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.