Well, after our very unusual 60 degree day, the weather changed back to winter and we even got some snow with that. The weather is calling for very cold for this upcoming weekend. Not particularly great weather for roofing and siding (hopefully it's spectacular weather for the football game on Sunday!!)
The porch is ready to be sheeted and shingled, at least I'm pretty sure it is since Mike said they finished placing the porch trusses. We decided afterall to put something over the entry way, more like the original picture from the magazine instead of just a straight roofline. Ours won't have the arch like the one in the magazine picture, but just a triangular piece above the entry way door. There is a small portion of the house that still needs to be shingled, but it couldn't be shingled until the porch was done. So that is on the to do list as well. Siding needs to be finished in order to have the electrician officially start wiring, well at least that's my understanding. The electrician will begin work next Monday, placing boxes for outlets and such in the walls. It sounds like insulating all the walls will start at the end of January/beginning of February.
We met with the electrician this morning (it was SO cold!). It was so weird to have to think about where we want all the switches to go. The fixtures themselves are pretty easy and basic, especially for the bedrooms. The kitchen, for instance, is a little more complicated because I wanted lights over the island, a light over the dinette area, other lights around the kitchen, and possibly under cabinet lighting and outlets above all the cabinets (for lighted garland at Christmas! : ) I'm thinking ahead!) So I had to think really hard about when I walk into the room and turn the lights on, which lights do I want to go on, where do we want the switches for what lights, and how many switches for lights (for example, there is a switch by the mudroom door and the dining room door to turn on/off the lights above the island.) Yikes. It's really hard to think about when the house is completely empty!! Hopefully we made the right decisions. We have plenty of outlets in every room, it's code to have "x" number of outlets in each room & a smoke detector by each bedroom. I'm just a little worried about having enough light in the house; there really won't be that much outside light coming into the house because of the big honking porch surrounding it!!
It's hard to build a house that you envisioned only in your mind, never walked through or saw inside pictures quite like it. We took so many things we saw and liked and attempted to squeeze as many of them as we could into this house. I think we succeeded for the most part, too. If I say "I wish", it doesn't mean I really wish to have other stuff or a better this or more of that, I just "wish" we could've done everything we wanted. Which of course is impossible. I do love the house the way it is, but after waiting so long it's easy to start second guessing things! Some things needed to be cut out, because there was just no way to have everything!! I wish we could've somehow had more windows (the porch is really going to take away alot of light) but having the porch was more important than the window factor. It would've been nice to put transoms (long narrow windows) above just about every window in the house, but the roof line wouldn't allow it (particularly in the back of the house). I would've liked to have another bathroom upstairs. And a door in the mudroom leading to the backyard. It would've been awesome to have an actual loft, but we'd rather have a cathedral ceiling in the dinette part of the kitchen, which meant not being able to use the space upstairs in the area above that part of the kitchen. At first Mike and I wanted the porch to wrap around to the back by our bedroom and have a door to a private porch from our bedroom, but then we were able to have partial exposure in the basement below the same side of the house, which basement windows were more important (and I got nervous over the thought of having a door to the outside from our bedroom anyhow!) There are just too many things I love, and deciding is so hard! Like stone for the fireplace...the actual rails for the porch (do we want plain or the more Victorian looking?)...the color of the front door (and now the front door itself, seeing as the one I love can't be found anywhere)...
Our kitchen is such a huge dilemma for me. I don't know if it was a mistake or not, but for months I've been going on this website (
http://www.thathomesite.com/) which by the way is an awesome place to find forums and message boards about anything and everything under the sun to do with house stuff--not just building a house. Decorating, plumbing, landscaping, etc. It's a great site! Anyhow, I posted our kitchen layout and asked for advice or suggestions. I was pretty much told the layout isn't going to work or there's not enough room for this or that. All the people who posted back have built houses, so I don't doubt some of their concerns. But I was a little heartbroken!! I wish a designer or cabinet maker would've told me the right/wrong way to layout a kitchen. At Home Depot or places like that, they pretty much do whatever you ask them as far as cabinets go and don't offer too much advice on what will look okay. My initial design (which is in the plan) is okay, but then I got better ideas, and there is no way to piece it all just right now. Especially since plumbing is roughed in. I have no idea what is practical, or the norm, or how far is too far to walk to the sink from the stove or fridge. I did the design on my own. I designed one layout with a freestanding stove and designed another layout with a cooktop and built in double ovens. It wasn't until about 2 weeks ago I realized the design I drew up with the double ovens wasn't even feasible, for the space I gave the cooktop. So I'm a little sad, that I don't think we'll be able to have the exact kitchen I envisioned. I know I've had months to have this planned out, but it's so hard until you actually walk through and see where things will go and that certain things just won't work out or would look dumb. And also I find photos of kitchens and I try to incorporate parts of all different kitchens. I've never had an island, I just know that every house we walked in that had one I fell in love with. But will I like it? Will I get irritated at walking around it? So it seems the kitchen will stay the way the layout has it planned. The only practical design I came up with that included double ovens involved moving the fridge, oven/cooktop, and/or the sink. I'm sure the plumber would be severely unhappy about coming out and basically starting over in the kitchen, and Mike would not be happy about having to pay him twice.
I am very happy with the cabinets themselves that we want for the kitchen, but my layout apparently is not so good : (
I am excited, however, to begin thinking about where furniture will go. I do need to do this, especially in the great room to plan on if we want outlets in the floor for a lamp. I am excited to shop for our lighting, too, which we will start doing very soon!
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Mike tells me how lucky I am that the weather has been so blasted cold. If the house had been completely sided, I wouldn't have had time to make kitchen changes because the insulation would've been started already. So I met with the custom cabinet maker on Monday. It was a good day because I really felt good about what I walked away with (a new kitchen plan). It was a bad day because (1) I spent almost 4 hours in the car driving between dropping off and picking the kids up from school and driving almost an hour north to meet with the cabinet guy (which I think was worth the trip), (2) it was snowing--alot, so that made for difficult driving conditions, and (3) the kitchen plan involves changing pretty much the entire kitchen around, so I was nervous to witness the reactions of both Mike and his Dad. BUT I feel good about the way it looks, and I am trying hard to envision working in the kitchen, or doing the most basic of things (putting groceries away, putting dishes away, etc.) to see if the kitchen would work for us. As I have found out in so many ways, it helps to ask around. So, at any rate, here is a photo of what the cabinet designer and I came up with. Things to keep in mind when looking at the layout--if we stick with it, we would add a small sink to the end of the island. We would also have to make the island smaller, and probably wouldn't be able to have chairs at it because it interferes with the walkways, but maybe would have stools, or 2 chairs on an end instead. Also we'd flip flop the ovens with the fridge so the fridge isn't trapped in the corner. I would LOVE any feedback!! I am going to try to make these pictures bigger, but not too big. I am having a hard time doing that for some reason so I will leave them the way they are for now.
