Last Minute Changes

What do you do when your architect tells you he is 98% done with the plans? Well, ask to change something, of course!

It recently occurred to me that the way the plans were drawn, our staircase would basically be just a hole in the wall between the dining room and kitchen. No fancy railing, no cool architectural details. The more I thought about it, the more it bugged me. The staircase already won't be very "cool"- since it is located in the middle of the house there won't be a whole lot of light because there won't be any windows in it. Thankfully there will be a window at the top of the stairs and a hanging light fixture on the landing, but I really wanted some pretty detail.

Luckily our architect is awesome! Despite being 98% done with the plans, and despite having to move the refrigerator over a foot and reduce the counter space by a foot, he was able to make it a little more open and add in a couple exposed stairs at the bottom. We'll also have some exposed railing "after the turn" and with the newly exposed steps, it should look fabulous! It will look similar to this photo of a house he did in the past:

*Incidentally we also really love the cabinets in this kitchen and the counters, lighting and drawer pulls! 

The next step is getting a structural engineer involved (they are meeting on Thursday!) and then we will send the plans out for bids! This feels a little bit more real each time we see a new plan or talk about specifics. Crazy to think we will most likely be all settled in by this time next year!

Moving Along

Things are moving along with the plans for the house. It's starting to feel so real! We got a bunch of drawings today. Wanna see our gorgeous island??

I seriously can't wait to bake with the kids at this thing, or gather with loved ones around it during the holidays... :) The design was definitely a collaborative effort.  I really wanted the island to feel like a beautiful piece of furniture in our kitchen! It is going to be such a functional space for our family. We're excited to have a large area underneath for our appliances. Right now they are all shoved into a random cabinet, but it will be so convenient to have them all so easily accessible. Now the question is- keep it white to match the cabinets, go with a contrasting darker color, or paint it a subtle grey?? So many options!

Speaking of options, we've been discussing revamping the columns on the front of the house. Here's how it looks now:

Cute, but a little bit weak. We couldn't decide if we wanted to just make them thicker, or make them a little fancier and go with something tapered to match the more "craftsman" style of the home. Here's what our architect came up with:

We like the look of the tapered! We think it gives it a little more pizzaz and character. You may notice we also changed the look of the siding a bit. All around the house will be Hardieplank siding, with hardieshingles in the gables (the triangle parts of the roof :) )  We haven't decided the color scheme yet, but that's just one of a hundred decision we will have to make!

Things Are Coming Together!

We've had a couple weeks of being on standby while our architect worked on the plans, and last night we got together with him to go over everything. Holy moly- we really are building a house! There were cabinet layouts, updated floor plans, lighting placement floor plans, foundation plans, exterior views etc. My eyes ended up glazing over after about 1.5 hours! The house is going to look awesome! Some of my favorite features include a built-in "Drop Zone" near the door for our jackets, keys, purses, backpacks etc. and our kitchen island! I can't wait to make Christmas cookies with the kids, and gather with family around this awesome island.

We have so many decisions to make in the next few months. Lighting fixtures, door styles, trim, carpet, handles, cabinets. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Option C it is!

Last week we met with our architect and a builder that he recommended to get some "super ballpark pricing" on our favorite plan- Option C. The numbers came back- and if we "mind our p's and q's" as the builder said, we will probably only go slightly over budget. Although going slightly over budget is never the goal, we had to look back at what that original budget bought us. In the beginning, the budget assumption was made on a 1900 sq.ft. final product (based on the early discussions we had with a builder before we bought the house). Option C is over 2600 sq.ft., so really- even over budget is still less per square foot that we originally intended on spending. In addition, we can't overlook the fact that Option C would give us the house of our dreams- and not a "make it work" house! Seems like a pretty easy decision to go over budget.

Now the question is- how over budget will we have to go to get what we want?! Our primary goal is to get the bones of the house right and to have a nice looking exterior. We have the next 15 years to figure out the rest!

Option D Exterior Views

Here are the exterior views for Option D. Not bad, but we like C better :) We are meeting with the architect and a builder today to get super ballpark pricing on both options C and D. I guess we'll know this week which one we are going to move forward with!

Option D Floor Plan

Today we got Option D floor plans that keep the master in the same location. Honestly, we were kind of hoping we wouldn't like it so our decision would be easier- BUT, we like it. It incorporates a lot of what we wanted while keeping the price tag within range. We still prefer Option C, but we are going to go forward with the super ballpark pricing phase to see how much more money C would actually be.

Option C Exterior

Last week our architect provided us with exterior views for Option C. It's looking good!