Speed Bump

While living in the loft last year, one of the hardest adjustments for us was the tiny, apartment-sized kitchen. There was zero counter space, an electric stove top and a crummy oven that never cooked things evenly. For two people that love to cook, it was a major downer. During the entire remodel, dreaming about our new kitchen kept me going.

We've been in our new house since the end of June, but it is far from complete. After the rush of finishing up various aspects of the construction (installing vent grates and floor trim, hardware on closet doors, etc), it is time for the fun stuff and adding the finishing touches that make a house a home. We're tackling room by room. We're not going out and buying new things all at once to fill up and finish the spaces. We're slowly finding inspiration and only purchasing things we truly love. It isn't a fast process. But the upside of taking our time is that we've found new uses for furniture and objects we already have - putting them to a different use in a new space is a win-win. And the best part about being slow and deliberate with each space is that you end up with a design you really love. With the cooler weather and the need for coats, hats and gloves, the mudroom has become our priority. We don't have a coat closet on the main floor and the...

Look what can happen in just a few days...

The house renovation has begun...joy to the world!

Wait, a bulldozer in the front yard...can it be? Have we started construction, finally??     Ha! That would be a negative. I drove by our house yesterday to see the fence destruction and what did I find? 4 KP&L trucks parked in front of our house, a bulldozer on the front lawn, and a man standing shoulder deep in a newly dug hole in our yard. Turns out we had a gas leak. Of course we did. I think we're going to rent the movie "Money Pit" over the weekend and just get it all out of our system now.  

Just when we've reached the height of frustration with banks, home owner's assocations, BZAs and the like, some developer goes and tears down the house behind us and takes out our fence and tree in the process. Really?!       Not only did they take out our fence and tree, they took down several power lines. All the houses on our street, including ours, are without power. Way to make friends in the new neighborhood.     And just a week before this, they 'trimmed' the trees around this same house before knocking it down...look at the excellent job they did there.     This fine work also took out the power on the block. Unbelievable. The one silver lining is that these guys have set the bar very low for building construction with minimal disturbance to the new neighbors. Yeesh.  

Wondering what is happening with our new house? So are we. We are in a big stall right now. Waiting for the subcontract bids to come in, waiting for the bank to approve our construction loan, waiting for the BZA to approve the building plans...waiting, waiting, waiting. Unlike the design phase, this phase is no fun at all. And of course, the original plan did not come in under budget so we're having to make some adjustments. It's times like these you wish you had an unlimited budget and money wasn't an object. We don't want an extravagant house, but we do want quality materials and good design to be the foundation of our family home. Sigh. We're hoping we can make small changes here and there and still keep the heart of the design we love in the original plans. I didn't realize those fun weekly meetings of dreaming and planning would come to an end so fast. The only consolation will be that we get this thing rolling soon and start taking down walls come...

This was the spread waiting for us when we arrived at our last design meeting. They were ready for us. We talked about exterior aspects of the new house, like windows. Every window in the house will be new (the home owner's association stipulates they must match!). I had no idea there were so many choices when it comes to windows. We looked at choices for roof color, type of wood, and wood stain for the front of the house...still just narrowing down our options at this point. We're really getting down to the nitty gritty on the design. All the structural plans are set (with small tweaks to the stairwell and some built-in components in the pantry still coming), and at this point we really have a clear vision of what the house is going to look like. And we love it. Love.It. It was a big week and things are moving fast. The plans were reviewed by the home owner's association this week and we're hoping their approval comes soon. The architects are preparin...

Holy Cow! Our architects have a house featured on the cover of the new issue of Dwell magazine. I can't believe we get to sit across the table from these guys every week and see the plans they are designing for our house. Our house! Crazy.

  Another design meeting with our architect(s) to cap off the week. It is getting very exciting. Our team is growing and we are now working with two architects, the owner and a staff architect. We got to see actual pictures of the interior today and it was the first time I could really visualize the interior and what it will feel like to stand in the kitchen, dining space, master bedroom. The Hufft signature "H". Everything these guys do is infused with design, detail, thought, energy. I am amazed at what they create each week. Even more amazed to imagine that I will be living in that space someday. I get it now. I get what it means to have an architect-designed house. Every detail and aesthetic is considered, every design element is beautiful and serves a purpose. I never truly understood that before. I could appreciate good design when I saw it (or when it was pointed out to me by my architect husband) but I didn't truly understand what that meant for ...

Appliance shopping, that is. Wow, talk about overwhelming. Ryan did his best to explain our kitchen layout and what we were looking for to the salesman . He never got it and he drove us absolutely crazy. We will be trying a different showroom this weekend. We spent several hours in the showroom looking at ovens, ranges, hoods, refrigerators, and dishwashers. Having owned one house where we didn't do much to the kitchen, and rentals before that, this was an all new experience for both Ryan and I. While overwhelming, it was also really fun. Imagine - an oven that doesn't burn one of my cookie sheets, a dishwasher that actually cleans things on the top rack, and a clean, untouched frig just waiting to be neatly organized (I do like a clean frig, simple joys!). I can't wait.   Red nobs? We're thinking about it - but they come with a hefty price tag. Plus, then you are committed to red for like, ever and ever. Not sure we want to pledge our undying love t...

We're meeting with our architect once a week to keep the pace moving forward on our remodel and I find myself really looking forward to the meetings. As much as we think about the space between meetings, our architect will still come up with new twists and ideas we never would have dreamed of. I guess that's why we pay him the big bucks! This week, the conference area was filled with our design ideas, wall to wall. We've been putting pictures on a design website called houzz.com and compiling all our ideas in one place. The architect has a link to our site and can look over all the pictures. He printed quite a few of them out and had them pinned to the walls with notes scrawled here and there: "Outdoor fireplace?" "Need a fence?" "Lighting for stairs" "Tile for fireplace." Clearly, my personal architect is enjoying the process. I was amazed at how many more details were incorporated this week from our first meeting. It is...

Our first peek at the designs for our remodel...oh boy! 

This is just cool. And it has me thinking as we contemplate our move about how much space we need, how we want to use that space...it's easy to think you need a lot of space to live well.