Recipe for Happiness
A young family-of-four love to bake in their Coral Homes kitchen almost as much as they love their Hamptons-inspired home itself
Stepping inside the family’s Maudsland home in Queensland is like entering a super-friendly Hamptons-inspired gingerbread house where scents of baked goods fill the air. The fairytale family made up of stay-at-home mum, Hayley, food store logistics worker and father, Lorenzo, and their two children are passionate home cooks and put the kitchen in their stunning Grange 21 with Hamptons façade to good use.
“We love to bake in the kitchen. It’s definitely the heart of the home,” says avid paleo baker, Hayley, of their quintessential Hamptons-inspired kitchen. “We opted for neutral sort of tones, like our kitchen splashback we went with a duckegg-blue Italian subway tile.”
“We also chose shaker-style cabinetry, which was a massive win for me. That was something that I’d always really wanted,” Hayley explains, while the coastal pendants sitting above the kitchen bench echo the Hamptons theme.
Lorenzo is also a fan of the Hamptons kitchen.
“I think my two favourite things of the Hamptons look is probably the cladding and the kitchen look, I guess, because I’m always in the kitchen and the cladding just gives a bit more of a feature towards the house. It’s something extra special,” he says.
Having previously renovated homes together, Hayley and Lorenzo were ready for the next logical step – to build a new home from scratch with their own personal stamp.
“We bought existing homes before and renovated them, but this is our first time building. We always wanted to build,” says Hayley.
“Our journey with Coral began when we met [sales consultant] Peter at the Coomera Foreshore sales office. And he was really helpful, really friendly, really patient. He showed us the 2019 catalogue with the home designs, and it was the house on the front cover that just drew me in straight away,” says Hayley.
“It’s just such a warm, inviting kind of cottagey type feel. And ever since I was little, I really liked that look.”
The coastal styling of the interiors of the home definitely evokes a sense of calm and relaxation.
“My favourite feature of the Hamptons design is definitely the windows for sure. To me they’re just really magical. I love waking up every morning and looking out of the bedroom window. It just makes me really happy,” says Hayley.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom home has the perfect floorplan to cater to their busy household.
Lorenzo loves that the master bedroom is at the front of the home.
“I want to be the first person to greet people at the front door, maybe it’s a security thing or safety reason, but it’s really nice having the main bedroom at the front of the house and then having the kids’ bedrooms down the other end of the house, so we don’t have to hear them if we don’t need,” says Lorenzo with a laugh.
Hayley agrees that the layout of their Grange 21 suits their needs now and into the future.
“I feel like this kind of home is designed in a way where your family can grow easily. The way it’s set up when they’re teenagers it’s just as easy going as now, when they’re little, so we won’t need to move things around. It’s my dream home so I feel pretty lucky,” says Hayley.
The second living area also serves as a buffer zone between the kids and parents’ zones.
“We have the room with the television just next to our room. So, if we’re watching something quietly at night-time, it’s not disturbing them down the other end of the house in their room,” says Hayley.
The family’s Grange 21 has beautifully manicured front and back yards which provides the perfect backdrops for the kids to play. They love to kick a ball around outside, climb up to the top of the property to play on the swings and ride their bikes in the quiet street. And indoors, the children love to assist Hayley in the kitchen to cook delicious sugar- and gluten-free treats.
From start to finish Hayley and Lorenzo couldn’t fault their experience with Coral Homes. Lorenzo recalls feeling as though the sales consultant had a genuine interest in their future.
“We weren’t just a number, we were actual people that they cared about,” he says. “It was really amazing to feel like we’re important and this is all going to work out.”
Homeownership is something Lorenzo never thought would be possible for him. “When I was growing up, I didn’t think I’d be able to build a home, I didn’t think it could happen but we feel like we can live here for a long time and be happy, which is pretty cool,” says Lorenzo.
Hayley agrees the affordability of Coral Homes made their dreams of building a home a reality.
“I felt like everything was very clear in terms of price. There were no hidden surprises. It was very easy to be able to work out then and there on one visit, can we afford this or not? That was really helpful because other building companies weren’t so transparent in terms of price,” she says.
Lorenzo adds: “When you walk into a display home, you’re like, wow, this is crazy, this isn’t what we can afford. This is probably the best of the best. But I was pleasantly surprised that what they were showing us is actually what you get for the price.”
Hayley was blown away by the quality of the standard range of finishes they discovered at their selection appointment in the Varsity Lakes showroom.
“Honestly I was so surprised by the range of standard options. So many finishes in this house are the standard option that we went with. We just upgraded the tiles for the kitchen splashback and bathroom floor, and the overhead cabinetry, but basically everything else was within the standard range. The designs were beautiful,” she says.
The build process ran smoothly for the couple, and they’d definitely recommend Coral Homes to their friends and family.
“Our builder was amazing. He communicated so well. He just wanted us to be in on everything. I remember walking in the week before we got the keys and I was astounded at how nicely everything was finished off,” Hayley says. “I would definitely recommend Coral, and we have actually, to our friends that live in a nearby suburb. They’re demolishing their old house and they’re going with Coral to build a house on their block. Throughout the build process, I showed her pictures of things along the way. And she was really excited to tell me that they decided to go with Coral to build their home.”
On the day of handover in February 2020, exactly a year after Hayley and Lorenzo visited the Coomera sales office, the couple remember emotions were running high.
“I don’t get overly excited very often to be honest, I’m more like, okay, whatever. But when we finally got the keys, it was our home,” says Lorenzo with pride.
Hayley agrees it was a special day: “I was really emotional as always. We’d come to visit it [their Grange 21] so many times, but it’s sort of not yours yet. So, when he [the builder] gave us the key, it’s like, okay, this is yours now. It was an emotional day. It was just really exciting.”
Here’s to many more happy times (and paleo bake-offs) in their family home. As they say, the family that bakes together..
