Electrical Plans

Here are our finalised electrical plans.

So in total we have to buy 42 downlights, 8 fans , 3 heater/fan/light combos and 4 pendant lights, 6 external light fittings.

The prewiring as above costed $4971 and Hills security 4 sensor system was $1100.

We will be getting our electrician to install Data points x 4 and Cable internet wiring during construction then install all of the above fittings and appliances after hand over.

The only issue I noticed with our signed off plans - The main bathroom loo light switch is behind the door! hope they can sort that out. Also we made changes in our colours appointment to extend the bench top of the laundry and now theres no powerpoint below the bench for the washing machine! - hopefully we can them change without much fuss!

Inspirations and Colour schemes digitalised!

Countless hours searching the web for inspiration on what others have done for their home, copying parts that we liked and trying to put it together! Some of the piccies come from my bloglist...

These guys are using the sublime teak laminate- has a beautiful textured feel, we are just using it on our island

They also opted for the kitchen sink and cooktop to be on the bench side

Sublime teak

Similar coloured mocha tiles and mosaic finger feature tile we are using

Use of timber in the bathroom

Satin heartwood laminate in bathroom

Bolero Europlank - Rustic Nougat flooring (which is a base product for plantation homes) - an alternative to our possible upgrade to parador trendtime 1 black butt - awaiting quotes

Our Wall tile laid brick bond

Our Splashback colour

Our feature niche tiles with the same wall tile

Example of mocha tiles against our white wall tile

I used digital decorator who has all of plantation laminate choices and paints, similar tiles and stone tops.
Comprised it into a baseline image, give a feel of our colour scheme we are trying to achieve in our main areas.

First plantation dramas

We had our first issues with plantation homes.

It mostly surrounds the plans of the home...

My advice check every detail carefully, from which areas are tiled, splashbacks and structural details.

From the initial quotes to our new home proposal plans things simply disappeared .

It was only noticed afterwards what was missing and because we had signed off on the contract plans they made it tough on us.

1. Missing mirrored sliding doors on robes - was noticed in our contract meeting and was requested to be put back in - currently still missing!

2. Tiling along the vanity wall. - only noticed on the lead up to the colour appointment - when we were going to display homes to look at colour schemes my wife asked whether or not we had full tiled walls as displayed. I said yes we do and at the display home it does state pretty much what you see is what you get.

To my surprise when I looked over our plans we had zilch tiling! The only tiling we had in our ensuite was the shower hob and floor - I was pissed. We managed to ask the sales consultant at the display home to print the original ensuite plans and surprise they were there. Despite this our customer service lady wouldn't budge as we signed off on the plans. I brought this up with our colours lady and she managed to get it changed.

3. After that we checked and double checked from the modified plans - our splashbacks were nicely trimmed down too. This was also requested to be reinstated to its proper height

Our plan should have shown - Floor to ceiling tiling on our ensuite wall. This plan only has tile skirts.

Colour Selections

We finally got around to the colour selections.

To prepare we have been to cosham studios twice, we have been to 3 display villages esp the latest one at Springfield lakes.

However we notice planation homes was very BROWN in terms of their olour scheme... not our taste...

We have chosen to go a "Scandinavian" feel - so timbers, greys and whites...

We hope in the end this doesnt date too quickly and give the home a light, open feeling...

Our colour selection lady was extremely helpful and gave us sound advice with all our selections

Bathroom selections - Snow White Matt rectangle tiles for walls, Odessa Mocha porcelain tile for floors and bathtub, Strip of Grey Matt fingers as a feature (will fill our niche in the ensuite), Satin Heartwood Laminate for vanity unit, Polar Quantum Quartz bench tops

Kitchen - We are using the timber laminate (sublime teak - Riven finished) all around our island bench and cupboards on top of the fridge. White gloss laminate for the main kitchen bench, russian toffee glass splash back, New Diamond White Bench Tops

Metal Grey roof, white weather (white duck quarter) board/Cladding, Gutter - Basalt, surf mist garage door, moon dust with off white raked mortar

Another shot of the main bath without the feature tile

Laundry 

Rush series taps

The main issue at this stage is our stair case and top floor laminate choice.... We arnt quite sold yet on our current flooring choice (Parador 1050 Spotted Gum), we went to see it in the show room on a larger scale and due to the details of the knots and grains it looked really fake. With laminates the images are repeated across the floor and can look pretty horrible/fake

We seem to like the Parador Trendtime 1 Blackbutt instead and getting quotes for this upgrade with plantation homes so will see how much they charge and compare it to Solomon's flooring/Carpet Call.

We are also waiting to be quoted on a Tassie Oak staircase upgrade like this... Apparently the durian timber stair case when stained clear or lighter turns out very yellow and doesnt look very good. 

This is what I didn't know - plantation display homes stairs if stained clear are all Tassie oak which is an upgrade - like below. 

If they are carpeted which is what the kiara originally has included its just plywood. If it is in the plantation dark chocolate stained it's a durian timber.

Tassie Oak Stair case at the yarrabilla display village

The only example of a durian stair case from a fellow plantation home blogger!

Each home has a set of inclusions and vary from home to home - from tiling, to stair cases, doors/windows etc...... It's worthwhile getting all the actual printed plans to see what is included and you can see the bathroom layout in 4 views

Electrical Appointment and Flooring

We had our electrical appointment through Your Home Consulting a week ago.

We had only initially budgeted $4000 for electrical additions ... eekkk

We basically wanted LED downlights everywhere, ceiling fans in all living spaces and rooms...

Luckily we have a good friend who is a sparky who can help us install our fixtures and fittings at a reasonable price.

Its actually quite fun doing the electrical plans, you need to imagine how much light you need for the space. You dont want to overdo it either and make it uncomfortably bright!

The main thing is to get the downstairs lighting right... Because after rough in and plastering you ain't gonna fit a electrician in between floors!

Also need to be mindful of two way switches... Fortunately plantation do give you two of these in the home...

The basic electrical inclusions have a  basic light fitting in each space, 2 x double power point in each room and three tv points. Rest is an additional cost.

All up im hoping to keep the electrical budget to around $9000. 

Other big decisions we have made is our flooring! Our plan is do laminate flooring for the entire upstairs and all rooms and large gloss porcelain tiles for the downstairs.

Plantation quoted us for their most basic tile range and timber laminate nearly 13k.

Went to a few tiling shops to and we came across CTM at springwood! it had tiles and is affiliated with solomon flooring too. A one stop shop.

Crystal White - Has small detailed quartz stones 600x600mm gloss porcelain tile

Classic 1050 Parador Spotted oak Laminate

Overall we made some great savings going through CTM flooring and with better tile options which will help compensate for our electrical blowout. I even went to other stores for quotes and CTM couldnt be beaten...