Revisiting Decisions

Taken August 30, 2014, from the front of the house.

First, an update. I plan to include at least one photo of the site each time we go out. Last week we had forms. Today, we have house-shaped concrete!

Taken August 30, 2014, from the back/
garage-side of the house

At the land today, I was looking at the trees and sky and thinking that the slate blue siding color we had chosen last year might not work as well as I thought. Carl shrugged and suggested that we drive down the road to look at another house that has blue siding to see what I think. We did, but the siding on the house he showed me was lighter than the one we had chosen. On the way out of our road, though, I noticed another house, and I said, “I think that’s closer to the color we chose.”

Without missing a beat, Carl says, “We? Who is this ‘we’?”

Color me confused. Last year, we went through a bit of effort to track down the color swatches for the siding. Samples in hand, we followed our usual routine: One of us (this time, me) narrowed down the choices to about three or four, and the other (in this case, Carl) chose from there. We ended up with slate blue. I even put a tab on it, so we wouldn’t forget.

I didn't know they made portable siding swatches.

See the tab? Been there a year.

So, honey, “we” is you and me.

Not that it matters really. I’m asking to revisit many of the decisions we made last year – some because I just want to check, some because we made a change to our plans that affects our original choice. So far, we have revisited three: flooring, lighting, and appliances.

Carpet choice for stairs, hallway, and guest bedroom

The flooring revisit was relatively easy because we were happy with our original choices. Luce Brothers no longer had our paperwork, but we had the photos that included the labels, so we recreated the order (see our earlier post for those choices). We needed to make an addition, though, because we reconsidered the hardwood stairs. As many of your know, we expect to have dogs, so we’re adding a carpet runner on the stairs – and carpeting the upstairs hallway and guest bedroom while we’re at it, since carpet is less expensive than hardwood flooring. We chose a nylon that will be tough enough for dogs. I’ll post another time on some of the specifics we are adding to accommodate our current dog and the critters we intend to foster. I don’t think we were in the store more than an hour this time.

The appliance update was easy, too, because Belcher’s Appliances still had our paperwork. We checked for updated models and changed our washer/dryer selection. We will probably have to check on those again closer to the actual date we’ll need them, but I suspect that our current list will be mostly fine.

Lighting is still a work in progress. We got partway through a list of our needs last time we were at Hansen Electric, and we got a bit further this time. Unfortunately, the line we had chosen for most of the interior of the house has been discontinued, so we need to choose all over again. I also need to remember to bring the kitchen layout when we go next time. Lighting will get its own post soon.

We’ll definitely be revisiting the siding choice, in part because of what I found out when I went to the Certainteed site today. They have some new colors of their MainStreet line, which is the line our builder uses – and one of the things we didn’t upgrade in the P&S. There’s a red now that I think Carl will like.* I’ll see if we can get an updated set of swatches.

*Perhaps I don't know my husband as well as I thought. When I showed him the color, his reaction was – and I quote – "Bleah."