Welcome to Our New Home…
Well, not yet, seeing as it’s not built. But we can give you an idea!
It’s super spacious! We got ourselves just over 3000 sq/ft, corner unit townhouse with four floors, a two car garage (for me), 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 half baths, a loft with roof top deck (for her), and a generous sized white kitchen (for us).
Yes, one of those rooms is definitely going to be a LEGO room.
Kitchen
The image above is close to what our kitchen will look like. We chose white shaker cabinets with nickel door pulls — our pulls are a bit longer than the photo illustrates. Changes and modifications are already being formulated — I may eventually change the cabinet hardware to black as well as changing the center panels of the cabinet doors to frosted glass. Another possibility is to build additional cabinets to fill in the cavity above the upper cabinets.
One of the first projects I’ll be starting immediately is replacing all our cabinetry hinges and slides with soft-close types by Blum. If you want soft-close hinges, look no further than Blum — they are the best. Hard-close cabs are the worst, treat yourself! Especially if you’re as loud-noise-averse as Michelle is (she also hates vacuuming).
Our counter top material is called Cashmere Carrara Quartz and it looks marvelous! (…MARBLEous?) We initially wanted to save a bit of money and opted for the standard granite in White Pearl. After a few months of waiting and much deliberation, we decided to spend that extra buck and get the real good stuff for the kitchen; our bath counters and wet bar will remain in the granite until we have enough funds to change them out.
Flooring
We’re not huge fans of carpeted floors so we selected dark oak, 5" wide-planked hardwood floors on the entire main floor, all hallways, stairways, and landings. There will still be carpet in some rooms, but that is all temporary. As we settle in to our new home, you’ll hear more on Operation-No-Carpet in the near future for sure!
Electrical
The house will be wired with CAT6 throughout as well as coax and hdmi in various areas. In other words, we’re trying to be as future-proof as possible! Resale resale resale! We thought about having central audio but ultimately decided not to install. Audio technology changes so quickly and didn’t think it was worth the hassle of a built-in system. We are definitely getting those swag Sonos speakers in the future though!
We declined to get programmable thermostats from the builder and instead install our own preferred units — should be simple enough to put in ourselves. Perhaps NEST?
At the time of this writing, Apple HomeKit looked quite intriguing with Lutron leading the way with a comprehensive list of products from light switches to motorized window blinds. Though Elgato’s Eve light switch is visually more appealing, Lutron may be the better investment.
And yes, we definitely want HomeKit. We’re those people
Legrand has some really interesting wall plate, outlet, and switch designs.
These are just a few projects that will be underway immediately after move-in. You’ll hear about the rest for years to come.
-A
