Kitchen Cabinets and Countertop

This is a great combination!

Work Day

We spent most of the day working at the cabin. We got all the stuff out that we wanted, and have made arrangements for the removal of the rest. Terry mowed while the boys loaded and hauled. After the work was completed, we headed back to town, got cleaned up, and headed to the builder's to meet with our sales rep. We completed our final plan review and double-checked our colors. It feels like we are making progress!

Here are some pictures from the day.

The cabin

Loading up

Moving the propane tank

The work crew

A curious bystander

Whew!

Holy Cow! I had NO idea how many choices there were to be made! I was dreaming when I thought I could be in and out quickly. Terry was a trooper and stuck it out to the bitter end. He threw in his two cents, and we managed to find things that we could both live with.


We started with appliances. I had looked at the choices before but wanted to make a couple of changes -  went with a slight upgrade for stove and dishwasher - 5 burner gas stove and extra quiet dishwasher. (Our Hurricane Katrina rescue dog, a miniature pinscher named Polly, has a problem with a noisy dishwasher! She stands in the kitchen and barks and tries to bite it, so when our old dishwasher needed to be replaced we chose the quietest one we could find. The barking and biting magically disappeared!)


Next came exterior colors - roof/shingle, house, trim, door. A medium tan with a hint of green, creamy trim, and a nice contrasting darker green exterior door.

Ceramic tile for the kitchen, dining, and living room floors is shown here.

I really like the kitchen cabinet color, wood, and style. They will be knotty alder in a simple style and a medium color. It was something that I picked out the first time I visited the builder's office. The granite tile for the kitchen counter is also pretty cool. Hopefully it will all blend the way I think it should!

The hardest choices were the tile options for the bathroom. Grout was fun, just as I had anticipated! ;-)

I never would have imagined, but we were there three hours, and it would have been longer if we had not had to leave to meet demo man. Results of the meeting with demo man: Dates for demo are still up in the air. Demo man has some other stuff going on, and we have to do some things to get ready, so a date will be set later. We were able agree upon the scope of the work, so that is a good thing.

More about the bathroom and bedroom colors later. I'm exhausted, but much was accomplished today! I will sleep well tonight!

Big Day! Color Day!

Tomorrow is color day! We get to pick tile, paint, and carpet colors! I am a bit nervous about the whole thing. I have this fear that when it is all installed and I walk in, I will hate it and nothing will look right with anything else. No pressure, no pressure.

The most exciting choice for me is going to be grout...I have been been waiting weeks for grout day, and now it is almost here! I'm sure I will have trouble sleeping tonight and will dream about the little grout samples in their cute little holder.


...and if color selections were not enough for one day...


We are meeting the demo man to discuss what he will do, what we need to do, etc. We still have some things to remove before it all comes crashing down, but there is not too much to be salvaged - a few pieces of furniture and the stove, which is in perfectly good condition. We need to sell it, I guess. I would also like to remove the knotty pine paneling, although some (unnamed) people have not shared my enthusiasm for the task. It is beautiful old paneling - a little dark, but I would strip and refinish it in a lighter shade.  I have a couple of ideas about what to do with it as well. We'll see if it happens.

Bit by Bit

Many people have asked, "So when does building start?"  I have even heard, "When is the new house going to be done?" 


The answer to both questions is, "I don't know!" There are many preliminary things to be handled before the builder can do anything. Most of those things are in our hands, not theirs! I'm working as fast as I can, but I do have a full time (plus) job, and much of what has to be done cannot be done outside of the normal work day. The lunch hour does not provide a very big window to make phone calls and discuss options. It certainly does not allow time to drive to the property or to the courthouse in Robertson County or run many of the errands that need to be done right now. I have taken some time off work to handle some things and have sent lots of evening emails to our sales rep.


Progress made

• Modified plans have been sent to the builder's corporate office for final redraws. 
• A copy of our deed for the lake property was obtained and provided to the builder. 
• A permit for a new septic system was purchased, freeing the builder to look at the options and design a plan for the new system.
• Inquiries have been made to determine how to manage the electric and water during the building process.

Holdups

• There is one main holdup right now - we need someone to do the demo! An inquiry has been made, however, no response yet.
• There are still items that we need to remove from the old cabin before demo can happen.

Keeping the end in mind will be a challenge, but the view down the hill, through the pines, and over the lake will continue to help. We are looking forward to having friends and family come to visit - the welcome mat will always be out! We may have to set up a calendar to schedule all our visitors...we certainly hope that folks near and far will come to sit on the porch and cruise around the lake with us!

Huh?

When the builder's representative did the pre-stake a couple of weeks ago, he suggested that the water line coming to the house from the water meter be changed from 3/4" to 1." That made sense to me. The cabin was originally built at least 50 years ago, and I doubt that the water line had been changed in that time. Our new place will be larger with more demand for water use, so it seems like a bigger pipe would serve us better. When we were at the builder's offices, one of the employees - not our sales person - said that all we had to do was call the water company and they would replace the line and just add it to our bill. That didn't sound right to either Terry or me - normally utility companies do not want anything to do with what is on the property owner's side - but I thought it was worth checking into. 

I called the water company this afternoon, explained what we needed to do, and asked if they could do the work. Not surprisingly, they said that the water line from the meter to the house is our responsibility.


That is not the perplexing part...

The young man that I spoke to said that there would just need to be an adapter added to connect the new line to the old meter. That made me start thinking...so I asked what size the opening was on the meter that the pipe connects to and found out that it is 3/4." So, the obvious question is:


 "Why do we need a 1" pipe if the opening at the meter is only 3/4"?


Hmmm. No answer yet...stay tuned...

Signed on the Dotted Line

We signed the contract for the new place today - many, many pages, but it was pretty straightforward. Guess there is no looking back now! I have a list of things that I now have to do, so I need to check my calendar to see if there is a good day that I can take off work to do all the running around.


Once I get all my tasks done, we will go back to pick out our colors. They said it might take 2-4 hours...uh, no...I don't think so! Terry says I can pick what I want, but I can't imagine that it will take so long!


Yes - it is starting to feel like this is really going to happen! We are excited! ...and I do have to say that the person we are working with is just a perfect match for our style! She is laid-back, easy-going and NEVER pushy or overbearing, and she is one of the main reasons we chose this builder. (Oh...did I mention that I told her I would send her the link to this blog?)

Snowy egret in the shallows

Treehouse

Well, it looks like we will have a treehouse. The options for managing the slope in our lot to keep the lake side of the house from being up in the trees are incredibly expensive, so pilings seem to be the only answer. The highest corner of the house is on the road side - it is 61" higher than the lowest corner on the lake side. The way the pilings are constructed, the floor on the highest corner will be 52" above the ground. If a train leaves Chicago at 7:00 am traveling west at 60 miles per hour, and another train leaves Denver at noon traveling east at 45 miles per hour, how tall will our lakeside porch be?

It was a real disappointment to conclude that this was our only affordable option! I really did not want 20 steps to walk up, so we are looking at a ramp as an alternative. It would be a switchback style with a landing and bench midway up. Maybe we could add a slide for a quick trip down...


We have chosen cabinets, flooring, and countertops - and it was amazingly easy! Both Terry and I agreed on all materials and color choices, which was surprizing. We still have some interior choices to make, so there is still time to knock heads! Think we will sign the contract this weekend.