The Kitchen

Probably the area with the most focus, I am extremely excited to have all of the living spaces (kitchen/living room/dining room) open to each other in a continuous flow.  I sit here and pretend that I even know what I am talking about or doing (perhaps a result of too much HGTV/design blogs/magazines?), but honestly "designing" (i.e. making selections of) this much of a house all at one time is enough to cause severe heartburn! 

I was very clear that I wanted a white kitchen.  I've already mentioned that I think our builder thinks I am completely bonkers, and when I told him I wanted a white kitchen, he gave me the double-look and a "are you sure?"  I just like that they seem bright and open, and are eas(ier) to update against colour schemes. 
We'd already decided on a dark wood floor (we may or may not regret that later...), so my inspiration came from something like this:

source unknown

I've been holding on to an old white wood chandelier for about 8 years that my parents found (kind of a shabby-chic thing) with the intention of having it re-wired.  Now was the perfect opportunity, because I am envisioning using it above the kitchen island (our builder: "most people use pendants...").
I had also hoped for another butcher block island, but with the main kitchen sink and dishwasher located in the island, most of us were worried about warping over time from the moisture. 

I am also saving what money I can from an already-blown cabinet budget by eliminating cabinets along the short north wall, where I will put our antique Welsh dresser (hutch) instead.  It will serve as a great display, and I will paint it to match or coordinate with the kitchen.  The cabinet budget is an unfortunate casualty, but I am determined to invest well where it will be too difficult to upgrade/change later on.  And cabinets are one of those things, especially in a kitchen.  Plus, with the pantry being gloriously large, I am counting on not having to rely as heavily on cabinet storage. 

Trimming it out!  The details are starting to show now, as the trim guy has started on the woodwork.  In another classic this-girl-is-crazy conversation (ok, I may be exaggerating. . . ) I asked our builder to use simple 1 x 6 and 1 x 4 trims on the baseboard and doorways.  This is classic cottage style - and it will make it so much easier if/when I add board-and-batten later on.  I like the clean, relaxed feel, and I think it is more consistent with the Craftsman-style.
To his credit, Kai has gotten on board, and is known to text a picture/drawing to us with style options (such as the T-style over the door frames) to choose or play out.

(All of these pictures were taken with Brian's iPhone, and the clarity is iffy . . . )

Beadboard and bench in the mudroom

Fireplace

Back doorway - you can see the detail above the door

 Pantry shelves - loads of them!

Floor-to-ceiling beadboard in the Jack-n-Jill bathroom

Mady's closet

Working on the his/hers master closet

Master bath

Trim work going in the front office

We were tasked with selecting the brick for our fireplace today.  So we went waaayyy north of the city to visit Curley Brothers Brick & Masonry.  My mom warned me that selecting brick is not as easy as you'd think.  There are all sorts of shapes, textures, finishes and colours that can be applied to brick.  Even if you've settled on "red brick" - there are hundreds of variations it seems!

Here was the rendition from Kai Yu for our fireplace design.  We changed from the standard tile and wood mantel to a floor-to-ceiling brick with a rough-edged limestone mantel.  There will be two sconces on either side of the arch design.  And as much as we love a good wood fire, we made the tough decision to go with a gas fireplace this time - to help with convenience, allergies and clean up.

I had changed the idea of placing the TV above the fireplace, as is common, because I really wanted the fireplace to be a focal point.  Plus, as I think ahead to holiday decorations and stocking holders, I really didn't want those to be in the way of the TV.  So the TV will be moved to another wall.

We spoke with Paul at Curley Bros., who was extremely helpful.  We decided on mixing two types of bricks, which look generally like this:

Makers:  Brickcraft

Since you can only purchase bricks in 500s, and Paul was estimating we would need no more than about 500 for the fireplace design, Brian suggested we use the extra bricks (resulting from buying two loads - one of each style) for a future outdoor firepit (or any number of outdoor decorations).  Deal!

My inspiration was a fireplace from this extraordinary blog: 

For the Love of a House



On the Market

Contracts are all signed for accepting the offer on our house!  Our house has more or less SOLD! 

We will need to look for very short term living arrangements, but at least we have until the first week of August.   It's hard to believe.
The Buyers asked to keep my windows that I had bought shortly after moving in, spray-painted the frames, and hung them above the half-walls between the living room and kitchen.  I was flattered.  :)  They were cheap, but cute.  And what else do you put there?  No one does planters anymore - do they?  I conceded.

On the Market

Wow.  I mean wow.  A week and a half on the market, and only two different people came through, and we got an offer today!  And not a low-ball offer - a nice one.  Kind of reminded us of, well, us at the time.  :)

So we'll counter-offer tomorrow and see how it goes! 

On the Market

We had our first house showing on Wednesday (June 8), and had a nerve-wracking and semi-intense effort to make sure it looked "perfect" Tuesday night - all while trying to keep the kids from dragging out all of their toys and whatnots from their rooms!  I stopped at the local grocer and picked up some fresh flowers, and sprayed everything down with Febreeze (I've had to learn something from watching all of those shows on HGTV, right?).  Unfortunately, staging some mints and other candies by the front door has been a challenge to keep a couple of little hands from snatching them up by the pocket-fulls.  And the day of the showing we took Cooper to doggie daycare (which he loves).

Anyway, the work must have been worth it because we were told we were already on their "short list", and then were notified that they wanted to come back for a second look Friday night (this time we had to get creative with our time during the showing)!  We had another showing Sunday afternoon, and with the effort we'd already put in to de-clutter significantly and already maintaining the cleaning, it's (so far) been pretty easy to prep.  We're still waiting to get our feedback link to see how it's going.
And fyi, things like daises, mums and carnations last the longest when you need fresh flowers.

Ok, again, it is going to feel extremely repetitive of me to say that every new change is major, but this is major!!  I mean, we have WALLS!  Now the space is starting to feel more defined.  It was even kind of weird.  I am still waiting for it to start to really feel like this will be our new home. 

The guys were still finishing up some of the dry wall on Saturday and it was pretty dusty, so we didn't linger too long.

foyer

Basement guest bedroom

Basement and bar

Upstairs bay window

The kids in Jacob's room

Master bedroom

Master bedroom

Master closet

Master bath corner tub

Brian's throne room

1st floor back door

Looking west to pantry (on right) and hallway to foyer (left)

Fireplace

Dining room and arch to mudroom/garage

So, not only does Mady - without fail lately - have to pee whenever we visit the house (I think she actually likes to "pee on the rocks" - thanks, Daddy!), but this time I turned around and saw this:

Her shoes were stuck in the mud.  And while I kind of laughed, I also freaked out because there are literally tons of nails and whoknowswhat always littering the house and yard.  It makes me really look forward to digging in a garden next year and seeing what comes up.  We should probably even invest in one of those metal detectors ...

I seriously cannot wait to move in and take full advantage of the greenspace and trails right across the street from us.  We are so happy (right now) with our lot location because of this.  I envision bike riding with the kids and walks/running with Cooper, soccer/baseball/football with the kids in the fields - and it is all so convenient.  And-even more importantly - we know we will never have neighbours across from us.  I wish we were there now! 

Across the street

As you can see, no one even close to being next to us for now!

Voila!  The first red coloured house in the neighbourhood!  We hope with the board-and-batten style on the top that it adds some variation in texture.  We are still missing the corbels along the front roofline, but it's so nice to get past what feels like another major milestone in the home design process. 

We had our first casualty, though, once the painters seemed done:

Broken window!

Kai was already on it and has ordered a replacement window. 

We've had some frustration with our builder, although it really boils down to difficulty/lack of communication, either from a cultural aspect or from unspoken expectations from either side.  We think I expected to have great flexibility (relatively) in design, and he expected to basically follow the plans from his spec house.  What I really want is the choice to upgrade/change/whatever as we see fit, with at least knowing what our options are.  In some cases, we weren't given a choice until we asked, and in one or more cases, we asked for a change and were never told it would cost x-amount extra.
I don't know who he works with or how when he builds the uber-highend homes, but I feel like I've been constantly hounding him for a list of upcoming decisions to be made and their timeline.  We have so little time to work on these kinds of things in person, I try to prepare ahead of time online with ideas as much as I can before we go out to places.  

Now, this has nothing to do with questioning the quality of his work.  We have no doubt it will be a solid, high-quality home when all is said and done.  He has made modifications for us along the way by thinking of things we would not have considered.  He has also been somewhat generous with us given his ability to get materials used in his other homes.

We'll see how it all comes together.

On the Market

Our house of 7 1/2 years - the one we bought the year we were married, and in which we welcomed our first dog, son and daughter into our family - is now officially "on the For Sale market".

It was a little surprising coming home later in the evening to see the Realtor's sign in our front yard, even though we knew it was supposed to be placed that day.  Now, it is starting to feel really-real - and it is nevertheless bittersweet.  We will be leaving this house, and continuing our lives in a new place, where we will make it our Home.
We only hope that the next person/people who own this home put as much love (blood, sweat and tears) into it as we have.  It's been pretty good to us, after all.


House Before - 2003 / After - 2011