Brick, Brick, Brick

We’ve continued the process of narrowing down our choices over this past week.  I met with the cabinet makers and the builder last Friday and went over my cabinet wish list for the whole house.  I came home and emailed them the pictures I had showed them that morning.  I have all these ideas in my head (and on my computer), but figured the budget would rule out most of them.  Most of my inspiration kitchens have inset doors which are typically the most expensive.  I’ve been planning on just having full overlay doors instead, but was surprised when the cabinet guy told me there wouldn’t be a difference in price between inset or full overlay.  He also doesn’t charge more for painted vs stained cabinets.  So much for the budget dictating my choices!  I decided to just stick with my original choice of full overlay doors.  After pouring over all my pictures again, I believe this kitchen is going to be the main inspiration for the kitchen cabinets.  The main differences are our island will be a charcoal stain and I’d prefer simple cove moulding along the top instead of the flat crown moulding they used here.  We will also have the glass cabinets along the top of all the cabinets.

via Cultivate

via Cultivate

via Cultivate

via Cultivate

While I was there, he also brought in the granite fabricators that are in the same building.  Monday, David and I ran to several places.  I took him to the Marvin and Hurd showrooms so he could see the displays for the first time.  He also preferred the Hurd windows over Marvin Integrity, so I think we are going to go with those.

I’ve also been researching appliances, so we stopped at one of the appliance stores.  I’ve decided to get a GE Advantium speed oven in lieu of a microwave and I wanted to see one in person.  Since the speed oven will go on top of the regular wall oven, I figured we might get the GE single oven so they would match, although it wouldn’t be my first choice of wall oven (I figure it would be cheaper though).  Turns out, the GE Monogram wall oven isn’t a whole lot cheaper than a Wolf or Thermador, so we might as well pay the difference and get a much better oven.  Since we are getting the Thermador induction cooktop, I’m wondering if we should just get all Thermador appliances except for the speed oven (only 3 companies make speed ovens – GE, Electrolux and Meile).  Thermador currently has a deal where you can buy 2 appliances and get 1 free.  I didn’t really want the Thermador dishwasher though because I had decided on the Bosch 800.  It also turns out that the Bosch and Thermador dishwashers are exactly the same – they just have different names on them.  So, I guess it doesn’t matter.  Appliances are far down on the list of decisions that need made, but I’d like to figure out what we want so we can keep an eye out for deals.

We also stopped at another brick store and found 2 more bricks that we like a lot.  I went back there Wednesday to see if I could get samples and addresses of houses with them.  One of them hasn’t been used on any houses yet, unfortunately.  I love the texture of this one – not too smooth, not too rustic – Columbus Brick Annandale.

The second brick is a little rougher, but my mom and David like it the best.  It’s been used on several houses around here including a couple close to our rental.  (Cherokee Brick – Hampton)

The mortar color makes a huge difference, but fortunately, the nearby houses used a mortar close to what we would want.

I want to take both of those samples to the “cheaper” brick place to see if they can order them or have something similar.  We need to get the builder to get estimates with his pricing from both of them so we can compare.  Meanwhile, here is our new mantle decorations.

From left to right – Old Virginia Brick Keswick, Owensboro Brick Olde Allentown, Columbus Brick Annandale, Cherokee Brick Hampton, Brickcraft Old Indiana.  The Hardie siding samples from left to right – Sandstone Beige, Monterey Taupe, Woodstock Brown, Timber Bark, Heathered Moss, Mountain Sage.

I think the middle 2 (#3 & 4) of both the siding and brick are our favorites.  I think we’ve ruled out brick #1 and #5.  #2 is pretty close to #4, but I still prefer #4 better.  I’d like to figure out the brick so we can start looking at stone.  It’s all turning out to be harder than I expected.  I thought I’d just pick whatever was closest to my inspiration pictures.  I’m starting to venture away from those a bit, although I’m still keeping the overall feel.  We are now going to use Horizontal Lap siding or Vertical Board and Batten siding instead of the Shingles on the inspiration house (mainly due to shingles be significantly more expensive).  The question is whether the brick and/or stone should be rustic, plain, etc.  I’m hoping it will all just come together.

This weekend, we are going to a builder’s Home Show along with some larger home stores.  There’s a huge granite warehouse I want to visit so we can see slabs of everything in one place.  I’m hoping to take some pictures and notes so I can decide what will be used throughout the house.  There’s also a huge flooring store and a tile store we’ll probably stop by.  Should be fun!