Our building strategy (NOT)

Are you wondering where we are in the building process?  Maybe even thinking something happened and there has been no more progress?  That is thankfully not the case but things are happening so fast that I don't even get a chance to take pics and document it all.  

Here is where we stand now!

I know crazy huh?  We have walls and a roof, some windows and even some fun cedar beams on the front porch.

You know what else?  The bathtubs are in, the electrician has wired the joint,  and we picked a paint trim color.   GAH!  I thought I would be more prepared for all the decision making and for crying out loud I really should have already made all of these decisions right?  Oh well, seems like I can't get things done unless there is a fire lit so let it be.  

A while back we had to talk about windows.  We don't have a nice window budget so we were a little limited.  I wanted a darker window with a little more of a contemporary look.  Although we are not fans of the way aluminum windows feel and sometimes look that is the way we had to go if we wanted to avoid white or a tan color.  In my dream window situation they would be bronze or black on the outside and white on the inside.  These things are possible but you have to pay a pretty penny for them.  

I think once we add some chunky white molding around them inside we will end up with the interior look that we like.  

Now if we are going to talk about windows I have to mention that you really need to make sure you think about the style and dimensions of each window.  We did not do this:(  Yes we had an architect draw up the plans but we didn't want to take the time or spend the money for him to take the time to draw up exact windows.  He put some in that he recommended and then we just went with those dimensions in the type and style of window that we wanted(or could afford).  That being said we have had to spend some extra dough when we realized the laundry room windows were fixed(didn't open) and the dining room windows looked really bulky and choppy because they are bronze aluminum not high end beauties.  Had we sat down and read through the window specs and chatted about these things with our builder we could have saved ourselves 1,500.  Gah! It all starts adding up.

Oh well live and learn and move on to more fun things like fixtures!

When the builder calls and says I need you to pick the plumbing fixtures "like yesterday" and you have to hall 2 of the 3 littles with you to pick them you end up making decisions just to get it done.  I literally couldn't remember what I had chosen when I got home because it was such chaos with lots of "don't touch that, get off of that potty, we don't play chase in here, and the grand finale...did you really just poop?"  All I know is I stayed under budget and got the plumber the valves that he needed from the fixtures.  Did you know about this?  Apparently there are different valves for different shower fixtures and they have to be placed before the sheetrock goes in.  Here I was thinking those would be the finishing touches and last minute decisions.  Well now I know.

We ended up with this lovely modern fixture from Mirabelle for the master bath.  I had to convince the hubs that chrome was the way to go.  I actually had to convince myself a little too but when I look back at some of my favorite bathrooms the majority had some chrome to bring in the bling.

 For the Jack and Jill bath and the guest bath we went with this curvy more traditional take in chrome.  I stuck with chrome in a traditional look here because many moons ago I scored some "nice enough"looking faucets at costco that have this feel to them.  

I bought three of them on a whim because I knew our plumbing fixture budget would be slim and they were a great deal.

I also scored these white mosaic glass and marble backsplash tiles at Costco one day.  Would you believe they ended up costing only about $5 a sq foot?!  That is a great deal for a mosaic tile.

So I bought what I thought was enough to cover our kitchen backsplash although now I'm considering using this in the master bath;)  Must decide now!

Speaking of the master bath...I stumbled upon the cabinet below at a warehouse sale and decided to remove a wall in the master bath to make room for it!

Thankfully the framers were at the house when we bought it and we were able to draw this little change  on our floor plan and shoot it to them so they could make the change.  They had already built those walls but it just took a second to knock the boards down.  Ah the beauty of having open and accessible walls.

As for some of the other goodies we have found for the kitchen...

I found this sink on ebay at a fraction of what I had seen them for.  Turns out it has a couple of scratches on it so they were having to sell it as damaged.  They seemed to be very minor from the pictures so we went for it.  You know what is crazy?  We have had it sitting by the front door for months and have yet to open it and check it out.  Here's hoping we aren't disappointed.

And then there is this...

It has to be my favorite buy so far!  We decided not to do a double wall oven and cooktop and to go with this bad boy instead.  It is a Fratelli double oven and gas range and we bought it from a lovely person off of craigslist that actually has an online store where she sells these.  This one just so happens to have some scratches on the sides where of course they will never be seen! We got it and ended up saving $$ because we don't have to buy a double wall oven and cooktop.  Not to mention we got it at a fraction of the cost of new! 

That my friends is the somewhat spastic way that we shop for our home.  It's a hunt and an adventure but we end up with things that we wouldn't normally be able to fit into the budget.  Now I can't wait to see if we can pull these things all together in the end!

Next up nail down what we are using for tile in the master bath. Wish me luck!