Hello We are planning to do a new build after KD of our post-war home in inner north Brisbane. Will be our PPOR for a few years and then might sell. The suburb itself is a mix of pre-war Queenslanders, post-war oldies and new Hamptons. Contemporary/modern are very few and rare. We are confused about which style to go for our new build and find it difficult to make a decision. We like both coastal contemporary/modern and Hamptons style but leaning slightly towards contemporary. I see all the Hamptons being built and don’t want ours to be just ‘another Hamptons’. Also, not sure if Hamptons will be out of style soon. With the coastal modern- not sure if it will look distinct, out of place and turn away some buyers. Or would it be appreciated as being unique?? Any suggestions? Should we play safe and build Hamptons OR go with our instincts and do the coastal modern? Thanks!
All style fads tire. Could be costly to fix later too. Its more than just (often horrid pastel) paint colours with white. Tends to use lots of timber. Thats a high maintenance cost and at the price of timber and labour perhaps costly to build.
As Paul has alluded to, styles with lots of timber on the exterior will have a lot of associated maintenance. I'm also not a fan of huge amounts of render for the same reason. Maybe try and choose a style that has a few different materials in the mix (eg brick, stone, a cute little acrylic weatherboardy section) to get the look you're after for minimal maintenance.
If it's for a PPOR then you have a lot more lee way and should go for something you love. I wouldn't go too eclectic but there is no need to go ultra vanilla on all your choices. What Australians consider Hamptons is simply a coastal version of country - it's a nice pitched roof, it's some fibre cement weatherboard and it's some graceful lines that have echos in Australian homesteads over 100s of years If you want to go contemporary then I would try and pick some elements that tie it to some houses in the street if you want to it to tie in a bit. That might be a colour element (a white wall if the Queenslanders are white), a red brick feature wall (if the post war are red brick) etc.
The "style" should derive from the design solution and response to your spatial requirements, the site itself and other constraints. Considering the "whole" will give you a superior result. But if you want to lay out a floor plan then add a facade/theme, like everyone else you will end up with a version of everyone else's taste and preference for this moment in time. As others have said - it will change. Try being a bit more bold and allow the design to evolve from the structure and other conditions I've mentioned. Look at "presents" to see how other designers have achieved results (talk to your architect about this). If you do want to them up - take a look at mid century modern (but late 40s to late 60s and still well executed and liveable design solutions)
I’ve been looking at both styles and really liked modern coastal. https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-qld-enoggera-137028246 https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/526991593907303220/sent/
'pre-war Queenslanders, post-war oldies and new Hamptons' Is there any Character protection (style) council requirements for your street? If all the other houses tend to be weatherboard, then that is the classic look for the street anyway. A quality paint job will last longer than most people fashion preferences, is it so bad if the house benefits from a repaint in 20 years? perhaps yes, perhaps no. I've had a painter (new project home) tell me that for the price difference he will upgrade the paint used from project home spec to best of Dulux, best value ever. I will say, classic Qld designs has always been optimized for living without air-conditioning, a mentality at odds with current regulations that are optimized for heat retention in the southern states. I will also add, the future is even more roof solar PV/HW. perhaps a simple postwar cottage style roof, with lots of solar panels will be a good investment. One other thought, can you keep the postwar cottage as a granny flat, and build new next to it? perhaps move the postwar cottage to the corner. Some of the postwar cottages are very renovation friendly, and easy to lift/move even if just a couple of metres.
Thanks for the suggestions. No, there is no character overlay. One recently built house in the street actually has a modern look. Retaining and/or renovating is something we considered but seems to be costly for the requirements we have. Hence the decision to build new.
Thanks for that. Makes a lot of sense. Will definitely keep that in mind when discussing with the designer later.
Around here, Hamptons just seems to mean paying more for an inferior product (weatherboard etc). I don't get it. Then there is all the scaffolding I see going up on homes around us to fix the render that has fallen off. More than a few homes... it's funny how fashions change. I still don't know what was wrong with face brick when it was the cheapest option. These days, it's no longer the cheapest but still seems to be the best value to me. But I know I'm in a small minority so don't take any notice if it's a flipping strategy.
I think you should build what you love and what you're going to enjoy being in. If you build it exactly how you want, then there is going to be someone else that loves that too as it will be unique and stand out from the copy + paste of everything else these days. Good luck!
Do you mind sharing your approx budget . We are getting a quote to build at the moment but I think the quote will come in at $1.3m or above . We are going for a Mediterranean/ Palm Springs style . I’m in 2 minds as I hope building costs may come down over the next year or so but I fear they may keep climbing …
Ours is still in initial design stages but targeting 900K-1M (hopefully!). We might still end up a bit higher with how the design turns up. We are in two minds as well. Hubby says costs will come down mid next year with now supply chains stabilising, inflation peaking, building approvals declining and so on. I personally don’t think we will see a considerable reduction. It is a tough decision to make. We are anyways planning to tender only after 4-5 months. Let’s see how it goes.
Nice please keep us posted I will send you a pm with our facade render , it’s a different style to what you’d want I’d say buy doesn’t hurt to have a look
