Courtyard

This week, the progress payments got bigger. As big as a car big. Not a down payment on a car, the whole car. Think, more than a Miata, but less than a Lexus big. Yes, when we pause too long, it takes our breath a bit, too.

We'd hoped that the foundation would pour today. That got delayed. The city inspector wanted a couple of elements of the steel (rebar and bolts, remember) adjusted. So, the foundation steel got addressed today, and there'll be a reinspection on Monday. That should still allow time before the holiday to strip the foundation forms and at least start some of the framing.


That bit of a pause gave us some time to appreciate the appearance of elements like our courtyard. This design feature grew from two desires. One was to preserve as much of the backyard as possible. The other was to reduce the amount of front yard occupied by driveway.

While we went through at least three significant space arrangements early on, the courtyard came fast. With our yard preservation goals, there were limited options in the front. The garage moved across the lot and what was the garage was apportioned to living space. That created an open space in front of the entry.

The final feel of the courtyard has concerned me. Some of these in our town on lots of our width have the sense of a box canyon. I want ours to feel spacious and inviting. To test things out, two years ago I painted marks on the driveway where the new garage would be. Then, I used lawn chairs and poles to get a feel for the space before we finalized the design. (Yes, I am a kinesthetic, even if I'd always believed I was a visual, but, this isn't an NLP lesson...)

With the forms in place this week, our meeting with John Hammerschmidt gave me another opportunity to size up the feel. And it does feel good. The stagger on the garage bays, along with the bay window feature on the front room, softens the depth of the courtyard. When complete, the entry is going to feel very private, with the door visible only straight on, and even that will be softened by the oak in the front.

Luckily this was only a short pause. Other things continue to move fast. Laura spent Monday finalizing cabinets for the kitchen and dog tack room. And from there, we're set to order all our appliances, and just in time! We're going with GE appliances, a mix of Monogram and Profile lines. By ordering before the 29th, GE offers an additional 2 years of in-home service on most of our order at no additional cost.

Oh, did I mention that, due to setbacks, we lost about 2 ft of depth in the great room? On reviewing the survey, the city required the front room to come back a bit. In turn, that will cannabalize a bit of the great room. I wasn't worried. Then, after our meeting with John this week, Laura tells me she's concerned the house isn't big enough! Ack! And we're about to pour concrete! Ack! Honey! The time to say that was more than a year ago! Ack!