Interior Choices - part II - Second Appointment

After going the Decor Centre so many times and visiting model homes we had most of our finishing sorted out.

It was time for the Second Appointment with the builder. We submitted the list with upgrades to get the prices (yes, you have no clue about prices until you get the list back!!!). The builder sent us the list with prices 2 days before our appointment (what doesn't give you time to compare or shop around).

Some prices were okay, however most of them were absurd really high. As I mentioned before, we have a budget. I was able to search for something online and we made our choices.

Here are the things we wanted to upgrade in our list:

Foyer:
Tiles

Powder Room:
Tiles

1st Floor:
Hardwood floor (from 2-1/4 to 3-1/4)
Stained floor and stairs

Living Room:
Mantel

Kitchen:
Cabinets
Cabinets over the fridge bigger
Crown molding
Gable and deeper upper cabinets over fridge
Undermount double sink
Granite ending (thicker)
Backsplash

Master Bathroom:
Dark granite countertop
Cabinets
Tiles
Special tile for the tub area

2nd floor:
Hardwood
Smooth ceiling

Crown molding

We ended up going with the following choices:

2nd Bathroom (3rd floor):This part of the house was all my husband's choice. We didn't choose any upgrade here. The cabinets are in style/design #3, but colour #2. I believe the second picture represent the colours better. The light at the Decor Centre is not the best!
1= countertop;
2= cabinet colour;
3= cabinet style;
4= tile (Marfil Grey);
5= tiles for shower wall (Tuscany Bone).
Hardware - CS1-14 (check the picture of hardware)

2nd and 3rd floor: we decided not to ask the builder for hardwood floor, it was too expensive. We will probably do it later ourselves or with a contractor. So we chose this carpet (also standard).

Interior colour: we chose to go with a greyish white.  In this picture (because of light, again) the colour doesn't feel right. Colours are standard.

Ensuite (master bathroom): here we have our choices. I am going to confess that I was a little apprehensive with these choices. Since we have a window over the tub, we decided to have a darker floor with white cabinets and a dark countertop. I wanted the countertop to be a black granite, but this is not a priority and the builder was charging too much for the granite.

1= countertop (later we will change for a granite one).
2= cabinets in this colour and style. This type of cabinet is an upgrade.
3= tile for the floor (upgrade).
4= tile for shower wall and tub backsplash.
5= marble that will divide the shower and the floor.
Hardware - CS1-13 (check picture of hardware)

In this picture you can have a closer look at the tile for the shower wall and tub backsplash - with some grey pattern.

Foyer, 1st floor and Powder room: We will have hardwood on the 1st floor. We asked for a cote of a stained flooring,... but it was too expensive. So we just upgraded to a wider hardwood floor keeping it in this yellowish color. We decided to upgrade the tiles for the foyer and powder room.

1= hardwood floor 3-1/4 (upgrade)
2= carpet (2nd and 3rd floor)
3= tile for powder (upgrade)
4= tile for foyer (upgrade)

This is the tile for the foyer.

Hardware. We decided to go with the standard hardware. We can definitely change them later. So, our choices are:

Kitchen: CS1-16
Laundry: CS1-10
Ensuite: CS1-13
2nd Bathroom:CS1-14

Kitchen and laundry area: we decided to pick a white kitchen. The cabinets will be a combination of the colour of the cabinet #1 with the style of cabinet #2. We also asked to add a deep upper cabinet above fridge with gable.

1= colour of cabinet (white crystal)/ cabinet for laundry area
2= style of cabinet
3= tile for laundry area
4= tile for kitchen
5= granite for kitchen (with upgraded ending)
6= hardwood floor of dinning room (to make sure everything matched - haha)

This is a closer look of the tiles for the laundry area (1) and kitchen (2).

Another upgrade we decided to go with the builder is the undermount double sink. We chose the one in the picture. I liked the rounded corners.

So, what do you think??? Will it look ok? I do hope so,... it was difficult to make all these choices.

Please, let us know what you think!!!

Interior choices - part I

A big part of our free time goes into choosing all the finishes for the house. We read a lot about the subject in forums in order to get some tips on what  to do with the builder or not.

Also, I like driving to tour model homes to have ideas on styles and designs. Sometimes we go to different builders (in the end, they all have the same suppliers).

Pinterest... I love Pinterest. To be honest, I think I am addicted to it. Maybe I should create an account for my blog.

When we first visited the decor centre, we received a list with all the items that were "standard" (which means that we don't need to pay extra money to have them).

In summary, we need to pick the tiles, carpet, cabinets (colour and style), granite, flooring for the whole house. In addition, we need to list the upgrades we would like and submit for pricing (that is sent to us 2 days before the appointment).

The process of picking/choosing all the finishes is exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I really like the idea of customizing my home, but I am afraid of picking something that I will regret later.

In an attempt to make life easier, I created an excel file with our choices - standard and upgrades  - for each room of the house and took pictures of them all. (I like to have options)

So let's start the process of picking the finishes. As you can see below, we got the standard flooring and placed the tiles around to check if they matched:

Hardware:

Regarding cabinets, we (Ron and I) have different opinions. He prefers dark cabinets. I think they are really beautiful and fancy, however, our kitchen is not big and it doesn't have any window to brighten the environment, so I think we should go with white cabinets.

In my view, a white kitchen is stunning. It can be classic and contemporary at the same time. I believe that white cabinets will make the space look bigger. With the correct pendants (over the breakfast bar) and some potlights, the kitchen will look pretty.

But the question is, which shade of white, crystal or antique white? By the way, I do love the first door style.

We tried the white crystal going with a brownish granite:

Carpets (2nd and 3rd floor):

Stairs (the lighter one is standard):

Nickel doorknob (standard):

Ensuite cabinets (upgrade) and countertop:

So, for the 2nd bathroom each one of us chose a set. Ron picked the brown cabinet and I chose the white one.

Which one do you prefer? Let's vote????

We appreciate your help :)

First Appointment with the Builder

Thank you for your support on this new project. It means a lot to me.

When we purchased the house, we were told we would have 2 meetings with the builder. The first one to discuss the options regarding electrical and structural changes, and the second one to make the final choices: tiles, cabinets, flooring, colors...

We had no clue about what we could request the builder to add or to remove.

After reading the forum - bulidinghomes.ca - we understood it much better.

Basically, what we understood is that all these upgrades should be made by the builder to avoid warranty issues and we are not going to start breaking the walls of a new house, eh?!

Here is the thing: we don't have a big budget for upgrades so we can't spend too much. However, the builder only tells us the prices during  the meeting. And our decision must be made on spot.

The meeting took 1 hour and we didn't feel pressured to buy any upgrades.

Here are the things we decided to go with:

• Central light and switch in living room
• Additional receptacle and cable for TV above the fireplace (in case we decide to have a TV there)
• 3 additional lights with one switch over the breakfast bar
• Rough-in water line for fridge
• Rough-in for OTR microwave
• Valance light in kitchen cabinets
• Frameless glass shower (master bathroom)
• Shower light - recessed with waterproof trim

We didn't get pot lights (will be done later), sliding door to backyard (builder didn't allow), smooth ceiling on second floor and conduit from basement to attic (we thought that it wasn't a priority).

This was just the first meeting and we spent a little over our budget. Can you imagine the second meeting, where the fun begins?

For you to have an idea, here are some pictures to illustrate some of the upgrades:

3 pendant lights over breakfast bar - image from HGTV

Frameless shower

I really hope we have made the right choices, what do you think?