
- master at front option
- added alfresco
- removed the wall between the study and family
- increased the ceiling height to 9ft
- extended the theatre room by 600mm (as displayed)
- included a provision for fireplace in study
- extended garage by two metres

ROCHFORD

We are building the Rochford 40 through Porter Davis, with the Bronte facade. The above photo of the Bronte facade looks kind of brown but it is actually grey in colour on display. It's funny how Porter Davis alter colours in their photos.

We were unable to get the feature/pillar bricks as displayed, so we have chosen the 'zinc' 50mm category 9 as a replacement. Hopefully, we will still get this exact looking facade.