The Magic of a Window Seat

I love window seats. Growing up I always wanted one. There is something so romantic and cozy about a window seat that I have never gotten over. In the other house we had looked at by the same builder, there was a window seat built into the stairwell. I thought it was darling and a dream come true of sorts. Why I didn't see the potential for a window seat in this house is beyond me, but it is even better. Below is the south facing window in the master bedroom.

Do you see what I see? Not only is it the perfect place for a built in window seat, but it has the space for flanking bookshelves as well, the ultimate window seat. Now I just have to figure out a way to make it. Maybe I'll find a local carpenter, maybe just find the right pieces that will slide in nicely. We recently went to Ikea for ideas. I found almost the perfect set although I think it might be just like an inch over alloted space and a mile over any sort of budget I would set. Here are the pieces though.

We also have our current bookshelves that usually go in the living room and are staggered. They could work too maybe and they match our bedroom furniture as well. They don't sell that style at Ikea anymore though so we couldn't buy one more tall one if we wanted to, but maybe to hold me over for a while :)

Waiting

Still waiting on final loan approval. We had to move some things around in order to qualify, but our rate is locked in now so that is good. I went a few days not really thinking about it much since there isn't much we can do at this point and when I brought it back to the forefront of my mind, I started to get nervous all of the sudden. Not about the house. I don't know about what, maybe just the unsettled, nothing is final anxiousness. Its weird to buy a house and then just sit around waiting for it. I've worked out a lot of my ideas for decorating. Now I just want to submit our construction deposit and have them finish it lightning fast.

We have so much more motivation to save and be careful with our money now. We always tried to before, but now its vital. And its really good for us. I guess I'll do a window seat post now :)

living room design board

This is the design board I came up with for the living room. We already have the golden/wheat colored curtains, couch and chairs. We just need to paint the walls and maybe the fireplace mantle. The tile in the top right corner is the actual tile that is going around the fireplace inside the mantle

backsplash

One project I would love to do at some point is the kitchen backsplash. My friend Melissa did her own and it turned out amazing. I hear its one of the more doable home improvement projects. Here is what I am thinking for the kitchen at the moment: pale blue walls and a light backsplash to balance out some of the dark going on with the black appliances and countertops. Here are two samples of tile that I've found that are under $10 per 12"x12" sheet.

Waterfall $8.50 ea.

Ivory iridescent $4.99 ea.

The price alone on the second one is making it a strong contender.

Lets talk appliances.

We chose black appliances and will get the range, double ovens, microwave and dishwasher included with our home. The purchase of a the refrigerator however is on us. I figured we would just go with black to match everything else. What are your thoughts on mixing black with stainless though? When you look through the hall and enter into the kitchen you will mainly see the island and the refrigerator and maybe some microwave. We have a stainless faucet and I thought it might brighten it up a bit if we did a stainless steel fridge with some black accents, eg. the handles and/or ice dispenser.

Black will most likely be the cheapest option and the no-brainer option as well. But what do you think about mixing it up?

No going back now

I can't believe I picked everything out today. For the most part it was actually pretty simple, especially because I came in with some ideas beforehand. We had to make a few compromises, but it turned out almost better in my opinion. I'm really excited about the tile around the fireplace and our kitchen faucet, little details that I think will add a nice touch. For the most part everything is pretty similar to my design board. The darkest laminate counter top they had wasn't what I had envisioned and I'm still second guessing myself a little about my choice, so I hope it turns out good. There was a lighter one that I opted for in the bathrooms that I think will look great and hide water spots and such until I can get to them. One nice thing about the dark counter was that it had a tiny bit of sheen that none of the other options had. It has some brown veining in it, which I wasn't crazy about, but it will look nice with the oak cabinets. We ended up with the light laminate wood in the kitchen and dining room and carpet in the living room. This is a picture of the dark kitchen counter and the lighter bathroom counter tops.

This might help

Thank you so much to all of you who already commented on the "Need Your Help" post!!! I've already got some great advice. Here are a few things I've learned from your comments on and offline as well as things I've picked up online.

1. Be careful with white cabinets. They are high maintenance and show everything. Maybe not the best choice for a young family

2. Baseboards are hard to paint. If you are stuck with a single tone paint job, get it the color that you want the baseboards and paint the walls yourself.

-I actually just recently learned what 3-tone paint means. 1. wall color 2. ceiling color 3. baseboard color. I never knew you had to pay extra to not have the ceiling color be the same color as the walls or to simply have white baseboards and white ceilings with a different wall color (2 tone).

3. Listen to your design consultant. Ask if there are pictures available of actual homes with their suggested design choices.

4. The darker the counter the better scratches will show. The lighter the counter the more likely it is to show stains.

5. Pick what you like best.

I also thought I should put up a few pictures of what we are dealing with here.

Actual Dining Room

Actual Kitchen. L-shaped kitchen with island. The pipe sticking up is for the sink in the island. The little wall on the left is where the fridge will go.

This is a picture of a completed kitchen in the same home. Not our style and almost everything is upgraded, but you get the idea of the placement of things.

A New House

I know that things shouldn't make us happy and that we need to avoid the trap of thinking, "when I have ______, I will be happy." But I have to say that this whole idea of having my own house honestly makes me happy. I can tell a difference just since we moved forward, and after I got over the initial shock and insecurity about the leap we had made. I feel like even if everything fell through I would still be happy just because I got to take a few more steps forward in the process. It makes me happy to move forward without worrying about what will happen 2 years from now. What if Andre gets a job in another state? In another country even? What if the house doesn't appreciate? What if we need to sell and can't? What if we are just fine where we are... more than fine even?? What if we love our current ward? What if we don't love our new ward? The list of what ifs goes on and on. I kept thinking that my desire was simply selfish. And maybe it is, but my present thinking is that its a good and honest desire. Maybe the timing wasn't right before and I had to deal with that, as we all have to deal with not having things we would like when we want them. The loan is still up in the air right now too, so that could change things as well. So it still might not be the right time. But if it is...I am ready! This is something I am really looking forward to.

Need your help

Okay Folks, today is the day that I get to go to the design center and pick out all the options for our house, yay!

Lets hope we find out that our loan went through today as well. I'll keep you posted on that, but lets focus on the fun stuff for now.

Here's the deal, as mentioned before, I am limited to builder standard options for the most part, although we managed to work in an allowance for the flooring we want, a light colored wood laminate floor throughout the downstairs.

Something like this.

I am really hoping they have what we are looking for, otherwise its going to be difficult to come up with an alternative.

I have been working on a few design ideas, mostly for the kitchen. After searching through hundreds of pictures online we decided that a dark laminate counter would look best in the kitchen. It offers a great contrast to the oak cabinets we will have, and will be even better if we eventually paint them white.

It's so hard to be sure though. I was trying out an online room designer the other day and came up with a rendering that has light counters and looked surprisingly better than most of the other examples I had seen. I am also concerned that with black appliances, the overall look will be too dark and I love a light airy kitchen.

So you've seen the previous post with the oak cabinet remodel. Here is another kitchen we love. This would be the goal eventually, but in the meantime we need something that works with oak now and white later.

The picture below is from the kitchen designer I tried out. This is not our kitchen layout, but the wall color, cabinets and floors are the general idea that we are going for.

EXCEPT...this is the picture that made me wonder if a light counter would be better. It actually contrasts well with the oak and ties in the lighter floors. However, I don't think it would work as well if we paint the cabinets white at some future date.

Here is the same kitchen with dark counters. They look green to me for some reason, not what I am going for, but can you see the difference? And then imagine black appliances on top of that.

The picture above shows a kitchen with black appliances and black counters. I think it looks nice, but it is a bit on the dark side. If the walls were a much lighter shade and the floors not so grey (but rather a bright sunny laminate) do you think it would make a huge difference?

Here is the design board I came up with that incorporates oak cabinets, dark counters, future backsplash idea, and the light floors. What I think is a nice compromise allowing for a progression towards white cabinets at a future time (if I actually do it). The backsplash would be another nicety and future project.

So what do you think??? Especially about the counters. Should I stick with my design board? Should I go for a lighter counter? When I actually see the real possibilities today, everything that I've done might just fly out the window, but I want to be prepared.

And I want your thoughts as well!

Garden

One of the things that I was excited about when we first went out to this neck of the woods or the desert in the case of Utah, was that there are several community gardens sprinkled amidst rows of darling, colorful homes. Apparently a plot is hard to come by these days as the community gardens are in high demand and people come out to socialize, teach their children and of course grow a garden. They even have their own local farmers market and this year collected surplus veggies to sell for charity. I don't know if i will be a community gardener, but I sure like the idea that they incorporated this into the design of things. I hope to design our side yard with a little vegetable garden. That is a heavenly thought for me.

This year, I had my own tiny little garden off the back porch. I

had a thriving tomato plant, a decorative container and a few pumpkin plants. Although the pumpkin plant thrived, it took quite a while before I finally saw the fruits of my labor late in the summer when a pumpkin actually started to grow. The plant is huge. I was really exp

ecting more pumpkins, but this cute pumpkin is really all we need for Sophie. Just a couple weeks ago though, another started to grow, however I don't think it is all pumpkin. I am pretty sure it is a cross with a squash. It is now affectionately labeled "Oliver's pumpkin".

I can't wait until Sophie's pumpkin is completely orange and we get to pick it. I sure hope that happens sometime this week.

ahh space!

I have a little shelf in our current bathroom that houses all my hair stuff, lotions etc. and I was looking at it this morning and got really excited about having it all neatly concealed in our future bathroom. The shelf won't go to waste though. It will be right at home in the jack and jill bath between the two kids rooms.


This is the setup of our vanity in the new house. Can't wait to have all those cupboards and drawers!

Oak Cabinets

Again, another common builder standard. What's a girl to do?

I love a nice, modern flat/recessed panel cabinet.

Ikea Akurum cabinet door

http://tinyurl.com/2a7rhdt

These cabinets are not an option for us. So this is what I have planned. We will do our best with the oak cabinets that we will be given, choosing colors for the counters that go well with oak and with my future plans.

Here is the idea I found on bhg.com. Love this site.
Standard oak cabinets in a clean, white kitchen. Its not the worst look in the world. Its actually kind of homey, as how many people grew up with something just like it or live in a home with the original builder oak? But what if you want a more modern look like I happen to enjoy? This is what bhg.com came up with and I think it turned out amazingly well. This project will be one of the first on my to do list.

Voila!

Painted white with new hardware and a bit of color on the walls. Its a whole new kitchen with a completely different feel.

Builder Options

No one likes oak cabinets and vinyl floors and one tone paint, but that is what most builder homes come with included. Can I just propose something?? Can we embrace builder options as economical, practical and a good starting point?? Okay, I am obviously saying that to myself, because that is exactly what I need to do. So instead of lamenting that I won't have granite or even corian counters, no hard woods and upgraded fixtures I am trying my best to design a pretty home that we will love within the bounds set by the builder. I will have some color choices and there is always room for future DIY projects down the road.
I recently read a blog post from a corporate interior designer. She was touting the awesomeness of linoleum. Linoleum?? What?? You mean that orange stuff that was in our kitchen growing up that my grandma had chosen sometime in the 70's?? So I learned a bit about linoleum from her post. Note: linoleum and vinyl are two different things. Linoleum is actually a surprisingly green choice for one; made with natural materials it is on of the healthier choices for homes and the environment. It is extremely durable as well and actually gets more durable with time.

The above picture is a vinyl sheet linoleum and looks surprising similar to the tile in foyer of Andre's parents home.
http://tinyurl.com/25rdkqc

Our new house comes with vinyl flooring (made of chemical compounds) in the kitchen/dining area, pretty standard. Vinyl is the cheapest flooring option but it has come a long way too. Some of the new designs actually look really nice. Benefits: Its a softer floor and doesn't get cold or chip the way tile can. So don't feel bad about vinyl :)

This is an embossed vinyl floor, picture compliments of trendzine.com
http://tinyurl.com/345qtoe

Undoubtedly not going to be an option for us, but its cool to know that something ultra economical and cool exists.

The Journey

A few weeks ago we made the fairly firm decision not to buy a house. We had decided this at various other points for various reasons, but there was never a complete feeling of peace about that decision. There was always something I couldn't let go of...until just a few weeks ago when I finally felt fine and good about staying where we are. So it might seem strange that we just bought a house right?? Well, it was the result of a chain of small and simple events. And what comes of small and simple things?? You got it, great things!
First, we learned that Andre's parents might be moving back this year. We live in their beautiful home, in a beautiful area at present and attend a wonderful ward and live in a great community. Nothing was for sure though and it would still be a while away, so that was just a tiny factor. Second, I had meant to unsubscribe from the real estate emails I receive, but had not done so yet. I just deleted them without looking. However, last Wednesday I was helping with visiting teaching interviews and during a quiet moment I quickly browsed through the email. My heart sank or jumped or something I wasn't expecting when I saw the house I had fallen in love with last March/April. My heart rate speeded up and I got nervous and excited all of the sudden, completely unexpectedly. I forwarded the email to Andre and then called him. I very simply said, I just want you to think about it, that's it, just think about it. Well after a little bit of thinking and a little bit of discussing we were thinking about putting in an offer. I eventually learned that it wasn't the exact house I thought it was, same model but built 2 years earlier just down the street from the builder spec I had been wanting 6 months ago. It was a short sale, but the agent claimed it could be closed on within 30 days and it was a great price and had a lot of upgrades. When our realtor and friend called on it just a few days after it had been listed, it already had an offer on it. Another notch in our belt, but it got us thinking. We decided to drive out to our original suburban oasis. I didn't want to go. I know what happens when we go out there, but we did anyway. It was a family outing. We looked at some really cool model homes with some really cool features. We drove by the two rows of spec homes I watched go from framing to drywall stage through the spring and into the summer. On Monday I drove out to see what was still left of those. On Tuesday night, Andre drove by and checked out the better one of the two left. On Wednesday night we were sitting in the sellers office signing papers and buying the house. The funny thing about it is, it wasn't my favorite house, not even close really. I had walked through it a long time ago and didn't give it a second thought. But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense for us and the more I like it. The size and price and interest rate we got made it possible. As well as support from family. And that's how it happened. We are buying a house. Now onto the fun part. Stay tuned.

Introduction

This is my story about growing up, moving out and starting life.
First, a bit about myself. I am from what used to be a small town. In fact, where my homes were growing up is still considered "country," yet urban life is spreading right up to the doors. Growing up I thought it would be so great to live "in town." That's where everything was. We lived on a somewhat secluded piece of property part of the time, and for the rest of time I lived just a 1/2 mile or so the other direction, where homes were custom and acres apart. It was a good place to grow up. It wasn't until after high school and most of college that I was exposed to life in the city. It started with a 3 month stint in Wuxi, China and then a little over a year in Germany and Austria. I lived in big cities then. Stuttgart and Munich surprised me. I was in a big city, but it didn't feel rushed and busy. In Vienna I lived on a very busy street just on the edge of the city's center. That was a bit different, but still there was a quaint feeling even there. So it got me thinking and got me used to a different kind of life; a kind of life where you walk to the grocery store once a week or so, bring your own grocery bags and a little cart to take it home in. I rode street cars, buses and the subway and then walked everywhere else I needed to go. I inhaled a lot of second hand smoke but the country and clean air were just a few stops away on a train, easily accessible. There is a lot more to it, but I was amazed at how such a big city could feel as homey as life had been on the outskirts. People seemed to treasure a sunny window and a walk in the park more than those of us with 4o acres or even .2 acres.

My husband lived in the city most of his life. We met in Germany and share a common love for that city where we first came to know each other. After a 6 month separation we met each other again, but this time we were back in the states, back in school and I was back to the life that I had grown up in. With his first full-time job came a pressing desire in my heart to buy a home, even though we had not saved dime, were still catching up and had no idea what our plans were even for the next year. New construction in a progressive area near his job began to catch my eye. We started looking into it out of curiosity and eventually got very close to buying a home. The timing wasn't right though and things just didn't work out. It wasn't until 6 months later, a lot of searching and things falling through that we found ourselves back where we first started in a unique community with fairly progressive ideas. Its an experiment in creating healthier communities, something along the lines of what they call "new urbanism." A little city mixed in with the residential. Eventually I might even be able to walk to the grocery store. We will be calling it home soon. We just signed on a cute little house out there and are beginning our journey. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find something I have to say useful.