Yesterday was our upgrade appointment to figure out what we wanted to do with our house. In addition to figuring out all of the little extras, we also spent time figuring out what would go where. Little things like what colour of tile in the bathrooms, front foyer and laundry room. What colour of carpet, where our phone, ethernet, and cable jacks would go.We then got to the good stuff. In the end, the upgrades we’re paying for actually cost less than we had budgeted for.
Here’s what we got;
Rough in 3 piece bath (for a future bathroom in the basement), upgrade to 200 AMP electrical service (because let’s face it, I’m gonna have 112 computers in our house), Install an additional overhead light in family room, relocate standard overhead light from breakfast area to over island. Relocate standard overhead light from dining room so that it’s centered over both living and dining room. Install an additional electrical outlet as kitchen island. Install an electrical outlet in ceiling of garage (for future door opener).
Upgrade kitchen cabinets to Ultra II (really cool white cupboards that have a definite “Cape Cod” feel to them), Install an upper angled corner cabinet in kitchen. Install a flush breakfast bar at kitchen island. Upgrade kitchen sink to a ledgeback. Install Bruce prefinished oak strip 3/4″ x 2 1/4″ winter white in Kitchen, Breakfast Area, Family Room.
Install 4 piece bathroom in master ensuite. Upgrade master ensuite to Ultra III (really nice maple cabinets which will help Charlene get her “spa” feel in the master ensuite bathroom.
Install square unturned picket in lieu of standard, natural finish.
As far as colours, we picked a winter sky carpet (a cool grey/brown) for the house (all three bedrooms, all halls, and the living/dining room). Texas beige (an off white tile with both grey and sand coloured details in it) for the foyer, and powder room. The Winter White hardwood floor in kitchen, family room, and breakfast area (it’s a gorgeous white stained oak that has hints of pink and grey in it. The countertops will be “raw steel” which is a blue/grey counter. For the master ensuite, we chose the Texas white tile for the floor and shower stall, white for the counter top, and a really warm maple wood for the 4 foot vanity. In the other bathroom we picked Ardesia Beige flooring, white cabinet, and a really nice dark leather countertop (called Coco leather). The laundry room gets plain white tiles, which will look really nice in there.
The best part is that we did three or four things we hadn’t budgeted for (the breakfast bar, the outlet on the island, the nicer cabinets in the master bathroom and the corner cabinet in the kitchen), but because Lisa, our design consultant, steered us around certain things and suggested not doing some things we had mentioned, we ended up coming in almost $1,200 under what we had budgeted for!
Even though we’re still 8 months away from moving in, it’s really exciting to get this stuff figured out, because now we have a vision of what our house will look like.