Every weekend that Alex was home from work was filled with visits to the display centre at Rochedale where we were in the tender stage of piecing together how we wanted our Retreat Vogue to look and suit our way of living. ‘M’ from the sales centre was ever so patient and helpful with all of our changes (yes there were a few!) and relatively stupid questions as we fumbled our way through the process of building for the first time.
We started off with the Stella façade but in the end changed it to the Horizon – which is the same as the display centre which grew on us more and more each time we visited.
These are the main structural changes that we made to the plan:
- 2.5 space garage to allow Alex workspace and room for his tools
- Relocated the laundry to near the garage (originally in between the two living areas)
- Added double hung windows to the theatre room on elevation D (see Floor Plans) to allow for breezes to come through when the timber stacker doors were closed
- Closed up the sliding door to the master bedroom on elevation F to create more privacy from the alfresco area and added a window there instead
- Added the kick out to the living area on elevation D which is standard in the Retreat Lux Q1 plan but not the Retreat Vogue
- All cupboard shelving and hanging rails were changed to a higher height to get optimum cupboard space (Ooh yeah!)
- Added a second hanging rail to the master bedroom WIR on elevation A
- Broom cupboard added to the linen cupboard in the laundry
- Tiled niche added to the ensuite shower
- Created a larger manhole in the garage so we could store (non-heavy) things in the roof like camping gear and the Christmas tree to allow for more uncluttered space in Alex’s precious man-land!
- The garage is a step-down from the house to lower the gradient of the driveway
Seriously, I don’t think I have ever had to look at so many windows, doors and different designs just to pick the correct size and fittings of things in my life. If you don’t tell the builder exactly what you want then they whack in anything they feel will work and when you see the plans it’s a little like ‘what the?! that’s not the window I had envisioned'.
Exhausting work and complete happiness at the same time!
