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Hi Rob , You are entering an exciting time with a new home, good luck with it all . Just a couple of suggestions : (1) Any reason you are note considering an architect to be involved ? When chosen carefully they can be very cost effective , plus they will create the unique custom one off that you are after. Their design concepts will go far beyond just what the exterior looks like Rob, they will also consider ( for example) how a skillion roofline has other functional benefits like incorporating high line ( clerestory) windows that will bring fabulous light into the centre of your new home etc. They will also advise on orientation and wind etc etc and lots more . (2) Regardless of whether an architect is involved, I would suggest that you seriously consider getting someone to create a 3D walkthrough of your new home so that you can walk through and around it before you spend your money on construction. It really does let you see the visual effects, plus because the 3D is to scale , it will help you sort out any potential issues with design and /or construction in advance( i.e. saves you time and money during construction ) . The 3D's can be created once you have your plans and elevations completed. You can get the 3D's created fairly cheaply ( a few hundred $'s ) on www.freelancer.com where professionals from around the globe compete for your project . It is money well spent , and you can see the colours and textures in lifelike scenarios , so it takes away the mystery and what if's . Good luck with your project , and sorry, I don't like the dark blue at all :-) . Cheers Glenn

Samantha Hammer, very excited for you getting a new kitchen! I waited 14 years to finally get my new kitchen and am in love with it... the kitchen we had before didn’t function at all and was all brown with salmon pink benchtops and very enclosed and depressing! We knocked down a wall and totally redesigned the entire layout. (the first two kitchen places I had out to give me a quote totally mocked my design and told me I had to stick to the layout I had. The third place built the kitchen to exactly the plans and measurement that I drew up myself and I am so glad I stuck to my guns and persisted until I found a kitchen place that listened to me!) Now we have a kitchen that is bright and open and I love! Stick to your guns when it comes to your new kitchen and go with what you want and what you believe works best for you! :)

I hope you don't feel offended or that you wasted precious time and energy, siriuskey? I really do wish we'd reached the point of seeing your concept earlier. But I am happy with the design we settled on. Perfection isn't achievable. There will be things that we wish we'd done differently for sure, but overall I think we will end up with a home we can enjoy living in and be very happy with. This will be the 28th house we've lived in, and definitely the last (Said that four time before, but we really are getting too old to be moving! And this move is only happening because of a family crisis. We had renovated this house to be forever.). You do get a feel for the things that work best for your lifestyle after living in that many different homes. Things like the sewing nook in the laundry, for example, I wouldn't have considered years ago, but having had to run from one end of the house to the other to press a seam open, it's a biggy! And laundries today are not like they once were. They are clean, streamlined and pleasant to be in. My sewing bench will be under a north-facing window with a pleasant outlook and the washing area will be at the other end of the room. The kitchen will be very close so I can keep an eye on any cooking in progress while sewing or ironing. I have also decided that for me, the cooktop should be on the same bench as the sink - not opposite as is usual. So we have settled on an L-shaped island with the sink tucked behind a raised section so it's largely out of sight (as was suggested here), and the cooktop in the leg of the L. Hubby cooks a lot so the kitchen design ended up being important to him and he hated the main sink being far away from the cooktop. For some reason, the small sink on the island didn't work for him. Little things - but little things can be really annoying sometimes. I loved the idea of the sink near the servery window but it didn't appeal to him at all. In the end, we compromised on having the pantry sink under a servery window to the terrace, since the outdoor room won't be used a lot for dining and when it is, there will be a team to carry things out from the kitchen, whereas we will dine on the terrace frequently, especially when we have just one or two guests, and the servery there will be useful. So, final draft this weekend and on to working drawings, shed plans and council applications.