Open House (not ours)

One of the (many) reasons we chose Charis as our builder is that we were able to see many, many of the homes they built during open houses they hold before the owners move in. They are a small custom builder so they build about 20 houses a year, maybe less. They don't have a big showroom, so often the "office" is a home they've built for a home owner, which they might rent as a model while the owners' house sells. Everybody wins.

As fun as it is to see the completed homes, because everyone can see and appreciate fixtures and finishes, Charis also hosts "dusty shoe" open houses, which take place before the drywall stage. These were really informative for us as we were more concerned about the structural bones of our house then the finishes that can easily be changed or upgraded later.

Last night we visited Charis' newest completed home. A few highlights:

This is the niche design our house had originally. Very nice, but I love the functionality of our bench. Future home owners will be able to choose either, or something else. That's the beauty of a custom builder. 

This floor plan is called the Cooper. My mom says it's the perfect floor plan, and the one she would get if she was building with Charis. Builders can design their own plan--like we did--or customize plans that Charis has already built. These open stairs are so pretty with the stone.

More pretty stone on the kitchen bar. 

This is the current model of the Jenn Air floor model  oven we bought. 

I really like the way their tile is finished with this nickel band.

We chose to use fiberglass inserts for our showers, but if we ever upgrade to til, I would love a design like this.

The entry would work well for a wheelchair.

This is the standard style of closet shelving. I like that it's solid shelves, not wire.  Our closets will be going be going in this coming week. Ours will have pull out baskets instead of shelves on the bottom half of the tower. 

It's interesting to us that as we look at different homes, we focus on whatever decision we're making. Since we are deciding on our mudroom hooks, their cubbies caught our eye.

We're putting an ironing board drawer in our laundry room upstairs, and putting a regular ironing board  in the in-law suite. But, we might add something like this in the in-law closet at some point.

This is another upgrade take away. Maybe when D is older, we'll put a tub base in his shower and tile the top.

We put off finishing the basement for now (sigh), but seeing their finished basement led us to an inspired hour in our basement today talking about how we might lay it out.

The multi-zone HVAC controller. We have 4 zones, one for each floor with a separate zone for the main-level in-law suite.

We LOVE this idea for our mudroom closet! The little ledge is perfect for putting Niels' laptop bag, D's school bag, our shopping bags, etc. Hopefully it won't be too hard to add this to our closet plan.

Seeing their front step reminded us that we need to put a step in our back porch.

They had the same bath fixtures we'll have from the Moen Eva line.

It was really excited for us to see this house because they were always just a step ahead of us in the process. Which means...we're next!

Clean thoughts about laundry

Here is the laundry "room" in our current house:

It's really just a large closet in the hallway on our first floor. It works pretty well there. I have the 10ish-year-old washer and dryer I brought into the marriage, a rack with linen baskets for cleaning supplies and an Ikea rack for hanging a trash bag, a bag to collect plastic bags, and a bag to collect newspaper and bread bags (which are great for when I make my own bread, or as travel diaper genies!). Our ironing board is upstairs in our closet. We don't need space to fold because we hang most everything.

In our new house, we'll have two laundry rooms. Originally, we were going to have one large one upstairs for family, and one in the in-law suite closet for guests. The more we thought about it though, the more we realized it would be more helpful to have the first floor one in the mudroom so we could use it kitchen linens and rags as well.

Originally we were going to have the upstairs washer and dryer side by side, and the downstairs set stacked for more compact space. Then we saw this layout at a design store in Grand Rapids:

We liked the way the stacked washer and dryer looked finished, like a frig. We liked the space, the shelves, the sink and especially this:

Looks like a drawer...

...But wait! What is THIS?

It's a built-in ironing board...for Niels, because I don't iron.

It's made by Rev-a-Shelf

We also really like this sink:

It has ridges on the side for scrubbing, and also a little indentation for the soap, so it's out of sight. 

Looking around online and off, I found a few more ideas:

Laundry basket storage. We only need four (each of us + linens), and I like how it makes it very easy for each person to be responsible for their laundry. D will not be leaving this house without knowing how to do laundry!

Baskets all the way up. I think I like the other way better, so you get counter space.

I like the labels on this one.

This one has drawers above the cubbies, which would work with the ironing board:

These laundry rooms have linen closets, which I think would be a great place to put our cleaning supplies for upstairs.

We like the shelf and drying bar on this one:

 Ikea also has drying racks, like this:

And this one has the Emser Strand Tile that we're using:

Taking all these ideas into consideration, I think this is what we're going to do upstairs:

Stacked washer/dryer on left, sitting on a small riser, next four cubbies for laundry baskets, with drawers, one of which includes the fold-out ironing board. Next, a sink, above which is a shelf and drying bar. We could certainly do away with the upper cabinet on the left if the bar goes to the w/d cabinet. Finally a linen/broom closet.

When we saw the space framed in for the first floor laundry, we realized that it was wide enough to accommodate a washer and dryer side-by-side, which is more ADA-friendly. I was still bummed about losing my broom closet, til I saw this gem on Pinterest:

Open doors reveal a side by side washer and dryer with broom closet and supply shelves in the door. GENIUS!

Same laundry, doors closed. 

I sketched a bit and came up with this very similar version:

Supply door has towel bar (or hooks) for hanging wet or dirty linens. Added outlets for our dustbuster, and hung up a folding ironing board for guests.

A few fun, sort of functional decor ideas to finish the room off:

Clothes clip mirror

Source: designspongeonline.com via Jen on Pinterest

Fun way to match socks

Source: ramblingasusual.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest