Which One?

We're in the beginning stages of our landscaping

and have decided we'd like to have a garden shed

to store items like the snow blower, lawnmower

and all my gardening tools. The garage is big but

we want to keep it sparse ~ it houses two cars

and will soon be the home of a workshop for my

dh. So a shed is now on our list and worked into

our frugal budget. Now we have a big decision.

This first shed is from Costco. It is made from Resin

and appears to be sturdy. We like the look and it can

be painted if we choose to match it to the color of

the house. I'd put window boxes on. The only worry

is that Resin can in time wear down. And crack and

break. Will it hold the snow load in the Winter?

Our second choice is this one that a lovely family is

selling because they are moving. It's about $300 less

than the other one but we'd have to hire a company to

deliver. So price will be roughly the same for either.

It's made of solid wood and looks brand new when

we popped over to look. Their is a large door on the

side for getting large items in. We'd paint it to match

the house. The sturdiness for snow load in the cold

Winter months would be much better. And our sweet

landscape artist did suggest we find a "quaint"  shed.

What one is more appealing for a vintage look?

Which one would you choose if you have to decide?

Does it look Vintage enough?

Choosing the siding for our new home was perhaps

the largest stress we've had with this process. Almost

everything else was pretty easy for us to decide. I

know part of that was we've been waiting so long to

do this that we're very conscious of what we wanted

in our home. We've spent years researching & collecting

ideas. Our scrapbook is huge! Our idea file overflowing.

So it was a complete surprise to both of us that we

would be so caught up with picking something as

simple as siding. We agonized over the color at first.

Originally, we were going to go with a Heritage Blue

color, with white trim & a light grey roof. But one day,

after the hole was dug & a few trees moved, we realized

in the winter, we'd be able to sometimes see our next

door neighbor's house through the forest. And guess

what color his house is? Yes, blue! Not Heritage Blue

but a more teal light washed out blue. However, his

one shed, close to our forest, is a newer structure &

he sided it in the very blue we had our heart set on.

That was the first change. In the end, we chose a dark

Sage Green. Our windows & railings are white, the trim

will be black, our front door is black & the roof is a dark

grey. The stonework that will go around the garage & at

the front of the house will also be a dark grey, almost black.

In the gabled ends & above the cape cod window dormers, 

we chose a lighter grey siding, with green everywhere else.

The agonizing & angst filled decision centered around

the style of siding. What is pretty standard here is vinyl

siding due to it's ability to act as a secondary insulator,

an important factor with our traditionally cold winters.

The only other options are brick (too expensive in this 

region), stucco (too contemporary for our desired look) or 

hardy board cement siding (too expensive for both 

product & installation). For months we went back & forth 

with colors, only to realize one day that it wasn't the color 

we were having a hard time with. It was the fact we were 

stuck with vinyl & both of us hated the look! We wanted a 

Vintage look & the typical smooth, straight edged vinyl 

look didn't appeal to us. When our builder brought out the 

trim examples for the gables, we were thrilled to see those 

pieces would be more of the look we wanted: a thick, rough 

edged, detailed cedar look product. After marveling over it 

for a day or two, we chose the grey color. And in the middle 

of the night, I woke up with a bright idea! The next morning, 

we contacted our builder, who said "let's ask the supplier 

if it can be done" & then we patiently waited for the 

reply. When it came, I was thrilled! Our question? Can we 

side the whole house in the trim pieces? Their answer? No 

one has ever done that before in this region but sure, let's 

try it!! It took months for the siding to arrive from the east 

but here it is, in the first stages of installation yesterday. 

And we couldn't be happier!!

Do you think it looks Vintage enough?

I love the "cottage" feel to it!!

Do you agonize over decisions like this?

Do you love your decision once you make it?

My eyes! My eyes!!

Hi everyone!

We're still on our long but lovely Christmas break here at our house and loving the freedom to sleep, relax and dream. The only tasks we need to fit in to our "busy" schedule are related to our house build. Today, we went out to buy appliances, to finalize our interior doors and to pick out the lights. And tonight, my tired eyes look like this!

In our big search, we ended up buying our fridge, our range and our dishwasher. To consider, we have our daughter's fridge, her range, her hood fan, our washer/dryer pair, our freezer, our microwave and our hood fan. For the lighting, we narrowed our choices down to two different collections and now have to decide which route to go. The doors were quite easy as we decided to match them with our front door. The big decisions in that department will be our four french doors and the door handles. We originally wanted to match the french doors we have in this house but they don't carry this "old" style anymore. They do have one door that we at first didn't think we'd like because the glass is almost a frosted look but after mulling it over for the day, we quite like those ones now. The door handles we'd like to get are a far cry from what the builder normally puts in but he's been so great about understanding our desire to build a new house to look old and he's now searching for glass door knobs. I love this guy! Sh!! Don't tell my dh. Actually, I think he loves him too!! He keeps finding the things we have been dreaming about adding to the design. Look at the sweet door he found for the basement theatre room: 

Isn't it the coolest door? 

I'm off for a bit of a nap. More decisions tomorrow!

How was your second last day of 2014?

A trip to the Country.

Hi everyone!

We're off for a quick trip out to the Country, to see how our new house looks now that the snow has arrived. Our builder and his family left last weekend for a well deserved vacation and are back home today. So we've had not notices about what has taken place this week. He did tell us before he left what was planned, with a caution of course that schedules sometimes change with weather and deliveries. The one hope this week was to have our siding installed. At the time he had left, the bundles of material had not yet arrived but they were expected. Then we had a snowfall and a short deep freeze, so even if the siding did arrive, we're not sure that it would have been installed. Dh and our girls are so anxious to see it. Me? I've got butterflies in my stomach! 

I'm so nervous because we have steered away from the typical material that all houses are wrapped in around this part of the world. What is normal is a basic, straight vinyl siding, as shown below. Kind of boring, don't you agree?

Our budget for this house was set for straight vinyl in muted tones. Darker tones are more money. Of course, upon learning this, we both wanted a darker color. Our builder priced it out and we started to see where in our budget we could make it work. But I really wrestled with the look.

We discovered, with the new siding budget, we could have a second color, at no additional charge. So we chose the green for the body of the house and the grey for the peaks and the gabled end where the art studio is. But it still wasn't right. Something was off. Then one night, I figured it out!

The whole issue with the siding was staring right at us! The straight look of the vinyl was wrong, oh so wrong, because we aren't building a modern, contemporary house. In fact, we're trying to build a house that actually looks like it's 100 years old! Vinyl siding was not going to do it!! We found the shingled siding from the same supplier and although it boosted our budget a bit more, it was still comfortable and a look we really want. And the bonus? Dark colors are not extra. And it's a thicker material, which will continue to help us achieve our goal of an energy efficient, cozy home. 

As with the original plan, the body of our home will be in the darker green shingled siding and the peaks and gabled end will be covered with the grey color. So excited that we made this decision. But now that we're driving out today, I'm scared! What if it's installed and we hate it? Ahhhh!

Wish us luck it looks good. 

I'm hope we've made the right choice. 

Do you ever agonize over big decisions?

Bathroom Chatter!

Hi everyone!

More decisions are on our plate this week. Last night, we finalized the roof selection (twilight grey) with our builder and today he is sourcing out the siding quotes as we have 2 different options: vinyl or hardie plank. We know the latter is more expensive but we don't know at this point by how much and he didn't either, so we wait for a number from him before we decide. Right now, in terms of color, we're stuck on either a dark sage green, a heritage blue or a butter yellow. That one is taking some time and many great debates! Our trim will be white, the roof dark grey, the shutters black, the front door black, the windows white and the stone grey/black. If only we could figure out the siding color! We're almost done picking out the flooring and the wood trim work going inside as well as outside the house is pretty easy to select now.

Today, it's time to talk about the bathroom. Bathroom chatter, shall we say? Our plan calls for a bathtub, tucked under the window, with a lovely arch above the unit. A row or two of ceramic tiles to match the floor, kind of like what you see below. To the left of the tub will be a one unit shower for two, acrylic, with ceramic tile at the top and a glass door. We were worried it would be too dark, even with a pot light, so our builder found another solution and we're waiting for a quote.

This unit is all one piece and the 2 sides of the shower would be ceramic tile all the way to the ceiling, with glass on the front and the side that separates the tub from the shower. The tub would then have ceramic tile like the one above. A bit more "spa like" than the first option, which means it will be a bit more costly than the first. We have a new bathroom that is all tile and really like the look and the "spa like" feel that we currently enjoy. But this would be an upgrade, so a cost we need to consider.

It would look like this. A bit lighter as we have a nice big window above the tub. But the shower wouldn't be so dark. I like it but still not my favorite.

Here's what we've talked about many times over the years. A claw foot tub! We would still have the separate shower, like in the first option. I'm quite willing to suck up my concern about the shower being dark if I can have this baby. We would get a credit for the original tub and then we could buy this unit. Fits in our budget nicely. The only change is we'd need more ceramic tile to go up the walls so there is adequate coverage of tiling for water drips. But so worth the extra dollars to have our bathroom look more authentic to the Victorian style. 

So that's my bathroom chatter for the day. Hopefully, we'll have some numbers to work with later so we can make these decisions quickly. Then it's on to cabinets and paint colors. It's all coming together. Now we just need fall to hold off for a while so the build can be done and we can move before the snow flies!

Have you ever moved in 

the winter months with snow? 

Agh, more decisions!!

Hi everyone!

One of the fun parts of building a new house is the chance to pick out all the things we want in our space. It's been exciting so far but the decisions can also be daunting. So many things to think of. If we choose an interior door, will it look good with the kitchen cabinets? Will the shade of wood floors we've chosen go well with the paint color? What if the windows we chose give too much light? Or not enough! Did we choose the correct weight of carpet? Can you see the mutin bars in the new windows well enough or are is the width of each too small? Wow! My head is totally spinning with too many ideas. 

Here's our newest decision: we need to choose our front door. Because we're building a Victorian styled home, we want to keep to the style as much as possible. One of the designs we've looked at is similar to this true Victorian door above. Simple and colorful.

But we also love this Craftsman styled door above, even though our home is not a Craftsman one. Can't you just see a lovely, wispy, colorful wreath hanging from that front door? Solid but filled with character. 

Which is your favorite? And why?

Decisions, decisions!

Our new house has two fireplaces.

One in the family room. 

One in the master bedroom.

We get to choose the mantels.

Thinking about this one for our bedroom.

And this one for our family room.

Both are the same size.

Both are the same price.

Decisions, decisions!

What would you choose for a mantel?

Big Decisions.

Spring has finally arrived! The grass is green, trees are budding and the dirt has become swallowed up by the color of tiny flowers pushing their way across the landscape. A beautiful time of year, full of renewal and promise. An inspiring and favorite phase for me.



 

My world has become vibrant again with the sound of bird song and motorcycles. Yet, during this season of birth and newness, I am bogged down with big decisions. My beloved job is suddenly not stable and there is pressure to move in directions that I'm not comfortable going towards. It's not fear, more of a stubbornness that the plan I've carved out is being questioned and tossed out the door without reasonable investigation. A fight may be brewing but until then, I ponder my options and begin to plan for pulling back programming, against my will.

 

 

The beauty of this short season is enough, for now, to keep me uplifted. My hope is that by the end of spring, there will be a more concrete structure for growth and stability. Or plan B will need to be executed!!