Reality [Our Budget] is Setting In

Now that we are a day away from actually getting some machinery on our property and building this house, many more decisions are starting to come into play, which is both exciting and terrifying. We are finally looking at specific kitchen layouts and talking with designers about our weird ideas to see just how realistic they are.

We are also getting the real numbers behind the choices and upgrades that we've been hoping to make. This is where perhaps our home journey sets us apart from other people building custom homes-- we don't have the budget to do everything we want to do, and as it turns out, everything we want to do is definitely more expensive than we anticipated. The hickory hardwoods I posted about? Yikes. Fiber cement siding? Yikes-er. So it's time to make some cuts.

Some decisions are easy. We aren't having our built-ins done by our builder because we are more than capable of doing them ourselves, and in fact prefer to do so. We are also going with some inexpensive options for the time being that we will upgrade ourselves when we can. But when it comes to decisions like the quandry above, it's kind of a headache.

In this case, we made that decision because we had to, and when we turned off our hearts-- because my heart really, really "needs" both options-- it was clear. We were looking to upgrade from hardwood to a different hardwood, or from a finish choice that I abhor to one that I love for many reasons. And vinyl seems like it could make us cringe for years, whereas we'll happily live with the standard wood floors. So, yeah! Upgraded wood is out and Hardie Board is in. Best of all, we can make this compromise without compromising our move-in budget and ability to buy some furniture.

Now please keep your fingers crossed about our quartz countertops. Because I'm pretty sure that whatever numbers I'm given there are going to make me cry*.

*Inside. Please someone shake me if I ever actually shed physical tears over a finish selection. It just isn't that serious.

WE HAVE PERMITS!

All permits have been submitted, we have a driveway construction plan, and excavation is imminent. It's so funny how deciding on patience sometimes ends up timing perfectly with action. We're so thrilled. In the meantime, we have a whole lot of selection decisions to finalize this week.

To celebrate these latest developments, here's a few looks I'm really digging today:

A Classy Two-Toned Kitchen

TV Nook

Planked Fireplace

YAY!

(Temporary) Change of Direction

The longer this wait continues, the more I sometimes feel like this whole "building a house" thing is a dream. A fairly realistic one with a hefty downpayment and actual plans, to be sure, but something nebulous and theoretical nonetheless. That being said, I suppose we ought to start settling into our apartment for real.

When we first moved in here, with probably a quarter or less of our belongings and a 6 month lease, it felt very much like a long-term hotel stay. I enthusiastically have shoved things into every little corner, knowing that this is not my house and it doesn't need to look good. But after almost two months, I've also realized that while this is not a forever or even a long-term house, it is in fact our home for the next indistinct number of months-- possibly even a year-- and so we've got to create some kind of a routine and enjoy the moment.

That being said, the goal this week is to stop drooling all over Houzz and Pinterest, and start making this current place work better for us. First step: start putting stuff away. Also, update our family calendar so that we're looking at October instead of August. Novel concepts, eh?

Countertops: White, Whiter, and Whitest

The one finish decision that we came into this house with was our countertops. I have forever loved white counters-- marble in particular-- and have told Nate from day one that someday, I was going to have a kitchen with them.

Unfortunately, real life intervened at some point and while I don't need everything in my life to be pristine forever, we are not in a stage of life where we could baby marble the way it needs to be, and so it would inevitably end up stained/ etched/ pitted almost immediately. I have heard that you can have it refinished every year or every few years, but that sounds a) like a pain and b) like something I am not going to have time for in the coming few decades.

So, alternative white countertops is where I started. And I almost immediately moved away from granite options, because even the lightest of those don't look anything like I've imagined. Ultimately, it seems like there are just a few alternative countertop options that might work us:

Corian Rain Cloud:

Cambria Torquay:

Caesarstone Misty Carrera:

Caesarstone Frosty Carrina:

There are lots of other options that I came across, but I am finding myself feeling pickier and pickier and too many of the others were either super speckled or too contrasty for my taste. Today, of the materials above, I'd go with one of the Caesarstone options, but also we haven't gotten it all priced out yet and I need to see samples in person. There are two hundred million decisions to make when designing a kitchen, but as countertops take up a large amount of visual space and I feel very confident about what I want, we're starting here. Now onto the cabinets.

The Waiting Game

So, we're still waiting for that final permit so that they can actually start building! Everyone I have mentioned this to has responded with some variation of "Well, there's bound to be some hold ups in the process," which is true but frustrating since this particular stressor could have been helped if everyone was transparent from day one. And yes, other hold ups are bound to happen, from delayed shipping of materials to bad weather to-- I don't know-- slower than expected contractors. I'm just ready to get this show on the road!"

The upside of our slow start, of course, is that we are getting extra time to make our finish selections and save up money for other purchases to come. We are waiting on our initial kitchen layout so that we can finalize that plan, but in the meantime, we have pored over our samples and decided on our exterior stone:

The color scheme was simple enough since we have known that we wanted a rich gray exterior almost from day one, but who knew that there were so many varieties out there? Ultimately we wanted something that was a little irregular and less tetris-like in appearance, but that also flowed with our otherwise modern aesthetic, so Rustic Ledgestone in Onyx easily won out here. 

As a side note, I am sure that there are more curated ways to go about choosing stone-- like going to a stone yard, for example-- but budget dictated that we go with builder's choice on this one. And frankly, I love the options we came away with, so I'm feeling like this is a win-win for builder, budget, and the building itself. Yay!

I've also been getting WAY far ahead of myself by dreaming things like couches and lighting and rugs. Here are some of the things I've been loving, liking and lusting after lately. First, this West Elm couch.

LOVE:

At just under $1300 for my ideal set of options (86.5 inches, ink blue performance velvet and poly-fill for maximum looks and minimal risk for disaster in my very child friendly house), it ain't too bad. I've been crushing on versions of this couch for a few years now, so it's probably going to worm its way into my house. We've had leather couches forever, and they are classic and probably always going to be workable, but they're just not as cozy as fabric couches in my option, and plus I love the idea of adding in a tiny bit of color to our otherwise neutral home palette. 

(Also, palette versus pallet versus palate is quite the complicated trio of words. I wrote out each option before I was satisfied that I was using the right one up there.)

I'm less certain about this next option from Overstock, but it definitely fulfills the high style and low risk theme I'm going for with furniture for the time being. The price also varies and I've seen it dip low, which is where I'd buy. 

LIKE:

Essentially, I love them, and I know that they are a knock off of expensive but classic Eames dining chairs, but MCM is having such a moment right now that I'm worried about going too "Basic" or trendy or that maybe it's inappropriate to go with the cheap knockoff when I know better. They are wipeable and also low profile, which will make Nate happy since he has an aversion to hefty dining room chairs. The table that they will go with doesn't exist yet, but we've been batting around ideas. It's going to be custom-built by us, maybe with lumber from trees from our property that have to be felled. All that to say, we could make any chairs work.

And third, the rug from Anthropologie that I love and will never ever have, for all kinds of reasons.

LUST:

And that concludes the window shopping for today. Back to real life and relevant decisions!