Within budget,
energy efficient and functional, doesn’t seem like a lot to ask till you start
to put it all together. This design has finished up being 250m2 and it will be
sitting on 3000m2 section. We built on the same land some years ago. We then
split the land in half and planted lots of fruit trees in and around the
existing mature tree’s. It’s flat……almost and has fields on two sides. Other than
the house that we built on the front of the section it’s very private. We also
planted on the new boundary between the existing house and this new section
which is now well established. The front section had no trees and I used to
look out my kitchen window and imagine my new future home with all the trees
with paths running through them.

We never
thought that building this new house would take so long to get started and
leaving our rental house each week to go mow the section, pick fruit and trim foliage
was depressing. Well, we made it but the budget is tight and a lot of thought
has gone into making it the best it can be, including all the rooms we need and
being as energy efficient as I can get it.

It’s only
just been sent off for costing so changes are still possible. I can give you
the reasons for the design but I am more than happy to hear your thoughts.

The outdoor
room with slider facing south and the north facing slider gives me Mother
Nature’s Air Con and I get to enjoy more of the land that surrounds the house.
You will notice that there are no doors on the lounge or the kitchen – it’s
just budget and a sit down with DH of what we need over what we want. To the
right of the entrance is bed 1 (DH office) and a ‘bath’ room. This was a
solution to the future sale of the house in NZ. Let me explain – When I arrived
from the UK 12 years ago, I found it strange that ALL NZ homes had a room with
shower, bath and sink with a separate loo (which often didn’t have a small
sink!?!?) It’s the same today but they do tend to add a baby sink in the loo.
This is seen as very old fashioned in the UK and most renovations include
knocking the loo through to the bathroom. So, if I had to sell the house in the
future maybe a Kiwi could handle a shower room and bathroom – they don’t like
change or different and I learnt this on
my first build 12 years ago! Halls are to a minimum as much as possible, I
saved on a door again between family and hall……..ummm not sure yet, can I live
without one? You may notice how straight and lined up the roof is – I wanted a
covered BBQ area to the back so that helped to line up the roof and I pulled
the roof out over the garage too. It could be seen as a boring house and I
would love to go gable crazy but needs, wants and budget played a huge part
here. However, input and thoughts on the subject will be helpful. The bedrooms
are small but acceptable here. You may question the huge scullery but this is
for work needs not an excessive want. A few things you can’t see – we have so
many power outages here that we will be looking at solar panels even if it is
just to the kitchen. We want to upgrade insulation etc. With a bit of research I
have chosen to have the kitchen company build the vanities. I have a choice
between cheap, nasty but affordable or $1700 looks OK. Going off the built in
we had made in the last house I am thinking the kitchen company will give me
the look I want at a cost I can work with.

Love to hear
what you think