A Few of my Favorite Things

Unfortunately, the ghetto van and trailer will not be staying with the house.

Our house is still coming along just great. The speedy drywallers came in on their cool stilts and in two days had the whole place done. They will texture the walls the first part of this week, then we are on to laying tile, doing trim, and working on the exterior. Things are hoppin'!

Here are a few of my favorite things about the house so far.

#1
First off, and favorite of all, my window wall.
We stewed and stewed about how we could block the view of the great room, kitchen, and dining nook from the main entrance. I just didn't like the idea of any and all visitors (including the somewhat creepy magazine salesmen) having a full shot into the heart and soul of our home. So, we are doing a window wall, and I have to say that I LOVE it! I got the idea from this picture:



Below is what someone will see when they walk into our house. Of course, those three squarish openings at the top of the wall will be windows similar to those in the first picture. The doorway on the right goes into the great room.



There will be two more windows on another partial wall in the great room; the wall that separates the dining nook from the great room.

First pic shows the three window openings from the great room side, and second pic has the two window openings separating great room from nook.

#2

The control room. (pretty much tied for #1 with the window wall)
This is a room that will be directly off of the kitchen. For the first many months of this designing/building process this room was actually a formal living room; AKA "home teacher" room (even though I got mad whenever Kyle called it this). On the plans, this room had a large doorway from the entry and I had visions of a cute sofa and chairs, beautiful piano, and afternoons spent sipping punch with the Women's Society Club... or something. A good friend helped me realize that a formal living room was pretty pointless for the lifestyle of my family. Plus, we don't have a cute couch and chairs. Or a piano.
So, we closed off the opening from the entrance, added a large 4 foot doorway off the kitchen, and turned the room into our "control room." Basically, this room is going to be where the stuff that needs to happen to run a family, happens. This will be the home of the computer, kids craft stuff, wrapping paper, white board, calendar, etc. It will be covered with desk height countertops on two full walls, and lots of cabinets up above for storage.
Ever since we made the change, I have been giddy over this room. The usability and possibilities are endless. I have a feeling we will be spending lots of time in here.


First pic is taken from the nook. Kitchen is to the right and just to the left of Jane (in blue shirt) is the control room doorway. From the sink, I will have a perfect shot at what is happening on the computer. The second picture shows the two big windows (4x6) in the control room. I love the natural light they let into the room.

#3
The back patio.
This patio was actually the cause of some major stress. It is a long story, but we had a hard time seeing eye to eye with the "architectural review committee" on exactly how it should look. In the end, we are extremely pleased with it and can't wait to spend lots of time out there. Kyle was worried it was way too big, but now we wouldn't change a thing.