Bentley Grove {take three}

So much has happened at Bentley Grove since my last post. We have walls! Even with all the planning I did ahead of time, I was still nervous that some of the rooms were going to feel too small. Thankfully, all our furniture is going to fit just fine. Our framers also installed most of our windows and doors. Unfortunately, two of our windows had the wrong grid pattern, but we’re getting those replaced ASAP.

The second floor, over our carport, has always been a big question mark as we weren’t 100% sure how all the trusses and framing would look once it was done. We knew we needed a bedroom, bathroom and some attic storage. Once the stairs were done we could really see how it all laid out and it was slightly different than what was on the plans. We ended up moving our attic access to another location and enlarging the landing at the top of the stairs. It’s going to be the perfect spot for a small desk with a comfortable chair. The second floor, in the main part of the house, is unusable as it’s full of trusses and there’s no open space. We did this due to construction costs.

Next week we have our electrical walk-through, so I’ve been going over our lighting plan with a fine tooth comb and making last minute changes. I’ve been struggling about using so many recessed lights, so I’m considering a few other options such as switching some of my outlets so we can turn on lamps when entering a room. I know that’s considered “old school” but I love using lamps!

Here’s a little sneak peek of some of the light fixtures I’m considering. To me, the lighting is where you can really let your personality shine. All the bathrooms are getting sconces and I’m putting an art light near my stairs. Don’t be afraid to push the limits a little bit with lighting. It’s way easier to replace than tile or counters.

Below is a little sampling of the plumbing fixtures we have ordered. As you may know, I’m a big fan of mixing metals. We’re going with polished nickel in the master bathroom, chrome in the two secondary bathrooms and black in the kitchen. In our bathroom, we upgraded to a Toto Washlet bidet toilet seat that I experienced in a hotel I stayed in last summer. Needless to say, I’m very excited about having this little “luxury” in the water closet.

My next big decision is cabinets. I’ve got all the layouts figured out, but deciding which cabinetmaker to use has been hard. Our contractor has someone he likes using and his pricing is good. I have a great relationship with another company that I used in my last home, but their pricing is a little higher than what we have in our budget. So, I think I’m going to use them for just the kitchen and the other cabinetmaker for everything else. Here are the conceptual drawings I did a few months ago so we could make sure the window was in the right place as well as the venting for our hood insert. I’m also set on doing dark green for the color, so that will be unexpected.

And speaking of decisions, we have about two weeks to finalize our exterior colors. From the start, the house was going to be dark blue. Who would have thought it would be hard to find the perfect shade? I ordered about 40 samples and after much thought, we’ve narrowed it down to 5. Next week I’ll be getting actual paint to create poster boards that we can set around the house before saying YES. I highly recommend this step for anyone selecting a paint color. It’s worth the cost and effort to make sure the color works in your lighting and with the surrounding materials.

Once we get the blue picked out, it will be time to find the right white for all the trim and then the shutter color. Plus, the stain for the doors.

Next time, I’ll be sharing my cabinet and tile selections we’ve made so far. I also am planning a visit to the countertop showroom to look at slabs and start getting quotes on those. I’m going to have to be really smart with those selections as this is an area you can go over budget really quickly.

Thanks for Reading!
Jennifer