We met on Monday of this week to go over details of the floor plans because our designer is getting them ready for city approval. eek! We had to make minor adjustments to the second story because of something called the Daylight Plane. It's to prevent our second story from being too massive and possibly encroaching on our neighbors. Also, the land surveyor came out too. He was scheduled for last Friday but it rained that day, therefore postponing the appointment.
Today, we went over plumbing fixtures with Jim from Classic Plumbing. He came to our home with a cart of large catalogs. Lots to choose from but here are some that we picked out (but might not necessarily stick with, depending on cost/design change).
Powder Room
* Kohler Memoirs pedestal sink, Stately design
* Kohler Memoirs matching toilet, Stately design
* Grohe Seabury faucet and lever handles in brushed nickel
Kitchen
* Franke Beach Sink in the island
* Undermount double basin for the kitchen sink, possible like this
* Faucet with detachable spray
Upstairs bathroom
* Kohler Caxton undermount sink
* acrylic bathtub
* Grohe Eurodisc II faucet in chrome
* Matching Grohe Eurodisc II shower fixtures in chrome
* Toto dual-flush toilet
Master bathroom
* Kohler Caxton undermount sink
* Grohe Chiara Neu facuet in chrome
* Grohe Rainshower shower head on a ceiling arm
* handspray in the shower
* Kohler Tea-for-Two bathtub
* wall-mounted faucet for the tub
* Toto dual-flush toilet
Notes:
- Acrylic tubs have smooth finishes and cast iron tubs have grooved finishes to prevent slipping.
- Whirlpool tub costs $6000 and a soaking tub costs $2400.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Meeting VI: tiles
The soils and structural engineers came by this morning with our GC. They stood outside in the yard discussing. No discussions with us. Hopefully our plans will not be thwarted by some fluke, like an underground stream running under our property. (Apparently, our northern neighbors might have this problem.)
Our designer brought over catalogs for kitchen cabinets and magazines related to kitchens. This will make life a lot easier than me going to the library to look for these types of books or magazines.
We asked our designer to go to the local tile store with us since we had stepped in earlier in the week and were boggled by the choices. The guy inside the shop really helped us out, pretty much giving a complete tour of their store. He definitely leans towards porcelain tile as opposed to real stone. The technology for making tiles have advanced such that they can make very realistic looking "stone" tiles. Plus, they're cheaper and non-porous. According to him, match the backsplash to the floors and the countertop to the cabinets. I'm hoping we can do an interesting yet low maintenance backsplash for the kitchen.
The only thing we know is that for the kids' bathroom, we'll lay out white subway tile with some sort of design around the shower area.
Our designer brought over catalogs for kitchen cabinets and magazines related to kitchens. This will make life a lot easier than me going to the library to look for these types of books or magazines.
We asked our designer to go to the local tile store with us since we had stepped in earlier in the week and were boggled by the choices. The guy inside the shop really helped us out, pretty much giving a complete tour of their store. He definitely leans towards porcelain tile as opposed to real stone. The technology for making tiles have advanced such that they can make very realistic looking "stone" tiles. Plus, they're cheaper and non-porous. According to him, match the backsplash to the floors and the countertop to the cabinets. I'm hoping we can do an interesting yet low maintenance backsplash for the kitchen.
The only thing we know is that for the kids' bathroom, we'll lay out white subway tile with some sort of design around the shower area.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Soils engineer
The soils engineer came out to our home today. Since we're building a basement, we need to get the soil tested. Unfortunately he found water collecting beneath our home from the recent rains. boooo. This means that our French drains aren't doing their jobs. Well, hopefully with this remodel, we can correct the problem.
We also got to meet the supervisor of our project. He's the owner's son. A nice family business. :)
We also got to meet the supervisor of our project. He's the owner's son. A nice family business. :)
Friday, February 1, 2008
Meeting V
Today we went to visit the windows and door lady, Betty. We had previously decided to keep our existing front door as well as the existing double hung windows. She came over to our house to measure our existing windows to make sure we could reuse them in the bedrooms. There's a new regulation now regarding egress windows in bedrooms - they have to be a minimum dimension to allow to fully-geared firefighters to enter the home through the windows.
One of our windows was in our storage shed, left by the previous owner. (It was supposed to replace our current kitchen window.) Thankfully, the manufacturing information was still on it so Betty was able to get the model number and appropriate stats.
She saw our stuck door in the living room and said that we could reuse it in the garage. And apparently the door, along with the doors, is from a good brand so we would save ~$1000 by keeping it!
We also did a minor tweak of the floor plan to accommodate a wall oven in the kitchen. Also, we moved the entry closet across the hall, using up some office space. It's still a separate closet that's accessible outside the office.
Our homework for next meeting:
- Look at different hardware and finishes for exterior doors, interior doors, and pocket doors.
- Look at different tile for the bathrooms.
One of our windows was in our storage shed, left by the previous owner. (It was supposed to replace our current kitchen window.) Thankfully, the manufacturing information was still on it so Betty was able to get the model number and appropriate stats.
She saw our stuck door in the living room and said that we could reuse it in the garage. And apparently the door, along with the doors, is from a good brand so we would save ~$1000 by keeping it!
We also did a minor tweak of the floor plan to accommodate a wall oven in the kitchen. Also, we moved the entry closet across the hall, using up some office space. It's still a separate closet that's accessible outside the office.
Our homework for next meeting:
- Look at different hardware and finishes for exterior doors, interior doors, and pocket doors.
- Look at different tile for the bathrooms.
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