Prestart #1

Prestart File - Eco Home Style

Today we had our first prestart – woohoo! The aim of this exercise was to go through the addenda and address all the items that would be required for the builder to commence construction and through to roof cover. The meeting took 2.5 hours, and we got most of the …

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Alfresco dining

Alfresco - Eco Home Style

To the north east of our kitchen is the alfresco area, which will be our main outdoor bbq/kitchen and dining area. It’s not huge, just 18sqm or so, but this will be our main all-weather outdoor room. We have an existing outdoor dining setting which we like, and will put …

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All hands on deck!

Deck - Eco Home Style

With summer well and truly here, thoughts turn to the great outdoors. We’re lucky to have a reasonably large block, so we will have a generous back yard, around 400sqm. Our grand plan is to have several zones, each of which will have a primary purpose. Here is the (rough) …

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Energy report

Energy report - Eco Home Style

Something that we have been hanging out for is the energy report. This is why we engaged the architect in the first place. Our block has a difficult orientation and none of the off the shelf plans were even remotely suitable. Our architect told us that our design should perform as …

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Are we still cooking with gas?

Are We Still Cooking With Gas in WA? Image credit: pixabay.com

A few months ago I decided to become a member of the Alternative Technology Association (ATA). I did this mainly for the Renew and Sanctuary magazines, which feature articles ranging from sustainable energy options through to walkthroughs of new sustainably built houses. That all sounds quite noble, but really I …

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Fans revisited

Ceiling Fans - Eco Home Style

So, apparently my preferred fan wasn’t good enough. It’s a shame because I really liked the design, but it apparently has noise issues. So I had a quick look at the Choice article and came up with the following decisions. Briefly considered the Haiku, which is gorgeous, but too exxy …

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Retaining

Retaining - Eco Home Style

Oh the mundanity of it all! One of the approval conditions on our planning application is retaining all the way down the sides of the house. Ho hum. It’s a cost we didn’t want, and the retaining will mostly be below ground level anyway. As we’re trying to contain costs, the …

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Demolition – House gone!

Strelizia

Finally, I can post my pictures of the house demolition! No more house. Just an empty block. Here is a gif of pictures taken of the house during demolition.     And the last flowers picked before they got removed.   I’m actually quite pleased they salvaged the Strelitzias. All the legal …

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Light fantastic!

Replica Tom Dixon Etch Web Pendant Light from Matt Blatt

** Breaking news – our planning application has been approved! ** This post is also timely as Mr Trixee pointed me to this link about engineering cheaper LED bulbs. I’ve been a little bit obsessed with lighting throughout the design process, and I don’t think that’s going to stop anytime soon …

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The Library

Library - Eco Home Style

The library was something we always both wanted in the house. It’s to be an area for reading, relaxing, and contemplation, but also as a secondary entertainment area if the need arose. When I first showed Mr Trixee a bunch of pictures I’d found on the web, he didn’t like …

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