The Building, Home & Remodeling Show

The Building & Remodeling Show is this weekend so we headed over there yesterday afternoon to check it out.  I was excited to find a few things I’ve been eyeing online there.  The first was this Rohl Country Kitchen Faucet.  It’s one of 2 Rohl faucets that I came across recently and are now at the top of my list (the other is very similar, just a little less traditional).  Our current faucet is 2-handled and it’s a pain.  Most of single handled faucets are ugly which is why I was excited to find these.  They have the look I want with the single handle design that’s more convenient.

I didn’t get any pictures, but we also saw a display of Cambria Quartz countertop samples.  Most of the kitchens I like have white marble countertops.  Because marble tends to stain and etch, it would never work in our house.  The Cambria Torquay quartz has a similar look to marble, but is more durable than granite.

Image via www.Facebook.com/CambriaQuartz

I had been contemplating ordering a sample of it, but I was able to see it in person yesterday.  It was exactly what I expected, I’m happy to say.  Along with the Torquay, I saw a couple other samples I really liked, particularly this one below – Praa Sands.

Image via www.Facebook.com/CambriaQuartz

I can’t find a picture that does it justice, but it’s reminiscent of granite with mainly white and shades of gray.  It also has the faintest blue streaks in it and some sparkle.  It was gorgeous.  I’ve been planning on keeping all the main elements of the house neutral so that they will go with anything, but I think the blue in this was subtle enough to consider.  It would look amazing on the island.  I’m tempted to order a sample of this and the Torquay to have on hand.

This pendent light also caught my eye.  The shade is mercury glass and I think it would work well over the island, especially above that Rohl faucet, don’t you think?

Corbett Lighting Argento Pendant 103-42 

This countertop was neat for something different.  It’s honed Saint Pierre Limestone.  It felt like silk and would look good on white cabinets with a stained island nearby.

There was a lot to see and we spent about 2 hours there.  Our (hopefully future) builder had a booth so we talked to them for a while and got answers to some more of our questions.  We asked if there are any issues with us getting the water hooked up at the land now and he said no.  We will just need to figure out a way to secure the tap since we are not out there all the time.

Last week’s tornado missed our land by less than a mile for the second time in less than a year.  We’ve been planning on having the office walk-in closet be our storm shelter however the added thickness of the concrete walls plus the stuff we need to store in there normally leaves us with not much room.  Our other choices were the master closet or the laundry room – both which have exterior walls and windows.  Since all the exterior walls will be concrete (ICF) anyway, we didn’t think there would be an issue with the shelter having exterior walls, but we weren’t sure.  We’ve pretty much decided that the master closet is our best choice.  I really wanted windows in there to maximize the light, but having the larger storm shelter is more important.  Hopefully, we can make up for the lack of windows with better lighting.  He said having it there wouldn’t be a problem.

He’s also going to be giving us the names of some draftsmen so we can work on getting the final construction documents drawn.  I’ve done about as much as I can with the floor plan.  We now need someone who can design the roof and exterior and everything else we need to be able to build it.  Fortunately, the price he quoted is close to what I was hoping it would be.  Hopefully, they’ll be able to use my exported files which should save them some time and us some money.  I’m very excited to see the design come together completely.

Along those lines, I’m also working on narrowing down financing options so we have a number to work around while finalizing the house plans.  We briefly looked into construction loans last year when we bought the land, but it seems that even less banks are offering construction loans now (if that’s possible).  Hopefully, we can find 1-2 that still offer them so we can get some numbers.