Back HomeHome Build – The Finishes
March 4th, 2012 by keithandkinseyThis week we started selecting the finishes for our new home. We met with an interior designer Thursday who gave us our options for cabinetry and countertops. I knew this would be challenging, but I didn’t realize how challenging. There was a huge amount of options including; door styles, cabinet types, colors, full extension drawers, soft close drawers, counter top finishes, counter top edges, and on and on and on.
First we looked at the builder’s cabinet plans. We pretty much stuck with what he had thought out, except we changed a 4 drawer cabinet next to the stove to a 3 drawer cabinet. We also wanted the option of the fully extending drawers with a soft close. However, this will be one of the first things to go if pricing comes back too high.
Then we chose cabinetry door style. This one was easy since Kinsey and I both chose the same Lexington style doors. However, the color was dependent on what we could come up with for countertops. Here the challenge began… We are sticking to relatively inexpensive laminate countertops, but going with a higher grade option that looks similar to granite. There were a million choices, but we couldn’t nail one down, which meant we couldn’t nail down a cabinet color either. I was almost thankful when the designer told us she had another appointment, as we had reached the point of decision overload.
We slept on things a few days, looked at a bunch of color combinations online, and made a second attempt and choosing countertops and cabinet colors yesterday (Kinsey even called on the advice of her mother, this is rare). I think we’ve got it nailed down with a fairly light Nutmeg color kitchen cabinet and a dark Corbeau Montana countertop. The kitchen island will be a bit different, but we are saving that for a surprise. For the bathrooms, we went with a basic one piece cultured marble counter top on a darker colored cabinet. We debated laminate countertops in the bathrooms too, for more of a color choice. Although, we thought the one piece sink would be much nicer. We also think we have flooring selected, but we need to wait to meet with the flooring and trim designer next week. Hopefully she will help us finalize the choices, rather than tell us we are crazy and need to start over.
Lastly, we met with Kinsey’s step dad, the electrician, about lighting and power layout. We talked about where to locate lights and extra outlets. We decided we’ll put 220v power to a junction box in the garage, so I can have power for an air compressor or welder in the future. We also talked about the possibility of running some flexible conduit to mount A/V equipment remotely (maybe even in the basement). If anyone has any expertise on this, please share your input.
The next step will be to finalize the flooring and trim. Then our builder will be able to finalize bids. At that point, we’ll know if we’ve lost our minds or if we are still within our budget.
[…] we took the day off and visited Nonn’s Designer Showplace for a second time. Last time we selected counter tops and cabinets. This time we were looking to nail down flooring, trim, […]