The Twelfth Day of Christmas

...my true love gave to me,

a dozen garage door windows 11 network outlets
10 foot plus high ceilings		a 9 light chandelier		8 matching lighting fixtures
7 Doggie Paws (in their tack room)		a 6 burner gas range		5 Doggie Tiles (in their tack room)
a 4 leaf clover entry		a 3 rod towel rack		2 master bath sinks

and a tray ceiling in the living room:

Laura likes to highlight my insistence on the garage doors. She didn't draw many distinctions between styles. I was picky. This remodel makes the garage much more prominent, so I wanted them to be attractive and pleasant. As we'd drive around town and I found models I liked, I'd insist on pausing, discussing the design, and often taking pictures. When the rendering of the design showed horizontal panels, I made sure to note to the Hammerschmidt team that verticals were needed. This was one selection that I didn't mind reconfirming earlier in the project.

Now, I've always enjoyed the scale of the living room. Initially, Laura had been thinking to shrink it, and use the recovered space for, say, a formal dining room. I held out for keeping its size, and was able to win Laura over to that position.

We both had doubts about the tray ceiling. The idea started early, in the "wish list" stage of planning with the Hammerschmidt team 2-1/2 years ago. With scissor trusses being used to raise the ceiling in the great room, bringing a grander scale to the living room was suggested. It stayed as an option until right before groundbreak 8 months ago. We're now very happy we included this in the plans.

As the living room returned to its new form, we traded ideas on furnishing and decorating it. A chief intent is to virtually fill the west wall (left of the picture) with bookcases. About the time the sheetrock came into the living room, I had a realization. With bookcases and the tray ceiling, the room would have a sense of a home library - something I've longed for but we did not specifically plan for, thinking it was beyond this project. Wow, what a great feeling to unexpectedly find something beyond your dreams.

Just like Christmas at its best, huh?