WE HAVE FOUNDATION - LESS THAN 6 MONTHS TO GO

We drove by our lot a few weeks ago and were pleasantly surprised when we found out our foundation had been poured! There likely won't be any more activity on our lot until March/April since we are the "fire break" house, but it will be interesting to drive by and see progress on the rest of our street. Unfortunately, it sounds like people are starting to get delayed, so we may not actually get to move in July.. but we're crossing our fingers that we'll be able to move in as soon as possible!

Below are a few pics of our foundation.

Countdown: 175 days (5 months and 24 days)

THE DESIGN PLAN - THE POWDER ROOM

I've had a few ideas spinning around for what I want to do with the powder room in our new house for a while now, but haven't had the chance to put all my ideas together yet. A powder room, in my opinion provides a great opportunity to add some drama to your home, but it a "contained" way that is not overwhelming or tacky. I have been toying with the idea of wallpapering our entire powder room with a bold print, but with so many great patterns and designs out there, I've been having a hard time deciding on a wallpaper. That was until tonight!

I just found out I won a contest on Instagram, hosted by a very talented interior designer/ blogger who I started following this year - Paint the World White. I won  2 rolls of wallpaper from a company called Milton and King!! I am so excited, I get to choose anything I like from the "Tastemakers Collection." Lucky for me, this includes wallpapers by my favourite designer, Jillian Harris!! I am leaning towards the black and white spot pattern named after Jillian's son "Leo's spots" - the wallpaper seems whimsy, chic and eclectic, which is sort of the style I'm going for.

If I end up going with this paper, I think I will design the space like this:



What do you think? Which paper would you choose and in what room would you put it?

Goodbye for now!

WE HAVE FOOTING...I THINK?

I stopped by our lot on the way home today, and I was delighted to see there has been some progress and our house is no longer a pile of mud! The foundation hasn't been poured yet, but it looks like we have "footings." I expect our foundation will be poured in the next few weeks. After this step, I don't expect we will see much progress until April - we are the firebreak house, so they have to finish work on the other houses on our street first.

Anyways, here's a look at what our lot looks like today. Just a "short" 214 days to go!

Countdown: 214 days (7 months and 2 days)

Goodbye for now!

CHOOSING DESIGN FINISHES

Now that we have officially chosen our design finishes, we can begin to plan all the smaller details! I'm not planning on buying anything (or at least not *too much*) until after we move, but it's fun to think up how we will design our entire house.

The below images shows all our finishes on one page (and some of the things we hope to switch out asap - such as the builder-installed sinks and faucets).

We went with laminate in the kitchen with the builder, but we hope to upgrade to white quartz after we move in (assuming the budget will allow it)! I would love to get a farmhouse sink and a beautiful faucet when we change out the countertop so I have included those on my plan since it represents my overall vision.

Kitchen:

Ensuite:

Main Bathroom:

Take care!!

CHOOSING UPGRADES IN A NEWBUILD

The day I had been planning for all summer finally came! We chose our design upgrades for our new home a few weeks ago, and we surprisingly kept within our budget! We spent significantly less time deliberating our choices for our first new-build house. This was because the timeframe in which we got our townhome was was much shorter (so we didn't have time to deliberate), and because we had a much smaller budget (of about $300), so choices were limited. We're hopeful that our second house will be our "forever home," so we decided to put a little more money into it and intend on doing some more custom renovations after we close.

When designing a new-build, not only do you have to decide on specific finishes (i.e., cabinets, tiles, cupboards  etc.), but you also have to decide on what areas you are willing to pay extra money to upgrade (i.e., add fireplace, add hardwood, etc). Builders generally charge waaaay more for upgrades than what you would typically pay to install upgrades yourself after you close. However, by going through a builder, you pay for the convenience of having a "move-in ready" home. Additionally, by upgrading through the builder, you may have the option to add the costs to your mortgage. A few thousand dollars divided over 25 years seems much more affordable than out-of-pocket after close.

When choosing upgrades, the best options, in my opinion, are things that will be harder or more costly to change after you close. We also evaluated our choices based on the price vs. how positive an an impact it would have on the home. Below are the options we went with and our reasoning for how we decided it was worth it to pay extra for them:

First Floor

• Smooth ceiling on ground floor - $1,000 (will give a cleaner look to the space and we can avoid the mess of a DIY popcorn ceiling removal after close) 
• Install hardwood flooring in lieu of tiles in entryway and kitchen to match rest of the hardwood home - $1,200 (the space will flow better; rooms will look bigger when they are not broken up by different flooring)
• "Carrara" style interior doors in lieu of standard doors - $275 (inexpensive upgrade that will make the home look more custom and modern)
• Square pickets on stairs in lieu of included round pickets - $100 (gives a more modern look to the staircase)
• Gas fireplace - $3,000 (self explanatory!) 

Kitchen

• Upgraded kitchen cabinetry and layout - includes fridge gables, extended upper cabinets, under-cabinet valance and pots and pans drawer - $6,000  (easier /more cost-efficient to upgrade now rather than buy and replace cupboards after close)
• Gas rough in for future gas stove - $600 
• Delete cabinet above stove for exhaust fan - $100 

Second Floor

• Rail and picket in lieu of knee wall in upstairs hall - $500 (opens up the space in hallway)
• Hardwood flooring in hall - $1,100 (hardwood will be easier to keep clean as hallway is a high traffic area)

Ensuite 

• Double vanity - $1,000
• Increase vanity height to kitchen counter height - $270 (more custom look)
• Upgrade cabinet style - $280 (cabinets look more high end) 
• Install quartz countertop - $1,700 (price of quartz comparable to market value)
• Upgrade tile grout colour - $70 (expensive for grout, but will better match tile and is much less money than upgrading tiles)

Main Bath

• Upgrade cabinet style - $60 (wanted a black vanity which wasn't an option in the cheaper line)
• Install quartz countertop - $1,300 (price of quartz comparable to market value)

Countdown: 249 days (approx. 8 months)

Talk to you later,

HOUSE PROGRESS - HALF WAY THERE!

There isn't too much to report just yet, but as of today, 307 days have passed since we purchased our home from the builder, and we have 307 days to go until our closing date, which means... we are are *officially* at the half way point!

In the last month, the streets in our subdivision have been created, street signs are up, and the asphalt has been poured! It is so great to see where our house will be located in proximity to all the other streets, and pretty soon, we will be able to drive down the street, which will make it a little easier to stalk the progress of our home. This week, we also finally got the call to make our design center appointment, so we will really need to work on finalizing our budget and our list of upgrades before our appointment the first week of October.

Here are few pictures from late August 2016:

September 2016

CHOOSING UPGRADES IN A NEWBUILD - BATHROOMS

After going back and forth numerous times, I have pretty much finalized the bathroom finish choices for our new home. We anticipate we will have to confirm our upgrades with our builder sometime in October or November, so there's lots of time to change our minds again, but I think this will be it. We decided to splurge and upgrades to quartz countertops for both bathrooms. We also decided to upgrade the cabinet level, which surprisingly is not that expensive, and gives a much higher end look to the bathroom. We saved by choosing included floor/ wall tile options and cabinet hardware.

I also took some pictures in the design center of what the real life versions of the finishes look together. The lighting wasn't the greatest, so the tiles look a bit beige, but in actuality both tiles are quite neutral with regard to the tone of the grey.

Ensuite:

Main Bathroom: