Well $12000 later the house plans are near complete and soon to be submitted to council in the new year. I am not entirely sure if we really got value from the draftsman … we were allocated a lovely 20 year old straight from college, I did all the design and found his errors each week.

There was lack of initiative and input to ideas and I paid surplus for my changes which tackled some very average looking structural design. Yes I am picky, its our house ! An architect would have been twice the price and for what additional outcome I wonder? Same footprint and similar design I am sure; there definitely would have been a few improved design elements but not worth another $12k.

All in all, I am delighted with the plans and with a few tweaks left, we are ready to go. So if you hadn’t seen the progress photos to date, here are a few plus the new plans unveiled.

22BlueMist_original_s

The original house in 1964, built in 1960. A mid century modernist designed by prominent architect Neil Clerehan as part of the Victorian Small Housing Design Service.

 

22BlueMist_sm

The house as we bought it in 2011 with layers of paint yet the structure remaining untouched since the original. All the views of Mt Dandenong had been blocked out by subdivision of the original block.

 

22BlueMist_bath_old

The original bathroom still intact.

 

22BlueMist_kitchen

And the original kitchen. The lady who built the house came to visit and remembered ordering the color of the laminex at the time.

 

cladding halfway

We started to replace the cladding back to a natural timber as it was impossible to remove the paint.

 

new patio_s

Then added a patio to give us privacy from staring into the neighbors house and roof as our view from the large windows. The front yard was also landscaped by me!

 

sm_DGbathroom_green

A new bathroom went into the spare bedroom providing a great retreat. Not exactly mid-century modernist but definitely have a high end resort appeal.

You can read more about our bathroom here ..

plans 1

The new plans add a garage with upstairs master bedroom and ensuite, plus redesigns the kitchen into an open plan and an outdoor patio.

 

a-3d front

I have my own 3d program .. the draftsman didn’t have one to monitor the design. We aimed to keep the modernist structure and structural features as much as possible by researching the original architects work.

You can click on any of these pictures to enlarge them!

a-3d bedroom 1

The upstairs bedroom gives clear views across to Mt Dandenong and full privacy too.

 

a-3d bedroom 2

We opted for a long open plan bedroom, due to the long shape rather than boxing in the ensuite the sink is external to the WC-shower which is behind frosted glass to maintain an airy feel. A walk-in-robe goes from the ensuite along the length of the timber wall behind the bed.

 

a- 3d kitchen 3

Downstairs the open plan kitchen looks over the new patio with full sliding glass doors. The steps in my program are very limited in design and puts the white box in place, we will get a light weight staircase of the era designed.

 

a-skylights 1

Along the kitchen extension and also along the new patio .. a dual skylight lets more light into this area of the house.

 

a-3d back patio

We end up with a large indoor-outdoor patio which has full sliding glass doors into the house.

I’m excited although the prospect of project managing the extension is another dilemma but no rush, each day we wait is another penny saved 🙂

Have a great weekend.

ALWAYS THE ARTIST Dina

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