Inspiration

Our good friends T,N & E finished building their house in august last year (they actually build most of it them self). This weekend ,between a Welcome party for C and a round of Golf for J, we paid them a visit. Their house were so beautiful and had great finish. The best part were their kitchen, our kitchen is not even coming close to that one. Not with our budget.

We have been thinking about getting a central vacuum cleaner, but after visiting T,N & E we will probably not. They told us they never used theirs, generally they choose the regular vacuum cleaner instead. So that will be 10 000 sKr in savings for us.

21 Maj

H3ll Yeah! Progress!!

We almost got the paper work done, that has to be finished before we can apply for the building permit. We hope to be able to submit it during the next week... but we don't bet on it

Were getting closer!

Here is a first draft of our kitchen, from the Salesman at HTH (the kitchen manufacture).

I wanted to have an island in our kitchen, but we could not find a way to get it in with the rest of our requirements. I guess I just have to settle with a peninsula. It doesn't look like there is a lot of storage in the kitchen, but the pantry to the right will swallow lots of stuff.

A drawback of this design is that we can't use the solid black counter top ,the one we really liked, because of the angles. Now we have to choose another, which is a bummer, since all we wanted is the solid black (metal) one. The final decision is not made and changes WILL follow.

/L

Heart of the home

The kitchen is the heart of the home - So it is really important to get it right.

Below is our last attempt on the kitchen design. Our first suggestion was (of course) really expensive. In this design we have tried to use more standard stuff to keep the price down.



We think #2 wins when it comes to looks, but this last design is probably more practical for a family with small kids.

Actually E and Ts kitchen in SF has given us inspiration for this design. Can you guys see which part? It is not obvious since it is not a copy of that part of your kitchen!
We also used the kitchen in our condo as inspiration, it is now a little over five years since we designed that one.

Move-in Date

We hope to move into our new house in time to enjoy the blossom of spring 2009.

But unfortunately things move rather slowly right now.

Images above from our visit to the lot this weekend.

/L

Interior design

This is the interior design with our modifications so far.


* A garage with a storage room, instead of a carport. This will also change the exterior of the house. with an angle on the backside.

* A second walk in closet in the Master bedroom.

* The master bathroom will be connected to the master bedroom only.
This is not standard as in US, although it is becoming more common over here.
The master bath is also smaller than in the original design.

* We added a low wall in the master bedroom and changed the rectangular window to a big round one.

* The kitchen and living room will have a more open design since we removed the wall in between them.

* In the wall between the hallway and the kitchen we added a little angle in the wall to hide the clothes hangers. All Swedish houses have a hallway, it is important for swedes to have a functional entrance. We missed that in US.

* In the northwest wing of the house the design is flipped vertical. We added a sliding door between the playroom and the livingroom.

*In the second bathroom we will add a bathtub and change the window from vertical to horizontal.


Please feel free to leave us feedback on the design, good and bad. We will be grateful for any help in the process, it is hard to think of every little aspect.

/L

8 Maj

We've arranged for the down payments of the house and the lot this week.

The most exciting house related issue this week, though, was todays visit to a newly built "Tenor" house. A very nice family gave us a tour of their new home only a week after they moved in. It was great to see it in reality, which will make it a lot easier to decide on future modifications. Both me and J sensed that this will be a great house for us.

So far so good! But just as we were about to leave A walked in through the patio door with a big rock in his hand....

.... lets just leave it to the fact that J had to hand over his business card for future reimbursements.

Big Thank You! to the G Family. We are really sorry for the inconvenience!

After looking at the house we went for a little evening picnic by the ocean. A insisted on going for a swim, but he changed his mind after dipping his feet's. For all of you that ain't familiar with the Swedish weather I should add that that May is defiantly to early for a swim in the ocean here. Usually there is only 2-3 months in the summer when it is even possible to go for a swim in the ocean. (of course there is people who do it all year around, but they are a little crazy ;) )

/L

Kitchen

The Kitchen will be black & white.
So far we agree.
The space for the kitchen is limited which makes it hard to fit everything we want. Also, since we are trying to hold a tight budget in order to make other custom modifications on the rest of the house, the selection can't be what otherwise would've been. Bummer.....
The toy kitchen is designed by L and constructed by L's dad, i.e. A and C's grand dad.

/J

1 maj

Labor Day in Sweden today.

J have been working with his big toy today. He is preparing it for the big day on Monday.

/L