Deviating from the plans!!

Building a house from scratch is tremendously exciting, a feeling that for me has not diminished from the first time we turned a stone.  From the very day the plans arrive, you start to imagine how the house will look and once building work commences your dream becomes a reality.  It is important to make sure you are happy with the building materials being used, window style and positions, whether your chimney is inward or outwards,  slates or tiles on the roof and position within your plot.  Does the kitchen have any south facing windows, is there enough light flowing through the house, is the garden overlooked?

Once you are happy with the structure and position of the house and, of course had your plans council approved, let the building commence!

As a house develops, its own character immerges.  This may result in you reassessing some of your initial decisions for the interior.  It can be difficult to decide the layout of rooms such as the kitchen and bathrooms until you have a feel for a property and are able to wander around inside.  The kitchen is probably the single most important room you need to plan.  The majority of people not only use the kitchen as a food preparation area but also the main living area.  If you are ordering a handmade kitchen, allow a good 4 months from placing your order to having the kitchen fitted.  Flat pack kitchens have a shorter lead time, but of course fitters are going to busy so try and book your slot well in advance.

It’s a fact that when  I am selecting a Stone Homes kitchen, it takes a number of attempts at altering the layout before the final decision is made.  Breakfast bar or table?  Storage or space? Take your time and have your kitchen supplier come up with two or three variations before finalizing your choice.

The rooms which you need to have a good think about whilst the house is under construction are the bathrooms.  Your architect will have drawn positions for sanitary ware on your plans, but they may not be the most useable or make the best use of space.  You may decide to go for an impressive granite bath surround which would be the focal point in the bathroom.  This would be pointless is the bath is partially hidden when you open the door. 

There is a great deal of choice regarding bathrooms, making it both exciting and mind blowing when trying to choose your items.  The main thing is to get the scale right.  Don’t have an oversized sink unit is a small en suite which would maybe do better by having a corner sink to save space.  There’s nothing worse than feeling cramped in your bathroom.  We’ve all seen magazine makeovers for bathrooms where in the ‘before’ picture you couldn’t swing a cat and the ‘after’, where with purchasing the right equipment and good use of space the room looks twice the size. Sanitary ware has a short order time of approximately 3 weeks which allows you in relative terms to make a decision fairly far down the line. Just make sure your plumber knows where to put the pipes! 

If you are thinking of using dark colours in the bathrooms for either paint or tiles, make sure the room is light and airy enough to take it otherwise the beautiful sanitary ware you have chosen may get lost in a drab interior.

Decoration is important throughout the house and colours can be decided on as the build progresses.  Don’t be afraid to use colour but be conscious if a room has enough natural light to cope with a strong colour.  If a room is only used in the evening (i.e. a dining room,) where subdued lighting would be used, a strong colour would work well.  In fact if you like colour, many rooms come alive with colour.  Create your own colour palette and be experimental.  Matchpots are invaluable for gauging what a colour is like when it is actually on the wall but be aware that a whole room in a colour is going to be more overpowering than a swatch.

Neutrals can work well throughout a house, without a need to stick to the same colour.  There are hundreds of taupes, creams, hint-of-whites, mushrooms etc on the market which compliment each other. Use curtains, blinds and accessories to bring colour into your home.

Having a house built is tremendously exciting.  Just don’t forget, be flexible throughout the build and be prepared to venture away from your original choices. The best thing to do is have and open mind, with the emphasis being on amending the internals, not externals.