Snow and decisions
First of all the snow. Poulsbo had a white Christmas, not a normal occurrence and sorry to have missed it but with the way the weather has been changing I think we might see more of them in the coming years.
Now for the decisions - When it comes to my design clients, I can usually spec flooring, colors, light fixtures, furniture, and the list goes on, without losing sleep and second guessing myself - it’s a process but one I tend to like. When it comes to our own house, I wake up in the middle of the night with lists in my head; new ideas that at 1 am seem like an epiphany but in the morning are a “what was I thinking?!” and now I’m exhausted from lack of sleep. This is the phase we are now in.
Overall I like vanilla, a neutral slate you can layer that won’t look tired and outdated in 5 years. Joe likes functional and for the most part goes along with me obsessing over the details with an occasional strong opinion about something that is usually well justified. He has a good design sense and is a master at coming up with a better (less expensive) way to do things when what I’m suggesting seems out of the budget. I REALLY care about how it’s all going to look and feel when it comes to the environment we live in. Color tones and textures that make a space feel inviting, a place for everything without a lot of clutter and the furniture, art, photos … that make it our home.
We had to make some big decisions early on to get the ball rolling; windows and cabinets came first, with the longest lead time. For years I have loved the look of the black windows inside and out, particularly with a white house; but now that every new tract development and Pinterest board has the white house with black windows I’m a little tired of it and wanted something more timeless for our house. We decided on the Marvin Elevate line which is clad on the outside and wood on the inside, both painted white and all casement or awning windows. Here they are, not looking pretty yet but it’s a start
The cabinets were our next big decision. Again we went with vanilla and more timeless; white shaker cabinets for both the kitchen and the master closet. We had expected a longer lead time on them but they will be delivered January 31st and the guys might even be ready to install them by then, depending on the floor - another big decision. We haven’t pulled the trigger on the counters or the cabinet hardware yet, details that keep me up at night, but leaning towards laquered brass hardware that will patina, a butcher block island and lighter gray soapstone counters - stay tuned.
As for the floors, the main part of the house has the original oak floor - not my favorite but after some research on what we can do to them, they are staying. Here is a photo of how they will hopefully look - These floors where originally similar to what we have now; they were sanded down then rubbed with a pickled white stain and coated with a layer of polyurethane. We want the house to feel light, hopefully balancing out some of the gray skies, and the whitewash will hopefully help hide the sand that the dogs will inevitably be tracking through the house on a daily basis.
The house and the original garage are all under one long, low roof line connected by a breezeway; a pretty typical mid century design. The original living space is on one side and 1200 sf, this is where the whitewashed floors will be. We are eliminating the garage and incorporating the breezeway and the garage space into the main house. The garage side has concrete floors at the moment but will be a combination of brick in the bathroom, laundry room and hallway area and hardwood in the media/bunk room and in the guest room (don’t worry, the kids will have their own cool space in barn). I love the brick. It was not inexpensive and one of the decisions that kept me up at night; but after researching it a bit and talking to the guys at realthinbrick.com I decided to pull the trigger. Joe wasn’t as enthusiastic about the brick but I figured keeping the hardwood on the house side, rather than starting over with what I really wanted was the compromise. Here it is -
The garage side will have radiant heat which works well with both the brick and hardwood over concrete. Just so you can start to envision the way this will all hopefully come together: the ceilings in the house are almost all open beam and the walls will be a combination of plaster and vertical pine shiplap all painted a creamy white. Ok that’s it for now - so many more decisions that I’ll cover in the next one, once I (we) make up my (our) mind.