Rain, rain, rain

As soon as they finished the floor and exterior walls, it started raining. Huge downpour on Wed, with another hard rain overnight. Then rain again on Thurs and Fri and it's been cloudy and cool all day today, Sat.

CK says he's tried all kinds of things to keep the rain off the flooring, etc. and he says nothing really works well, so they just let it rain and let things dry out.
2nd floor lumber is supposed to arrive Mon., so we'll see how soon they can get the house enclosed and how much it continues to rain. Why did I know this was going to happen?

We have not been out to the site since Tues and on Thurs I knew it was too muddy to
even easily get to the house. So I don't know what things look like or how much water
is in the basement - probably not much as it would have to go in the one basement window or through the cutout for the stairs. We'll take a look at it this weekend.

Went over the lighting diagram again with CK and made a list of what fixtures I need to purchase, so A, if you can go shopping the week of July 4th sometime, we can take a look and see what's available and what will work. We can also look at towel racks and discuss faucets.

M.F.H.

More on exterior colors

These photos don't look so good. I don't know if I mis-set something on L's camera, but it isn't dealing well with the lines of the siding and roofs. (rooves?)

CK was over yesterday with actual samples. We narrowed it down to either Victorian gray (a medium gray) with a blue roof or Village green (a medium mossy green) with
a light brown roof called Amber. L does not like the green - so the choice may be
gray w/ blue. Or I could go with an off-white with blue, but the windows wouldn't stand out then and with the nice insets that will be in the center of the front windows, I think it would be nice to have the window noticeable.

The gray house pictured in the previous entry is directly across from my house and is a bit darker than I would probably do, but it doesn't look dark in the photo. As I said before, I do like the whitish house, but you can compare it to the beige house and see what I mean about the windows standing out.

M.F.H.

Siding colors

When I find the time on Sat. I hope to add the siding colors I like best. The homes in the subdivision are mostly beige - light, medium and dark. The nice thing about beige is that it makes the white window frames and trim stand out. Bad thing - too many beige houses. There are also white, off white, light yellow. I like the off white, but then I worry that the trim doesn't stand out, or maybe it doesn't have to. I also like the green, but I haven't seen a 2 story house in green, so it's hard for me to envision it. And if I do off white, then what color do I choose for the fake stone around the front door - off white? I wouldn't want something darker. And maybe fake limestone would like fine with off white. So once I get the photos on line, tell me what you think.

Roof color - I do like a white house with a blue roof. Again, I don't know if a blue roof is acceptable to the developer - all houses there now are shades of brown if I remember correctly.

The house I like best is the off white with the blue door. How would it look with a blue roof?

I have tried out colors at sights that let you do so, but the colors look too garish. I can't manage to combine colors that look good together.

M.F.H.

Walls today

Most of the exterior walls were up today. Yesterday when we went over they were finishing the main floor. Exciting to see the plan come to life. Now if I can get some photos to load.

M.F.H.

More kitchen

The island will be 3 x 6. I like a waterfall edge for the countertops. I really like the wrap under edge, but D says that's an extra $4/ft. If I use a waterfall edge on the island, it can only be for 2 sides, or I could have a square or beveled edge for the island that would be all 4 sides. I'm also considering that I really like a solid surface called Meganite, but it costs 4 times what Formica costs. I possibly could use it just for the island.

Formica isn't just smooth and flat and matte any more. They are trying to make it look more like stone. Some of it has texture or is more shiny. I don't really like them and they cost more.

I brought home samples of knobs and handles. I like brushed nickel the best. I think I can find some handles I like. In fact, they have the knob I now have in my bathroom, so I will probably use it in my new bathroom. The problem lies with what combination of knob/handle to use in the kitchen. All knobs? All handles? Knobs on top? Handles only on drawers/knobs on cabinets. A., I will need your experience and advice.

M.F.H.

Kitchen update

Spent over an hour with D, the kitchen guy, so here are more details.

I've decided to go with the Aristokraft cabinets. The upgraded drawers seem pretty identical with the more expensive brand. They are dovetailed, they will fully extend and they will self-close (one you give them a push, if E can even do that). The big
difference is in the cabinet doors. Instead of a thick, solid piece of plain wood, they will be (I don't know the word for it) a frame with an inset panel of wood. They will match the frame with glass door of the upper cabinets and they will be ok. And they will be much more within my budget. I'm trying very hard to stay within the cabinet budget because I know I'm going to go over in lighting and tiling and flooring.

The taller cabinets will be 1 ft. from the ceiling. The lower cabinets will be 2 ft from the ceiling. To make the taller cabinets taller would mean to stack another on top and those are pre-made in specific widths, so that would be difficult to do, So it looks like the cabinets will not extend to the ceiling.

The molding at the top is pretty simple and I have a drawing of it, when I find time to post it. It's called Shaker; it's very plain and actually, I think it would look good stained a color.

M.F.H.

Shopping for ceiling fans

Either because I bought property or signed a loan, I've received a lot of junk mail. One was a 10% coupon from Lowe's up to $500. So I thought, I've got to buy the stuff anyway, may as well get some discount.

Ceiling full of fans at the store. Of course the kids are attracted to the multi-colored ones and the ornate Victorian, but when I explained they were going to have white ceilings in their bedrooms, why not pick out a fan that wouldn't stand out, they quickly decided on a good fan, M&E both picking the same one. L did not come with us. I found one I thought would be ok for my room, but it was special order and I just wanted to buy things that day. I may go back and order it.

So I thought, ok, let's look at outdoor lights. CK had told me to get big ones for each side of the garage door so they won't be
lost in that large wall. Well, they had really big ones that looked like they hung from hooks, but they really were attached to the wall in the back and they had lots of little ones I liked, So I picked a craftsman style that turned out to be discountinued. There wasn't anything else I liked, so I went to look at bathroom lights.

And I wasn't really sure what to get there, so I did find one track type light for the hallway that I like, but will have to see if it will work there.

A few days later I had a chance to look at Menard's. I didn't like anything there. So that leaves Home Depot, or finding something on line or in another city or settling for what's available. Which seems to be the story of my life. It seems to take me
years to find exactly what I like, but I don't think I can go without lights for that long.

M.F.H.