House on Hillsboro

Around the House

 

Yes, yes, yes.  Perfect.

 

Picture above:  Front door, looking in and to the left. 

 

Picture above:  On the other end looking toward front door.  Frank is sweet.

 

Picture above:  I do believe the fireplace is our favorite thing in the whole house.  I began to worry that when they finally built it in it would feel big and obtrusive because I had gotten use to nothing being there, but it feels just right.  It will soon be covered in a stone veneer that will come down over the top three rows of the white fire brick so the opening won't seen so tall.  They will also build a hearth. 

Over the weekend JD and I sat our lawn chairs where the couch will go and imagined watching tv.  It wasn't awkward in any way!!  It is definitely not too high.  Relief!

 

Picture above:  Master bath tub nook and shower on the left.  Because the shower is seven feet deep, I made the decision to make the outside wall a half wall.  The top will be covered in glass and the door will be glass.  It will definitely feel brighter and less claustrophobic when you are in the shower but I am having second thoughts about the way it looks from the point of view from the tub.  Another tricky compromise.  I think it was for the best, though.

 

Picture above:  Across from the tub nook.  The original plans showed dual sinks with knee space in the middle and one long counter top.  I think I have decided to have a sink on the left, counter top with knee space (a vanity) on the right, and floor to ceiling storage in the middle - drawers below to store the little stuff and large cabinets above to store towels.  Otherwise, the only storage will be in the master closet (the plans show a built in linen closet there). 

The space is 9'4" long, so if the built in was about two feet wide (the width of two rows of folded towels) each side would still have 3 1/2 feet of counter space.  Do you think the space will feel crowded?

 

Picture above:  The landing at the top of the stairs.  Door to Ava's room on the left.  Eventually, the floor to the left of the stairs will be cut out to the floor joist creating a space to look down into the foyer from the second floor.

 

Picture above:  Looking into Jack's room.

  

Picture above:  Jack's room view from his bathroom.

   

Picture above:  Looking out Jack's door at the bookcase.  Ava's room is so full of saws and sheetrock and such that I am not able to get a good picture now. 

Aren't we making progress!  Building this far has been an absolute pleasure but the hard part (for me)is about to really begin.  Lights, paint, wallpaper, counter tops, sinks, appliances, and MORE FLOORS.  Oh, dear. 

Tile, Part 1

Ava's Bathroom:  White Oct/Dot,  Home Depot

 

Jack's Bathroom:  Home Depot

 

Master Bath:  2" Creamy Hex, Home Depot

 

Home Depot came through!

More, later.  Soon, I hope! 

Dash & Albert

I spent nearly the entire day today looking for tile and, as expected, I have been a wee bit indecisive, a problem brought on mostly by the fact that I have no idea what I am doing AND the other unfortunate fact that my tastes seem to differ from what is currently popular so that all the good, contemporary advice the nice salespeople have to offer goes in one ear and out the other. 

I did make one major exciting discovery today.

 

Dash & Albert rugs!

I have been trying to choose paint colors but where do you start?  We have no decent bedding to coordinate with.  No curtains.  No upholstered furniture.  So, if you are staring with nothing what drives the room?  Take the dining room for example.  Mine will have a window seat with pillows, a table and chairs, and a rug, none of which I own yet.  I decided to find a rug I loved and start with that which proved to be much easier said than done.  I wanted simple rugs made of a natural material (there are some weird rugs out there!) that are reasonably easy to clean and reasonably priced. 

Hello, Dash & Albert.  I am in love.  Their prices range from a 2x3' for $28.00 to a 9x12' for $385.00, with several sizes in between.  They are 100% hand-loomed cotton, are reversible, and come in 180+ colors!  I'll need one for each of the three bedrooms, the dining room, great room, and possibly a runner for the loft and I love that I could cover all that with their rugs and have a bit of uniformity from room to room. 

They have great cotton throws, too.

 

Perfect for the foot of a bed. 

Now to choose which ones.  Shute.

Laundry Room

Several weeks ago, on the day before the plumber was to come out for the first time, Ray (Alvin's brother) asked me if I had designed the laundry room yet.  I laughed because I thought he was kidding but as he stared at me with a straight face it dawned on me that he was dead serious.  Me?

He explained that it was MY laundry room and because I had moved it from what was in the original plan there was a totally blank slate so someone had to design it - might as well be me.  Oh, and they needed it by that afternoon. 

I walked back home, mortified.   But then I got out my trusty graph paper and the more I thought about things the more fun it became and I figured out that I rather liked making the decisions for myself.

And by lunchtime I had this.

 

Way back when I was first considering this house plan I decided to move the laundry room from off of the kitchen to the place it is now that was originally a half bath.  For one, I don't like laundry and food sharing a space.  And two, I have always wanted a walk-in-pantry and thought this kitchen was borderline too small to not have a pantry of some sort.  And three, I wanted to be able to access the laundry room from the back porch.  And four, I wanted the laundry room to have the 'lockers' that have become so popular recently (I think they are brilliant.) And five, I really, really wanted a laundry room that could handle a full sized ironing board and a utility sink and a bar for hanging clothes.  Whew.

   

Picture courtesy Nonnie Bear.

The picture above is one of the most beautiful laundry rooms I have ever seen.  And the biggest.  The lockers here are what I have in mind except mine will not be recessed into the wall.  One for each person - to hold back packs, purses, wallets, coats, cameras, umbrellas, hats, keys, cell phones, shoes, etc. 

   

Picture courtesy Nonnie Bear.

Shannon recently posted the picture above and it was the first time I had seen under counter storage for laundry baskets.  I love that!  Maybe the three feet of counter to the right of the dryer could become four cubbies one on top of the other?  One for whites, cold water, hot water, and clean clothes on top.  

Right now we have this.

   

There is plywood covering the window because this particular one hasn't come in yet.  It will be a casement window, different from the rest.

 

I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

Sheetrock, Plumbing, Electrical

 

Picture above:  Master bedroom

 

Picture above:  First floor heating and cooling unit.  There is a separate one for the second floor.  Laundry room on the left.  Master bedroom on the right.

 

Picture above:  Master bath shower.  Master bedroom on the left.  Master bath on the right.

 

Picture above:  View into master closet from master bath.  It's a doozy.  There is another window to the right.  JD and I won't know what to do with ourselves. 

 

Picture above:  The closet area I turned into a built in bookcase.  Second floor heating and cooling unit will go there on the right and the fireplace will come up to the right of that.  Window nook on the left.

   

Picture above:  Jack's room

 

Picture above:  Ava's room.  I am having heck making a final decision about furniture placement in this room.  Every room, really.  It matters because the phone jacks and coax go in now.  I wish I had thought about thinking about that a long time ago.  It just never occurred to me.  But I am learning!

As a side note, I recently realized that house plans are on the same scale as graph paper.  I honestly had no idea!  One square foot is equal to one graph paper square so you can make to scale cut outs of your furniture and place them around the house really easily. 

 

Faucets, Tubs

Tuesday Alvin called me over to the house to talk plumbing and told me I needed to have bath tub/shower faucets and a master bath tub by Friday.  FRIDAY?

We devoted all of Thursday to doing just that and while we did not have it all by Friday it is all chosen and on order.  I could have found faucets locally and taken them home that day but since the freestanding bathtub must be ordered the faucets can be, too, and I can get exactly what I want.  The builders/plumber assumed this would be the case with the tub so the rough in will be postponed until it's delivery.

Choosing the shower faucets was easy as pie.  The saleslady at the plumbing warehouse led me straight to a Delta system that they sell often with excellent feedback and it was so perfectly suited to my taste that I decided to use it in all three bathrooms.  It is from Delta's Leland Collection and has a thermostatic valve (the top dial) that you set to the temperature you desire and a separate control (bottom, larger dial) that controls volume.   So, and this is thrilling to say the least, the kids will be able to shower or fill their tub by simply turing the water on!!  No finessing of hot and cold required!!The temperature control will reach the preset temperature and maintain it. 

The temperature control cover removes allowing you to fix the dial into one set place for the kids so that they can not move it in either direction but for our shower we will leave the stop out so that each person can adjust the temperature as they want. 

 

To top the whole pleasant experience off, the plumber asked me the next day what I had chosen and was thrilled it was this system, saying it is his favorite to work with, well made and easy to get parts for later.  He was so complementary of Delta products that I believe I may use them for every faucet in the house.

Next on my list was the master bath tub and this is where things got hairy.  I had shopped around online for freestanding tubs for some time and was familar with average prices and the plumbing warehouse was considerably more.  This was sad because I felt comfortable with their quality and service but they did not keep any freestanding tubs in stock so we couldn't carry that day anyway. 

We headed to Lowe's hoping that they might stock a few and felt they may have better prices but no and no.  They also get a NO for decent customer service and a NO for knowledgeable salespeople.  When this whole process started I assumed JD and I would practically live in the big home improvement chain stores and we have yet to purchase a single thing there. 

As usual, I ended up where I began and purchased a 60" clawfoot bathtub with satin nickel faucet from  Vintage Tub.  The company is in good standing with the BBB and this specific bath tub package had several excellent customer reviews. 

 

It will go here.

 

There is a dogwood blooming just outside that window.  :)

I can't wait to see it in person.

Guess what I did get to see in person?    The bathtub of my dreams.  I even climbed in to torture myself but would you believe that I did not like it at all.  It was nothing like sitting in a traditional clawfoot tub. The ends were too upright to lie back comfortably and the sides were too high to rest your arms. It was so odd. This particular one was also acrylic, something I was seriously considering and that, too, was not right.  The tub I ordered is porcelain over cast iron and I could have it no other way.

 

So now I can soak in total peace and contentment with no time spent mourning the tub I couldn't have.  Sweet.

Fireplace

Tuesday night we had a St. Patrick's Day dinner date at Porter House so we picked Ava up from school and headed 50 miles South for the meal of a lifetime and by the time we got home it was dark so we missed our usual house tour for the evening.  That next morning before taking Ava back to school I had JD stop by the house so I could run in and check the progress from the day before, before they showed up again.  I sprang through the front door and sitting in the great room was...this.

 

?????!!!!!  The whole way to school I fretted over that black box.  Surely, that wasn't to actually go in the fireplace?  Were they planning to use it as a guide?  It was really small.  And (forgive me) ugly.

So, when we returned home JD rode over and found Alvin laying the brick for the foundation of the fireplace and minutes away from installing THE BLACK BOX and I must say, that would have been a catastrophe.  Heart wrenching.  Unacceptable.  JD explained that we weren't fond of the box and that we wanted a full masonry fireplace, simple and big and open.

No problem, they said.

And that was that.  JD called and got the dimensions for a blower insert so that if we ever decide we want one it could be easily installed.  Now we have this.

  

And I love it.  The exposed brick will eventually be covered in stone or stone veneer (our choice) and the white fire brick (the only color it comes in) will turn black with soot.  Whew.  That was so close.  And weird.

We Need a Woodpile

 

 

The screen porch just kills me. 

   

That is sheetrock in the doorway!

 

I have so much to say and no time to say it - but here are a few pictures!  There is so much going on.  This week the plumber, electrician, and the heating and cooling guy have all been out.  Meanwhile, the builders are continuing to work on the siding and today they started THE FIREPLACE! 

Tomorrow we are off to the big city to pick out all the bathtub faucets and master bath tub which I had no idea was coming so soon.  JD is coming.  This is our first 'house' trip to Lowe's where we HAVE to leave with something.  Oh, dear.

Sun or Storage?

Here is the kitchen.

 

The picture above is the pantry door with the built in desk (very exciting!) on the left and the door to the screened porch on the right.  The window on the far left is in the dining room.  Since this picture was taken I have also decided to recess a bookshelf into the wall to the right of the pantry door which I think will make the door not seem uncentered and, best of all, will create an easy to reach spot for all of my cookbooks!  In the kitchen!  I am the luckiest woman in the world.

So, I am at peace with all of that.  And by at peace I mean absolutely ecstatic.  My dilemma is on the other side of the room.

 

That's the kitchen! 

Here is the layout,

 

(This floor plan still shows the laundry room here.  I moved it and changed this space to a walk-in-pantry.)

except that I will move the cook-top to the oven and then the range to the right several inches to align with the island and the fireplace.  So, currently the kitchen and cabinet layout is similar to this,

 

except that my island is much smaller and my kitchen has the fridge to the right of the window.  But I am mostly looking at the corner cabinets to the left of the window because my other option is to do this:

 

beautiful kitchen!

Lose the corner cabinets and install a tall, narrow window.

When I am standing in the kitchen that windowless wall with no view to the pond makes me feel weird.  I have no doubts that a North facing window there would be so lovely but to lose two cabinets in an already small kitchen?  Crazy?  Without them I think I would have only three traditional upper cabinets.  But remember that I have a really big pantry and storage under the 3x6' island.  I will need only enough cabinets to store dinnerware, glasses, coffee cups - serving pieces.

I am leaning toward - Less stuff!  More sun! - but I'm just not certain.

P.S.  JD and I walked through the house for the first time together last night, in the dark, by the light of the moon and our headlights...and he loved it.  Really loved it.  Just to be safe, we went back over as soon as the sun rose this morning and...he still loves it! 

Yes

 

Image courtesy Flickr

“I must learn to love the fool in me–the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool.” — Theodore I. Rubin, MD

Via Mighty Girl