Inside Liv & Jordan's regional bohemian abode

It’s a chilly winter morning when Liv and Jordan cheerfully greet us at their front door. On entering their home, it’s warm and toasty, and it’s clear they’re both incredibly proud of the house they’ve built together.

With a year now racked up in their new Metricon home, Liv and Jordan are opening up their home to us, sharing their build journey. It’s an inspiring tale about what’s possible with vision, hard work and a strong sense of personal style.

Liv and Jordan are not your average early-twenty-somethings. They’ve set the bar high on what’s possible for first home buyers, building their first home from scratch in a new estate at Ascot, in Bendigo’s northeast. It’s an area that’s growing in popularity with young families – in part due to the new Epsom rail station and recent land releases.

“We’ve lived in this area most of our lives,” Liv says. “We love the freedom of living here.”

Jordan’s a gold miner whose job involves production charging and drilling, and Liv is busy balancing work in intensive care at Bendigo Hospital while completing her final year of a nursing degree. Both do shiftwork, love the outdoors and embrace all that regional living has to offer.

The couple has built a four-bedroom Metricon Santorini 25 with the Mirage façade. When we visit, the home is beautifully presented, and Liv’s stylish eye is evident in every room.

When asked why they chose Metrion for their new build, Liv explains that the decision came after visiting display homes. “I fell in love with two of the Metricon displays, and came home and said “Can we build with Metricon?”, and that was it.” Liv jokes that Jordan didn’t put forward any objections. “He didn’t fight me,” she says with a giggle. Jordan smiles, adding that another critical factor in choosing Metricon was local market knowledge. “We were very focused on a regional builder, and someone that had the quality we were looking for. Metricon’s designs and finishing touches were really well done.”

Liv and Jordan had a very clear vision about what they wanted from their first home – it had to be a home that would not only be right today but would also support a young family down the track. “There’s only two of us, and it’s a big house, but it’s built to grow with us,” says Liv.

Another appealing factor of the Santorini was the fact that it has its master suite at the front of the home, which they say is great given that they both do shift work. Liv says, “We can shut the back half of the house off, which is important for us to keep the bedroom quiet.”

“Having the master at the front also gives us a big integrated loungeroom and kitchen- it all flows together, ” says Jordan. “We’re always entertaining and love having our mates over.”

The open plan living at the rear of the home delivers the wow factor. Sunlight streams in through shuttered windows- casting beautiful shadows on the wall, and large sliding doors let in light from the garden they’ve just started landscaping. “The light in this house is something that we both really love - it’s open, and it’s bright,” Liv says.

Working to a tight budget, Liv and Jordan had to spend money wisely and where it mattered. They chose an upgrade pack for their home that included higher ceilings, wider doorways, stone benchtops, timber floors and a sturdy timber and glass front door. “These make it a much grander house - that’s what we love about it,” says Liv.

Conversely, they opted to save money in other areas, incorporating some DIY into their build. They’ve forgone traditional overhead cabinetry in the kitchen for open timber shelving. “My Dad helped me install them and I love that they’re a feature”, says Liv. Jordan has added a panelled kicker to their island bench to create more interest when you’re looking back at the kitchen the adjacent living area. “It was important for us to add our own stamp,” says Liv who has a strong sense of style.

Liv has been posting pictures of their new home on Instagram since moving in and has developed a growing following of people interested in her interior aesthetic.

“I guess you’d say our style is modern, coastal bohemian but also a little bit Australiana. Our interiors include a lot of natural flowers, timber and textures. We live in a regional area, so it's important to tie in the landscape so our home doesn’t feel out of place.” Liv says.

Stepping into their home leaves visitors feeling pretty impressed– not only by the couple’s sense of style but also by their determination to build a new home at such a young age while balancing work, study and a healthy social life.

Liv says they made plenty of sacrifices to get to where they are now. “At the time of deciding to build our first home we were renting, and our rent had just gone up and it was at the point where we were like, ‘We don’t want to pay someone else’s mortgage’.” So something had to give - and it was everything but the kitchen sink,” Liv jokes. “We just bought the bare essentials and put in the extra effort, and I think we saved our deposit within eight months of deciding we were going to build. From there, the longer we did it, the easier it got. It became more of a mindset that this much money is going away because we’re getting a house.”

“We ended up moving back in with the parents which was a much, much easier way to save money. Let them buy your groceries!” Jordan laughs.

As we chat in their spacious open plan living area it appears their short terms sacrifices have paid dividends. “I don’t think there’s anything we’d change,” says Liv. “We love our floorplan and love this home.”

When asked what advice they’d give to other would-be first home buyers, the couple has some handy tips.

Jordan says, “My advice would be to stick with your guns. Focus on that end goal of actually getting in. It takes as long or as quick as you want to make it, so really stick to your guns and keep following through.”

Liv says “It’s easy to lose sight halfway through of why you’re saving or why you have to change your living situation, so we sticky taped our floor plan to the back of our door, so it was a constant reminder of why we’re doing this.” She adds, “Just do it – you won’t regret it.”

To learn more about the Freedom by Metricon Santorini design that Liv and Jordan built, click here, or visit one of Metricon's impressive homes currently on display in Bendigo.

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