Cabinet Gate

Remember how I mentioned in a previous post that my hubby and I like to think about things and weigh all our options before making a decision?  And remember how I mentioned we felt pressured to make the FINAL decision on certain things at the first design meeting? Well, we felt a little heartburn on the decision of our cabinets.  We equally loved both style of cabinets...beveled/raised panel and more flat/Shaker panels.  At the initial design meeting we went with the more traditional style cabinet (shown below on right), but felt like the modern Shaker cabinet (shown below on left) suited our style better. However, we didn't pull the trigger on the Shaker style because the designer was told us it would cost almost an additional $12K to have those cabinets throughout the house. Easy decision to make to choose the $0 traditional style, right???

 

Things changed when we found out (through some poking and prodding on my end) that the Shaker style was, in fact, a standard option (the designer apparently wasn't aware of this). We were thrilled to find out it was available at $0 upgrade costs! Woo-hoo!

But...Now what? What do we choose? Hubby and I went back and forth, frantically researching on Houzz between the two styles, and trying to also decide on the overall look we were trying to achieve. Verdict? Went with the Shaker style cabinets...still transitional with a little more of a preference toward contemporary/modern.

Here's a look at what we went through to select the cabinet style...

What's Your Style?

Based on all those design style quizzes, ours is transitional.

According to HGTV: Transitional style is a marriage of traditional and contemporary furniture, finishes, materials and fabrics equating to a classic, timeless design. Furniture lines are simple yet sophisticated, featuring either straight lines or rounded profiles.

According to Houzz: If Goldilocks were decorating a house, transitional style would check all of her "just right" boxes: not too cold, not too formal, not too fussy. It blends the comfort and warmth of traditional design with the clean profiles and understated colors of the contemporary look. The result? Gracious, streamlined spaces that radiate harmony. It's about meeting in the middle, but it's not at all middle of the road.
Here are some of my fave inspo pics that I've been using to base our design decisions on.

Kitchen (can you tell all white is the theme here?)

 

 

 

Great Room:

 

 

 

 Master Bedroom

 

 

 

Home Office

Designs and Thangs (Toll Brothers Design Meeting #1)

Things are moving along at our dream home! So far, we've selected our electrical and some design options...never knew there was so much to consider.

For electrical – I was surprised that recessed lighting did not come as a standard feature in so many rooms (grrrrr!).  We had to put in "new" lighting in the great room and 6 rooms (office + bedrooms), and add extra lighting in the kitchen/dining room and the entry/hallway.

On to design options. At each design meeting, you sign an "Exhibit B" which is a legal agreement for all the add-ons to the house. Hubby and I are the type who need time to mull over things and weigh all our options before we make a decision and love to google all possibilities, so the first design meeting made us feel the pressure since we had to make decisions right then and there.

B-U-T...since we weren't allowed some time to think before we selected, here are the choices we made on-the-spot during our first design meeting and pictures pulled from the lovely internet (thanks Houzz!) to give you an idea of where we're going:

• White cabinets throughout house (kitchen and bathroom)
• Furniture package at kitchen (ktichen cabinets go all the way up to ceiling, extra grommets at kitchen island) and different kitchen island stain

 

• Arched buffet above window that connects kitchen cabinets
• Kitchenaid 48" built-in side-by-side refrigerator

• Kitchenaid 48" rangehood and 6 burner cooktop with griddle

 

• Kohler Bellera kitchen faucet

• Satin knickel finished knobs/pulls for cabinets and plumbing fixtures 

 

• Solid core interior doors (which the Sales Manager and I both agreed should be a standard feature but isn't) and Kwikset Tustin satin nickel door handle 

• Kohler Devonshire plumbing fixtures for sinks and showers (Devonshire is the standard feature for our home, we just upgraded to the satin nickel finish; this wouldn't have been our first choice, but you have to make sacrifices somewhere!)

•  Front entry door (not pictured) - upgraded to dark stain

Stay tuned for more design decisions...countertops and flooring come next!

 

Construction Update

TONS of progress has been made on the house in the last two months!  Here's a glimpse into the build...

 

March 1: Leveling our plot

 April 9: Underground plumbing laid and prepping to pour foundation

April 11: More prepping to pour foundation

 

April 23: Foundation poured (and an appearance by my hot hubby!)

April 24: Setting up for framing 

 

April 28: First floor framed!

 

May 1: More first floor framing

 

 

Our In-Between Home

So a couple posts ago I mentioned that we were living in a cramped 2 bedroom apartment...here's a look at our temporary digs.  Going from an 1,800 square foot house to an 1,100 square foot apartment for 3 adults and 2 kids was definitely an adjustment, especially losing the backyard. Since we tried to put as much stuff in storage as possible, we are living bare bones, crackhouse style - think mattresses on floor. 

 

Kitchen

From entryway - living room, kitchen counter stools, dining room that's been converted to girls' play room, and hallway into our bedrooms. And that is literally it.

Lot Plan (Toll Brothers Palisade model)

We picked this lot (draft shown below) because it's an end unit, meaning there's no neighbor to the right of us. This gets us more street parking for guests, however we are against a business complex (but there's quite a bit of space, wall, and fence that separates us) and we have a lot of side yard that we need to figure out what to do with.

One of the things I didn't realize in picking our lot is that the exterior color scheme and elevation are pre-determined. So are the exterior colors what we would've chosen?  No. However, we really liked the location and are willing to deal with a potential dark brown colored exterior color (bleh!).

The other main reason we chose this lot is that it was one of the largest plots available.  Most of the newer developments in southern California, especially Orange County, have backyards the size of a postage stamp (I exaggerate, it's more like a small bedroom).  The lot we chose has enough space to put in a swimming pool (one day) and room for a ping-pong table (muy importante to hubby).