Our builder made a funny comment to C.J. today that kinda prompted this post. I guess it just made me realize that I haven't REALLY blogged about the house yet, apart from a quick little tid bit every now and then. So, today you get more...from the heart. And I'll get to the funny comment shortly...
The Kitchen. Oh, the kitchen. You'd think that when you get the chance to build a custom home from the ground up, you'd be able to do absolutely anything and make every dream you've ever had work in the place. Well, as ideal as that is, I don't know that anyone could actually successfully accomplish that. There are just so many things to consider...and it came to our attention earlier this week that there was one detail that sort of got overlooked (as you'll find, it didn't actually get overlooked, I apparently just never fully communicated exactly what I had in mind.) The beadboard. It's pretty much essential to the design of our kitchen (at least the design that I have painted in my head) to have beadboard on the walls of the kitchen...and it needs to come up about 2/3 of the way to the ceiling to achieve the look I have in mind. However, I guess until this week the only thing I had actually verbalized to our builder and to the cabinet designer is that I wanted a beadboard
backsplash. I didn't realize that the fact that I want the beadboard on all 4 walls and that I want it to come up to the same height everywhere that the cabinets don't cover on all 4 walls was so important. Well, it is. And the problem is, the bead board doesn't fit. You see, there are 2 corners where the cabinets meet up flush with the adjacent wall...and in those corners, the doors of the cabinets come so close to the wall the there is no room to put up the beadboard. Umm...major problem. So, we have been scrambling around this week trying to solve this problem. If I didn't want it to come up so high or if I didn't want it to wrap all the way around the kitchen, this wouldn't be a problem. But I do, so it is. After much brainstorming and searching for ultra thin beadboard products, I think we have finally found a solution. Anyhow, as C.J. was talking to Larry, our builder, this morning about the solution, C.J. said something along the lines of "Sorry about this. I guess we hadn't really thought much about the beadboard until now." Larry's response: "Actually, I'm pretty sure Jen's been thinking about the beadboard since she was 5."
Larry, you hit the nail on the head. For those of you who know me, you know that Larry has me all figured out. And part of me feels kinda bad about that, because, you know...I want what I want. We all know that I am not exactly the world's most flexible person, so when I have a vision in my mind of how a certain part of our house is going to look I'll basically do whatever it takes to make that vision happen. Poor Larry. I know I've never been rude or pushy about the house, but I (obviously) have made it known that I have very specific visions for the house. And Larry has been SOOOOO accomodating. Seriously, if any of you out there ever want to build a house, Larry Hiemstra is your man. He is amazing. Amazing work. Amazing attitude. Amazing price. Amazing man. I would recommend him in a heart beat.
I could go on and on with more stories about the house, about what I have learned, about the few hiccups we have dealt with along the way, and so on but I don't really have the time. Maybe when we're all settled. For now, suffice it to say that we are moving in to our new home 3 weeks from tomorrow!!! I am quite overwhelmed with the task of packing with two little munchkins in my care, but we'll manage. We feel so incredibly blessed to even have the house, so I guess I don't really have any room to complain about a few hectic weeks of moving. I promise to post pictures of the place when it's done...but for those of you who have been asking, here is a little sneak peak of the kitchen in progress:
Oh yeah, and one more thing. Let's not forget to mention that I actually had a woman ask me today, as I was standing there HOLDING Silas in his car seat right in front of her, when my baby was due. Maybe I need to get on the treadmill...or start taking hormones.
