Archives for January 2011

Daily Floorplan

January 31, 2011 by Amy 2 Comments

Did you really think that that would be the last floor plan? I mean really. I’ve posted 52 different versions and we haven’t even selected a builder yet. COME ON.

OK, yeah, I sort of thought we were set. But then Mom came to visit and pointed out a few issues. And then New Old Homes sent over SEVEN new floor plans to consider last night. So, this might be a new feature for a while… Daily Floorplan. So here’s today’s:

This one changed up the bathroom entrance and the linen closet which I LOVE . Makes that entrance much less awkward and it’s a better use of space I think (thanks, Mom). Also, this one we added a fireplace in the bedroom (!). This is wishful thinking and only if it’s in budget. But we have the room and if you know me, you know how cold I get in the winter and would LOVE a fireplace surrounded in stone. I think it would tie in the stone from the exterior really well. I checked out a few Architectural Digests at the library this weekend and it looked so yummy. Here are a few ideas I took snapshots of.

The fireplace/TV idea with the chairs. We’re thinking stone around it but I like the wood too.

Another fireplace idea

I love the idea of having curtains around the bed.

And I love this lighting thing going on in the living room. It has absolutely nothing to do with the addition 🙂

I’m so anxious to get the floor plan settled and get goin’!

Baked Potato Soup Recipe

January 31, 2011 by Amy 1 Comment

I totally missed the Soup Swap over at Southern Fairytale. I thought it was Saturday yet I was a week late! But no fear, it’s never too late to share a good recipe. When we went a few weeks ago to talk to a couple from our church about adoption, she served baked potato soup and it was SO GOOD. If you ever had Rafferty’s soup, the taste of this is so close, albeit a little thicker. I made a bowl of this last week and it’s so easy and everyone, including the girls, loved it. I have to thank our host for providing the recipe to me and hopefully she wouldn’t mind that I share it (she mentioned she got it from a magazine so I’m not sharing a personal recipe!).

This is not the pic, but this is the closest thing I could find in a quick Google search. Credit goes to this blog.

4 large baked potatoes, baked, skinned and smashed – leaving chunks
2/3c butter
2/3 c flour
6c milk
3/4tsalt
1/2t pepper
4 green onions (I left these out so the girls wouldn’t complain)
12 slices bacon, fried and crumbled (I use "real bacon pieces")
2c shredded cheddar
1c sour cream
1/2 lb Velveeta

Melt butter in stock pot, add flour and mix well, gradually add mil stir continuously until thickened and bubbly
stir in potato pulp, Velveeta, salt, pepper and 3/4 of the onions cheese and bacon. Cook until heated and add sour cream.
can put in crock-pot to keep warm and serve, top with remaining onions, cheese and bacon.

This gave us about 6 adult and 2 kid servings.

Heat up a loaf of French bread, slice on the diagonal and enjoy!

Addition: The Floor Plan and Tile

January 29, 2011 by Amy 8 Comments

The Floor Plan

Alrighty, folks, I think we have a winner! Ding, ding, ding! We have a floor plan! I’d like to give a big thanks to New Old Homes & Design for helping with the plans. We worked with their designer and she was a pleasure to work with and provided several floor plans that far exceeded our expectations. If you’re in the area, definitely check them out. I’m not really sure whether I can blog their plans or not but we ended up tweaking one of theirs just a tad so I’ll share that (even though it’s not nearly as pretty)! Once again, major thanks to Mary at New Old Homes!

In case you’re interested, here is the post that had our first swags at it.

So what I love about this one is that the opening for the bathroom is on the end of the wall so we have almost that whole interior wall to use in the bedroom. I also love that the shower and vanity are opposite one another. I love that we have HUGE, SEPARATE closets. I love the window placement. I love that we have plenty of storage. There’s not too much I don’t love about this plan. Can you see any possible gotchas or things to consider we’re missing? I should also mention that she suggested putting the door to the bedroom 3’ into the hallway so the bedroom door is not an issue there at the opening of the bedroom.

The Tile

Today we went to The Tile Collection in Pineville. I have to tell you, this week I really thought we might have a meltdown about the tile. Scott and I were wanting completely opposite things and we were really at a standstill. Actually, there was nothing still about it, it was turning into a raging war about the color of the tile. I’m not lying when I say we had to pray over our bathroom. But today, our meeting at the tile place was so peaceful and enjoyable. We actually agreed on almost everything and Theresa was so good at helping us negotiate a compromise and finding alternates.

So first thing, you might remember the vanity from this post that I really liked. That was our inspiration for the whole bathroom. If you notice in the floor plan, that vanity niche is perfect for it. So first thing, we picked out the glass tile and Scott and I right away picked out the same thing which was a small miracle. After that, most of the time was spent on picking out a shower tile. Scott really wanted dark and I didn’t want it to feel so dark nothing popped and it was like a cave. We compromised on that and then went with light floors and countertops to go with our dark espresso cabinets. OK, so here are the choices:

Going clockwise:

The dark brown is the shower. We’re doing 12 x 24 on the walls. They’ll be vertical and in alternating rows. Like this but not stacked in rows straight across. They’ll be laid more like hardwood floors:

The shower floor will be 2×1 squares of the same brown tile. NOT this river rock.

The smaller, multi-color glass will be what is on each side of the vanity and the ceiling.

The light color actually has a linen stripe in it that is nice and light. We’ll be doing this in 24×24 squares on the floor, laid in a hatched design. I think that’s the name anyway. It’s where the stripes go vertical and horizontal in alternating pattern.

The dark wood is the cabinets.

The countertop is not pictured but is going to be some type of hard surface similar to the color of the floor. We’re hoping to find a remnant of something at their warehouse.

It is SO pretty in person. Can’t you just imagine being the shower and looking across the room to that pretty glass tile or standing at the vanity and seeing that pretty shower? I am SO excited about it.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus – Charlotte Review

January 28, 2011 by Amy 2 Comments

We made it out to the circus last night. The kids were pumped and they pretty much stayed that way. They were the perfect age for the circus and Lexi especially enjoyed it. She was pulling us down the corridor during the break trying to get back before they started again. It was the classic circus with tightrope, flying trapeze, motorcycles, the strongest man, and yes, elephants and tigers. They had so many supplies and props with them that they needed to hire this motobike courier called Shiply to help them move their really heavy motorcycles and other items. Walking away though it was the talent of the people that blew us away. People bending this way and that way and swinging high and low. It is truly awe-inspiring to see what the body is capable of.

The circus will be in Charlotte at Time Warner Arena Wednesday through Sunday January 30. I have a coupon code for you to use to either have a fun date with your significant other or take your kiddos.

Check out this page for more information, a show schedule, and how to purchase tickets.

I received this opportunity including tickets to the show because of my participation in the NC Blog Buzz network. I have pledged to give my honest opinion of the product/event. All opinions are my own.

Dragging and Flagging

January 24, 2011 by Amy 7 Comments

Today was the first physical change to the house for the addition. Scott pulled out the bushes we had on that side of the house. I really thought his truck might split in two dragging the second one out. In fact, it only took out half of it the first time. Here is a video of the second half coming out. You can tell Scott is in his element, I even got a thumbs up and a few Tim the Tool Time Taylor grunts right before the video went on.

In other good news we found a survey in our closing packet so A – we did not have to pay to get a new one and B – we didn’t have to go to the courthouse and get it. We found out we have exactly 20 feet to build on, right what we needed.

Knowing that, he put some stakes and string out to show where the room is going to be. The fence is basically our back wall and the string in the middle is the divider between the bedroom and bathroom/closets. 20×28 sounds big but really I think this whole thing is going to close in on us pretty fast. Not that I’m complaining, it will definitely be bigger than what we have. And our comfort is not really what this is about. But yeah, smaller than it looks on paper.

We also started the process of moving all those pipes and wires from the side of the house. And PS, not really cheap to do all that.

One more update..the designer is still working on the floor plan. Hopefully we’ll have it by the end of the week. We spent some time this weekend looking at materials for the bathroom and trying to figure out what the exterior of this thing is going to look like.

Exciting stuff!

Barbies for Sale – Again

January 23, 2011 by Amy 1 Comment

I thought this was a pretty ingenious idea from Lexi. She packaged a doll and dress in cut up tissue and shoe boxes and wrapped it in plastic wrap to make it look like it was for sale. They lined them up on my bookcase and priced them, pretty close to actual price, nonetheless. Possibilities are endless. Well, as endless as your supply of boxes. Have fun!

Posted via email from Amy’s posterous

Bathroom Ideas

January 22, 2011 by Amy 2 Comments

If I could walk into my new bathroom right now, this is pretty much what I’d want to see

From HGTV; Designer Lina Khatib

From HGTV; Designer Cindy Aplanalp

Let’s make it happen!

Laying the Groundwork

January 21, 2011 by Amy 5 Comments

Today we met with the designer and our friend that’s a builder. Both were really good meetings but boy, do we have a lot of decisions ahead of us.

The designer looked at a few of the designs we had come up with and liked one that I actually didn’t post. The biggest thing she recommended which really surprised me was to not do the tub if we don’t use it. She suggested instead to do a huge tile shower which would still satisfy the spa type feeling for the master. The plan also takes into account the split closets we wanted. She’s supposed to be putting a plan together this weekend so I’ll share when we get it.

We spoke with the builder and all seemed well. There were no hiccups or gotchas that came up and in fact, we think we might have a few extra feet on the end of the house to use. He gave us a few steps we can start with, mainly getting our survey from the courthouse to see if we need a new one or not. And then there are A LOT of decisions to make on what materials to use so he can do a proper bid. A few of the bigger things we’re having to consider right now:

Side the whole house or just the addition with an accent siding on the front? In which case he recommended bumping out the front of the house about a foot.
Where to put windows and what size.
Flooring.
Type of cabinets and countertop and overall look and feel of the bathroom.
How to run the water lines and what to do about the hot water heater. Considering putting one of those instantaneous things in.
Putting in a well while we’re at it to get better water pressure and reduce monthly water costs. Our pressure is AWFUL and we’re concerned it won’t support our nice big shower. This was just mentioned, not sure if we could if we wanted.

I won’t overwhelm you with more, that is quite enough to think about. I’m horrible at decisions so you can imagine that this blows my brain a bit. But, at the same time, it’s fun picking new stuff out!