Bill the Size of a Planet...

...or at least a really big Lexus. Really. Back in June, I'd noted that our weekly progress payments were bigger than some cars. This week's bill was the biggest yet. Laura remarked that it was bigger than some of the smaller Lexus models, and pretty close to what we paid for our 2007 RX400h. I checked. Yup. This bill was only about $2500 less than the entire 400h. It's surreal paying weekly bills bigger than the annual salary (before deductions!) you drew on the first job out of school, especially given the general as well as our personal economy.

And what did we get? Well, interior doors and hardware were more than half the total. Tile, cabinetry and some of the finish carpentry were almost as much. During out meeting with John Hammerschmidt, we did get to see the guest bath surround grout going in. The master shower surround is mostly in, and the grout bed is laid in the rest of that bath.

Beyond the progress in the master (in photo at left), the hall bath tile pattern was mocked up, and Lynn Hammerschmidt had an inspiration for accents there. The hall bath tiles will run diagonal, and some 1" glass square tiles will be cut in at the intersections to add some interest on the floor. With samples of the accent tiles in the hall bath, we were able to confirm the paint color in there, and get close on colors for the remainder of the rooms. We're pretty certain of the paint colors for the great room and the hallways. We looked at paint chips for the remaining rooms to pick the colors for larger brush outs.

At least on the exterior colors, we've only had to pick twice. The selection list for the project is pretty extensive, from materials like the rock and pavers, to models on hardware and fixtures, right down to finish. John helped us put a bunch of effort into boiling the ocean of possibilities early. That left Laura & I at groundbreak thinking we were down to selecting paint colors. As we approach ordering for each finish item, we're being asked to reconfirm the selections. We recognize it's meant to protect our interests, just in case we'd changed our minds over the past few months. Still, it feels like a 'do over' and leaves us wondering why we're spending much of the same effort twice. For the exterior paint, Laura & I had looked at brush outs in mid-October and confirmed the scheme in email to the Hammerschmidt team. Today, John wanted to recover those selections. We didn't change our picks, but John did work in more white on the trim elements for some reason.

We reconfirmed that we liked bringing the exterior stone in to the fireplace surround in the great room as per the selection list. We also learned that the sink in the Kitchen island is a bit bigger than the cabinet. When Laura and Lynn finalized the cabinet layout, John hadn't paid attention that the cabinet under the sink placement had gotten narrower. A sink which would fit in the as-purchased cabinet would be only about the size of a wine spit bucket, which really isn't satisfactory. So an interior wall of the cabinet will need to be shaved down some to squeeze in the sink. Finally, on a pleasant note, John's production manager Sean showed us a couple of alternatives for the placement of the crown molding in the kitchen. That quick demo helped us immediately settle on which arrangement we liked best in there.

Next week, we'll pick the slabs for the granite which'll go in not only in the kitchen and master bath, but also, where would you guess? In that lovely dog tack room, of course!