Posted by K
Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:02:00 GMT
From the video we got of the house yesterday (mostly either scary in the “hey, is that a HOLE in the floor or a trick of the light?” way or worrisome in the “oh man, that is going to need a lot of cleaning or a lot of work or a lot of cleaning AND a lot of work” way) there were a few things of particular interest:
1- it looks like there is actually a real vent from the kitchen to the outside of the house (at least there is a ventlike thing in the brick) which means a real exhaust could maybe be put in
2- there is maybe a window in the kitchen. Covered up now, but it looks like a window from outside. I am not sure if this could work out (what would we do with a random window in the wall? is it worth giving up cabinet space? does it mean we can’t really move the sink? because I would really like to move the sink) but it is something to think about. I know it seems weird to discover this window now, but really, I had no idea there could even be one there.
This throws a big monkeywrench into my sort of set (in the roughest way possible, really) kitchen plans. I need to think more, and look at more kitchens. I wonder if I can go around the neighborhood and ask to see people’s kitchens? I am still looking at house listings to see what other people have done with similar kitchens.
The cork and honeycomb blind samples showed in the mail (cork from Gerbert Ltd, blinds from Just Blinds). The cork looks good and is sturdier than I expected and the blinds are okay although I worry they will be a pain to clean. They are not for the kitchen, that is sure. We might not even need kitchen flooring, if the wood is okay enough, although I might be a tiny bit sad about the lack of cork. I guess I could install the planks floating-style, since that is what they are, but then worry about floor unevenness. We could do cork tile in the bathroom, I guess, but I like the planks better (and you can’t use planking in a bathroom because it could get too wet and that is bad).
Oh, my favorite style of pattern comes in tiles, too. Maybe a floor or even a wall somewhere. When we have a million dollars. Although the wall might look dumb, I love cork walls (thanks for making me feel that way, A16).
Posted in Remodeling: Kitchen | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Mon, 12 Dec 2005 00:52:00 GMT
It’s kind of industrial, squeaky when you walk on it, and probably expensive considering you might not be able to find it in the US, but I kind of want to put this on the bathroom floor.
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Posted by K
Thu, 08 Dec 2005 21:54:00 GMT
When you fax the loan officer the 29432 pages of documentation he needs, try to not forget the actual signed and initialed application for the loan. That is sort of important.
Posted in Purchase | 1 comment | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 17:41:00 GMT
Just got off the phone with USAA and am trying to understand the fun and delightful world of homeowners insurance. More info here.
Also, think about the stuff here.
Things we need to find out for a better estimate:
1- is there a firewall between us and next door?
2- what amperage is the house?
3- what pipe material is the house?
Posted in Miscellaneous | 3 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Tue, 06 Dec 2005 05:13:00 GMT
I wrote this for somewhere else, but Matt wanted to see it, so here it is.
In a perfect world, if I redid the kitchen in the house we are moving into, and space wasn’t really a consideration, nor was cost, (nor was anyone else’s opinion), this is how it would be:
Cabinets by Neil Kelly. All eco-friendly, and I would probably go with the Frame face although in a color closer to the Barn or even darker, depending. Or something similar, with lots of organizer inserts inside (I have a lazy susan and pull out drawer racks right now, and I love them).
Stove and probably fridge although I don’t like the side-by-side thing would be the GE Monogram series. The stove grates reverse to hold curved things like woks. Plus, they look great. Maybe the fridge would be this since it has the freezer on the bottom and no ugly water/ice cube thing.
The dishwasher would be the Fisher and Paykel dish drawers, in stainless. Or a restaurant grade industrial stainless dishwasher that takes glass racks (I saw this recently in a magazine, and it makes washing wineglasses easy). Or a Bosch Integra.
Cork floor planks in faux bamboo pattern.
Tile like this or this behind the counter/under the cabinets. Color depends on the whole color thing which is not certain yet.
Probably a Corian counter, in Earth, or a dark gray depending on how everything looks. I would also consider all the weird eco-friendly countertops, or poured concrete, depending on how much of a pain in the ass to maintain it would be. I hear concrete is brittle and a pain.
The Grohe Ladylux faucet (in stainless or brushed nickel or something) is my holy grail. It’s stupidly expensive and I probably can’t afford it but I may sell plasma for it. I have been stalking it for weeks and saw it on TV last night and wanted it even more.
Sink will be largish, single basin, and stainless (18 gauge) with a garbage disposal (stainless blades and chamber). Also, a water filter of some sort underneath but I haven’t figured that out yet. I don’t know enough about it, yet. A whole-house system would probably be easiest and forget the under-the-sink, but I am not sure there.
I alternate between a blue/green/gray type color scheme and a crazy orangered/brown/blue or green scheme. It would depend on how everything looks when it gets together.
(For dining room stuff, I want all Danish Modern, all the time. Or just maybe some Haywood Wakefield.)
Posted in Remodeling: Kitchen | 5 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Matthew
Sun, 04 Dec 2005 20:52:00 GMT
Time for a change of scenery. K. and I are picking up and moving back to Washington, DC. As I write this I can hardly believe it myself but, it is the truth. Apologies if you are a friend and this is news. We want to tell every friend directly but, perhaps this is better than finding out secondhand.
We hope to keep track of the first-time homeowner experience. Our new place needs a lot of renovations and we’ll be moving across the country for the second time in our lives. Therefore I suspect there will be plenty to share, discuss, and organize.
To that end you’ll find pictures and bookmarks that will soon enough be mostly house related in the sidebar.
With the physical change I’ve made a virtual change as well giving the Rails-based Typo blog software a try. We hope to use Ruby on Rails at work and this will give me some experience with it. More on that in a separate place soon (likely design.abarrelofthis.com or something similar).
Read more...
Posted in Moving cross-country, Purchase | 3 comments | no trackbacks
