Cha, Cha, Changes

Our idea this morning was to change the layout of the kitchen. The longer we've thought about the island, the more impractical it has become. Joern would love for the island to be 9 feet long- oy! Then, we scaled back to a little over 8 feet long, but it would still leave the kitchen island jutting out a bit into our dining room. Joern came to me this morning with my origninal suggestion- a U shape. But, our kitchen is actually really large for a U-Shape, and we would end up with a very large U. This would make for the perfect work triangle. Plus, we'll still have another wall opposite the kitchen sink that will contain further cabinets, as well as built-in appliances, including our oven, a steam-oven, and microwave. With a little luck, I can squeeze a wine refrigerator into this wall as well.
Many people advised us against the island, and I originally suggested the U. Joern had his heart set on an island, but finally saw the light that a U shape is much more functional and efficient. In effect, the side of the U facing the dining room will be very similar to an island, like in the following picture:

we just won't have the stove here, it will be a very large, very long work space, which is very exciting!
We also hope to move out the wall in the pantry, to make it a square shape instead of a square with one corner lopped off. This would maximize wall space in the kitchen for our "American" refrigerator, as well as give us more room in the pantry. Joern dropped another plan on me today- he wants a mini-fridge in our pantry for his stinky cheeses and stinky Italian meats. Wahoo!! I'm all for that!
It is really fun to watch the whole thing evolve. I am really excited to see the final product!
This afternoon, at 4:00, we had an appointment with Mr. Wurth. We decided to go to the kitchen store we're under contract with early, to check out their kitchens. They're open the first Sunday of the month only for looking. I found a few things that were really interesting, and I can't wait to officially meet with them to work on designing the kitchen.

We both liked this kitchen- without the wood colored countertops and would like white for the body as well as the front. I'm a little undecided about the high gloss finish many German kitchens are showing right now. But, this was a high gloss kitchen that really didn't look bad.

I love the pull out spice racks flanking the stove. I would love these!
After our trip to the kitchen store, we headed out to our meeting with Mr. Wurth. Our building application, or Baugesuch, is officially complete. The building application here is ginormous, and four separate copies must be filed with the building department, or Bauamt. It includes all the technical details of the house, as well as how the house will stand in the property, and well, kind of everything under the sun. We must have signed 100 pages today, my hand is still cramped! But the good news is that its finished, and Joern will go to the county building department tomorrow, and turn in the application. Mr. Wurth said that it usually takes about 2 weeks to get approval, especially since the building has kind-of been pre-approved when we asked to build on our patchwork properties. Of course, Christmas is coming up and we're headed home. If we don't hear back before we head home, we'll just be putting things on hold until January.
Once we get approval, fingers crossed, we can then go forward with purchasing the building lot, and transfering some of my in-laws' property into our names. I'm already not looking forward to the costs- we'll have to pay taxes on the value of the entire lot, not just what we've purchased. This is approximately 1/2 an acre, we are actually purchasing significantly less. Bleh!
We'll also have to pay a notary public. I've had one experience with a notary public, and financially, it is not an experience I'd like to repeat. Their fee is based on the value of the transaction they are notarizing. Seriously, insane!
But, the good news is that if we are careful, we'll stay within our price-range. Hopefully, we can keep it this way!

Our current apartment, lessons in appliances

Planned obsolescence, that's what was supposed to have been industry's way of ensuring jobs and production. If your appliances have a limited life-span, then people will need to buy appliances every so often. We've lived in our apartment for 5 years now, and a few weeks ago, Joern noticed that the two back burners on our stove were not working, so now, we're down to two burners. I would have thought that it was a fluke, because five years seems to be a ridiculously short life for a stove, but then our dishwasher broke. It is constantly stuck on one mode, I can't even get it to turn off- we had to disconnect it. Okay, so you can chalk it up to a strange coincidence, two appliances at once. But the last straw was last week- a crack formed in the back of our refrigerator, and has now broken open. If you push on the crack, water spurts out of it. Three appliances, that are all five years old have broken within one month of each other, the warranties have all expired. Oh please!
Either I must research appliances thoroughly before we buy new ones, or I have to start budgeting for a five year appliance overhaul. Sheesh!

The plans and the price

We had our meeting to discuss the plans and the price on Friday. Overall, the meeting was good. Mr. Architect gave us the price of the house "turn-key ready." That's not really what we are going for, because we know people who can do work for us at a cheaper rate, plus, we know we can get materials cheaper than he calculated. Somehow, the house has turned into his Luxury Line, so the materials he included in the price include hardwood flooring, stone tile, and a whole bunch of expensive things. There are things that we definately don't need, like a towel warmer in the bathroom (I know, they may be nice, but it just isn't important for me.)
Overall, the price was really okay. A little high for Joern's desires, but somewhere within our budget- and not at the high end. We will definately work on that a bit, but we left pretty satisfied.
Oh, and in case you were interested, here are the plans for the house:
Cellar

I know it may look a little weird that the garage is not parallel to the house, but if it is parallel to the house, we would never be able to get in and out of our garage properly. It won't look bad because the majority of the cellar is underground, and the only thing you'll be able to see is the entryway and the garage. Going through the foyer, on the right will be a utility room/ bathroom, cellar, and the room for the heater and electrical system (Technik) on the left will be a very large room that may stay one large room for movies and future playroom, or we may divide it. The stairs go up from the back of the house (so yes, you have to walk all the way around the stairs to go up, but there is a reason for that.)
First Floor

We still have a few changes to make in the floor plan, and are thinking of adding a meter to the dining room, but you'll come up the stairs into the great room. On the left will be the living room, dining room to the right, with a fireplace acting as a room divider. On the right hand side of the stairway will be the kitchen, with a very large island- hooray! Vor. stands for "Vorratsraum," and will be the pantry. The back door is opposite the staircase heading upstairs. The bathroom is to the left of the staircase. Yes, I know it is a little dumb that you have to walk all around the house to get to the bathroom, but we can't really find another solution. To the left of the staircase also is the office / guest room.
Upstairs

At the top of the stairs, the master bedroom, walk-in-closet, and master bath run along the left-side of the house. The bathroom is HUGE, and we have planned a large walk-in shower. Straight in front of the staircase is the children's bathroom. I am hoping we can work the washer and dryer into this bathroom, maybe taking some room from the adjacent bedroom, which would allow us to hide the washer and dryer behind bifold doors. The two bedrooms will also have possibly a balcony.
I am generally pleased with the plans. They need a little work, this isn't the final, but a good idea of what our home will look like.
Oh yeah,and there are mostly all floor height windows. There is a great view from the top floor, and these windows will help us to maximize the view.

Boo Hoo

We were supposed to meet with Mr. Wurth today to discuss the price of the house. We requested two prices- one with the house being 32 feet wide, and the other with the house being 36 feet long. I am so hoping that the second option is doable- it really would make the house big and beautiful!
Sadly, he was too busy today, and we had to put off the meeting until Friday. Although I am nervous about the prices, I just want to know so that we can move on with the planning. Grrr!!

Another meeting

We met with Mr. Architect again tonight. Sadly, we were hoping for a bit more. Joern emailed our house design last week, and we were hoping that he had taken our design and gone over it architecturally. But, he said that he hadn't received Joern's email. So, we printed the plans out quickly, and just quickly talked about the plans.
Our garage needed to be a bit wider, but since we have a larger property now, we can definately make a garage wide enough for both of our vehicles. He also pointed out that we should move our entry door a bit, and suggested a wider entry hall. All good points.
The surveyor came out last week, and did a 3D measurement of the property. Completing this allows for the architect and the town to have an exact understanding of what the house will look like, as well as drawing up specific property lines.
We haven't planned a new meeting yet, but once Mr. Architect draws up new plans with our design, we'll meet again. He's also working on the official building application process. I'm so interested to see where this goes!

Familie & Heim Fair

This afternoon, we headed out to the Stuttgart Messe (Trade Fair Hall,) for the Family and Home Fair. Unfortunately, this is about as close to a fair for building around here. I recently saw an ad for a building fair in Bern, Switzerland that looked incredible, sadly, for us, the fair wasn't so big.
Since the fair was family and home, it was not only house related, nor building related. But, there were some very interesting things. We picked up some brochures on hot tubs, which is us just dreaming. We spoke with a representative from a company that produces fireplaces. It was so interesting! I learned how German fireplaces work- the chimney is lined with very dense bricks that heat up from the fire. If you have a good quality fireplace here, and you light a fire for a little while at night, the bricks retain the heat until the following morning! That's gotta save on heating costs. They had a model, similar to the one below, which is quite similar to our "dream" fireplace.

Then we found a kitchen seller. It was so interesting!! This company has remarkable prices compared with furniture stores here. Their prices are so low because they do not advertise in newspapers or on television. We were given a quote that included granite countertops, and it was really affordable. I have a feeling that this store's prices are pretty much unbeatable.
Overall, I am pretty glad that we went to the fair, although it could have been a little better. It was a fun, and exciting day!

Our first official meeting

We met with our designer/ architect on Friday after I got out of work. It was our first official meeting with Mr. Architect as our project manager. The meeting was quite informative, and a bit of drain already on the wallet. He started out with formally giving us the plans he drew up for our house. Unfortunately, we will not be going with his design, as we are limited by the town as to which direction we can build our house, and Mr. Architect's design was not in the proper direction. No worries though, it is fixable!
But, we paid the first 1/2 of the charge for Mr. Architect to complete a "Baugesuch" or building application for the town of Neckartaifingen. Oy, they're gigantic! The application must include a pretty accurate house plan, as well as tons of other information. We won't actually purchase the lot if this application does not get approved, but there is little chance after our meeting on Wednesday that the application will be denied.
We haven't officially signed with Mr. Architect, this will only happen after the application is approved and Mr. Architect gives us a final offer on the home we want. Although this is a little stinky after we invest some money, it also gives a safety cushion in case his actual offer comes out more expensive than another housing company.
Mr. Architect gave us our first homework assignment as well, to put together our dream design and a "wish list" by Tuesday, so that he can include these items in the application.
Good thing we're headed to Cologne tomorrow to pick up my new car, we have two hours on the train to work on the "wish list."
See you tomrrow with an update!

BIG NEWS!!!

I mentioned the piece of land that we were looking into a in a few earlier posts. We were waiting to hear back from the town selectman on permission to build on a lot between my in-laws' house and a few new planned duplexes.
The piece of land is actually perfect, because it is kind-of useless for anyone but us. All this piece of land would do is drive up the price of land for someone wanting to build there. In today's market, and given the price of land here, a large yard isn't always a plus for someone wanting to build their half of a duplex.
So, the owners of the land offered to sell us this little chunk. It would not be usable, except that my in-laws have offered to give us some of their land, which abuts this mini-lot. We can't purchase it quite yet, but the largest hurdle was getting the town to approve our plan.
My father-in-law took our idea to the selectman of the town. Surprisingly, he then took our idea to the county building department. This saved us a bunch of time, because even if our town approved this plan, it still would need to go to the county building department. Since there is no official mandate for the type of houses to be built on these open lots, this process can take months. Lucky for us, the process took about a month.
Yesterday, we had our appointment with the selectman. And, well, we've been approved to build on the lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have an appointment to meet tomorrow with our house designer/ architect after work. We're pretty certain that we'll go with him, because he can help us optimize the house for the piece of land on which we'll be building. We need to pay him for his plans tomorrow. Plus, he will then take our house plan to the town council for approval. The selectman told us that he doesn't foresee much of a problem with approval of the plans- even for two full floors. A flat roof was even approved! Not that I want a flat roof, of course, it was just our original plan. Once our plan is approved, we can officially purchase the lot. Unless a minor miracle occurs, we won't be able to begin building until March. It gets too cold here, and the ground freezes, which makes installing a garage rather difficult.
BUT, the good news is we have a definite start. AND, we are beginning to get a time-line in place.
I can't believe how exciting this all is. It isn't just a dream anymore, we're so close to our dream home!!
So, the ball has finally started rolling! As of tomorrow afternoon, we'll have the first official set of house plans.

3 more sleeps!

We will know on Wednesday if we'll be able to build on the property near my in-law's house or if we'll have to purchase a full building lot!
3 more sleeps!! I hope that I'll be able to sleep for the next three nights with this building anticipation!!

Talking Money

We had our fist meeting today with a bank about financing. I am not a financial person anyway, in true Kathy (my mom's) tradition, all I know about money is how to spend it.
Naturally, I find the world of financing a house completely overwhelming anyway. Add to that of course, the fact that we had this meeting completely in German, and well, I was left needing Joern to explain the whole thing to me again.
Today's meeting was to meet with the lady we would be working with for our mortgate- she is in charge of mortgages for self-employed people, which is Joern. She was very informative, and patient with me, willing to answer all my questions.
As far as I understand, our mortgage would actually be split into three different loans. The government allows all new homeowners 100,000 Euro in a low interest loan. The positive is the low rate. But, these loans are 10 year loans. The positve being that after 10 years, we can pay off the loan, if we can afford it. The negative is that if we want to continue after the 10 years, we'll have to lock into a new interest rate- this is good if the rate is low in 10 years, this is not-so good if the interest rate is high in 10 years. Oy!
A second place type of loan we will take part in is a building society loan. The nice thing about this loan is that it is not available at once, but in a series of stages. This protects the builder in case something happens, and work is not completed on the house- which of course, I really hope we won't be in this scenario.

There were a lot of numbers, and a lot of words that I wasn't certain in their meaning, but we made it through.

We have a few more documents to get to the bank, and of course, we have to get our building lot approved. The good news? A mortgage much higher than we would need would be doable for us. This means that we should be able to find a monthly rate that is liveable for the amount we need.

DROOL!!

When one is building a home, one spends copious hours at the computer developing an Inspiration file. Mine lies between a binder and some pictures saved on my computer.
My plan after Wednesday is to compile all inspiration pictures, including mood boards, into a more concise notebook I can hand over to the architect, and later, to my designer.
But, I had to share these ultra-droolworthy pictures I found Dornob.

A wine cellar has been my absolute dream for years. I probably fell in love with them when I visited my first wine cellar in a French vineyard in college. And then, I found the Gewölbe Keller in Joern's Oma's house. Swoon! A Gewölbe Keller is a storage cellar that very, very old German homes possess. They were used for the storage all items, mainly food, that would need to be kept cool and relatively dry over a long winter. Joern's Oma's is relatively small, and was used mainly as storage for root vegetables, but a few bottles of hard cider found their way into the cellar as well. We visited one Gewölbe Keller in a house from the 1400s. It was HUGE, and had a very Pottery Barn-esque feel to it, as I could just imagine a dining room table and walls lined with wine.
Unfortunately, we probably won't get too much of a wine cellar in our new home- the best I can hope for is a wine fridge in the cellar. But, this may be something to put on our list for our next home :)

In other news, I'm struggling to design our guest room. Obviously, if people are traveling from other countries, or even other cities, to visit us, I want to provide visitors with a comfortable, relaxing place. I am planning a photo wall in the guest room, of various places we've been. But now, I am also in love with adorable bird pillows, like this one from Target:

My mom would be most shocked with this decision, but maybe my cousins too, as they know that I am absolutely afraid of birds. But, I think these little ones are just so adorable! I am also planning on purchasing Pottery Barn's Audrey Bath Towels for our guest towels, which go with this expanding theme:

I'm just trying to figure out how to tie together birds and pictures of vacation locales without overdoing the room and stressing out our guests!

The final offer

We received our final house offer last night. Oy! Their price is way more affordable than the builder or the other pre-fab company. Okay, not way, way more, but about 30,000 Euro less- the price of the kitchen.
We're still waiting until our November 4th meeting with the town about the building lot. Until then, we can't make any decisions on the house.
We have some time now to investigate this company more. The first pre-fab company (Finger) has amazing references. Joern's friend is building with Finger, and now, the brother of the friend is also planning on building a Finger because he is so impressed with his friend's house. Finger has incredible customer service too- which is something that is rare in Germany, and even more rare when it comes to home building companies here. But, they're the most expensive option.

The architect/ stone builder is the second most expensive option. What is good about this option is that the architect is here in Stuttgart. He will come and optimize the house for our land. Most pre-fab companies have architects at their headquarters, which means that they are deigning the house, not the house with the land. The builder we would go with has a great reputation. He has built many houses in the area, and they are fortresses. The house will last into the next millenium, and will withstand everything. Germans also really like stone houses in comparission to pre-fabs because they breathe better, so they offer a better living climate. Hmmmm....

This third option is another pre-fab. They are not as well known. We have been to see one of their houses being built, and it seems like good quality. But, we don't personally know anyone who has built with this company, something which worries me a bit.

Someone once broke it down like cars, something which Joern and I know a lot more about. This person said, its like a German versus a Japanese car. Both have good quality, and both will last. German cars are technically percise, and give you an out-of this world experience. Japanese cars also offer superb quality, are reliable, and are good for the average guy. The first two home comapnies are the German cars of housing. The third company is the Japanese car of housing.
Putting it in these terms is good for us, but also makes the decision a little more difficult. We are devoted German car drivers.

In other news, I just got the COOLEST book from Amazon. It is called, Designing Your Dream Home, by Susan Lang. It really helps you get organized, and it is the first English resource I've gotten for building a house. The book is full of checklists and interview questions, things I never would have thought of that really make a difference! She often talks about deciding what items you will be storing in which rooms, before you design your house, so you have a better idea of size and layout of each room. The only bugger is that all the checklists need to be photocopied, I think it would be a little nicer if they were included on CD. But otherwise, I'm excited to get started putting together our binders and checklists!!

Grrr

We're still waiting on the last pre-fab offer. It should have been in last week. We haven't heard from them. That doesn't give me a good feeling. In an economy where people have slowed their building and buying, it probably isn't such a good idea to keep your customers waiting. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

We're also waiting to hear about the land purchase. My father-in-law talked to the first selectman of our town, who then went to the building department of our county. We are going to have a meeting with him on the 4th of November. If they say okay, then we can buy the land immediately.

If it doesn't work out, we found a good building lot in Neckartenzlingen (the town next to us.) It is a nice sized lot, and we should be able to afford it. The lot just opened up for sale recently, so we should have a good chance if we need it. Joern will call the owner early next week so we can get our names on a waiting list for the lot.

In other news, I'm going to buy a throw rug for our dining room. I fell in love with it when I first saw it on Young House Love. Unfortunately, by this time, it was no longer for sale at Pottery Barn.
It still exists in rather sizeable quantities on Ebay, so I've decided to get it. After consulting with my designer, I've decided to go with this rug for the dining room:

in pineapple. Although I like the brown a lot, the pineapple is my hands-down favorite, and it will lighten up the dark wood floors a lot. I can't wait to get it!

While we're waiting

While we're waiting for an answer from the First Selectman for an answer to our building lot question, I've been busy looking for design ideas.
I found this really cool website that will keep me quite busy, I can just tell!
They have tons of pictures from all over the net. You can search rooms by color, or style. There is a forum, although it isn't quite as well organized as the Decorating foum on the Nest.
No matter though, I'm really excited about DecorPad. I'm sure it will be useful!

Waiting game

Last night, we went to the model home park, yet again. This time, we met with the architect who've we met with a few times before. The last time we met with the architect, I wasn't so excited about his plan, yet was also having trouble realizing that the floor plan could change. I've thought a lot about the last meeting with the archtiect, and realized that I was being a bit inflexible. When we met with him again last night, we showed him the possible sliver of land that we may be able to purchase. He was able to draw up a rough sketch of how the house would fit into the property, and it was really nice. He even was able to optimize the land so that we would have a decent yard and discussed changing the floorplan to get the best view.
It was really interesting working with an architect, who has driven to our site a few times, and who has worked extensively in the area.
Wow, it is hard to make a decision. We have an appointment to go into contract with the pre-fab company, but I'm not sure now that they are the best for our situation.
This architect would be also our project manager, which would mean that he would organize all the different workers for our home. He would oversee the entire building project, and ensure that it was all running well. Even if we use our own sub-contractors, he would still oversee everything.
What I really like about working with the architect is that he would oversee and organize the entire process. With the pre-fab company, the company would be responsibe only until it comes time for the cosmetics, like laying the floors, installing the plumbling, etc. The architect would coordinate everything.
Another thing that is really nice about working with an archtiect instead is that he can really optimize our building situation. If we ended up building on a flat lot that was large, I would probably go with a pre-fab company hands down. They are slightly more expensive, but they also put up, very quickly, a great house, made out of wood! I don't know why, but I love the idea of having a wooden house.
If we decide to go with this architect / project manager, we would be building a traditional stone house. According to Germans, these homes offer a preferable living climate and you don't have to worry so much about airing the house(oy!)
I also really feel like this architect would be able to design the best house to fit our building lot. The pre-fab companies also have their own house designs, and if you want some other design, be prepared to pay- a lot. We like the flexability of working with an architect and a German stone house.
A big difference: payment. With the prefab company, we would just sign a contract, and the company would then take over the responsibility for getting the permission to build, planning the house, you name it. With this architect, we need to pay for the plans, and need to pay him to go to the town hall to get permission to build. The good thing about this with the architect though is that the first contract you sign with him is just through permission to build, and not a binding contract to build a house. I don't know what happens with a pre-fab company if you sign a contract with them, and then the town denies your building plans.
We're leaning much more heavily now towards the architect/ building project manager.

Tonight, we met with Mr. Builder. He spoke with the selectman of our village a few days ago. The selectman said that we could use part of my in-law's property and part of the building lots to build, as long as it doesn't appear as a third building row (Joern's aunt's along the street, our house, my in-law's would all be in a line.) We looked at the drawings, and from one side, the house absolutely fits, but from another view, it doesn't.

Once we have formal plans, and have signed a contract with someone, our request to build will go to the town council, who will ultimately decide whether or not we can build our house where we want to build. Tomorrow, my father-in-law, who was able to talk the town council into a whole bunch of "rule breakers" with their house 30 years ago, will go to talk to the first selectman, to see if he can get the selectman to fully agree. This would be a huge step.

So, for now, its all a waiting game. We have to wait to see what the selectman says, then sign a contract with either the project manager or the pre-fab company,and then wait again for the actual permission.
The good news? According to the project manager/ architect, now that we've made a start, if we get the permission, we can start working on a time-line!

The next price offer

We sent our houseplans to four builders, three pre-fab companies, and one architect. We also gave our houseplans to Mr. Builder.
We now have formal offers from two pre-fab companies, the architect, and a rough estimate from Mr. Builder. After receiving the offer from the first pre-fab company, we were set to throw in the towel with another pre-fab company, which was actually the first company we were interested in. Then we had our meeting with our sales rep. from Finger tonight. Turns out the price is under the last quote.
We were given the price "turn key" ready, but we will probably only have the house completed technically, leaving us responsible for interior painting, flooring, purchasing the bathroom fixtures, and interior doors. Really, I'm okay with this, because I have specific painting requirements (ie. American unbumpy walls.) I also think that if we aren't married to the builder to provide our wooden flooring, tiles, and interior doors, we'll have more options. Plus, our representative reminded us that every time the builder provides a service, we have to pay not only for the service (like laying the tile,) but also for the cost of travel and overnight stays. Obviously, we can save some money here.
We left with huge smiles on our faces! The house is big and beautiful.
We are waiting to hear back from the last pre-fab company. We must get a detailed price list from the architect.
Right now, we have tentaviely set up a meeting for October 12th, Columbus Day, to sign a contract with FingerHaus. By signing a contract, we are permitting FingerHaus to go to the town hall and request a building permit for the house. Without a house and a builder, we cannot request a building permit.
OH MY GOSH, I am absolutely amazed. Once the ball starts rolling, especially if we go with the pre-fab, it rolls incredibly fast! I can't believe its really going to happen, we're really going to build a house!

Sending off the plans

After our meeting last week with another pre-fab company, Joern has been working hard all weekend to finish up our "dream plans." They are tailored for the building lot next to the in-laws. The builder will take these plans to the town hall (Rathaus) to ask permission to build.
He just clicked "send." In about a week, we'll get back our 3rd price quote for the house. Plus, this is the builder we are sending to request the building land from the town hall. Things are slowly starting to build steam! Wow!
Joern and I have also decided to meet with his friend, who is a building engineer. His girlfriend is an architect. We'd like to see what they have to say.

Building in a small village

For any readers who don't know me personally, you may not know that we live in a village here in Germany. There are about 3,800 residents in our little village. Moving from a largeish American town of close to 60,000 to our tiny village sometimes is a bit overwhelming.
Take for example our experience in building. We're trying to make headway in finding a building lot, as we have the house plans, and just need the lot. Our original plan was to build in the yard in front of my in-laws' house. They have plenty of land, and we could build without disturbing much of their view.
Another option would be to buy into the new development that is happening next to my in-laws' house. The current plan is to take a largeish lot of land and subdivide into lots for 3 duplexes, one single family, and two multiple family buildings.
Two weeks ago, we met with the owners of the building lots where the duplexes and single family home will be built. The first tip off that this was going to be an experience- they are the parents of Joern's friend Christoph. They welcomed us into their home, and immediately poured us copious amounts of wine. (In my opinion, maybe land deals should not involve alcohol.) After chit-chatting, we were introduced to the other man in the room, Mr. Builder (no joke, his name is Bauer which is farmer and builder in German.) Mr. Builder will be building the houses on the aforementioned land. Oh, AND, Mr. Builder is the brother of the landowner.
We spoke with the landowners about a deal in which we would get a small chunk of land directly on the border with my in-laws. They were willing to sell us the small chunk, which would allow us to build the house without really obstructing my in-laws' view at all. They then needed to shift all the houses over, which required a bit of work. Why would they be willing to do this? Because Joern was always such a nice boy (oy!)
Great! Good start. But, we are not sure now if we would be required to build our home with Mr. Builder, seeing as he is the brother of the landowner. Not that Mr. Builder is bad, he's very good. And, very EXPENSIVE! And, he does not like our house plans, so in his very German way, spent a lot of time showing us why our floor plans would not work (which they would.)
Now, our other issue becomes, if we are allowed to build on that land with a pre-fab company, or if we decide to build on my in-laws' property, we must put forth a request to build through the Town Council, which then votes on approval for our house (use of land, roof style, home style, and plans.) Guess who is on the town council? Yep, you got it! MR BUILDER!!!! And, to make matters worse, Joern got in a fight with the First Selectman of the town a few years ago. What a great way to make friends in the right places! Oy!
In Fairfield, although my father new builders, I didn't know any people who were selling building lots. I certainly had no relationship with any of the members of the board of selectmen. I had no experiences with the First Selectman other than voting for him. Life in a small town comes with its own set of unique experiences!

Finally, a kitchen I can see myself living with!

After lots of internet searching, I finally found a kitchen I like! Hopefully, Joern can deal with the fact that its wood- and not feel like he's in a Bavarian Oma's kitchen!

image from nolte-kuechen.de
I would prefer if it had crown moulding, instead of the very square tops, but we can always aks! The kitchen is cherry, and would look perfect with brownish granite countertops, and our dark wood floors! Hooray! I can't wait to go check out the kitchens at the dealer that sells this brand!

A little inspiration

Since meeting with Lelia this weekend, she's inspired me to really bring my inspirations together. For years, I've been faithfully ripping pictures from magazines and catalogs, saving them in a binder. Yet, I've never really gone through the binder. Since Lelia's house turned out so beautiful, I decided to take her advice and gather pictures for our meetings with various architects that are coming up soon. I also decided that since I pretty much know what our furniture will look like, I should put together some more mood boards so that I can pull together my ideas in a more cohesive way.
I've already done a mood board for the master bedroom, but I've since fallen in love with another bed, so it is time to redo that one.
For right now, I'll settle for a living room mood board.

Of course, we won't have two different accent chairs in our living room. I just can't decide!

Meetings and a visit

Last week was a blur of meetings. It all started on Tuesday, when we met with the sales rep. from Bien-Zenker, who gave us our second, official, serious offer on a house. She also brought with her an architect. We went over the details of the offer with us. Basically, since the house is from a pre-fab company, she gave us the price "Turn-Key Ready." I'm not so sure this is the best.
But the house would be beautiful! Depending on our lot, things could change. But, for the time being, we are planning a full cellar and a garage built in to the cellar. The garage would be a 2 car garage, and we are hoping on having one room in the cellar with windows that go to the ground. Right now, we are talking about a hipped roof. The price also included propane for heating, and heated floors. No worries, heated floors in Germany are really nice. The price was pretty much what I figured. We've pretty much decided that we'll hire out for the floors and painting, instead of having it completed by the house company. The only items not included in the price were the preparation and removal of the dirt in the yard, the connection fees for utilities, kitchen, and fireplace. Overall, we were really pleased.
Here's a picture of what we are thinking about with this company. Of course, there are a few modifications to their plan,and we will not have the aluminum on the top half, but at least here's an idea of what type of house we like most:

photo from www.bien-zenker.de
Our next plan with this company is to meet with another architect, who we've met before. I really liked her because she has spent a lot of time in America, which helps, she has an idea of where I am coming from. We'll work with her to come up with a plan for the interior, exactly the way we want it. This meeting should be within the next few weeks.
On Thursday, Joern picked me up from Parent's Night at school, and we headed to a neighbor's house, to meet with people who own some building lots next to Wolfgang and Hildegard and to meet with a builder they are working with. Our first step was to determine if they would be willing to change the divisions of one of their building lots, which would allow for us to build without blocking any view from Wolfgang and Hildegard. They are willing to change. Our next step is to ask the town if we would be allowed to build in a) Wolfgang and Hildegard's front yard, b) on this divided building lot if Wolfgang and Hildegard then give over most of their front yard to us (so that we would be building legally within the boundaries). If we cannot do either a or b, we can also build on one of their lots, which are sized for duplexes. We could build our planned house on a full lot, but people would then be allowed to build another half directly next to our house. Not my favorite idea.
We also talked with the builder. He is very nice, but tried to talk us into one of his plans. Joern was very firm that we know what we want. We'll meet with this builder, whose name happens to be "Builder" in German, in the upcoming weeks, after we find out what the town has allowed us to do.
The third, very exciting and interesting thing we did this week house-related was travel to Dresden. I have a friend, Lelia, who is American, living there. She and her husband recently built a house and she invited us up to see it and to talk about her experience with building a house in Germany. They built with a builder instead of a pre-fab company. Their house is georgeous to say the least! And it was so wonderful to see that she had fabulously colored, untextured walls! She told us that you can achieve American-styled walls here, and it basically boiled down to finding the right painter. The staircase was beautiful and what I consider "normal," with closed stairs and storage underneath. We spent a few hours at the house, touring, talking, and eating cupcakes. One of my biggest lessons- is that I need to be specific about what I want, have lots of pictures to show, and to not back down. We talked a lot about our experiences with German sales-people and their reluctance to help you if you ask for something outside of their sphere. She had a bad experience looking for subway tile, just like I've had similar experiences in asking for an oven large enough to cook one turkey one time a year. She eventually got her subway tile backsplash in the kitchen, and despite the German opinion, I think it looks beautiful! I learned so much from Lelia and her experiences, I am now even more excited about having our own home, now that I know I can get an American-styled home. Hooray! Thanks so much Lelia!

How exciting

We went to our friend Marcus' wedding yesterday. It was really lots of fun. I know you may be wondering "what does this have to do with our house?" though. Well, Marcus' brother happens to run a company here in Germany that produces wooden flooring. We really like the brother, and just happened to mention to him that we will be building a house soon. He was so excited and told us to make an appointment in one of their stores to see what materials are available. I am so excited because it looks like we'll be getting hardwood flooring. Hooray! We'll make an appointment in the next few weeks, because he said that you have to know the thickness of the flooring before you lay the slab for the house. So he said that the floors should come early in the planning phase of the house. I can't wait to see our options and to make a decision on our floors.
One thing I need to really think about though- flooring in the kitchen. I guess a lot has to do with our floorplan, but I feel if the kitchen is in open view of the dining room or living room, I would prefer one floor. But, wood in the kitchen isn't the best choice. I know its popular at home, but I'm just not so sure. I was comfortable with putting laminate flooring in the kitchen, and continuing that throughout the entire main floor. But wood? What do you think?
In other news: we have two meetings on Tuesday. We're leaning back towards Wolfgang & Hildegard's property. We're meeting with Bien Zenker and an independent architect. Joern wants to give his plans to the first, and we want to check the plans from the architect. I'm excited to see what Tuesday will bring!

Where we are right now

There are many reasons for my lapse in posting, but not to fear, we are still hot on the idea of a new home.
We've looked in to some new building lots. We're done negotiating with the farmer with the field next to Wolfgang & Hildegard's. We gave up once he offered us 40,000 Euro for us to buy his field in return for Joern's grandmother's entire house. I guess its time to move on from that thought!
There is a huge lot next to Wolfgang and Hildegard, on the other side, that has been bought by two different people. The lot has been subdivided into three lots for duplexes, one for a single family, and two lots on the street for multi-family homes. Wolfgang met with the owner of the duplex appropriated properties recently. We could purchase the land to build an entire duplex, and rent out the other side. I guess we should not rule out this option, simply because, financially, it could make quite a bit of sense.
We're also considering purchasing the apartment of one of our neighbors (in our building.) They are desperate to move, and the apartment is in top condition. For us, the positive would be that we would pay cash for the apartment, and rent it out, which would be a consistent income to put towards our mortgage.
We are still thinking about that 3 acre building plot in Neckartenzlingen. As I said before, I love the neighborhood, and I love the size of the property. Joern did find out that we would have to leave a path open for tractors between the building lot and the field, which detracts a bit. Plus, now that we know exactly where the building lot is located, we would have to put the garage (or carport for right now,) in the front of the house, which isn't exactly ideal.
Which brings us back to our first option. We are beginning the process of asking the town if we are actually allowed to build in Wolfgang & Hildegard's front yard. Obviously, the results of this application will tell us if this is even a realistic option, or if we need to continue our search for building lots.
We still have a long road ahead. I'm very excited though because in two weeks, we are headed to Dresden. I have an Americn friend there, Lelia, who buit a home not too long ago. I am particularly excited to see her, and to hear about her home building process in my language, and through the eyes of a fellow American. We tend to view things a bit differently sometimes.

That's about all for now. I still constantly daydream about our house, and am so excited to see where we are one year from now!

Exciting finds!

While I was home, I was quite busy looking at furniture with my cousin, Elizabeth. Not only is my cousin fabulous, but it just so happens that she's also an interior design student. So, my interior designer and I spent lots of time in many, many stores! Since it looks pretty certain that we will be buying our furniture in the States and shipping it, I was very determined to look at many options.
We spent two days in Westport, Connecticut at Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, and Restoration Hardware. Of course, the most fun was the decorating class at Pottery Barn, but spending lots of time at Pottery Barn is fun in itself!

Here are some things that we loved!

Brooks Slipcovered Chair from www.potterybarn.com

Malika rug from www.potterybarn.com



Azure chair from www.crateandbarrel.com


Axis sectional from www.crateandbarrel.com


Portman Framed Sleigh Bed from www.restorationhardware.com
Incidentally, I figured that despite my love of sleigh beds, a king sized sleigh bed would be far too massive for anything but the biggest of bedrooms. So, I decided that a sleigh headboard keeps the curved look of the sleigh without so much wood.

We also spent an afternoon in Milford looking in furniture stores too. We visited Pilgrim Furniture, Raymour and Flannigan (which was HUGE) and Ethan Allen (mom's favorite.)
I liked a bedroom set in Raymour and Flannigan, but I didn't write down the name. I hope it will be there when we get home.
We also enjoyed all the beautiful furniture at Ethan Allen. We had lots of time there, because we got locked in due to a storm! I found out a few days later that there was a tornado in the area of the furniture store that day. Elizabeth and I believe though that there was some divine intervention involved. I plan to make an appointment with the interior designer at Ethan Allen though for Christmas time.

We also spent time at the Home Depot, looking at countertops and kitchens, and floor samples.

We even drove out to Long Island to the Riverhead Outlet Center because they have Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware outlets. I am certain that we'll be able to get something for our new home at the outlets, the only challenge will be transporting the furniture from Long Island to Connecticut.

Its easy to see that we have lots of work and lots of decisions ahead. It is a lot of fun and really exciting though!

The chicken or the egg?

What came first, the chicken or the egg? What will come first for us, the house or the plot?
We're still thinkiing about the plot next to Joern's parents. BUT, since its on such a hill, the cellar would be so expensive! Do we need a cellar?
We spoke with the farmer who owns the building plot in the next town over. He told us the exact location of the plot. Turns out it is not in the corner, there is one more building plot between his and the edge of the town. But, there is a 2.5 acre field running all the way to the far edges of the town, that field is built in to the price of the building plot. A positive and a negative. It ensures that we would have a huge property, that we would have to plant trees around for our privacy. But, our land would run behind our neighbor's land. Hmmmm.
The house we build will be determined by the building plot, yet the plot we are interested in will be determined also by the cost of the house.
Joern should have some research to complete while I'm home. We'll see what awaits me when I return.

Joern is finally getting in to this house thing!!

As I said in an earlier post, it looks like the house is on its way to being a memory, and my mom's estate was just liquidated yesterday. We've been dreaming, talking to people, and looking at pictures, but we haven't gone too far into the planning. Now that we're getting closer to our dream, it looks like its time to actually buckle down and start the planning process. I've been looking at tons of pictures, busy getting ideas, and talking to Joern, but he hasn't really been talking back.
All of a sudden, yesterday, Joern started talking about building plots and asked me what rooms are important to me in a house. We went to a huge furniture store yesterday. I found a couch that was interesting, just the wrong color, but easily fixable. Most excitingly though, we found some incredible kitchen ideas. Joern has decided now that he wants a very large island in the kitchen. But do we want the sink in the island or the stove?
Something we love, Joern especially is the CombiSet from Miele.

image from www.Miele.com
You can mix and match counter-top stove components. You can choose from gas burners, an induction range, regular glass-ceramic burners, a stovetop grill, a wok-burner, griddle, even a built-in scale! It is a very pricey option, but if we can cut costs in other places, who knows what our range will look like?!
After our very fun experience with furniture and kitchen shopping, we headed home and Joern started planning another house. Wolfgang and Joern are going to meet with the farmer who owns the building plot next to Wolfgang and Hildegard, tomorrow. Since it is very narrow plot, we would have to do some creative planning with the house. I can't find Joern's plans to put up now, but Joern designed an extremely modern home. It is actually quite beautiful, and I think it would be amazing! I am really proud of Joern- he really has some amazing ideas!!
This morning, we headed out to Esslingen to another furniture store. It was especially fabulous that they were having a grand re-opening celebration, so we got to begin our search with a glass of sparkling wine- tee hee!
We spent most of our time in the kitchen area. Again, we are starting to form a better idea of what we want in our kitchen. Joern has become even more enamored with the Miele Combi-Set. I am really liking the idea of the island too. We're still not quite sure about the cabinet material, Joern would prefer white, while I would prefer a wood. Joern's argument about wood is that its "too Bavarian."
We'll also need to come to a compromise about the countertops. I really want a beige granite, but also like the look of black granite with white cabinets. Joern does not like granite, being opposed to the high sheen of these countertops. We're looking into Silestone as another option.
We also talked to a salesman about appliances. We would like a ball-park idea of how much our kitchen will cost. So we talked appliances. Oy! I would love to find a very large, American sized oven. Unfortunately, very large ovens are almost impossible to find here. We have a lot to research.
We also looked at sinks, and I realized when we plan, I need to bring my crockpot insert with me to judge sink sizes. I found a flush-mount sink from Villeroy and Boch:

image from www.villeroyboch.com
Joern doesn't really like undermount sinks because most are stainless steel. I don't like regular drop-in sinks, because of the lip and the dirt that gets under the lip. It seems like this flush mount sink may be a good compromise.
We also stopped at an appliance dealer. Buying the appliances at the furniture store/kitchen store may seem easiest, but really expensive. We talked about ovens, because it is so hard to find an oven here that would fit a Thanksgiving turkey. They make 36 inch ovens here, but they are long and flat, and would never fit a turkey. Of course, I feel stupid going to a store and saying, "I really need a gigantic oven for one bird once a year." But then again, how dumb would it be if I couldn't make a turkey at Thanksgiving? We talked about prices on ovens, built-in coffee machines (Joern's dream,)

We also discussed refrigerators, which of course, I am insisting on a side-by-side with an in-door ice maker. We looked at wine storage too, hmmm, that would be a lot of fun! In all, it turns out that we can purchase appliances much cheaper if we go to an appliance store instead of a big kitchen store or a media mega-store. We figured out that we could save enough money in our purchase of our ovens that we could use that saved money for the built-in coffee maker! Joern is also thinking of a steam oven. I am not so convinced on that one, simply because we don't steam anything now. But who knows?! I am very excited to see the final product!!

HGTV Dream Home 2009

When I am home, I watch HGTV constantly. I love the shows, the beautiful houses, everything!
I decided to get on their website today just to look around. They have a bunch of pictures and photo tours up from their 2009 Dream Home. While it isn't my exact dream home, there are quite a few details which were really interesting to me.


I really love the windows around the door. They add lots of light to the entry way.


This detail from the kitchen is so cool! I love the shelving for dish storage. These shelves though are in the pantry, to protect the dishes from lots of dust and grease that end up in the kitchen.


No worries, I won't decorate our guest bedroom quite like this, but I do like the homey, comfortable feeling in the room. I also really like the iron bed frame, which lightens up the room.


This guest bath is really tranquil. When you've traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to visit, you definately want an enviornment that is tranquil.


I like the sophisticated cabinets here in the Kid's Bath. Even though the counters are blue and fun, they can easily be changed out as kids get older. Since the cabinets are white, they look fun with the blue counter, and would fit equally as well with a different color counter.


I really love dark wood cabinets in bathrooms, but I do like the light cabinets here with the dark floors. I also like the built-in shelving for towels. You can store normally folded towels in these shelves. Here the towels can be a part of the decor without being rolled all special, or ending up in a basket somewhere.


The island in the walk-in closet is fabulous! It would be an excellent place to store accessories and undies separate from clothes. Further, it seems really handy to have a central place to place your clothes as you choose an outfit.


I really hope that our terrace is large enough for both an eating area and a more relaxed "outdoor living" area.
*all images from HGTV.com Dream Home 2009

Things I'm loving

Thank goodness I'm on vacation. I don't know how on earth I could keep focused on work when there are so many great decorating/ house resources on the internet! In a perfect world, we will have money for a down payment VERY soon, which means that we will be able to start on our house VERY soon!
My plan was to take the time while everything was in probate to make decisions. After 7 full years living here, I've received a bunch of "I want to come visits." Great! So excited! But, it would be so much more fun to have guests come visit us in our new house!
There are some things that Joern and I are pretty much decided upon, well, one thing, we want two full floors in our home. So, our house will look something like this:

image from FingerHaus.de

There are some features though that sure would make life nice:
1. A sun room

2. A balcony
See above photo- balconies are especially lovely when they are on top of a sun room!

While searching the fabulous world of the internet, here are some more lovely ideas I've found:

image from www.younghouselove.com


Shellbox fom www.theletteredcottage.com


I love this personalized wall canvas from www.nameyourdesign.com


Azure Chair from www.crateandbarrel.com

bathroom from TDiddy2

There are so many decisions to be made!

Where we are right now

I have to say, the house building process is not quite as easy as it all seems. And really, we're not too far along. It looks like we're finally going to get our finances in order by the end of the summer, which means that in all reality, we can actually get started on this process quite soon! Wow!
Here's where we are right now:
We know relatively little about what we want. The things I should be making a decision on are not things I really want to make decisions about, so I frequently find my mind drifting off to smaller things, decorating related. I know what the photo wall will look like in our guest room, what color I want to paint our living room, oh, and what kind of dog I want to get.
What am I confused by? Our current quandry concerns a building plot. I am forever thankful to Jörn's parents for offering their front yard to build our house. That is still a very possible option. Ufortunately, there are some drawbacks to this prospect, including: limitations, proximity, and cost.
Limitations- we can only build a flat roofed house in order to save the view for my in-laws. Without a flat roof, they will have 6 feet of their home from which to look out from and see anything other than our house. Joern's dream is to have a garage with a car lift in it, so that he can work on his old cars. There would be no possiblity of this - ever if we build on our in-laws' property.
Proximity We would only be able to build once- because we'll be squishing our house right along the property borders, we won't have the possiblity to add on. We have to make all our decisions for the next 20 or so years now. Bleh! And to quote my friend's fiance, "Did you ever think it will be like Everybody Loves Raymond?"

While I can appreciate it would be extremely nice for our future kids to have the freedom to go between our house and Oma and Opa's, as George Burns said, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city."
Cost Yes, building on my in-laws' plot would save us the cost of buying land, and getting all the utilities to it, lets not forget, there will be some additional costs. The house is on a hill, so the cellar needs to be specially reinforced against the pressures of the hill. Our cellar, with garage, will cost us almost as much as buying a plot of land, because the cellar needs to be higher to accommodate a garage. Because our house will be our forever house, pretty much unchangable, we have to build a house that will exactly fit the property, more expensive than building a standard house.
So, we're looking at some options:
1. Purchasing a plot of land next to my in-laws. It is a long/narrow plot, that without having land from my in-laws, is unbuildable. If we purchased this land, we would be able to not only have a large yard, but we could reposition the house and have more options.
2. A building plot in Neckartenzlingen, a town about double the size of Neckartailfingen. The plot is ginormous! It is a 3.7 acre lot, with an approximately 1/4 acre buildable land. The rest is fields and woods. Yes, this seems ridiculous, but in Germany, where people are squished together, 3.7 acres, even if mostly unbuildable is HEAVEN! It is an end lot in a new- build area (in Germany, as towns grow, new neighborhoods are opened up for building.) This is the end of the area for building, as the woods border another town. The building plot is very gently sloped, and the woods run down to the Neckar river, but it is quite high, and in no danger of flooding. The view looks onto rolling hills, and you can even see Neckartailfingen. It is beautiful!

3. Purchase another building plot. This wouldn't be bad either, but it would be about the same price to purchase 1/4 acre buildable land as it would be to purchase the plot mentioned in option #2.
We're talking to the farmers who own the plots of land both next to the in-laws and the one in Neckartenzlingen. We'll see what happens!
For now, I guess I'll continue to peruse the Pottery Barn website to find decorating ideas.

Haven't been around in a while

We have kind of put the hunt on hold while we're waiting for money. But, some companies continue to contact us, which is fine.
Before we left for Italy though, we were suprised by our project manager from F.H. He called us and said that the plans for our house are ready. But, we have to sign the contract quickly as prices are going up. Um, fishy! We have no money right now, and we have always been upfront with this fact. As soon as we start talking to a company, the first thing we say that we are looking at beginning probably next spring, because of the monetary sitation. How on earth can we sign a contract right now with no mortgage, nothing? Obviously, the front runner company has gone down a point or 20 in my book.
We met with another pre-fab company a few times recently. We really like their version of the house we are looking into. With pre-fab homes, you can move around the insides as long as you don't start moving walls. When you want to move walls, you start messing with the structural design, and they have to get ahold of their design engineers. As soon as you start talking about structure and engineers, you rapidly increase the price. This is why if we do go with a pre-fab, it is best if we find an exisiting model with a floor plan we are pleased with. This is the cheapest option.
Today, we met with an architect. We spoke with him before, and he is in the model home park. On our first meeting, I was a bit put off. As we told him what we wanted, he came around with answers like, "that won't work because of the pattern of the sun," or my favorite, "well, that just isn't Feng Shui." I'm not a believer. To me, I want a view of the castle ruins from our bed, and I want to make sure our living room does not look into Jörn's cousin's house. But, Jörn being the one to keep our options open told me to wait to see what the architect designs.
Well, turns out that the architect designed an incredibly beautiful home. Someone from the company came out to Jörn's parents' to take detailed pictures of the plot, and based on the measurements came up with the best fit for the space we would have.
Oh, I wish I had the pictures, but he won't release them to us until we pay a semi-contract fee. Understandable, as we could take the plans and go to someone cheaper.
OH MY GOD! The house is gorgeous! It has a huge basement with a 2 car garage. The cellar includes an office with a beautiful window, and our cinema room which would be 430 sq. ft. The first floor has a guest room with a guest bath, a lovely kitchen, and a great room that is 645 sq. ft (the size of our current apartment.) In between the living and dining areas, he has planned a dual sided fireplace. There is even room on the first floor for our washer and dryer!
Upstairs, I would get my MBR suite! The master bath is huge! The two other bedrooms are quite large and share their own bath.
There are beautiful, huge windows, some of which wrap around the corners of the house. On top of our garage, he planned a very large terrace that stretches across the entire house front. We could fit an outdoor dining and living area!
The house is approximately 2200 sq. ft. Hooray!
The best though is that we would not have to move my in-laws' existing driveway or their garage. This means much less land to dig out and replace, plus, we will not have to move any pipes leading to their house.
There is really very little I would do to change this current design, which is most exciting.
What I really liked about working with the architect is that he was able to give us exactly what we want, at a competitive price. Most of the pre-fabs insist we have an entry-way in the back of the house, which we would never use. If we build a pre-fab, we will have to fit our lives to the pre-exisiting plan of the house. If we build with an architect, he has planned a house to fit our lives. It seems so beautiful and exciting!
The pre-fabs have to go a long way now to beat this offer!

A weekend to rest!

We have no appointments this weekend! For the first weekend since the beginning of February, we won't be meeting with anyone about the house. This is actually nice! And again, it makes me kind of thankful that we don't have the money quite yet. If we had the money right now to buy the house, I would be a basket-case because I would feel so completely pressured to start building the house ASAP.
Of course, just because we have no appointments, doesn't mean we won't be thinking about the house. Because all we do is think about the house!
I used this morning to get my thoughts about the house out on paper. We have no water in the building until 3 pm. Since I couldn't do laundry or clean without water, I decided to draw out my idea of the perfect house. Of course, the measurments are not correct, the house is not drawn to scale, but I think I have it!
I can't wait to show Joern!!
The best news is that now we'll be prepared for next week when we have our meeting with DanWood, and the following week, when we have yet another meeting with FingerHaus! Hooray!!

Powder room inspiration

Of course we haven't decided on the house yet, but its never to early to think about interior decor as well.
I am trying to figure out how to incorporate our love of travel into our home decor without making it look tacky. The longer I think about it, the more I realize I am stealing ideas from my friend Mandy. One of her personal ideas was to make each room a different travel destination. Another of her ideas was to use beautiful Turkish tile in a bathroom.
I love the idea of incorporating past travel destinations into the rooms of our new home. Of course, the trick is to do this subtly, otherwise, our home would soon look like a nightmare.
As I was thinking about these destination rooms, and the tile, I remembered that I have a fabulous watercolor from my trip to Istanbul a few years ago. So, I came up with an inspiration board for our powder room which will be on the main level of our house.

I have to figure out what color tile and paint would go best with this combination. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I think that I would keep the tiles like they are shown on the board, and maybe place them on the wall behind the sink, under the mirror. I don't want too much, but I thought this combination was particulary beautiful. Plus, it picks up the aqua color from my painting.
Here are some examples of the beautiful tile in Istanbul: