counters, laminate and tile

Every time we go there is something unexpected. Last week they had done the tile surround on the fireplace that I am in love with. Andre's favorite thing was the faucet. I think its too big for our kitchen, but oh well. And then the counters. Confession: If I had known that I would really like the kitchen counters I think I would have done our bathroom in them too. The counter in our bathroom reminds me of the apartments we've lived in. Its not terrible. I would have just done it differently. Live and learn. The laminate floors match the cabinets wonderfully. Everything has a thin layer of dust on it so its hard to tell exactly how everything looks, but we wiped some sections off with a wipee so we could see :)

Cabinets and bathroom/laundry floors

They are darker than I was expecting. Andre thinks they probably look lighter in the daytime. These were taken at night with just the flash on my camera. We had to use our phones and a flashlight to see anything because it was dark when we got there. We have a darker vinyl in our bathroom and all the other bathrooms have a light colored vinyl on the floor.

Update Call!

Things are moving along!

Every Monday I receive a call from the selling agent and the construction manager with an update on the house.

Last week they worked on the trim, drywall and paint. This week it will be cabinets and vinyl floors. I had a few questions about some things we noticed walking through the home. Some dings in the walls where it looked like they had been hit with something, a broken window in the back and the green pipe in the front that sticks up about 2 feet above ground.

I found out that the pipe is the sewer clean out access point and it will be cut to about 6" above grade before closing. That made Andre very happy.

The broken window has to be fixed per state law and they will go through and touch things up before walk-through and closing as well.

So my mind has been put at ease. It was also helpful to talk to our brother-in-law Quentin, who is a construction manager, and ask about our concerns first. I didn't want to be unreasonable, but I wanted to know what was completely appropriate to question as well. He helped out a lot. You probably won't read this, and I'm sure I'll tell you again later, but thanks Quentin!!! It was really helpful to talk to you.

Carpet and Carpet Pad Density

I was looking through our design center documents today at all the choices we made, as they are starting to become a reality. I was looking at the standard carpet pad for some reason, which is 6 lbs. 7/16". I had no idea what that meant. Do you?

Simply put, the pad weighs 6 lbs. per cubic foot. I ran across a bit of a debate about carpet pad density and whether or not a carpet pad upgrade is necessary. I think I am on the side of upgrade your carpet, not the carpet pad. I found an interesting commentary here, which talks about the "truth" about carpet pad density. I found it comforting and amusing.

The simplest answers about my carpet choice (ie.builder grade) I found were here. So our carpet is designed to last about 4-8 years. But I "hear" that its more on the 4 year end. I think that will suit our needs just fine for now. If it looks ultra dingy in 5 years, maybe we will have the funds to upgrade.

Also a tip I got from my design center friend. Go to Lowes/HomeDepot and find a higher end, in stock, patterned carpet you like (they usually have these remnants for much cheaper than the ones that they are trying to sell you up front). Have them cut you a large piece that will almost fill the size of your living area and have them bind it. Place it on top of your existing carpet, kind of like a high end, ultra large area rug.

Color: I was really attracted to all the lighter color options for carpets, but I thought better of it. With a rambunctious 2 year old and a newborn, light carpet might be asking for trouble, especially a low grade light carpet.

Progress

The trim work was being done this week on the house. It has made a huge difference already. Most of the baseboards have been put in and some closet doors have been hung. They have also primed the walls so that there is a uniform color everywhere. Here is a picture of the living room as it is now. The second picture is a rendering I made with Sherwin Williams' Color Visualizer of how I want it to look after we paint it.

Thank you David!

I was watching "Bang for your Buck" on HGTV yesterday and David Bromstad was the designer on the show. He is one of my favorite HGTV designers. The show looks at various room remodel jobs in the same city with the same budget. Each home is judged conjunctively by a local real estate expert and an interior designer. At the end, they tell you who got the most "bang for their buck" that is, who will see the biggest return on investment when going to sell.

One of the couples had linen tile as their bathroom flooring and David was saying how he loved the choice and how timeless and elegant it was. Whoo hoo, that is the exact kind of tile that is going in our fireplace surround. Although I don't know how he feels about its use in that circumstance, I was very happy to hear that. I don't think I knew anything about linen tile before I picked it out and I did so because I thought it looked clean and modern (not timeless and elegant) but coming from David, that says a lot. So yay for me! Easy I could be an interior designer, haha.