Thursday, April 7, 2016

Faucets and Flooring and Lighting Oh My!

Still writing my way through the alphabet as part of the A-Z Blog Challenge...

Day 6-F is for Finishes

I thought about saving this one for Letter O as in-O is for Overwhelming, because choosing the finishes for a new home is nothing if not overwhelming. I can't imagine if you're an indecisive person to begin with. Hubs and I are not indecisive people and our decorator appreciates that. 

Still, it's all a little bit overwhelming. Did I already say that? 

Hubs and I have similar taste when it comes to the style and design of our home so we really haven't had any big disagreements on the actual look of the house. Course we're not in yet so that's still possible, but on the whole we like the same general style and that helps tremendously.  

We were definitely in agreement on the exterior of our home, which needed to be settled on before our plans were submitted to the neighborhood HOA for review. Easy peasy.

The first interior finish we chose was the plumbing, a very broad category that covers all your sinks, faucets, drains, tubs, showers, shower heads, toilets, and probably one or ten additional items I've forgotten.  

As mentioned in a previous post (Letter C), our builders wife is a decorator and she booked all the appointments for us. As a bonus she has also accompanied us to each and every vendor, and I cannot overstate how much I appreciate this. It was so helpful to have someone confirm our selections, understand our budget and consequently our options, and most importantly someone with a clear picture of the look we're trying to achieve and what it will take to get us there. 

So back to the plumbing. We met Mrs. Bob the Builder at the showroom and hubs and I both felt a little dizzy when we stepped inside. SO MANY CHOICES...where do you even begin????

Since I was very sure of what I wanted in a kitchen sink our decorator suggested we start there. Boom. Done. She also suggested we work from most important to least important because after an hour or four everything looks the same and you quit caring. True story. 

We chose our kitchen sink and then the faucet for the kitchen sink and then the soap dispenser to go with the faucet for the kitchen sink and then the color of the finish on said faucet, drain, and soap dispenser, because not only are there a thousand and one faucets, each one is available in about ten different finishes. Do you want satin nickel? Oil rubbed bronze? Polished brass? Satin rubbed brass? Copper? Chrome? Matte black? 

Not overwhelming at all.  

We moved on to the master bath, the powder room, the guest bathrooms, and finally the laundry room in that order. Plumbing done. A couple of weeks later we did the same thing at the granite place, and then a couple of weeks after that we spent a long day in the tile showroom, and a couple of weeks after that a day at the cabinetmaker, and on and on it goes.

It is so easy to travel down a rabbit hole when choosing finishes. Stay the course people! Perhaps it's time to mention Pinterest? And Houzz?

I don't really use Houzz, but I'm a big fan of Pinterest. Hubs and I have both been pinning things there for the past year that we might like to incorporate into our build or that reflect our style. This was particularly helpful to our builder in terms of how we want the exterior of our home to look. At some point though you've got to put the brakes on all the looking and the wishing and the what about this one, and start committing.  

We've made very few changes to our initial selections. I did select a new powder room sink because we later found a piece of furniture for the space, and didn't feel like our original choice was large enough to look proportionate. We made some changes to our original tile selections in the guest bathrooms because when we took a second look we realized we'd most definitely been out of our minds or hungry or something when we looked the first time. 

It happens. 

We've made most of our finish choices with the exception of lighting and flooring. Actually that might not be true. I just remembered we still have to choose doors, spindles, mantles, and probably more because there's always more in a home build. We're meeting the electrician this week to do a walk through and will choose lighting soon thereafter. 

We know what we want in flooring, and we've educated ourselves about real wood verses an engineered floor, so we're ready for that appointment when it's scheduled. I anticipate possibly needing a glass of wine after the lighting selection, but Mrs. Bob the Builder will be there pointing us in the right direction, so maybe not. 

(not my granite, but pretty all the same)

My absolute favorite bit to choose so far has been the granite. I just love seeing all the beautiful slabs lined up, and watching them hoist one up with a crazy grabber thing so we can get a better look.

I also really enjoyed our visit to the cabinet maker. So interesting to see how they're constructed, plus he sent out for lunch which helped re-fuel us for the necessary decision making.

(not my range hood, but the workmanship is beautiful)

Obviously the key for me in selecting great finishes is a full stomach.


This is my actual plumbing overlooking the dumpster outside my future laundry room window.

Imagination helps tremendously for that in-between time where you're waiting for your chosen finishes to move from the show room to your house. Pretend there's a window there instead of that hole, and pretend instead of the dumpster you see flowers in bloom.

Then pretend your dryer is running because you've had a house full of visitors who've been swimming in the lake, and now their towels need fluffing.

It works for me! 

8 comments:

  1. Oh yes, shopping definitely needs to be done on a full(ish) stomach! Hubby and I don't always agree on things. He usually comes round to my way of thinking eventually but it can take some time so we would be spending a lot of time shopping if we ever built a home from scratch.

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  2. Oh, as I've said, I'm so enjoying this. It's like reliving our building process and truly, all things considered, I did enjoy it. The granite selections are simply gorgeous and our designer finally had to take over and narrow it down to 3 choices for me as I seemed to like it all. Oh, and you didn't mention the knobs for all the cabinets. Mercy me, I finally just gave the designer the "go ahead" and she made the choices for me and I couldn't be happier. Indeed, its a process not for the faint of heart.

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    1. Ooops, there's something else we still need to choose-knobs! It sometimes feels never ending, but I'm encouraged to see you in your house : )

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  3. Oh my...fun but so much work! It's good that you and hubs have similar tastes for all that needs to be decided! Love hearing about this journey and appreciate so much that you are sharing it with us!

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  4. I am always amazed at all the granite varieties. There are too many choices to just pick one! I would love to have an appointment with a cabinet maker. In other words, I would really love a new kitchen! Ours is 18 years old.

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  5. Can't wait to see the finished house.
    Sounds like Mrs. BOb the Builder is really on her game and
    Will continue to steer you right.

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  6. Oh my gosh! So overwhelming. I would love, though, to have an unlimited budget and be able to redo all the finishes in my house right now. I would Love that!!

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