Our built-in oven

We bought an oven today!!! It will go into the kitchen for which we have signed a contract months ago.
We are now the proud owners of a Bosch 90 cm built-in oven. It is about the size of an American built-in pizza oven. We are very excited, it was a good deal.
I'll post a picture as soon as I can get it into jpeg format.
Needless to say though, we are very excited to check off another item for our house!

In the newspaper

My father-in-law showed me something really exciting today in the town newspaper, the Amtsblatt. This newspaper lists any local town government news, including invitations to town council meetings which are open to the public.

Under the March 2nd Neckartaifingen town council meeting is the following item to be discussed:
Neubau eines Einfamilienhauses mit Garage. Flurstück 166 und Teil von 158/3.
(New built one family house with garage. Building lot 166 and part of 158/3)

THAT'S US!!!! And that's our address for the current moment, lots 166 and part of 158/3! Wahoo!!!

This means that our house will officially be discussed next week Wednesday. Since the meeting is public, Joern, myself, and my father-in-law will be attending the meeting. I feel like I might pop. I'm so excited and SO nervous!!!! Obviously, I'll be updating the blog as soon as I get home on Wednesday night!

A few town-related updates

We got a letter in the mail yesterday from the town. Apparently, our application is incomplete. Ugh. Fortunately, it is a small matter and easily remedied. The town is requiring the signatures of the current land owners that they give their permission to build on their land. This step is necessary as we haven't purchased the land yet. Since our case is a bit strange, we won't purchase any land until we are approved to build. So, we have to get my in-law's approval. We also have to set up a meeting with the owners of the building lot (you know, the parents of Joern's friend). Fortunately, my in-laws are back from Mallorca, and Joern's friends parents are pretty easy to deal with. Hopefully, we'll complete this step over the weekend.

Second news item- my in-laws received their letter from the town requesting their approval of our building. This is the special letter that all of our neighbors will receive (5 in total.) It explains that we have sent in an application to build, and explains briefly what we plan to build. The letter's recipients must then sign off with or without objection. If someone objects to the building, they must list any concerns they have about how our building may impact them or the neighborhood. Oy vey! My biggest worry is Joern's aunt. I don't think she can block us from building, but she can make our life tough. In stereotypically German fashion (that they don't get along with each other,) Joern is not on speaking terms with his aunt and cousin. Because our house will abut her property, I can see her taking pleasure in making things difficult. I am not looking forward to this.

I am excited to see both letters though. It means that the town is not just sitting on our application. It is really in the works- HOORAY!!

The Baugesuch

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Architect called us to tell us that the Baugesuch, or application for the building permit, was completed. Of course, for us, that meant we needed to hop in the car IMMEDIATELY to sign all the papers and pick up the application.
I've never built a house in the States, so I have no idea what this step looks like in America. I know what it looks like here though, so I'll explain.
The application is split into 6 folders. 4 of these 6 folders are for various town and county builidng people. The first page of the folder gives the details of the builders (us) the location (which is right now place 166), a brief decsription of the house (single family new build with garage,) and the information about the planner. The next page consists of a series of computer generated images of the house. Then comes an official application form. The next 3 pages are a description of the house, including size, approximate cost, number of garage spaces, the type of material to be used in contruction, the material, style, and color of the roof, the type of fireplace to be installed, and the type of heating system planned. Then comes another two pages devoted to the fireplace and chimney. Then comes the application for public waste -water. On this paper, the number and type of producers of waste- water are listed, including toilets, sinks, dishwashers, wash machines, dishwashers, etc. Next comes two drawings of how the house will fit in to the building lot, with all surrounding houses. Then two pages from the surveyor, with information about which neighbors will be contacted about our building plans, and lots of information on the amount of land we will be using and the size of the house. The three page floor plan (cellar, first and second floors,) comes next. Then are detailed drawings of the exterior of the house as viewed from the north, south, east, and west. The cross section comes next. Last comes more measurment information- 3 pages, including the square footage of every room in the house!
This is just the application folder we are allowed to keep. The other four have other papers depending on which department is receiving the folder.
We had to sign many, many of the pages in each folder, then multiply that by 6!
From here, it should take approximately 6-8 weeks for the permit to be approved. During this time, we can start looking for estimates from builders. We are hoping to use Mr. Architect as our project manager, and he is thinking about this propostion now. We need someone to collect all estimates from all builders and sub-contractors, and to help provide to us an overview.
My father-in-law dropped off the application on Thursday morning to the town hall. The next town council meeting will happen during the first week of March. Once it has been approved by the town council, the application then goes on to the county building department.
I am so excited, and so nervous. I think once we get the building permit, the whole thing will become real. Even though we've purchased furniture, and planned so many things, once we receive the permit, building can start pretty quickly!

How the architect did it!

Here are the plans so far: (the explanations are underneath the picture)

This is the north side of the house, facing my in-law's house. This side has the fewest windows, for obvious reasons.

This is the east view of the house. It is the side with the best view, of the Swabian Alb and the Hohenneuffen:
Castle Ruins

You can also see the kitchen addition here. We're adding a meter of width to the kitchen to allow for our island. The dining room is in the front corner (on the left side)

This is the west view of the house. You can see our front door, it is on the cellar level, we are going to have a lot of glass here to let light into the cellar. Our living room is on this side of the house, as well as Joern's office.

Here is the view from the south, the view from the street. Since the house is being built into a hill, it looks like it is 3 levels from the street view- of course, that bottom floor is actually our cellar. The garages are strategically planned because you are allowed to build garages right along the border, so one garage borders Joern's aunt's property, and the other borders the property of the new build.

Cross-section of the house. Yes, we have 3 steps up from the garage, but it is necessary to allow a terrace to be built on top of the garage.


This is the floor plan for the cellar. If you enter from our front door and are facing the house, the media room will be on your left, on the right is a room without a purpose right now, a bathroom (I would like a rinse-off area here, for the dog, muddy kids, muddy shoes, etc.),a storage room, and the boiler room. I know it seems strange, but you have to walk to the far end of the house to walk up the stairs. I've learned that unless you have an unlimited amount of money, somehow even your dream house does have to fit in the confines of the property. This is why our staris are a bit odd.


At the top of the stairs, you will be facing the front (street.) On your right is the living room, which leads into Joern's office. On your left is the dining room, moving back to the kitchen. The kitchen is 215 sq. ft, which I am pretty sure is huge, but is necessary for an island. No, Mr. Builder does not think our kitchen is efficient, but the work triangle is on the side of the addition. The other side of the kitchen (along the stairs) will be used for storage, a wine refrigerator and a breakfast making bar. Since we do not have a breakfast nook the island itself will be used for seating- which means that the island needs to be large and flat. I am thinking of putting the sink and dishwasher in the island too.
Moving towards the back of the house, the pantry is immediately behind the kitchen. The back door is near the staircase, and then there is a bathroom with a shower stall (in case we have 2 kids, this will become our guest bath.)
You have to walk up the stairs again from the back of the house, because this design allows for a large shower in the master bath.

Once you reach the top of the stairs on the top floor, you will be facing the children's bathroom. We will be building a closet into this bathroom for our washer and dryer. I know some people have strong feelings against a washer and dryer on the bedroom level, but because of my arthritis, I feel strongly about putting the laundry close to the bedrooms. Also, because the house is made of stone, and the floors are all concrete-slab (yes, even the living floors,) it will be much more resistant to noise and vibration from the washing machine than a traditional wooden home.
On the right side of the children's bath is the master suite. Our bedroom is not very large, but because we have a large walk-in closet, the bedroom doesn't need to fit much more than the bed. We have a large master bath, with a double sink, a soaking tub, and a separate walk-in shower.
On the left side of the house are the two children's rooms. I am considering putting the guest room in the large room in the back, because there will be a nice view, and have access to the balcony. The room in the front is smaller, which might be better for a future nursery. But my opinion on the guest rooom flip-flops daily.

Well, that's our house. We're waiting for Mr. Architect to print out all the paperwork for the application for the building permit. In total, we'll recieve 6 copies of the application. 4 copies go to various town and county offices, and all have slightly different information inside. 2 copies are for us, and I'm sure one of those two copies will go to Mr. Builder. As soon as Mr. Architect has completed the paperwork, we'll go to him, sign everything, and deliver the application to the town hall.

End tables, check!

We were so lucky to find such a great design consultant at Bassett Furniture in Orange. She has gone above and beyond in helping us to order furniture and keep us informed with sales that Bassett is holding. Because Nicole, our design consultant is so wonderful, we were able to order our living room end tables today. I'm very excited.

I can't wait to put our house together, with all our new furniture. I know when I sit in our house I will think of all the wonderful people who have helped us to make our dream come true. For now, I will say, "Thank you Nicole!"

Architect meeting-Hooray!

We had our appointment with the architect on Friday afternoon. We wanted to finalize the houseplans that would be put in for the building application.
Fortunately, Joern is learning quickly to navigate the world of home building, and learning to question everything and ask everyone. He decided that we would go visit Mr. Builder (the builder whose name is Karl Bauer, which translates to Karl Builder) on Friday morning before we met with the architect. We went to the source, the one who will actually be giving us the price estimate on building the house- the final verdict, it would be a very minimal cost difference because we are adding 70 cm onto the kitchen addition.
Then, of course, in typical German fashion, Mr. Builder proceeded to tell us why our kitchen (which has grown now to a whopping 215 square feet,) is bad. He showed us his vision for the perfect kitchen- a very narrow galley kitchen, but according to Mr. Builder, is very efficient. He said that we don't want to have to walk a huge distance to get around the kitchen. This is why I'm insistant on our "work triagnle," but realize that we can always use storage that doesn't have to be in the work triangle. Plus, you need a large kitchen for a large island- otherwise, it simply does not work.
In the end, Mr. Builder agreed that it is not his house, and if we want to build an inefficient kitchen, it is our choice. Thank you Mr. Builder.
Our appointment with the architect was Friday evening. We told him that we want to add the 70 cm on to the kitchen so that the kitchen will look continuous, and that the refrigerator won't have to be pushed into our pantry. As soon as he brought up the price, Joern told him that we had met with Mr. Builder, and we're fine with the price difference. Take that!
We made a few more changes, like eliminating a window in the cellar, and lengthening one of the two garages.
Surprisingly, the architect sent us a copy of the new house plans with a few hours.
We finally have a mini-timeline now:
-The application for the building permit should be completed by Wednesday at the latest.
-Once we bring the application to the town hall, it can take 6-8 weeks to grant permission. Some things in our favor include the pre-approval, the fact that Mr. Builder is on the town council, and the next town council meeting is in 2 weeks (so if we get the application in before this meeting, it will be discussed at the meeting.)

Once the building permit is granted, we can purchase the land, get building estimates, get a mortgage, and get going with this project.

Sometimes, I feel like we can't get going soon enough. I want to be in my house yesterday. But, the logical side of me also knows that we plan on living in this house for a long time, and waiting a few more months is not the end of the world. There is no reason we need a new house in the next month, so really, I should just slow down. With all this time too, I can really find the best things for our new home!

Sofa conundrum

I didn't realize that our trip home this past Christmas would result in the furniture bonanza that it turned into. During summer break, I spent quite a bit of time looking at furniture with my cousin. My plan was to find my furniture style before Joern confused me. In a lot of ways, it was useful. Yet, I totally caved when it came to our sofa.
We ended up purchasing the following sectional for our living room:
the CU2 sectional from Bassett Furniture.

While I do love it, now that I've had a bit of down-time, I realized this may not be the absolute best sofa for our living room. I'm not 100% happy with the color, and I do worry that the sofa may be a bit too soft for my back. Plus, I'm not sure it entirely goes with the general feel of the rest of the main floor.

Our kitchen will most likely have a very classical feel, like this:


Our dining room inspiration board is a few posts below. I have a feeling our dining room will have a pretty formal look, no matter what chairs we purchase. The table is so beautiful, there is little chance to give it an informal look.

That being said, I really feel like a chaise sectional, that is like a camel wide-wale corduroy, to me just doesn't fit. I know that the whole thing doesn't have to go or match, but I think that the current sofa would be better in our cellar in our entertainment room.

So, here are my current ideas:
Brynn Sectional (click on link, then imagine this as a sectional in brown leather)
I absolutely love this sectional, in a chocolate leather of course. I adore the
tufting.
Or,

Fremont sectional from Bassett Furniture.
I'm waiting for a price on this sofa, with nailhead trim. I've emailed our designer at Bassett in Milford.
And then, Joern loves this:

The Mercer sectional, also from Bassett Furniture.

I'm kind-of hoping for the deal of the century on the second choice, the Fremont sectional. The designer we have worked with is wonderful, and I am so very happy with Bassett. They are really willing to work with us, with our strange time-frame and our odd problem of needing to order via email. I'm not sure Macy's will be so easy to work with. Of course, I do absolutely love the sectional from Macy's though. I like Joern's choice, the Mercer sectional, but it seems a little modern to me. I'm not a modern girl. Obviously, we are still in the talking stage.

So, here is where I open my blog up for opinions. Really. Anybody? Thoughts???
Thanks!

Boo! A setback with the timeframe

Before Christmas, a surveyor came out and posted a stakes around the perimeter of our house to be. When we came home that afternoon, we were surprised to find that one corner of our house would be seriously close to my in-laws' house. Like, we could pass things between houses close.
Joern and the architect had worked hard to put the house as close to the front border as possible, finally, splitting our two-car garage into 2 one car garages in two different places. Joern went to the county building department to talk about the placement of the house. There will be a new law in March that will allow us to build one meter further away from my in-laws' house. Joern called the architect, and had him get in contact with the district building office.
When we got back from America, we got an email from the architect that we still have to keep the house where the surveyor had marked out. He did not talk to the same person Joern spoke with, and this person said we'd have to wait until March to put through the building permit with the change that we want.
So, right now, we're in limbo, again. We may need to wait until March to put in the permit, which stinks. We were supposed to break ground in March.
GRRRR!

On a good note, we found out that Joern's friend Markus has gone in on building a duplex in our new mini-neighborhood. This means we already know, and like, one of our neighbors!