Oh the dust!

We have now been back in our house for 6 months and are still thrilled with the results. I still think it has been a great investment. The last week has made us thankful that we did not live in our house during the construction!

A few days before Christmas, we got almost 2 feet of snow, and then on Christmas Day it was 50 degrees and it rained - a lot! We had water in the OLD part of our basement. Our new basement was dry (except for where the water from the old basement dribbled in) because of a drain system and sump pump installed when we did the addition. This has been an on-and-off problem for several years although we have never identified the exact cause - probably coming through the floor. So, when talking to Jim Cole, our builder, about some small outstanding items to fix, we asked him about the floor. He suggested a drain system which involved jack-hammering a trench along 2 walls of our old basement, putting in a sump pump, and piping it to the outside. We basically hired him on the spot (again) to fix that. Our thinking was that if we are going to finish the new part of our basement, then we don't ever want to have to worry about water leaking in.

The project has taken a little over a week, and is pretty much done except for hooking up the pump. I feel peace of mind already! Hopefully we won't have to make any more long-distance emergency phone calls to our neighbors for fear of our basement being flooded!

Once again, we confirmed that we made the right decision to move out during the renovation. Even this small project has created such a crazy amount of dust in our house (despite loads of plastic barriers), that we are anxious for it to be finished.

I'll post pictures shortly, along with some final pictures of the renovation (not sure if I did that ever).

Architect and Builder Recommendations

There have been several requests for the contact information for our architect and builder. We whole-heartedly recommend both (either together or separately).

Kaye Orr, AIA
703-941-5929

Jim Cole
703-598-7111
website

Feel free to contact me with questions.

DIY - Wood Stove Hood

When I looked back at my idea book, nearly every kitchen in there had a wood stove hood with a built-in fan/ventilator. I loved the look but when I explored the price with my cabinet company, it was more than I wanted to spend. I considered giving up on the idea but ultimately decided that my husband, Jim, is hand enough so maybe he could build it. He agreed to give it a shot and our builder agreed to help install it and poke through the wall to the outside. I found a bunch of pictures of what I wanted and Jim built it out of 1/2" plywood. The angles gave him some serious headaches but he did a great job!

We color matched the cabinet paint at our local Benjamin Moore store and it blends nicely with the cabinets. We get a lot of complimnts on it and we saved about $1000 doing it this way!

For those who are wondering, that's a pot-filler over the stove. I love it!

Lighting Choices

For some reason when you are just visiting a house, lighting doesn't seem to be a big issue - unless it's really bad. If you don't notice it then it's working well. This is different from noticing a particular fixture because it's interesting. The light should set the mood for the room or area. Dimmers should be installed in areas where you may want to reduce the harshness of the light. Besides the obvious dining room example, in your master bedroom, you probably want some recessed lights on dimmers because as you are getting ready to go to bed, you don't need them on full blast but when you are trying to match your black and navy socks then you probably want as much as light as you can get!

I searched high and low for different lights to match the different rooms in our house. I stumbled on these through various web retailers (often on clearance) as well as outlet stores and big box home stores. For example, I found some Restoration Hardware sconces for our master bathroom but did not like the coordinating pieces but did find a Murray Feiss overhead light which worked perfectly with the sconces and which I love!

In our kitchen, I worked really hard to find the ideal pendant lights. Although some people may think they are too large to be called pendants, I chose some large school house style lights which really fit with the era of our home, as well as the casual elegant style that I strive for througout our home.

The most important thing is to pick what you love. Don't settle even under the time pressure of building a house or adding on. If you don't find what you are picturing, then keep looking until the right thing hits you. Be sure you leave yourself lots of time to make your decisions, but in general, you know what you're going to need even when you are only laying the foundation. So, make a list and start checking things off once you find them. This also gives you more to shop for bargains!