More Expo photos

Drum roll please ... My favorite purchase from the trip is the Jen-Aire range! I am sooo happy about this stove. And, luckily for us we do like it because we did not have any choice in the matter. Because we designed our house to maximize the direct light that we get (which is hard to come by becuse of the heavy tree canaopy) we ended up eleminating all upper kitchen cabinets in favor of windows. So, we needed a down draft range, and Jen-Aire happens to be the only company that we could find that makes an electric down draft. The one pictured is the gas version, but that's just because it is the only one they had on the floor.





We also picked out a black french door bottom freezr fridge and a black Bosch dishwasher. We've never had a dishwasher before, so this was pretty exciting. No more fighting about the dishes. We researched for the one that could take two week old crusty dishes and turn them into sparkling clean dishes with no pre-washing. Whereas I doubt that such a majical dishwasher exsits, this one should be close.

We also got these:) This is another first, as in first new washer/dryer. The only time we have needed to purchase a washer/dryer was when we first moved to NC and theywere going in the garage. Since we knew they would be temporary, and we weren't going to have to look at them, we just bought a mismatched pair at the Habitat for Humanity store. I scaled back from what I really wanted (LG Tromm Steam Washer in Navy Blue) because we didn't have enough space and if we had enough to spend that kind of money on a washer/dryer, I'd just pay someone to wash and fold all of our clothes. So we got the Whirpool Duet, and by all accounts from consumer reports, they are great and reliable - even if they are just boring white.



This blotchy blue tile will be part of what is going in the guest bath. We are going to cut it down to squares of four tiles and placing them like diamonds between large rough white tiles. They will be on the floor only as the tub/shower is an insert.

Our master bath will be slate with river stone in the base of the shower and spilling out onto the main floor. We will also have the river stone in the entry way, but not quite sure et what form it will take. We want to create the effect of the stream flowing into the house as the entry way is directly above the creek.

We will continue to post more pictures from our Atlanta trip over the next couple of weeks.

Well, the trip to Atlanta was extremely productive, if not a bit frightening. Matt and I learned that together we have the ability to make our decisions at lightning speed while spending money as if it grows on a well fertilized tree in our backyard. We blew through the Expo Design Center in less than three hours, leaving our design consultant in a state of shock and looking a little bit dizzy. In that short period of time we managed to buy all of the plumbing fixtures, all of the light fixtures, the tile for the master bath, guest bath and entry, not to mention all of the appliances. The only things we did not buy were the kitchen cabinets and countertops and the main heart pine floors. These three things would be the only things in the whole inside of the house we had already decided on and located. Well, sort of. The countertops are actually going to be concrete and we are making them ourselves, so we will see. The cabinets are being custom ordered and the floor is coming from a local distributor. But everything else was decided on last weekend, and we might add for the record that anyone in Atlanta or the southeast for that matter should consider looking up Mike Wright at the Expo Design Center. Quite simply, he was fabulous. So, here’s a preview of some of what we picked out:




These faucets will go in the master bath. We will be converting two large bowls with handpainted ferns into vessel sinks and Matt is going to custom build the vanity.

Kitchen lights!! The alabaster cone lights will be a part of the cable light system in the kitchen and we will have on of these fixtures hanging over the stove and one ovcer the sink. The other pendant will be over the small island workstation.

Next up will be appliances and tile!

Spending $ Fast and Furious

This weekend Matt and I are heading down to the Expo Design Center in Atlanta to buy all of the fixtures, tile and appliances for the house. We've got a good idea of what we want, and a number of things picked out already, so we are hoping for something fairly painless. (If you hear muffled laughter as you are reading this, I'm sure it is coming from someone who has "been there and done that".) The idea is to spend all day Sat. with the design consultant picking everything out and then sleeping on it for the night before going back to sign on the dotted line Sun. Two really nice things about building a small house relate to the cost of the finishes. First, because our house is only 1400 sq. ft., we have the ability to spend a little more on the finishes (in part because we have saved money by building a smaller house and in part because there are simply fewer finishes to buy). And second, because the house is small, we don't have the option to even contemplate most high end kitchen appliances because we simply don't have room for them:) Hopefully next week I'll be able to post some pics of what we decided on!!