Interior choices

These are the tiles and the cabinet colour selection for our bathroom, we will not be using the smallest tiles. The big ones will be on the floor, the medium ones on the bath and shower

OK, so the time came to meet with the designer and make the choices for the interior of the home. This was a major point of stress for me and I found the idea of it fairly overwelming. So I dragged JF on many excusions to try and figure out what we liked.

We went to many a furniture store and looked at many photos on the internet to try and decide what style we wanted and so on. We also spent some time at the model house looking at all the samples to try and get ready. I like to mull over decisions for a while so this made me rest a bit easier.

In the end the day went really well and it was not as hard as I thought. The designer, Julie, was helpful at telling us where we should put the lighting fixtures and as for plugs, well we had so many in each room, that it was not really a big deal. With 1 to 2 plugs on each wall, I'm pretty sure we won't miss any.

This is our kitchen selection, can you seen why we fell in love with the marble

We did screw up a bit with the counter choice. The granite counter top we chose turns out to be marble. We had asked the designer because after years of being quizzed by my dad about igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rock, the slab did not look like granite, but she insisted it was granite. Chances are we will need to change it because apparently marble sucks as a countertop, but we will call the designer on Monday to check.

Let us know what you think

Pam

Photos of our exterior choices

Here are some photos of our lot and the choices we made for the exterior of our soon to be home.

Paving your Driveway

Just a quick reference to a site we found that talks about what you should ask and look for when hiring someone to pave and excavate your driveway. Its in French, but if anyone needs a translation just let us know through comments and I will take a few minutes to translate it.

Pam and JF

http://www.consommation.info.gouv.qc.ca/fr/sortie/interne.asp?/fr/fiche.asp?sujet=181http://www.opc.gouv.qc.ca/dossier/semaine_thematique_asphaltage.asp

Buying new appliances

Part of the reason we saved enough money to afford our new dream home is the fact that over the years we have invested next to nothing in quality furniture or in some cases basic furniture.

In reality we are at least one step below Ikea furniture. Check out the current state of our kitchen chairs. We have more than once hosted a BYOC party (bring your own chair). So as the house gets nearer, the need to upgrade is obvious and the first step is buying new appliances.

As we get closer to the purchase date, I will post more precise ideas of what we chose and why, but hear are some initial tips I can share.

1) Don’t trust sales people
Ok, this sounds harsh, but so far I am not impressed with “appliance” salespeople. Every salesperson seems to have a different understanding or explanation. One salesperson tells you a “stainless steel” interior for a dishwasher is a must because it cleans better, the other claims it has no impact on cleaning but will ensure a silent wash, while number three says it’s just more durable.

The answer, based on about.com and a few other references, a stainless steel interior is primarily for show, although it is slightly more durable and will not stain like plastic.

2) Don’t get caught up with features
They sound great when you’re in the store, but in reality once you take a step back you realize you most likely don’t need or won’t use the feature. In truth, have you ever said…? “Hummm, I wish I could watch TV on my fridge” and do you really want to start sorting your dishes based on what material they are made of before turning on the dishwasher? Isn’t that more of a pain than anything else?

3) Ask friends and family what they love and hate about their appliances
Ok, so this won’t make you the most popular people at a party, but our friends and families definitely had an opinion about their appliances and if they screwed up, why not learn from their mistakes. For example, I realized that almost none of my friends use the convection setting for their oven, that the warming drawer they wanted so badly ended up being a pot repository, and that if you put your dishwasher in an island, you should splurge on a quiet model.


4) Ask sales people to compare styles for you so you can make a better choice
Despite my complete distrust of “appliance” sales people. I did get some pretty good style advice from them. They hear a lot of comments from other shoppers and some had some good insight. For example, I was and still am hesitating on fridge styles. Although I was told the French door style was very popular, one sales guy asked if I was planning on having kids. He said one woman with an infant mentioned that having to use two hands to open the fridge would drive her nuts, especially if she was carrying her bundle of joy in her other arm.

I hope this helps and feel free to offer your suggestions to us.

Have a great day

Pam

Our exterior choices

Hummm, well we haven’t been that good with the blog, but hopefully as things move on we will get better.

We have already chosen our exterior for the house. We went with “Boston brick”, they are dark brownish red bricks that mix multiple tints within them giving the house a spotted look. Our doors and windows will be black and the aluminium siding with is a light almond tint, a beige that is more grey then yellow.

The whole process took less than a half hour and hubby and I got along wonderfully, which is hopefully a good sign. We disagreed slightly on the roof, he wanted black, I wanted brown, but we compromised on a more grey toned roof.

Now off shopping for furniture and interior ideas… the interior choices are coming up in a few days.