Colour Selection - Interior - Bathrooms

There are hundreds of upgrades we can chose from. But we only upgraded the one we really want and the ones which will be hard to change later on.

As part of our package, we got this Impression Upgrade included. Therefore, we have a few things we do not need to upgrade anymore.

Bathroom upgrade prices are not that shocking, comparing to the living/dining upgrades. Probably because we have done enough research to keep our budget under control...

* Shower screen frames
Standard shower screen hight is about 1.85M. But if you have a partner who's more than 1.9M tall... then it's better to spend $350 per shower to raise frames to 2M to keep the splash in the shower. This is not a upgrade, this is more like a special request.  2M is the highest it can go up to. You see how guys can be pricing sometimes as well.

$250 shower upgrade is something everybody will get, I assume, to upgrade from white plastic base and frame to nice chrome. That's one step up. More upgrades available for semi frameless and frameless shower frames.

* Accessories
- basic bathroom accessories are single towel rail and toilet holder. That's right, NO hand towel ring!
- $50 for matching hand towel ring
- $60 to instal an extra single towel rail or $70 to upgrade from single towel rail to double

* Vanity - drawers

- standard vanity is a two-door cupboard matte finish

- adding 3-drawers bank cost $250 each

- vanity moved to the wall side (against the wall), to avoid the awkward gaps

Main bathroom - MJH display home

* Shower head

Yes.. we spent $790 on top of the upgraded shower head on this awesome looking Caroma Essence wall rail shower with overhead wels chrome. and for both of the bathrooms!

Well... it started with the discussion of upgrading the toilets. The upgraded toilets requires 1.2M wall tiles because the back of the toilet is fixed onto the wall. S didn't want to spend thousands of $ on tiles and fancy toilet.. so I suggested to go for a smaller upgrade like the showerheads....

There is nothing wrong with the shower head in the Impression package. It was just me wanting something nicer looking ..... emmm... and somehow I won... and yes, that's how women shop..


Originally I'd like free standing bath, which cost $1,200 appx, and it seems MJH only has one free standing bath option. But it can be a pain to clean the dust stuck on the joint of the floor. Plus it leaves too much gap everywhere, where can be used as bench space if it is built in.

* Tiles

- bathroom floor tiles in the bathrooms does not go up as skirting - in the bathrooms, if it is different from the wall tile. So there is no ugly two tone joint in the shower

- wall tiles are used for the skirtings in the bathrooms and on the side of the built in bath tub

- skirting in the laundry and separate toilet is the same as the floor

* Mirror

- $350 to upgrade to the wall mirror in the main bathroom, same as the display homes
- standard mirror has metal frame around it, and it costs $100 to have a frameless and polished edge


There is nothing upgraded for the laundry, as we are planning to make customised simple shelves after handover. There will only be a sink like this.

laundry sink - MJH display home

Colour Selection - Exterior

Let's go through the details bit by bit.

This is the summary of external colour selections.

There were some little 'surprises', for example, we did not expect an extra charge on the bag and paint, nor paying extra for translucent glasses of the front door.

In the photo of our facade - Chase, there are 2 paint colours and the wall around the garage door is brick. However, for any extra colour (more than one) will cost $300 per colour. Because it is a different mix, not just a paint colour. 

Again, driveway, fly screen windows, window locks, upgraded facade, patio tiles, letter box and mount, water tank, upgraded external laundry door and cloth line are all included in our package.

*Bricks

- reviews of Everyday Life bricks are fairly good. It is longer wearing, and the colour does not fade as quick as some of the other fancy bricks. Upgrading to a nicer colour brick outside Everyday Life range varies from hundreds to thousands. 

- pay attention to the brick type - exposed or general. 

*Roof

We love windspray!

Gutters, fascia, eaves and downpipe

windspray roof and surfmist bag and paint

*Window/sliding door frames

We chose white frames and assumed it will come with white handles. But NO! The default colour is black! If black colour is allowed in our estate, we would have black window frames and some a lot money on matching handles. In memory, it was like $110 for white sliding door handles and $40appx for white window lock and handles. So.. NO! I found this photo online, black and white mismatch looks totally fine for awning windows.

white window frames with black handles

back handle on external sliding doors - MJH display home

*Fly screen

Originally we liked to add couple of security screen door at the back and in the front - with MJH. The quotes we got are between $500-800 (incl installation ) depending on the size of the doors. But... MJH charge $1,100 for crimsafe fly screen doors like this.

security fly screen door lock we like

But if you are happy with diamond security doors like this. Then it only cost $350appx, which is a reasonable price.

diamond shape security screen door

So we only picked matching fly screens window frames (white frame with black mesh) as part of our package.

Importantly, the tracks for the rear sliding doors has extra track included for future fly screen door installation! Love this little detail from MJH. Not sure if other builder provide little convenience like this. But at least we won't have any nasty surprises when doing the fly screen doors after handover!

white fly screen frame with black mesh

*Garage door

Heritage short panels - without the black windows 

Heritage - short panels - single garage

*Front door  

We can get upgraded Nexus range. It comes with clear glass and cost $150 to change the glass to translucent. 

Front door

translucent glass

* External laundry door

We are happy with clear glass on JST1, save a few bucks and get more light in. 

external laundry door with dead lock and JST1door in standard white colour - MJH display homes

That's pretty much it for external. Need to spend few hours writing up the details for internal selections..

Colour Selection Day

Today we had our colour selection. We started from 9am and made all our choices before noon; signed the contract after lunch break (free lunch provided by MJH) and wrapped up by 1PM. 

The consultant is very helpful with matching the colours and styles. He also gave genuine advice to help us make few decisions which we hadn't thought of. We did a lot reseach and read many blogs, so we knew exactly what we were going to choose within our budget (except the floor coverings which we decided to have a closer look at on the day). A big Thank You to people from HomeOne forum and MJH bloggers!

Before we go through all the upgrades and details. Below are the main colours we have chosen.

External Colours

Our colour theme is grey, lots of grey, but less than 50 shades of grey lolz
- Driveway, letter box, patio tiles, bag and paint are included in our package
- Paid extra $300 to have a 2nd colour of bag and paint


Interior Colours

- Glass splashback, stone benchtops are floor coverings are included in our package
- Upgraded carpet from $50 appx/sqm (standard) to $65/sqm, thicker and softer
- Choosing the Gerflor cost us $500 extra for labour - we thought everything was included in the package =/

Land Rego - in the queue!

We were notified on 26th June that our lot has been passed on to LPI (Land and Property Information Authority). It will be registered in 2-5 weeks, then 14 days for settlement.