Build - Day 26/27 - August 6/7, 2011

This weekend was dedicated to research as we have a whole lot of decisions to make now that the rough build is basically done. So, we planned trips to Keim Lumber in beautiful Charm, Ohio and to our nearest IKEA in...Pittsburgh, PA.

The first trip, on Saturday, was kind of a bust. It is a beautiful drive through Holmes county, the heart of America's largest Amish population. We saw lots of horse-and-buggies and hard-working people in their traditional plain clothing. For the frequent visitors of this blog, you know we have nothing but respect and admiration for these folks, and are so thrilled with the work our crew did on our house. If the rest of the world modeled their work ethic and less of a consumeristic mindset, I think we'd all be better off. However, tech-savvy people that we are, we forgot to check the Keim's opening hours, so we got there 10 minutes before closing. Bummer. We made up for it by stopping at a local kids store, so at least our son thought it was a useful trip... ;-)

The second trip (to IKEA) was a greater success. We figured out the master closet configuration, the pantry configuration using the Varde collection  (which matches the bookcases we are repurposing), a few things here-and-there, got some kitchen organizing equipment and found the poles for under Jen's baking center. Beautiful stainless steel posts for $15ea (IKEA Vika Moliden). Our GC initially thought them to be $59... We also bought some Lansa pulls for the new kitchen cabinets to compare against the (much higher priced) ones the kitchen suppliers ... well... supply. Stay tuned on that.

For the upcoming week the following items are on the agenda:

• Decision on kitchen supplier. We have the layout down, now we need to decide which one will actually get the job.
• Faucet decision. We will use the Delta Touch2O series for the kitchen and in-law suite and Moen's Eva series for the rest of the house. Both are WaterSense (the aquatic equivalent of EnergyStar) units which is a requirement we've set ourselves. It has ruled out some cool-looking units, but we want 'eco-performance' over gadgetry...
• Shingle installation. The roofers will come out on Wednesday to install the remaining parts of the roof. 
• More touring. We have a guest book and floor plan at the house for the 'self-guided tours' but I'm sure we'll be giving a few ourselves as well. Today we did 3...

So, the progress will be a lot less visible for the upcoming week but we'll keep the blogoshpere updated on all other items pertaining the building of our dream house.