To build or not to build?
Wife, mother of 3, and owner of an Instagram-worthy acreage home, Lisa has joined us as a guest blogger to answer the big question - to build or not to build?
We had 100 glorious acres in the Southern Highlands. We knew what we wanted… the house needed to face north. It must have geothermal underfloor heating throughout, double glazing and it had to be completely off-grid. So with that list, we set out looking for the perfect floor plan.
The hardest part of the whole process was finding the right floor plan, or one that we could adapt to fit our needs. So we spent weekends, looking at every business who built in our area. Then, when McDonald Jones Homes opened their Bronte display home, we made sure we went the week doors opened. It was beautiful, but wasn’t what we needed. We opened the brochure for the Hermitage Grande Manor and that was it, my husband and I knew that was our home.
That moment, we sat down in the Sales Office and tweaked our floor plan to what fitted our family better. We didn’t alter much, but the rooms we changed worked for our young children and would also work once they became teens. The living area and kitchen was lined with glass, perfect for our north facing requirement.
Finding the right floor plan for your family is the hardest part of the whole process. You are making a huge decision and in our case, a lifelong commitment to call it home. It needs to be functional at the time you move in and up until you move out. Making sure you have the right flow to move through all of life’s stages was critical for us. We had one child and were pregnant with baby number 2 at the Tender Stage. By the time we moved in, we were just about due with baby number 3. So our needs for the home had changed before we had even picked up the keys.
We recommend you choose your builder and floor plan wisely. Ask all the questions you can before you sign on the dotted line. Be sure that this home will be everything and more than you ever wanted. Take time to plan everything out, from interiors, to landscaping, to what you can do with empty rooms when the kids move out. Find a purpose for every space. Look at the block it will sit on and how it not only fits, but feels overall.
Once you nut out every single detail, ask yourself… Is this the home I want to build?
Lisa and her family moved into their beautiful Hermitage Grande Manor during the end of 2017. As a mother of three, she spends her spare time documenting the life of her young children and styling her truly Instagram-worthy acreage home.
Follow @lisa_oneill__ on Instagram for everlasting inspiration on decorating your McDonald Jones home.
