Dreamin' big
Clint and I had a kitchen remodeler out yesterday, mostly for fun, but also because we’re trying to get a rough estimate of how much everything would cost. This helps me in my mind because we’ve realized everything we want to do has a domino effect. We want to organize our clothes better, but that would mean we get the wardrobe we’re eyeing from Ikea. But we don’t want to get this until the floors upstairs are done, which we can’t do until the trim is done- not to mention how all of this would work if we we’re going to pursue Clint’s crazy dream of lowering the floors back to their (what we assume) original level 5” lower. So do we paint over the floors in the meantime? If we’re tearing the floor out, then yes. But if we’re replacing the floor then no. The list of contingencies goes on and on. So in the meantime we still have our sweaters in a clothes basket and our shoes in the office.
So two very nice men came out, took a look around and measured the kitchen to draw up some plans. It was fun (probably not for them) to play along and pretend like we are days away from making this big decision, and did we want an icemaker or not? Do we want to tear out the ceiling for can lights or stick with the single fixture? Hmm…should we go with the laminate floors or go all the way with tile?! Big decisions- ones that we’ll likely not be making for years, but that’s really besides the point.
So I thought at this juncture I’d share with everyone our big plans for the house. We fully realize that 99% of these are outside of our reach, but that reality really has nothing to do with any of this. We tend not to bog ourselves down by facts or practicality. So here’s the list…
-The porch- the awning was replaced at some point in time from the beautiful, ornate wood ones that we seen on other houses around the neighborhood, to aluminum. We’ll eventually be restoring that, and while we’re at it we thought- why don’t we just make it a double porch? (These are also fairly common around the neighborhood). Our bedroom has two large windows that face the front of the house that could be converted to French doors. We’re pretty high up as our house sits on top of a hill so in essence it would be like having our own tree house. I could sit out there in the mornings and sip my coffee, and we could sleep with the doors open in the summer- I can almost feel the warm breeze on the hot summer night as I type this.
-The living room. This is in all likelihood the room that will be done first. Of course first may mean the year 2010, but I found out yesterday that I have a very good chance of graduating with my master’s in March so I’m hoping we can get this done by then for a small celebration. My original goal date was by Christmas and I’ve realized that while this may be possible, I would probably hate every minute of it. I’d rather take my time, only work on it when I feel like it, and not resent the house as the biggest mistake we’ve ever made. Which for some reason happens when I’m in there too much. This room will include a new front door, stripped trim and refinished wood floors, new windows, and a new lighting fixture. (Not that we don’t like the 13 year old boys room track lighting that’s in there now). I’m hoping to get a doorbell but I’m not sure how possible that is given our plaster walls.
-The fireplace. You might be saying fireplace, what fireplace? That’s a great question, so there’s no fireplace now, but we’re not letting that minor detail stop us. There’s a chimney- close enough, right? Besides, the reality is that we might need to have the chimney rebuilt at some point anyway so we may as well just go all the way. This plan also fits in nicely with our goal to take the plaster off so we have exposed brick in the living room and dining room, and both bedrooms. We’re also thinking maybe double fireplace downstairs, but we’ll see. I hadn’t even thought about making a fireplace in the master bedroom but I’m going to go ahead and make that executive decision now, and say that should be part of our master plan. Oh the joy of pipe dreams…
-In the dining room our current staircase is closed. We’re going to have that whole wall opened up, and we’re going to get a beautiful wood banister with new stair treads.
-Bathroom I think I’ve covered the bathroom before. Tankless hot water heater in our creepy crawl space, and a new rearrangement of fixtures. I’ll leave the details on this one for later because it might have to happen when our 18 year old hot water inevitably floods the bathroom, or just gives out. For some reason I picture the former, but in a much more dramatic fashion. I imagine one day while we’re gone the tank will rust through, and water will flood the bathroom, then the floor will give out and it will all crash to the crawl space, hitting plumbing pipes along the way, so that we’re left with a whole section of our house that looks like the Buckingham fountain or the water show at the Bellagio. Insurance covers this, right? Either way hopefully we’ll end up with an arrangement that doesn’t include a 98% humidity level in our house from the moisture collected from the shower.
-The kitchen. I’ll save this one until we get the plans from the remodeler. Much more fun that way.
-Depending on what happens in the future and our desire to stay in that location, we’ve considered adding on upstairs, where the addition is downstairs (kitchen, bathroom, laundry room). This could then bring the master bath upstairs, we could convert the one downstairs to a half bath, and we could possibly add two more bedrooms.
-Outside, we’re not quite savvy enough to dream big in landscaping yet. Right now our idea of the perfect yard is one that doesn’t include glass and is all one level. Our plans would definitely include a retaining wall in the front yard so the slope is not so drastic. Oh- and this cedar fence. So pretty.
So here you have it- our short list. We joked that the last renovation we’ll be doing is adding an electric wheelchair to the stairs because that’s how long it will take us. We realize that we may decide to move two years out and none of this will ever happen, but it sure is fun to dream.
So two very nice men came out, took a look around and measured the kitchen to draw up some plans. It was fun (probably not for them) to play along and pretend like we are days away from making this big decision, and did we want an icemaker or not? Do we want to tear out the ceiling for can lights or stick with the single fixture? Hmm…should we go with the laminate floors or go all the way with tile?! Big decisions- ones that we’ll likely not be making for years, but that’s really besides the point.
So I thought at this juncture I’d share with everyone our big plans for the house. We fully realize that 99% of these are outside of our reach, but that reality really has nothing to do with any of this. We tend not to bog ourselves down by facts or practicality. So here’s the list…
-The porch- the awning was replaced at some point in time from the beautiful, ornate wood ones that we seen on other houses around the neighborhood, to aluminum. We’ll eventually be restoring that, and while we’re at it we thought- why don’t we just make it a double porch? (These are also fairly common around the neighborhood). Our bedroom has two large windows that face the front of the house that could be converted to French doors. We’re pretty high up as our house sits on top of a hill so in essence it would be like having our own tree house. I could sit out there in the mornings and sip my coffee, and we could sleep with the doors open in the summer- I can almost feel the warm breeze on the hot summer night as I type this.
-The living room. This is in all likelihood the room that will be done first. Of course first may mean the year 2010, but I found out yesterday that I have a very good chance of graduating with my master’s in March so I’m hoping we can get this done by then for a small celebration. My original goal date was by Christmas and I’ve realized that while this may be possible, I would probably hate every minute of it. I’d rather take my time, only work on it when I feel like it, and not resent the house as the biggest mistake we’ve ever made. Which for some reason happens when I’m in there too much. This room will include a new front door, stripped trim and refinished wood floors, new windows, and a new lighting fixture. (Not that we don’t like the 13 year old boys room track lighting that’s in there now). I’m hoping to get a doorbell but I’m not sure how possible that is given our plaster walls.
-The fireplace. You might be saying fireplace, what fireplace? That’s a great question, so there’s no fireplace now, but we’re not letting that minor detail stop us. There’s a chimney- close enough, right? Besides, the reality is that we might need to have the chimney rebuilt at some point anyway so we may as well just go all the way. This plan also fits in nicely with our goal to take the plaster off so we have exposed brick in the living room and dining room, and both bedrooms. We’re also thinking maybe double fireplace downstairs, but we’ll see. I hadn’t even thought about making a fireplace in the master bedroom but I’m going to go ahead and make that executive decision now, and say that should be part of our master plan. Oh the joy of pipe dreams…
-In the dining room our current staircase is closed. We’re going to have that whole wall opened up, and we’re going to get a beautiful wood banister with new stair treads.
-Bathroom I think I’ve covered the bathroom before. Tankless hot water heater in our creepy crawl space, and a new rearrangement of fixtures. I’ll leave the details on this one for later because it might have to happen when our 18 year old hot water inevitably floods the bathroom, or just gives out. For some reason I picture the former, but in a much more dramatic fashion. I imagine one day while we’re gone the tank will rust through, and water will flood the bathroom, then the floor will give out and it will all crash to the crawl space, hitting plumbing pipes along the way, so that we’re left with a whole section of our house that looks like the Buckingham fountain or the water show at the Bellagio. Insurance covers this, right? Either way hopefully we’ll end up with an arrangement that doesn’t include a 98% humidity level in our house from the moisture collected from the shower.
-The kitchen. I’ll save this one until we get the plans from the remodeler. Much more fun that way.
-Depending on what happens in the future and our desire to stay in that location, we’ve considered adding on upstairs, where the addition is downstairs (kitchen, bathroom, laundry room). This could then bring the master bath upstairs, we could convert the one downstairs to a half bath, and we could possibly add two more bedrooms.
-Outside, we’re not quite savvy enough to dream big in landscaping yet. Right now our idea of the perfect yard is one that doesn’t include glass and is all one level. Our plans would definitely include a retaining wall in the front yard so the slope is not so drastic. Oh- and this cedar fence. So pretty.
So here you have it- our short list. We joked that the last renovation we’ll be doing is adding an electric wheelchair to the stairs because that’s how long it will take us. We realize that we may decide to move two years out and none of this will ever happen, but it sure is fun to dream.
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