Final house plans
Our Dream Build
After selling their cane farm, my grandparents settled on 2 acres out at the northern beaches in Cairns. It was where my sister and I would go after school, where family dinners and events were held and where memories were created down in the shed with grandpa while he was building furniture out of timber. It was everyone’s haven, a place we would feel at home in. As Cairns grew, so did their suburb and blocks of land were becoming harder and harder to get your hands on. Luke and I were never in a financial position where it would even be an option to keep the block of land in the family and when The Block paid off, our dream became a reality.
My grandparents block is currently 2 acres – the front acre has the house and pool and the back acre has a massive shed filled with timber, machinery and pieces of equipment that haven’t been touched since my grandfather passed away. We are purchasing the back acre, and we are currently in the design phase of our home. The front acre will soon be sold to a family to create their own memories.
Luke and I love simplicity. We love architectural designs that aren’t too over the top. We love houses that feel like home. We love big, wide open spaces and lots of room for entertaining. Living in cairns, it is hot for about 360 days of the year. You either live in the pool, inside with the air-conditioner pumping, or if your house is positioned where the breeze comes through, you keep everything open during the day for air flow.
We have teamed up with Humac Design, and they have created an incredible plan tailored to our requirements. We have changed these plans quite a few times, thinking of every possible thing that could annoy us down the track or things we didn’t necessarily need. We are wanting to build an architectural, beautiful home but also within our budget. We went for a very minimalist approach and kept the lines clean and sleek. We had visions of beautiful vines growing down from the roof line in sections which is what we would see everywhere during our honeymoon in Bali. Living in Far North Queensland we are up against mother nature when it comes to termites and the weather. We needed to ensure this build was going to be durable and as maintenance free as possible. In order for us to do this, we plan on using termite resistant and maintenance free materials such as steel, glass, concrete and aluminium.
A few things you will notice is that there is a lot of glass! We are wanting to fill the house with as much natural light as possible and we also want to be able to see outside to take in the beautiful surroundings. From every room in the house, we want to be able to see the mountains outside and the greenery around us. We will also be doing many planter boxes around the edges of the home. Our house is at the very back of the block and won’t be able to be seen from the street so we feel comfortable letting it all in. The focal part of our house is the dining, kitchen, living and patio. For us, these are areas we spend most of our time in and wanted an open, flowing space with tall ceilings. A pool will definitely be incorporated into the plans and most likely going to flow from the patio.
You will also see that we have two separate wings for the bedrooms and master bedroom. We understand having children will make this difficult during those long nights getting up and down to your toddler, but we also believe that it is only for such a short period and we are creating a home with a particular aesthetic. As babies, they will be in our room in their own cot and as teenagers, we will have a serious security system set up to make sure they aren’t attempting to escape at night!
Our master bedroom is going to be our haven. We have never had a walk-in robe or an ensuite so we are very excited about creating this space. The study nook is also in our wing as we spend some late nights in the office and don’t want to disturb the household. I was adamant that I didn’t want a room for the office, more of a large office nook. We will also be able to close our wing off to the rest of the living spaces for privacy and to make it easier to cool the house down with air-conditioning.
The other 3 bedrooms are basic – no walk-in robes for the kids! However spacious enough to be able to fit a desk if needed. We are also having storage space in the media room which can act as a 5th bedroom.
We have started to create mood boards of flooring, tiles, kitchens, tap-ware, furniture etc, and we can’t wait for it to start coming together and share every step with you all. It still only feels like a dream and that it won’t ever happen, but hopefully by this time next year I’m writing to you from our new home.
On the Journal
