Let's get this party started

Finally!

Kitchen - open shelving

While we wait (and wait, and wait, and wait) to start work on the house, I'm working with our architect and Ryan to choose interior finishes. That's the most fun part for me, and while Ryan acts bored with most of it, he does have opinions and most of the time I listen to them. Case in point: We've decided to include open shelving on either side of one window in the kitchen, and he strongly prefers stainless shelves over white painted wood (like our cabinets). I like the stainless look as well, and fortunately Ikea has several options so it's affordable.

I especially like this last example because I want the shelving to be more practical, holding dishes and glasses we use everyday, than decorative. This is such a great cross between functional and pretty.

Do I need a permit to lose my mind?

After our last report, you may have thought we were about to start on our renovation. Because after being approved by the planning commission, what could possibly stand in our way? Well, let's see. Did I mention the building permit? The planning permit and building permit are not the same, and they require separate applications. For real.

After the building permit application is submitted, the city reviews it for at least a couple of weeks, then returns it with dozens of nitpicky changes such as "Specify handrails with a circular cross section with an outside diameter of 1 1/4" to 2". If it is not circular, it shall have a perimeter dimension of at least 4" and not be more than 6 1/4"...." Then our awesome architecture team goes through and addresses each nitpicky change and resubmits to the city. If we cross our fingers, carry a rabbit's foot, and find a four-leaf clover, the city will approve the revised application and we'll have a building permit in two weeks. And then maybe, just maybe, we can get started. For real.

Some news is great news!

Finally, finally, finally we have something to report: Our project plans were approved by the city planning commission last night. Ryan attended the hearing and said the commissioners, known to be difficult on occasion, actually heaped praise upon our architecture team for a design that is thoughtful and appropriate to the neighborhood in style and scale. In fact, one of them said, "You've taken a rather ordinary cottage and turned it into something extraordinary." Yep, we think so too! We are thrilled, relieved, and very ready to get this show on the road.

No news is no news

I haven't posted any updates recently because, well, there aren't any. We had to make a couple of tweaks to the plan right before Christmas and then it was submitted to the city this week. So now we wait. And wait. And wait some more--probably four to six weeks, if all goes well. In the meantime, I'm selecting kitchen appliances and spending obscene amounts of time researching things like how much space is required between a refrigerator door and a fixed wall for it to open fully (the door, not the wall). Yes, home renovation is a glamorous job full of never-ending thrills. Thank you for asking.

Houston, we have house plans

I received PDFs of our revised renovation plans today, and when I opened them I almost started to cry--because they are THAT awesome. We made some tweaks to the front of the house and while I liked the previous versions a lot, I absolutely love it now. Just as a refresher, here's what our house currently looks like:

And here's the plan for the new front exterior:

I know I'm not the most objective on this subject, but it's hard to get more charming than that, right? (Sorry I can't figure out how to make the image larger.)

We're so pleased with how this plan uses the bones of the original 1930s house and still looks like it could have been built in that era. Of course the interior changes are even more important, and we're very happy with those as well. The kitchen and current bath will be renovated and we'll add a master bedroom and bath as well as a small bedroom/office, a covered back porch, and an attic with about 400 square feet of bonus space that we can either finish during the renovation or wait and finish later. It will still be a small house relative to the average American home today, but for us, at the risk of sounding like Goldilocks, this one is just right.

On the wall

We have tons of family photos that I would love to display when our house is renovated, and I have a couple of ways I'm thinking of doing it. This first one is my idea for the playroom--large, simply matted photos of each of the three kids. I like how clean and fresh this looks.

The second idea is to have a gallery wall, possibly in the hallway, using photos, the kids' artwork, and other special/sentimental things. I've never quite known how to put one together, but this one is inspiring me (DIY instructions here).