European Country Style with
Antipodean Twist

We bought one hectare in Coatesville in November 2017. The area has great resale value and we love its village country feel.

We visited a few home builders’ sites before calling into Madison Park Homes where we found a standard plan we really liked and we went from there, increasing the footprint and specifications to achieve what we wanted from the build.

Madison Park were really accommodating with changes we wanted to make. I sourced some beautiful antique oak flooring and they were happy to use the company I’d found. We also chose to fully tile the bathrooms; nothing was a problem.

I spent hours pouring over plans and really embraced the building process. By the time we received our concept drawing I knew where every piece of furniture and artwork was going.

We’ve built homes before but worked with builders on labour only contracts and that was stressful. Building this home was the first time we’ve gone with a building company and we’re so pleased we did.

Even though we built during winter everything went smoothly. Once we were out of the ground and the slab was down, the walls and roofs went up surprisingly fast. It only took 11 months to build our 460sqm home including outdoor living areas – we were so impressed and moved in last March 2018.

The brief we gave Madison Park was for a warm and welcoming home, one where visitors feel relaxed and don’t sense the need to remove their shoes. Casual and rustic with a touch of sophistication.

I created an online Houzz ideas book which I would take into Mandy, the Sales and Pre-Construction Manager, to show her the look we were after and I kept an eye out for key pieces that worked with the ambience we were trying to achieve.

There’s a spacious atrium at the entranceway which looks out to the pool, and several schist walls feature in the living spaces with the antique oak floor flowing through the living and dining zones.

The master suite is at one end of the house and three double guest rooms plus bathroom are at the other end, for a luxurious sense of separation. There’s also a separate powder room for guests.

We have a dedicated music and media room; Graeme loves music and wanted a separate space. This is future-proofed too, so it could be an office, a play room for children, or perhaps another bedroom sometime.

Indoor outdoor flow was vital to link the interior with our lovely central outdoor courtyard. For all weather entertaining, we wanted a lot of the al fresco area undercover. So we made the eaves wider and created different zones to cope with different weather conditions. We can always barbeque somewhere at any time!

We love everything about the home but if you ask us what we love the most, for Graeme it’s the garage. He’s keen on cars so it was important it was comfortable for him. It’s double glazed, carpeted and very well insulated, even on the doors! For me: I just love the stone work and timber flooring.

My best advice for those building: try and have all your ducks in a row before your plans go to council, because making changes after that is costly and holds things up.

The Madison Park Homes team was amazing. Thanks to our Project Managers, Darren and Mandy and everyone else on the team. Every build comes with its challenges but nothing was too hard for Madison. We’re really happy with the outcome and would absolutely recommend them. In fact, we already have.