Category Archives: Cabinetry

Week 42: Tile, Trimwork, Stairs, Septic, and Rental House Issues

Posted in Cabinetry, Dining Room, Entry, Flooring, Great Room, Great Room, Kitchen, Laundry Room, Millwork, Moving Homes, Mudroom, Mudroom Bathroom, Permits, Powder Bathroom, Septic System, Tile by

Rental House

This week seems to have gone by so quickly!   One of the major things that happened this week is that we received an email from the property manager from the house we’re renting a couple miles from the build.  He said that the owners of the house want to move back into the house and we need to move out at the END OF APRIL!!!  Matt was anticipating for the house to be finished at the END OF MAY!!  Seriously?  How does this happen to us?  Our 10-month lease ended in January and since then our contract switched over to month-to-month leasing.  And the contract states that we or the owner can terminate the lease with a 20 day notice.  We actually met the owner about 6 months ago when they were visiting from China getting baby gear out of their garage.  Back then he said that we should stay and rent the house for years!  And in January when I told the property manager that we were extending our stay past the 10-month term he said to stay until August.  Now they want to move back from China though?  Something must have changed with his Microsoft job.  Ugh.  And the property manager has no idea either – this totally blindsided him as well.

So now for the first time in the entire build, schedule matters.  Prior to this, Joel and I honestly didn’t care if it took longer to build, we just wanted it done right.  I mean, what’s a couple extra months in the end if it turns out great?  The boys have made some good friends in the neighborhood we’re renting in and it’s so close to the build, that it’s convenient to pop over and check things out.  Now getting done with the build at the end of May when we need to move out at the end of April seems WAY too long though.  Where are we going to live for those 4 weeks?!?  So I did what any person in my situation would do.  Ask our builder Matt, “what’s really going to be left to do after the last week of April?”  I explained our situation and wanted to see if there was any way we could speed things up a little and maybe move in sooner than later.  He took a couple days and was able to push a few things…and now we’ll be moving into the new house the first week of May!  Can you believe that?!?  The first week of May!!!  That means that we’re only between homes for a week.  A week, I can live with.  Can you say, “hello mom & dad?”  They live about 45 minutes away from us without traffic so the commute just to get the boys to school and us to work is going to be horrific.  But the boys love staying there and it’ll be so nice just to move with only having to pack our clothes.  The rest of our stuff can move into the garage of the new house until we get there a week later to unpack.  Although Matt will have the inside of the house finished, we’re not expecting the outside to be completed – we’ll likely still need the deck, driveway and landscaping.  The inside is good enough for me though!

For our final hail mary, we’re still trying to see if we can extend our lease another week so we can move straight from the rental into the new house, but we haven’t heard back from the owner and they’re not returning the emails that the property manager has sent (which has been 4 of them now).  Cross our fingers 😉  At least mom & dad’s is a good back up plan.

New House

Besides the rental house issues, things have been moving along at the house quite well.  There’s so many little details that took place in the house this week. The tile and hardwoods have been completed and that’s all of the flooring until the carpet is scheduled to be installed in the last week of April (just before we move in!).  The stairs were even installed this week and they look fantastic.  It took a few different tries to get the right stain color for the treads, but I think they turned out great.  On Thursday evening, Cameron and I went to check out the house and Matt was there covering the stairs to protect them from all the workers’…and we ended up helping and covering them for him.  Um, don’t say that I never lifted a finger to build the house, ha!

The trim sub consultant keeps on trucking – there’s so much that we’re having them do for us.  Besides installing all of the door moulding and baseboards throughout the house, there were two major accomplishments this week – creating the fireplace surround and starting on the interior transom windows.  First things first the fireplace looks amazing!  Monday morning Matt and I walked through what I wanted the design of the fireplace to be and he made it all happen!  I love how it sits on top of the bench/hearth we have, and that the mantle is so deep.  In our old house there would barely be enough room for Christmas stockings, let alone any other decor.  This one is sure to fit whatever I want to decorate with!

On Saturday, Joel and I went out to check out the progress and one of the trim guys was there working on the interior transom windows.  We weren’t quite sure if we were going to order these or have them built on-site, and now that we went with the latter, I couldn’t have imagined the ordered ones turning out so well.  The first side of the transoms have been installed, then they’ll need to be painted on both sides and glass added.  Then the other side of the transom trim can be added.  It looks so good for them finally to be filled in with moulding though!  All these little details are really making the house come together.

And did you notice that the oval windows in the great room in the last picture now have trim as well?  These were measured for and custom made by a different company and then installed this week.  The same goes true for the arched windows in the dining room and in the entry.

Besides all of the trimwork, they also added some more detail on the cabinetry.  Matt pointed out that if we added crown all the way around the kitchen hood (like I wanted) that the crown would basically touch the other pieces of crown in the coiffured ceiling.  So that’s out of the question…so that’s a bummer.  But I still think it looks good as is without it – definitely my favorite feature in the kitchen, and it’s pretty fun that I got to design it!  Feet were also added to a few cabinets throughout the house – which I also had custom designed based on some pictures of kitchens that I liked on Houzz.

Tile work also continued this week.  Although choosing and shopping for tile was my absolute least favorite thing to do for the entire build, I love seeing it all installed.  Most of our selections were pretty basic, but even seeing white subway tile instead of drywall is fun.  On top of that, the tile my mom and I chose for the backsplash behind the range arrived and I brought that out to the house.  On Wednesday, I met the tiling sub onsite to go through the layout with him.  Originally, we were going to have a different border that had a dark gray bardglio marble liner and then a white chair rail that matches the subway tile backsplash.  Unfortunately though, the bardiglio came in and looked too blue to really coordinate with the beautiful mosaic tile.  So we ended up using a carrara marble chair rail.  We needed it this week though so there wasn’t any time to special order in the profile of the moulding that I wanted.  Luckily, good ol’ Home Depot carries one that will work perfectly.  Not so perfectly is that you have to find the marble in gray and white.  And when you see them at the stores, about 80% of them look white with brown veining.  Ick.  I’m not kidding you – to find the 12 pieces that we needed to frame the backsplash, my mom and I went to 6 different Home Depot stores!  Unreal.  But now that we have them,  I love them and totally worth the drive time to find them. Plus at $6 each, they were about 7 times cheaper than the ones that I wanted to order in!  Score!!!  I hope it gets installed back behind the range soon – I can’t wait to see it on the wall!

The painters were also in the house this week.  They’ve set up a Dexter kill room, er, um, a “spray booth” in the downstairs storage room .  That room was ALWAYS creepy with the concrete floors and unfinished walls and ceilings but this tops it.  I can’t wait for electrical finishes to finally put some lights in this space.  It’s beyond creepy and way too dark in there now.

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The painters have set up a spray booth in the storage room downstairs where they can paint doors and whatever else they have. I’m steering clear of this space though until they take down all of the plastic. A little too Dexter-esque for my liking.

And one of my favorite doors was also installed this week!  We have a dutch pocket door between the mudroom and the hallway.  This way we can just pull out the bottom half of the door to keep our dog Bella in the mudroom during the day.  No baby gates needed here!  Isn’t it fantastic?  It’ll be so nice instead of shutting the entire door on her while we’re gone during the day – I hate doing that now in our rental house.

Also, the septic installation began this week.  After getting the septic notice on the title recorded with King County and submitted to the health department, the septic stub-out was released and they were ready to do the install right away.  By Saturday, they had the tank set in the ground.  While Joel and I checked out the progress inside the house, we laid out a blanket and the boys ate their Subway lunch by having a picnic on top of the rock pile.  Little do they know that that’ll eventually be part of the septic drainfield!

Week 41: Countertops & Tile

Posted in Boys' Bathroom, Cabinetry, Countertops, Great Room, Guest / Rec Room Bathroom, Kitchen, Laundry Room, Master Bathroom, Millwork, Mudroom, Paint, Powder Bathroom, Rec Room, Tile by

This week there’s been a lot happening at the house this week including continuing on the trim work – there’s tons to do still including wrapping all of the doorways and baseboards.  And the painters were also there painting doors and other trimwork.  But I barely even took pictures of those since the best thing about this week was all of the countertops and tile that were installed!  The absolute white quartzite was installed throughout the main level and it looks ‘absolute’ly amazing!

So now that the fireplace hearth is installed, and I’m not 100% sure about the tile that my mom and I picked out for the fireplace surround.  Originally we picked out 3″x6″ tiles from Walker Zanger’s Rue Pierre Antique Gris Marble.  Now I’m not so sure about it.  It’s definitely similar colors as the absolute white quartzite, but  has more of a striped white/gray pattern to it.  I’m wondering if maybe something more consistent in color like cararra marble will look/flow better.  For the record, my mom actually liked the carrara better originally.  It’s pretty similar to the hearth quartzite though…too similar?  Ah dilemmas!

The laundry room floor was installed this week (still missing the grout), and so were the counters!  We went with MSI’s Sparkling White Quartz which has some green glass and mirror flecks in it for the counters and kept it simple with Daltile’s Octagon Dot floor tile in white.  Once the white grout is installed it will tone down the patterning in the floor for sure!

The flooring in the mudroom was also installed this week – actually weekend!  They were out there installing it on Saturday when I was there for a visit.  We went with 12″ x 24″ Florida Tile’s “Mingle” in the Cool Summer color set in a 1/3″ stepped offset pattern.  The vanity, sink and countertops were also delivered from Restoration Hardware this week for the mudroom bathroom.  I chose the Cartwright Powder Room Vanity with the Italian Pietra Grigio Marble top.

And downstairs, lots of things happened this week too!  The hardwood flooring was installed, although by the week’s end it was covered with a protective layer of Ram Board which I think will stay on it until we’re ready for cleaning and moving in.  The new narrower sink base arrived for the bar and looks fantastic!  The sink barely fits in it, yikes!  Hopefully it’ll work still though.

The boys bathroom flooring was also grouted.  Although one piece of tile needs to be replaced – someone dropped a tool on it (probably when installing the door) and the tile broke.  Once that’s done the floor (and grout) will be complete.  The counter tops and sinks were also installed in the boys’ and guest bathrooms.  The boys’ countertops I selected are a gray/blue color – Wilsonart’s Quartz in Amalfi Coast and the counters in the guest bath is Pental Quartz’ Grey Savoie.

At the beginning of the week, the Skyline Tile and Marble were out measuring for the bar downstairs and for the farm sink placement in the kitchen.  Then I went to their shop in the afternoon on Monday to choose where I wanted the counters to be placed on the slabs.  We ended up having to purchase two slabs since the bar is in a U-shape and we needed the graining of the counters to all be in the same direction.  There’s so much left over though!  We may end up using it for a backsplash.  We’ll see how much that’ll cost!  My mom and I chose these slabs back in October at META Marble and Granite.  They’re fantasy brown quartzite with a leathered/textured finish.  With the gray & brown that they have, they’re going to look great with the cabinetry and room color.

And finally, there has been some sunny storms over the past couple of weeks…check out that rainbow!

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Just a touch of rainbow to brighten up the sunny and rainy day!

 

Week 40: Hardwood, Doors, Cabinetry & Countertops

Posted in Cabinetry, Countertops, Flooring, Great Room, Kitchen, Laundry Room, Millwork, Mudroom Bathroom, Rec Room by

This week the absolute biggest change has been the installation of the hardwood floors.  They were able to install the entire first floor and they look fantastic!  We ended up choosing a hand scraped and wire brushed 8″ European Oak in a natural finish by Plank.  We originally wanted a white oak finished on-site but because the basement is a slab on grade they didn’t recommend us installing solid hardwoods down there. I didn’t want the upstairs hardwood to be different from the downstairs so we ended up choosing an engineered hardwood that could be installed both upstairs and downstairs.  It took us quite a while to pick out the flooring – the colors and finishes really vary brand to brand and so does the warranties.  The Plank brand had the wide planks that Joel wanted, the color I wanted, and with more than 80% of the boards being at least 6′ long (Some brands have little lengths of boards that makes the floors look really choppy).  I really like that the color was a warm almost neutral color that didn’t have a pink or white tint (like some of the others we saw), and I really like that the boards have some knots to add character.  The  finish has a 50 year warranty and a lifetime structural warranty – they were a little pricier, but it was the warranty that sealed the deal for us.  Some brands we saw only had a 2 year finish warranty…no thanks!

More of the cabinetry and moulding were installed this week as well.  My favorite cabinet in the entire house has to be the hood above the range.  The cabinet company (Canyon Creek) didn’t have anything that I liked so I ended up being able to custom design the exact hood that I wanted.  I absolutely love it.  And it will look even better once the crown moulding is installed around the top of the hood (and on top of the cabinets).  The butler’s pantry was installed too – love the upper cabinets with the “X” design!  The glass still needs to be added, but I think they look great even now.  And I haven’t decided yet if we’ll install glass shelving in the uppers too…my mom and aunt caution me against glass shelves because of the dust that will show with all of the natural light in the house.  Downstairs, we ended up deciding to reduce the width of Joel’s bar by 6″, and the backside of the bar was installed with the dark java stained wood.  It’s still missing the trim pieces, but it’s coming along!

The farmhouse sink was also installed this week.  Choosing this sink took me quite a while.  I knew that I wanted a really wide sink and initially I was looking at the 40″ Rutherford Sink from Shaw Sinks, but it wasn’t available in USA so I would have had to drive up to Canada to pick it up or had it shipped directly from the UK.  The sink was actually considerably cheaper in the UK, so shipping would have been affordable.  The problem was that based on reviews online, some sinks have arrived cracked since they’re fireclay.  And since they’re handmade there could be some undulations in the sink bottom that may not flow all the water to the drain.  The thought of having puddled water in the sink wasn’t that appealing to me.  Also, some people have had cracking in the glazing finish overtime.  With raising two boys (plus Joel) I knew there was no way that I could have a sink that wouldn’t hold up to their abuse.  I ended up choosing the Kohler Whitehaven Apron Sink which is cast iron and during demonstrations people took hammers to it.  I figured – that’s the sink for us!  The only downside is that it doesn’t come in a 40″ size…their largest was 36″.  A small sacrifice for big time durability and availability.  The size works great and fits really well in proportion to the center window above.

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Love the farmhouse sink! Now the countertop company can come back next week and template this countertop for the sink opening.  The feet are still missing on this base cabinet, but don’t the floors look good?!?

A lot of the interior doors were installed as well.  And windows and doorways continue to be wrapped and some of the baseboards have been installed in the rooms that are getting carpet (bedrooms + playroom).  The baseboards are 6″ tall, just like the trim above the doorways.

On Monday, morning I picked up 5 bathroom sinks for the house from Fergusons.  Luckily they open at 6:30 so I was back at the house by 8am when Skyline Tile and Marble came to template for the countertops.  I spent about an hour with them to drop off the sinks as well as go over the overhangs and layouts that I wanted in each room.  Most were pretty standard, but it was good to talk about some of the detailed areas – like the kitchen pass through and the eating space on the kitchen island.

Tuesday I met the Skyline guys at their shop up in Woodinville to layout where I wanted the templates to be placed on each slab.  We started with the bigger most important counter areas (like the kitchen islands) to make sure they had unique areas of white and gray from the slabs and we ended with some of the smaller spaces.  We purchased 4 slabs of the Super White Quartzite.  That gave us enough flexibility for the main areas in the house to get the look that we wanted – soft white and gray without the upkeep of marble.  We ended using the slabs for the kitchen, fireplace hearth, master bath and powder bath.  A couple of the spaces – fireplace and master shower bench weren’t ready for templating so we just left spaces for those to be cut next time they come out to measure.

Week 39: Cabinetry Installed & Tile Progress

Posted in Boys' Bathroom, Cabinetry, Great Room, Guest / Rec Room Bathroom, Kitchen, Laundry Room, Master Bathroom, Millwork, Rec Room, Tile by

This week there’s been a huge amount of progress because the majority of the cabinets have arrived and they’ve been installed as well!  I can’t believe how fast they all went in…and they look great!  There’s a couple little issues, but nothing major and we are so happy with them.

Besides all of the cabinets being installed, they also fixed the top piece of the window trim and increased the size to 6″…instead of 5″.  It looks so much better and much more in proportion to what would be expected.

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The top trim above the windows has been changed to 6″. I love the way it looks now!

Tile also made progress this week.  The installation of our master bath flooring is complete as well as the tile in the boys’ bath and the guest bath.  It’s all coming together!  None of the grout has been done on any of the tile, but the installation looks fantastic.  Can’t complain one bit…well, maybe about the speed of which they install…but Matt warned me about that before they even started.

Week 19: Ceiling Details, Cabinetry Walkthrough & Plumbing

Posted in Boys' Bathroom, Cabinetry, Dining Room, Entry, Framing, Kitchen, Office, Plumbing by

This week a few really fun details were built in with the framing.  To begin with, the front entry way and dining windows were finally done.  The arches that they added really make the front area look finished.  There’s an arch over the front porch, as well as an arched window over the front door.  The arch over the front porch is a bit higher than the window over the door so that when you’re standing back at street level, you can see both of them.

By the end of the week, the arches have been added at the front of the house, and the roofing has been delivered and is ready to be installed.

By the end of the week, the arches have been added at the front of the house, and the roofing has been delivered and is ready to be installed.

The entryway windows have been framed.

The entryway windows have been framed.

The front arches were added to the porch, entry door and dining windows this week.

The front arches were added to the porch, entry door and dining windows this week.

The dining room window was also framed in this week.  At first it was a big shock because it had been open for so long it sort of took me by surprise not to see one big giant window in that room!  But it looks fantastic, and after making all the design changes to get this window and the dimensions ‘just right’ – I think it turned out fabulously.

The dining window was framed this week - It'll have three windows that open, then transoms, then an arched window.

The dining window was framed this week – It’ll have three windows that open, then transoms, then an arched window.

On the inside of the house, a few of my favorite details were built.  First to finish up the dining room, the tray ceiling was completed, and the beginning of the “X” within the tray was added.  Love it!  And notice how the arched window will leave just enough room for trim above it…I think it’ll look great once it’s all finished.

The tray ceiling and "X" pattern on the ceiling were constructed.

The tray ceiling and “X” pattern on the ceiling were constructed.

The windows in the dining room look SO GOOD!

The windows in the dining room look SO GOOD!

And the tray ceiling was also added in the master bedroom as well.  All of the tray ceilings in the house are 18″ from the walls, and 10″ tall.

The tray ceiling in the master was added this week.

The tray ceiling in the master was added.

The fireplace framing was built this week - we'll have a bench under the the fireplace, so it's raised up off the floor.

The fireplace framing was built this week – we’ll have a bench under the the fireplace, so it’s raised up off the floor.

The staircase is located back behind the fireplace, and the curvature in the staircase was finished up this week.

The staircase is located back behind the fireplace, and the curvature in the staircase was finished up this week.

Cameron came with me after soccer practice on Wednesday night to check out some of the progress which included some other areas in the house that he had fun seeing…

First stop was checking out he built-in bench in the office. Eventually bookshelves will line the wall to the right, and this will be such a fun spot to read with the boys - plenty deep and big enough!

First stop was checking out he built-in bench in the office. Eventually bookshelves will line the wall to the right, and this will be such a fun spot to read with the boys – plenty deep and big enough!

Cam's next stop was the master shower. He got such a kick that the drain hole was cut and he could see right into Spencer's bedroom underneath. He's waiving "hi" to Spencer in this pic!

Cam’s next stop was the master shower. He got such a kick that the drain hole was cut and he could see right into Spencer’s bedroom underneath. He’s waiving “hi” to Spencer in this pic!

Cam's last stop was his bathroom. We contemplated rearranging this room, but he really liked that his vanity would be separated from Spencer's so we decided to keep it the way it is now. He's already pretending to brush his teeth at the sink!

Cam’s last stop was his bathroom. We contemplated rearranging this room, but he really liked that his vanity would be separated from Spencer’s so we decided to keep it the way it is now. He’s already pretending to brush his teeth at the sink!

On Tuesday morning, my mom and I met with Matt and the rep from Canyon Creek Cabinets to walk through the house and discuss the different cabinet layouts.  It was a lot of fun to discuss my different ideas as well as get feedback from the rep and what he thought we should do.  Now he has to go back and lay things out for us to approve.  That’ll be exciting to see those once they’re done.

The plumbers started this week, so we really had to nail down all of the sink locations.  The only ones that were really in question were the boys’ bathroom sinks and the prep island sink.  The boys’ bathroom has a pretty decent sized linen closet in there – for all of their towels, sheets, and swim gear.  The design was to have the linen closet separating each of the boys’ sink vanities so that they could each have their own ‘space’.  The closet takes up quite a bit of space, and I was worried that it makes the space feel a little cramped.  So we discussed rearranging the room.  In the end, we decided to make the closet a couple inches less deep so that it didn’t protrude into the room as far and keep the vanities separate.  Cameron really liked that, and I think it’ll be nice for the boys to have really great storage solutions in there.

Plumbing started this week! Here's a picture in the kitchen where the sink and fridge will go.

Plumbing started this week! Here’s a picture in the kitchen where the sink and fridge will go.

On Saturday, Joel and I went to check things out at the house and we decided to rearrange things a bit in the mudroom.  We’re going to put the boys’ bench and shoe cubbies to underneath the window and get a narrower desk for where their cubbies used to be.  This should give them more space to put their shoes and all of the bags they bring home from school and practices.

Back up in the first picture, you can see that roofing supplies were delivered and they’ll be starting on that next week!

Week 7: Waterproofing, Plumbing, Well Pumping & Cabinetry Shopping

Posted in Cabinetry, Concrete Work, Footings & Walls, Private Well, Site Work by

It seemed like a busy week this week – we started off the week with waterproofing the exterior of the basement walls; Matt is having them use a two-part system.  The first part is a spray-on bituminous surface sealant which is sprayed directly onto the concrete walls at a thickness of 40 mil.  The second part is a dimpled drainage sheet which get secured on the outside of the spray-on sealant.  This drainage sheet acts reduces the hydrostatic pressure against the wall – therefore keeping any water in the soil away from the basement wall by giving it a direct path to flow from the finished grade to the footing drains.  In addition, geotextile fabric is secured to the drainage sheet so that water can pass through, but it keeps soils out.  The type of drainage mat they’re installing is American Wick Drain’s Site Drain Sheet 180.  This was created for commercial usage and has higher standards and compression strength as compared to it’s counterpart product for the residential use.  I guess they actually started the waterproofing on Saturday, because they were wrapped up by Tuesday this week.

Here they are adding more gravel for the base material (and for drainage underneath the basement slab).

Here they are adding more gravel for the base material (and for drainage underneath the basement slab).

The first layer of the waterproofing, a bituminous spray-on, has been applied.

The first layer of the waterproofing, a bituminous spray-on, has been applied.

This is the 2nd layer of the waterproofing, a dimpled membrane with geotextile - American Wick Sheetdrain 180

This is the 2nd layer of the waterproofing, a dimpled membrane with geotextile – American Wick Drain Sheet 180

Both our boys came with us on Wednesday to see the progress. Here they said

Both our boys came with us on Wednesday to see the progress. Here they said, “hey mom, look at us – on top of ROCK MOUNTAIN”!!

Here's Spencer standing next to the house - he was all about getting filthy dirty today. At one point he even kicked his sandals off. Ick - those went back on - immediately!

Here’s Spencer standing next to the house – he was all about getting filthy dirty today. At one point he even kicked his sandals off. Ick – those went back on – immediately!

Spencer found his special 'gem' rock. He said he put it in a safe place to find it later (in the dirt). Good luck Spencer! ;)

Spencer found his special ‘gem’ rock. He said he put it in a safe place to find it later (in the dirt). Good luck Spencer! 😉

On Wednesday the well pump guy came to install the pump in our well.  He installed an 8 gallon per minute pump, as not to over pump the well, and almost instantly had crystal clear water!  I haven’t seen it running yet, but Matt said it was pretty fantastic.  Typically it takes a few hours to get as clean of water as what they were getting right off the bat.  They let the pump run for nearly an hour and the recovery rate was good on the well too – it only took a couple of minutes (maybe 3?) to get the water level back up to where it was originally.  All in all, it’s super cool that the pump is doing fantastic!  The pump guy also chlorinated the water, so after a few days (probably on Monday) we’ll be able to take a sample and send it to the lab for testing of any natural-born contaminates in the water.

The pump's been installed ...on a tree??

The pump’s been installed …on a tree??

Thursday the plumber came to install all of the piping in the basement.  Joel and I had to double-check all of the locations of the fixtures in the basement and send Matt any plan changes along with dimensions to the fixtures.  Once the plumber installs them, and the basement slab is poured – that’s where they’re staying!  Joel took the week off of work so on Thursday he was out there seeing how the build was going.  The plumber had just showed up and apparently the laborer was pretty cranky that he had to dig out the gravel base to install the plumbing pipe.  I actually would be too – still not sure I understand why the gravel was placed before the plumbing was finished…but whatever.  Joel also saw them starting to backfill the house and regrade the site.

Some of the plumbing in the basement has been started - this is a picture of the guest bath.

Some of the plumbing in the basement has been started – this is a picture of the guest bath.

New equipment showed up at the house to regrade and backfill around the house.

New equipment showed up at the house to regrade and backfill around the house.

In action - regrading the back patio area...and the plumber looking annoyed about the digging!

In action – regrading the back patio area…and the plumber looks in disbelief about all of the digging ahead of him.

The giant stockpiles of dirt were removed from our future front lawn - you can actually see the basement walls peeking out if you're looking from the road now!

The giant stockpiles of dirt were removed from our future front lawn – you can actually see the basement walls peeking out if you’re looking from the road now!

By the end of the week, here's what the progress looked like in panorama.

By the end of the week, here’s what the progress looked like in panorama.

Cabinets

Besides all of the construction going on, on Monday my mom and I went up to Canyon Creek Cabinetry in Monroe to look at the different cabinet styles and construction types.  It was quite a haul to go up there, but definitely worth it once you’re there.  They have an amazing show room there – with example kitchen styles ranging from craftsman, to tuscan, to modern.  Of course, I shied away from most of those, and went for the simple shaker cabinet.  The only thing different than most shaker cabinets is that I’m really liking the beaded inset cabinets.  If it’s within the budget, we’ll definitely get those.  The cabinet boxes and drawers seem like they’re made very well too – all dovetailed and you have the option for plywood boxes & drawers.  There’s a couple of standard options that I love too – the drawers are automatically soft close, and since I want painted cabinets, they can do any color paint I can come up with.  All I need to do is bring them a color swatch and they can match it.  No extra charge!  How fantastic is that?

Tons of door options to choose from at Canyon Creek Cabinetry.

Tons of door options to choose from at Canyon Creek Cabinetry.

Here's what I ultimately settled on - painted shaker style with a beaded inset. I had a feeling this is what I was going to choose before I even went in there. But seeing it in person just solidified it for me!

Here’s what I ultimately settled on – painted shaker style with a beaded inset. I had a feeling this is what I was going to choose before I even went in there. But seeing it in person just solidified it for me!

Here's a pretty kitchen in their show room with full overlay shaker cabinets.

Here’s a pretty kitchen in their show room with full overlay shaker cabinets.

Gray cabinets - gorgeous! And they can color match their cabinets to any color you choose! Awesome!! I just might end up doing a gray for the boys' bathroom...we'll see!

Gray cabinets – gorgeous! And they can color match their cabinets to any color you choose! Awesome!! I just might end up doing a gray for the boys’ bathroom…we’ll see!

Design Update

This week we also had to think about the HVAC area in the storage room off of the boys’ play room. The storage room was designed to have the basement laundry area when you first walk in, the HVAC storage closet to the left in the little ‘alcove’ and then behind the laundry we’d have room for the boys to store all of their toys (as shown in the pic below). I swear that toy storage was my worst enemy in our old house – toys were everywhere and I was constantly trying to come up with organization solutions for all of them. It doesn’t help that the boys are 3 ½ years apart, so their toys ranged from baby toys to legos. Now it’s a bit better since Spencer is getting older, but there’s definitely a ‘mine vs. his’ attitude with their favorites – growing up with a sibling, totally understandable. The other issue is that toys are HUGE! Both boys love playing with the Imaginext toys and they’re SO BIG. In the old house, they filled up a huge armoire and that was with stacking and cramming them in. I even had to give some away so that we could house them all. Needless to say, the toy storage is a MUST for this home. Here’s a look at our original design for the space:

Original Toy Storage & HVAC room layout.

Original Toy Storage & HVAC room layout.

The problem is that we’ve now come to realize that the HVAC ‘alcove’ is too small. The size was roughly 6’ x 4.5’ and to hold two different HVAC systems (one for upstairs and one for downstairs), as well as hot water tanks (haven’t decided…might have two of those as well), it simply just won’t fit in the space. Redesign!!! And it needs to be thought through before the plumber comes in a few days to install the water lines and drains (like for the washing machine) which will be poured under the slab. The solution we came up with is shown below. We decided to move the laundry to the ‘alcove’ area, toy storage where the laundry was, and now the entire back of the storage room (6’ x 14’) is now the HVAC area – plenty big enough. I kept this walled off and with a door to not only add wall to line shelves for the toys, but also to keep the toys out of that space. That’s all I’d need is Nerf darts ending up in my furnaces…or heat pumps (still haven’t decided on that either). That’ll be a decision for a different time. 🙂

Here's the new design of the toy storage & HVAC space. More space has been given to the HVAC equipment.

Here’s the new design of the toy storage & HVAC space. More space has been given to the HVAC equipment.

You know, it’s totally nice knowing CAD and being able to make all of these changes myself. I could see how working a lot with an architect through construction could really add up to some serious money for all the changes on the fly. I just make the change, get the dimensions and give it to Matt. Since we’re catching these things before it’s getting constructed, it’s been perfect!