Permit Set

It has been an insane past week for us of gathering bids, meeting with different contractors, pulling together all the numbers and making some decisions. I'm exhausted...and the project hasn't even begun! The good news is that sorting through all these details NOW makes things 100 times easier during construction (we know this from experience...we did it the other way the first time).

Tonight we had our final meeting with the architect in order to get our drawings finalized for our permit. We worked through LOTS of little details: where every single light switch will go, mini mini cabinet details like where we want pull-out shelves, where we want outlets, etc and also did quite a lengthy revision of the exterior of the house. Where we had previously drawn authentic shutters (with hardware that open and close like these),

we are now visiting the idea of paneling the exterior vs doing the shutters. I ultimately want the body of the house to be painted a color - but I love mill work and LOTS of trim on the interior (like crown moulding, tall and substantial base, etc)...and the idea of the exterior of the house having that same kind of impactful woodwork in a rich and warm white has me letting go of my beloved shutters. Here's a few inspiration pics:


Now we only have two medium-at-best sized windows on the front main level of our house. Here's a really bad picture of my computer screen for your reference:

The architect sketched it several different ways before we came up with the design we liked the most (we played around with grouping the two main level windows together with paneling, paneling them more vertically with siding in between them, etc). Ultimately, the winning design involved adding a bit of paneling to the bottom of the upper 2 windows to create balance and integrate the design a bit more. I'm anxious to see the drawn elevations to confidently make a decision, but it's different...and I like that.

Before I can start taking pictures of our contractor and introducing you to his astrological sign, likes and dislikes, etc...we need to have one final meeting to firm up our bid (Thursday morning). After that meeting, all we need is the final revision of the plans based on tonight's meeting, the sign off from the structural engineer and we'll be on our way to the city for our permit. We are almost there!