Introducing, The Barcelona

After securing our patch of land, the hunt was on to find which builder we would get into bed with. After spending countless hours surfing the internet over countless bottles of wine we were adamant we were to build with Carlisle Homes - we had even chosen the home we wanted to build (without even having set foot out of our living room, red wines still in hand - the effects of a good drop of vino, right?)

That weekend, we continued our hunt (completely sober), popped the cherry and broke our display home village virginity.

It felt really good.

However, you know that feeling when you're alcohol intoxication leads you to sleep with someone you think (at the time) is a 10, then you wake up next to them in the morning and they're barely a 5? well, that's how we felt about Carlisle Homes. Ok, ok, they weren't that bad - but we found that their floor plans weren't in line with our vision. We then went onto view display homes for Porter Davis, Henley, Metricon and JG King who really impressed, but given their big ticket asking price (mainly due to their steel frames) we were yet again back to square one and back on the hunt. 

And then we waled into a Boutique display home in Cranbourne East... There were fireworks, sweaty palms, euphoria - it was love at first sight. The architectural facade drew us inside, it was intoxicating. 

Her name, The Barcelona. 

Because Jamie and I don't have functioning ovaries, we don't plan on having children any time soon. Basic biology tells us that two sausages don't make a baby. Our little fur-ball Cavoodle Bella sufficiently satisfies the craving to have messy, loud, obnoxious children... for now ;)

With this in mind, we decided on the 22 square Barcelona - a humble three bedroom plus study beauty. 

The selling point was the openness of the floor plan. The spaces interconnected with each other with such flow and ease - just seamless. The kitchen was a delicious experience - the walk-in Butler's Pantry, an absolute dream! The sheer length of the kitchen bench in addition to the length of the walk-in butler's pantry was incredibly generous. And given my Filipino heritage, will cater for the massive banquets I will be catering to feed our extended family and friends. 

We were lucky enough to sign our PWC whilst Boutique was running their "Entertainer's Promotion" which would provide us with a plethora of kitchen upgrades - and this amongst other stand-out features of the home really solidified our decision. 

We also loved the fact that the Ensuite to the Master Bedroom was a seperate space. We'd seen so many many display homes with floor plans where the Ensuite/Master Bedroom shared the one space with just a bulkhead to distinguish between the two spaces. Like, really?

So, after having fallen in love with the Barcelona, we found ourselves practically sprawling all over the sales consultants desk, wallets open and shirts unbuttoned. 

We're were getting into bed with Boutique Homes.

Sign us up. 

We bought dirt.

Owning your own home - it's the great Australian dream, right?

Well, our dreams certainly materialised into the 14m x 28m (392 sq) lot we now own 25km west of Melbourne's CBD in Tarneit. Our home will be nestled within the aptly named "Haven Estate."

haven / noun:
a place of safety or refuge.

synonyms: refuge, retreat, shelter, sanctuary, asylum, place of safety, place of security, harbour, oasis, sanctum

Fittingly, this humble lot will become the foundations for our first home. 

So, why did we choose to live out west, over the West Gate Bridge and into the abyss of misconceptions, preconceived degradation of social hierarchy and consequently closer to the sewerage capital that is Werribee? Well, we have a few reasons:

Reason #1: Because we're not gluten, coeliac, wheat, dairy-intolerant enough to purchase a property in the thick of the hipster movement taking over Brunswick, Fitzroy or Collingwood. We're also not fans of drinking deconstructed coffees or thinking everything is ironic. 

Reason #2: We enjoy space, open plan living and detached dwellings - so, as quaint as owning an old Victorian terrace house would be, we prefer to have a yard that is bigger than a toilet cubicle and a home where we cannot hear the bogans next door having sex through our bedroom wall. 

Reason #3: Unfortunately, we don't own a Mercedes GL class, Audi Q7 or BMW X5 which would qualify us to own a property in Toorak, Middle Park, Canterbury or even Malvern. And really, who can afford a $3.2m home these days? We'd also prefer not to pay $56 for a latte at our local cafe. 

Our final reason is simple - affordability & location. 

The Estate - Haven

Haven Estate isn't a 'future' master-planned development, or a 'large-scale estate.' It's a community of just 300 homes. We decided on Haven Estate based on the fact that there weren't 1,000 stages of builds with over 20,000 homes in the development. There are only six build stages and our little patch of dirt is scheduled for stage four of construction which is anticipated for settlement in November this year! We are hoping to be right in the thick of the build this time next year - if not fully completed!

Another pre-requisite for us was the estates proximity to public transport and locality to shopping centres and Hungry Jack's.

Let's be honest, the burgers ARE better.

Tarneit's new train station is only 1.5km from Haven which is a short 10-15 minute walk from where our home will be built. Leakes Road also leads directly onto the Princes Freeway for a 30 minute trip to the city or 45 minutes in the other direction will land you in Geelong and the Surf Coast. 

There's also a Woolie's less than a kilometre away and a new shopping precinct soon to begin construction opposite Tarneit Train Station which will be dubbed 'Tarneit Central.' The new 25,000sqm sub regional centre will be anchored by a national supermarket, national discount department store, a discount supermarket and approximately 42 speciality retailers, alongside two 'mini major' anchor tenants and six kiosks. 

We're both pretty chuffed with the location of what will (soon to) be our new residential postcode.

Stay tuned - up next on the blog we look at our journey to finding the perfect builder and of course, the house we decided to build! 

- Az, Jamie & Bella x

  

Introductions. They're so underrated.

    

G'Day. I'm Az - I'm the one on the right holding the cheeky little fur-ball. Her name, is Bella. She's our little girl. The dashing young chap on the left, that's Jamie - my fiance.

We've been a happy little unit for the best part of seven years but in the past twelve months, we have lived in three different homes, located in three different post codes, under the management of three different real estate agents. In all three situations, the landlord sold their properties from under our feet. Renting sucks!

There comes a time when you decide you're ready to be YOUR OWN landlord. 

That time has come.

Welcome to our home blog - Happy reading!

Az, Jamie & Bella x