Blog
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!
Getting It All Together
I’ve spent the past few weeks trying to narrow down selections for the new house. It’s a bit strange because I feel like we went from “it’s a ways off” to “we need to make decisions now” overnight. A few days after my last post, I met with the Hurd window rep. I had her price basically the exact same thing as the Marvin rep so we could easily compare the two. We are looking at the Hurd H3 windows which are aluminum vs the Marvin Integrity which are fiberglass. I personally like the looks of the Hurd windows better, but we are a bit leery because of some bad reviews we’ve read online. The Hurd quote ended up coming in over 12% less than the Marvin estimate and that was with Hurd’s highest Low-E finish vs Marvin’s standard Low-E. We discussed it a bit with the builder last night and I’m hoping to take David to both showrooms next week so he can see them himself.
We were just finishing up lunch out with my parents on Saturday, when we got the email with the builder’s complete estimate on our phones. David left to run to another store without looking at it, so I saw it alone and about fell out of my chair. We expected it to be higher than the initial rough estimate, but not 25% higher. The Kid was spending the day with my parents, so I met David back at the truck. He still hadn’t looked at it when we left, so I got to tell him. He eventually asked me if I was going to cry and I told him I had to throw up first, then I’d think about crying ;p I think we were stunned for almost 24 hours. We knew we’d have to make some compromises to stay within our budget, but we didn’t even know where to begin to bring it down by that much. The big problem was that it wasn’t the finish allowances (cabinets, counters, lights, plumbing fixtures, etc) that were driving up the cost – it was the general construction costs (electrical, framing, the ICF, roofing, HVAC, etc). The finish allowances weren’t really that high and some were too low based on some of my current selections. We briefly threw around radical ideas – giving up entirely, finding a new house plan, not building ICF, etc. None of them were what we wanted to do after getting this far. David disappeared the next day to his favorite hangout with our plans and the estimate. He came back with some ideas on how we could cut back on some of the costs. Some of the estimates also seemed really high, so we decided we needed to sit down with the builder to go over it line by line.
We met with him last night for almost 3 hours. We found out that some things were estimated high or for more than we really wanted or needed. We were able remove about 50% of the overage from that alone. We are talking about leaving the room over the garage, it’s bathroom and the theater unfinished for now which can also save us quite a bit (that’s around 900 square feet plus a bathroom which is not cheap by itself). We can live without those rooms for now and finish them ourselves later. We also decided that the best way to know the final cost is to start making decisions now.
I left this morning with my Hardie samples and headed for one of the brick suppliers. On the way, I stopped at a neighborhood that I think uses the pre-painted Hardie. I saw a couple houses that I think may be the same color as my samples. This first one (on the corner) looks like the green I have picked for the siding (Woodstock Brown).
I think the next 2 are the Timber Bark I have picked for the trim.
I’ve ordered 2 more Hardie samples that I saw last night at the builder’s office. I believe they are the next lighter shade of my 2 current selections.
I showed the brick guy my inspiration pictures for the exterior of the house. Below is one of the first samples he brought out. The colors are pretty close, but I didn’t care for how smooth the brick was.
He also brought out this one which I didn’t think was quite right.
I looked at this next one for quite a while along with my other picks, but eventually ruled it out because I thought it was too “tumbled”. After looking at some pictures of it online when I got home, I kind of wish I had brought that sample board home too.
The next 3 boards are the ones I brought home with me.
Here is the same brick on a larger board.
Here are the other 2 I brought home.
After the brick store, I ran to a nearby granite warehouse since I was in the area. They didn’t have a whole lot I hadn’t seen before, but I fell in love with this leathered slab of Kosmus. It was impossible to photograph with my phone, but it looks like it has silver running through it.
Here’s a close up.
Here’s a better picture from their website. I know it’s probably expensive and I don’t know where I’d use it, but I’d love to find some place for it.
I’ve received a few more bamboo samples and am waiting on a few more. I also ordered samples of some of the tile I saw a couple weeks ago along with some more I found online. Tomorrow morning, I’m meeting with the builder and the cabinet maker, so I need to get my pictures and samples together to take with me.
Windows, Doors & Floors
I met with the Marvin window rep yesterday morning. I needed to review the window sizes and styles with him and see what options they have. It ended up not taking as long as I expected – only about 45 minutes. I looked at their Integrity line and that is what he is going to give us an estimate for. They are fiberglass on the outside, wood on the inside. Most of the windows will be double hung. I chose the bronze exterior color.
Marvin Integrity Bronze
The interior will be painted white to match the trim. They have 4 different grille options.
Simulated Divided Lites (SDL) are bars permanently adhered to both sides of the glass for a more authentic divided lite appearance both inside and out.
Simulated Divided Lites with Spacer Bar (SDLS) – Spacer bar inserts are available with LoĒ2-272, LoĒ3-366, and LoĒ-180 glass to complete the appearance of individual glass panels.
Grilles Between The Glass (GBG) – By inserting the grille between the panes of glass, you get the lite cut appearance you desire with the easy cleaning of a single pane of glass.
Wood Interior Grilles – Enjoy the warmth of real wood with an innovate concealed fastener system that allows for easy removal and cleaning.
Our current and past windows were vinyl with the grilles between the glass. The Wood Interior Grilles are a little nicer, but still look the same from the outside. The Simulated Divided Lites are more expensive, but look the nicest so we are probably going to go with those. Only the front and right side windows will have them, so that should help offset the cost. We are only having 2 lites on the top pane, 1 on the bottom and the fewer lites you have, the cheaper they are.
We had to adjust the sizes of a couple windows because they were too tall and/or not available in the size drawn on the floor plans. There is a small 16″ square window in the upstairs bathroom and he suggested making it an awning window so it will open despite being so small. We are also going to make the master shower window a casement window which will have grilles on it to make it look like a double hung window from the outside (it faces the street). The bottom of it is about 5′ off the floor so it would be a bit too high to open as a double hung window. I also asked him to change the middle 2 windows in the Family Room and Master Bedroom to a single large picture window. This morning, I went into my program and changed all the windows to the sizes and styles we talked about so I can see how they look.
Here is the family room and dining area. I think this will look ok.
This is the Master Bedroom window which is similar. The ceiling in both these rooms will be vaulted.
>
I don’t have a roof on this version, but there is a rendering of the back of the house. They also do not make a 4 panel sliding French door, so we changed it to a double sliding with 2 fixed panels on either side (visible towards the middle of the picture below). He should have the estimate to use early next week along with a list of the windows so the draftsman can update the plans. I have one more company I need to check with for an estimate, but I believe all the options are similar so I’ll probably just have them price everything the same.
>
Afterward the windows,, I ran to Lumber Liquidators to check out their bamboo selection. They didn’t have anything different from the samples I already have, so I wasn’t there long. I then ran to another tile store that I think opened recently. It wasn’t very large, but they had quite a selection of tile I hadn’t seen before. I thought this tile might be a possibility for the mud room (Tesoro).
They had a lot of tile by Soho Studio and I saw several that I really liked. I love this tile below for a possible kitchen backsplash (Soho Studio Gem Pearl Mystic Wave Mini Brick). It’s made up of 2 types of white marble, polished and matte clear glass and pewter glass pieces. It almost looks 3D. It has the right colors, I’m just worried if it would be “too much”. The price was doable though and I found it online for even less.
>
Unfortunately, the lighting in the store wasn’t the best, but I tried to fix it in Lightroom as much as I could. This marble weave was also pretty neat (Soho Studio Fancy Weave Moonstone, Thassos W/ Carrera Dot and Fancy Weave Asian Statuary). The all white would be also work for the backsplash. I wish they made it in all white with glass for the circles.
The next one is made of arched clear glass pieces with stainless steel squares (Soho Studio Arched Super White w/Metal). It was also neat, but I’m afraid it would be too busy. Might work in the laundry room or mud room though.
Another neat one – this has polished and matte glass, white marble and stainless steel (Soho Studio Metal Weave Super White).
They also had it with Crema Marfil marble and a pale copper metal (Soho Studio Metal Weave Linen). Not sure where I could use these colors, but it was very pretty.
I’m going to have to stop going to tile stores or I’ll never be able to decide!
Which Bamboo Would You Do?
I received 5 more bamboo flooring samples today. I’m acquiring quite the collection . . .
These are just the bamboo samples. They are all solid strand /woven bamboo which is the hardest. Left to Right: Cali Bamboo Fossilized Java, Cali Bamboo Fossilized Vintage Java, Cali Bamboo Fossilized Kona, Cali Bamboo Fossilized Antique Java, Cali Bamboo Fossilized Coffee, BR-111 Maduro Bamboo, Country Wood Floors Bamboo Strand Sable, Yanchi Strand Bamboo in Russet, Sepia and Equinox, Warner Strand Woven Walnut, Yanchi Strand Woven Direct Print Brazilian Walnut (x2), Country Wood Floors Print Strand Exotic Walnut, Warner Bamboo Strand Woven Ash Brown, Home Legend Strand Bamboo Sapelli, Home Legend Strand Bamboo Walnut, Home Legend Solid Strand Woven Espresso.
The Cali Bamboo samples are the ones I received today. They are supposed to be even harder than Brazilian Walnut, ranking over 5000 on the Janka Scale. It’s on the higher end of the Bamboo prices, but still within the range of the others and much cheaper than the Brazilian Walnut we were considering. Unfortunately, I don’t really care for any of the colors. Too light, too dark, too red. I like the color and shade of the 4th one, but it has a distressed antique finish which will be too rustic for our house. I also like the 5th one, but it’s pretty dark and I’m afraid it will always look dirty.
The middle one (below) was damaged when I received it. It has a couple scrapes that are thru the finish. Whatever hit it must have been pretty hard. That piece is toward the top of my list though.
The middle 3 below are printed with stain to look like Brazilian Walnut. I like the smaller piece on the right the best because it is a little lighter and less red. I also like the shorter piece on the far left.
I was anxiously awaiting these samples last week, but was disappointed when I got them. Unlike the others, these are not strand bamboo – they are horizontal which is softer than red oak. They weigh nothing in comparison to the strand samples. I really like the colors of the first 3 though, of course. They are all printed with stain to look like other woods. The first 3 are supposed to mimic walnut. The 4th one looks like Acacia and the last one like Brazilian Walnut. The middle one is exactly the color I’d like to have – a nice medium, neutral brown.
From the back, they don’t look a whole lot different (strand on the left, horizontal on the right). You can see the shape of the bamboo better on the horizontal piece.
You can really see the difference on the end. The strand bamboo is shredded and compressed like particle board. The horizontal bamboo has the whole bamboo pieces fused together.
Meanwhile, if I keep collecting samples at this rate, we may be able to cover the whole floor . . .
Tomorrow, I am meeting with one of the window reps. We need to go over what size and type of window is going where so we can update the floor plans and get a better cost estimate.
A Big Step
Everything has been moving forward over the past couple weeks. Today marks a big step as we are applying for the construction loan 🙂 We could potentially close on the loan in 30 days or so, but it will probably be a bit longer than that. The bank will need the final house plans and the builder’s contract – neither of which we have yet. The plans should be done in the next week or so and we’ll most likely start working on the contract in the next couple weeks. In the meantime, we’re getting the process started with the bank.
We’ve continued to go back and forth with the draftsman on the remaining changes. Everything is coming together, at last, and I expect to see the 99.9% finished product today or tomorrow.
We had a 3 hour meeting with the Builder on Saturday to go over all our ideas and wishes for the house. It was both exciting and brain-numbing. We went over a lot, but it still feels like we barely scratched the surface on decisions that need to be made. Here are a few of the things we discussed:
- It turns out that Hardie Shingles are almost twice as much as Hardie Lap Siding. We had planned on shingles everywhere there isn’t brick or stone, but had to rethink that after learning the cost difference. We are now going to do lap siding everywhere except the main gables on the front of the house. The draftsman is making these changes on the elevations, so we’ll see how it looks. I’m worried about having a combination of both and wonder about changing it all to lap siding. Our house will sit far enough from the road that most people probably won’t be able to see the difference unless they come up the driveway. The builder also said that the pre-painted (ColorPlus) Hardie ends up being about the same price as the primed version once you pay to have someone paint it with a decent paint. The advantage to the ColorPlus is that it shouldn’t need painted for almost 15 years. The downside is, you are limited to the 23 colors it comes in. The Builder had color samples of it and I saw a couple that are similar to what I was thinking. I’ve requested samples from Hardie so I can use them when looking for brick and stone.
- When drawing up our plans, I had often wondered if there was anyway we could open up the staircase some more. The bottom few steps will have a railing open to the foyer. The top few steps will have a railing open to the upstairs “loft”. We found out Saturday that we can change the upstairs wall to a railing which will open that whole “loft” area to the staircase below. There will still be a support wall in the foyer, so it won’t be completely open, but I think it will be a lot nicer with the change.
- We discussed having a curbed shower in the master bath or leaving it open. The cost is about the same, so I think we are going to have it curb-less. The master bathroom floor will flow right into the shower, which will angle down to the drain. It’s large enough that we shouldn’t need a door. Now we need to decide if the walls will all be tiled, glass, or a combination of both. Glass would make it brighter and more open, but it’s also a pain to keep clean.
- We realized that the back porch roof only has a 1:12 pitch. That’s almost flat. We had wanted a metal roof on it and it turns out that we have to use metal because the slope is so low. The deepest part of the porch is almost 18′ deep and I have been concerned with the interior of the house being dark because of it. (The porch is on the Northeast side of the house, which doesn’t help.) I have been planning on having 2 skylights in the porch ceiling to brighten it up, but it unfortunately looks like they will have to be scrapped. 2 rectangle skylights in roof that flat will act as a dam to stop the water runoff. With the expansion and contraction of the metal, it will likely end up leaking. Since it’s on a porch, it’s not a huge deal, but still not something we want to worry about. We may be able to use sun tunnels instead since they are round, but I’m not sure that those will work either.
We have several other items we need to figure out. Through the wonder of Pinterest, I was able to show him some of my ideas on my phone. A picture is worth a thousand words and so much easier than trying to explain exactly what staircase balusters I want ;P I emailed him several more pictures along with the link to my Pinterest account this weekend so he could see exactly what we are thinking. We were surprised to find out that he had already received estimates for our house from some of his suppliers. He expects to have the final estimate to us next week. He also gave us some places and people to visit for fixtures, cabinets, etc and he’s going to email us a list with more. The most pressing issue at the moment is the windows. Some of the windows on the plans are not available in the sizes they are drawn. I need to sit down with the window people to go over what we want so they can write up a more specific estimate and they can be changed accordingly on the plans.
David was off yesterday, so we went to the large plumbing showroom. I’m always looking at stuff online, so it’s nice to finally see things in person. They had a couple faucet brands I hadn’t seen before. I like the clean lines of this Santec Arko faucet. I wish it came in a kitchen version.
Another brand I hadn’t seen before was California Faucets. I don’t care for the finish, but I also thought this was neat (Topanga Art Deco Collection – Empire Moderne 8″ Widespread Lavatory Faucet).
They also had a Rohl display with my top pick for the kitchen. The sprayer is so heavy, you could knock someone out with it!
Not too exciting, but I like the looks of this Toto toilet, but not the $1000 price tag.
We also recently toured about the only house for sale around here that is close to my style. No matter what the price, almost every house around here is the same – the size and quality of fixtures are the only difference. This house has a more transitional style. It also has a pretty nice mud room which you don’t see too much in spec houses.
I love the tile in this house and hope I can find it or something similar to use in our house. It looks like stone, but is ceramic. I also wouldn’t have thought I’d like the vented cabinets, but it works in this house.
The kitchen had similar cabinets but with a blue wash on them (it was hard to get in the pictures).
We discussed time frame with the builder. He has one house he needs to start before ours. If everything goes ok, we are looking at breaking ground around the first of April 😀