Hammering Out The Details

Details. 

So many details. 

So many decisions. We have many decisions that we will make throughout our lives. Some are of little to no consequence like will I wear the red shirt or the blue one but some however, will affect the rest of our lives like who will I marry? So when it comes to deciding what kind of cabinets and counters to go with, I am trying to keep it in perspective. It really doesn't affect the fate of the nation what colours or styles we pick. It should be functional, it has to fit our budget and it would be a bonus if it looked nice but I'm done with stressing over the details. It started with this post. I was seriously overwhelmed. What if I chose wrong? What if I didn't like it? What if someone else didn't like it? Ugh. Interior design is just not my thing. So how am I dealing with this dilemma? Prayer. Lots of it. Lord, help me pick something that will work and that we will like and above all else, help me not to stress over it. Help me be content.

I am 99.9% sure this is what we are going to go with for cabinets and counter tops.

Now, to pick out a colour for the walls. We lean toward earthy tones. Do you know how many different shades of sage there are? It's mind boggling, really!

But I'm leaning toward this one. 

This was the alternate choice for the counter top. You can't tell from the picture but it doesn't have as many flecks of colour in it. I'm thinking the more colours, the more choices to match walls and flooring. Right?

For whatever reason, I found the bathrooms much easier. This is the counter/cabinet combination we went with.

We also need to pick out a colour to paint the shingles that will go up in the gables. They are Hardie shingles but because we like the look of cedar shingles for contrast, we're hoping to find a similar colour.

We've decided to go with mostly fir floors finished with this tung oil, and stained walnut. So we have accomplished a fair bit so far but we still have a long way to go. We need to choose fixtures. There will be more prayer!

In the meantime, Phil has been working on getting these ducts in for the bathroom fans and the kitchen exhaust.

We are going with spray foam insulation, topped up with this fiberglass which will be blown into the attic.

This batted insulation will go in the sloped part of the wall upstairs as well as the spray foam. When it is all finished, we should have an R value of 55, well above code, which is 44.

Phil had booked the framing inspection so with the last bit of back framing almost finished, there was an enormous mess to clean up. I do the clean up so I definitely had my work cut out for me!

Ugh!

We worked well into the evening!

The next day, voila, almost ready for inspection.

It cleans up nice. I will say though, it is a big job for one person to clean (sweep) through the whole house at once, especially compared to the the 900 sq ft that I am used to now. There will be an adjustment period when we move, I'm sure, as well as figuring out how to divide the work up.

I like how bright the basement is. I was afraid it would be too dark but it's not. It stays nice and bright during the day. This is the main reason we only wrapped the porch around three sides of the house, and not all four. 

The breaker panel is filling up.

Speaking of bright rooms, can I just say how much I'm looking forward to waking up in this room? The window in our bedroom right now looks into our storage area so we don't get any outside light in our room. This will be a huge treat!

And our view will go from looking at storage boxes to this! No more waiting until we get to the kitchen to see if it's sunny!

The gas company installed the hook up for the stove. 

These aren't just random wires laying around on the ground. They are for the electrical outlets in the kitchen island.

There is more wiring going on outside as they bring the new power pole in.

Set up and ready to be back filled around it.

They are back filling the trench with the electric and phone cables. They need to be covered in sand first and then dirt.

We are laying this tape above the cables so it will hopefully prevent them from accidentally being dug up. Ask me how we know this is important. Um, maybe not. It's too soon.

While Ben works with the excavator, Phil is working in the attic...

...hooking up the ducts to the fans...

...and putting holes in the wall for the ducts to vent to (if I look at this long enough, it starts to look like a pie. I think my screen time will be over for the day now). 

There was a lot going on this week getting ready for the framing inspection. It was the biggest inspection we've had so far and honestly? We were nervous about it. We were as prepared as we could be but there is always just that little nagging feeling, what if we missed something? Then what? Thankfully, we didn't have to ask ourselves that question as we passed the inspection. Now we can move on to insulation, along with sorting out the myriad of details, small and large, that need to be in place in order for the next step to happen. You can't order things, like the kitchen, too early because then you have to store it somewhere but you can't wait too long either because different companies have different waiting times. Ideally, you want everything to come together at just the right time, in just the right order. That's where the crazy starts to happen because at the same time, you are also deciding things like what you want your drawer to cupboard ratio to be and which way the cupboards by the oven will open. (Toward the wall or away from the wall? Has anyone really given any serious thought to this?) I think I'm most concerned that we will find out down the road, that some details DID matter and by then it will be too late to change them. Thankfully, we have figured out that it is important which way the fridge door opens so we will take that into consideration when the time comes. But you get the idea. So much going on at the same time, it sometimes makes us dizzy. But while the world will tell us that the devil is in the details, we know that God is in the details and he is greater than what is in the world. He has overcome the world. His help is available to us on every level. He is waiting to help us, wanting to help us.

So why do we wait so long to ask?

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21