day 121

It's snowing up here.  Again.  And that really wouldn't be a big deal, except there was a bit of a mishap with our garage door on Monday.  We still have no idea what happened, but the large door is partially off the track on one side and the track on the other side is bent and detached from the wall.  So, our garage door is currently stuck wide open.  Luckily, the snow has been drifting in the opposite direction of the open door, so our garage isn't completely filled with snow.  Yet.  Our Construction Manager called the garage door guys Monday evening so hopefully they'll be out to fix it soon.  Better now than in 18 months, I suppose.  (Update: finally finishing this post on Thursday - door was fixed on Wednesday and the garage door openers and keypads were also installed)

The carpenters have been hard at work inside the house this week installing our cabinets, trim and doors.  They still need to assemble the master bathroom vanity (which I'm beyond anxious to see), but the kitchen cabinets, drop zone and main bath vanity are in.  And I love them.

[Tolani by Merillat in Maple Chiffon - looking north]

It's crazy how much I adore this kitchen already - and it's still missing important things like crown molding along the tops of the cabinets, hardware, granite counters and stainless steel appliances.  So excited to see it all come together.

[Tolani by Merillat in Maple Chiffon - looking west]

[Tolani by Merillat in Maple Chiffon - looking northwest]

[Tolani by Merillat in Maple Chiffon - looking northeast]

[Tolani by Merillat in Maple Chiffon - looking east]

[Tolani by Merillat in Maple Chiffon - looking southeast]

The fun part about the cabinets?  They have upgrades I'd forgotten about.  Always a nice surprise!  I didn't remember for certain if they would be soft-close (they are!) and I wasn't sure if the drawer front under the sink would be functional (it is!).  Which brings me to another question.  For the main bath vanity, should I put hardware on the two non-functioning drawer fronts under the sinks?  Currently, I have pulls for the three middle drawers and knobs for the two cabinet doors.  Decisions, decisions.

[Portrait by Merillat in Maple Sable - main bath vanity]

[Tolani by Merillat in Maple Sable - drop zone]

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to having a set place to put mail and school papers and everything else that currently clutters my kitchen table.  I even picked up a few organizers for the drawer at Target tonight (Have you checked out their Clearance lately?  It's everywhere!)

Besides cabinets, the crew has been hard at work installing trim, putting in closets and hanging doors.  I'm not sure I'm sold on the dark hanging bars, but that's an easy enough fix.  And eventually we plan to do custom closet systems, so I'll probably just wait until then to change anything.  It's a bit crazy to already be talking about changing things and upgrades.  I suppose that's part of working within a set budget, though.

Know what looks even better than the closets, though?  The doors.  I. am. in. love.  It's amazing how big of an impact such a simple, non-standard selection can make.  When we were sitting with the designer, making selections, I remember casually mentioning that it would be nice to do something other than the standard.  He knew I liked the detail found in older homes and, when he pulled out his deck of alternatives, I was immediately drawn to the traditional three panel Craftsman style door.  I think our exact doors are the Crossmore by CraftMaster, but no guarantees.  Aren't they lovely?

On Monday evening there was still a stack of doors and trim to be installed, but as of tonight, the piles are almost non-existent.  All doors have been hung (including the pretty French door below) and trim is almost complete.  It's looking so much more like a house.  Our house.