The land purchase was done and we engaged an architect to work with us on the design.  One of the key driving factors of the design was our strong desire to have 2 car spaces.  We could either have the two spaces side by side at the front of the block, or in 2 a line at the right hand side of the block. To some extent this decision basically determines the lay-out.  The architect provided us with some rough sketches.

We went back and forth on the lay-out and came up with 4 layout plan options.  We decided on plan D. It is a clean design which completely separates the bedrooms from the living areas.  We were also able to achieve quite a large living / dining space which should make the house very nice to live in. And finally a big deck and room on the 3F. 

To give us a sense of what the actual house would turn out like the architect made up a plastic model and drew us some great sketches of the rooms.

Although the models are simple it is great to get an idea of what the finished house will look like.  It is very difficult to imagine the 3D version just from a lay-out plan. We thought it look quite cool and I can see it blending into the street. From this point we started to get the quotes from the builders. The builders require very detailed plans and information to give a quote.  It also takes considerable time. We obtained quotes from 3 builders and selected the best one.

Next post the building starts !