Meeting with the builder...

We are off to meet with the builder today out at the property. We are finishing up the financial side with the building loan and were told we can't start anything (not even the driveway) until the approval is complete. We expect to get the loan approval in a couple of days and will be able to break ground after that.

It will be interesting to see whether the river is visible through the trees yet. When we first saw the property last December there was a great view of the river, but once the trees leaved out in the Spring we lost that view. We also need to look for koi in the ponds. We were told there were 1000 koi in them, but have yet to see any fish. I haven't been out to the property for a long time, as the last time I went out it was so overgrown that it was almost impossible to walk it.

We've been researching windows and fireplaces and all kinds of other things that we need to make decisions about. I love this fireplace glass from either http://fireonice.com/main.asp or http://moderustic.com/:

It is also an interesting idea for use in an outdoor fire pit:

So many decisions! We need to decide now what windows we want - color of the outside, whether we want them clear or with muntins between the glass. I thought it would be nice to not have muntins because the views are so nice, but I've had them in windows for so long it is hard to picture a plain glass window now.

Things are moving a bit...

DH met the builder and the project manager out at the property on Monday. I guess the grass has gotten so tall they could barely walk through it and the builder said he'll be mowing it down first thing. We're hoping they get started with the excavation in the next couple of weeks. We HAVE to get the house under cover before bad weather sets in, and we're running out of time.

The meeting with the kitchen designer went well. He used some lower cupboards with pull-out shelves, instead of the deep drawers I wanted to use (I misunderstood what he was describing), but I emailed him and explained what I wanted and he said it was no problem and that the cost would be the same, even with the different cabinets.

I saw the actual alkemi counter sample and it was very cool. I'm not positive that's what we'll put on the island, but it's a good possibility.

The only thing from the kitchen design that I'm questioning right now is the center island. The designer made it a 2-level counter (with different counter materials on each section) and I've been envisioning a plain, flat island with no appliances of any kind so that I would have plenty of room to spread out cookie sheets and cooling racks, etc. all around me while I work. I really need to think about how this 2-level island would work for me. Other than that, the kitchen design looks like it will work great!

Excavate, excavate, excavate - maybe if I say it often enough, it will actually happen?? :-D