Changy mcChange

Have you lost all hope? Do we keep changing too much? Does it seem like we don't listen? We do, there are just too many choices!

The below is rising in the ranks for several reasons. It's not too much for most people, like the red was. The green was a nice color but could have clashed with all the different types of wood we have. An accent wall may have been too much. A solid color seemed overwhelming. In this one, the color pallet goes with the floor, wood, and furnishings. It's kind of a masculine and conservative color - funny, I'm neither. The split tone serves to section off the lower floor from the cavernous vaulted ceiling. It makes the living area a little more cozy and contained.

red might be out

Decision...making...hard...

It is fun hearing people weigh in though. For every yes there is a no, for every no a yes. Other than the crazy stripe color, now that my dad has voted white we have every color voted for!

A choice may be emerging

Marcy and I are both starting to like this one. A safe, neutral, but rich color for the main walls with no two-tone, and a stronger bold accent wall color. Looks like green might be out, despite everyone, including Marcy and I, liking it. I cleaned up the Photoshop work a bit, and added dynamic lighting for a slightly more realistic preview

Little consensus

Thanks so much to all for the comments on colors, and please keep them coming!

There has been very little consensus, and we got several back-to-back comments or emails with opposite opinions!

red bad! - John
RED GOOD! - Cam

split color good- Stephanie
yes, split color good - Carol
split color bad!- Jess
yes, split color BAD- Kara

Gray looks like a battle ship - John
Gray is gloomy - Kara
Gray looks nice! - Carol

Then there are votes for most colors - red, burgandy, blue, green, sage, cream, chocolate, gray, black

So far the only color to stand out with any consensus at all it sage. And no votes for keeping it white

Personally, I think any color darker than white helps draw the attention to the floor, ceiling, furniture, windows, etc, and takes advantage of our excessive accent lighting. Now the good things provide the light and aren't drowned our by the big white walls.

I definitely like the chocolate color in the kitchen. There are highlights of that color in the counter Green matched the counter too strongly and looked bad.

I think the 2tone looks OK, but not up the stairs like the one photo.

I'm leaning towards more of a neutral color to go with the tile and ceiling, a warm gray or more chocolate perhaps, with a contrasting accent wall, maybe of that nice sage. The brown could continue into the kitchen. The sage wall is opposite the kitchen, which has a similarly colored counter top.


However, I know Marcy thinks one color on the big wall is too dominating. Any thoughts?

Update:
Below: The above photo changed with Marcy's input (and color corrected on the blinds):


Hmm, and another open, more bold, but doesn't overwhelm the room like doing the whole thing in burgundy

Paint?

So, I thought maybe our great room could use some more color. We had the drywall guys paint it asylum white. To see what it would look like, I painted it a whole bunch of different colors, took pictures for you, my faithful readers to see, and perhaps share your input on. There are, of course, many more colors available, but I can only paint the living room so many times.

Any that don't make the cut for this room could go elsewhere. Marcy and I are currently leaning towards 2tone gray on the great room, sage in the kitchen, light blue in the bathrooms, and maybe something more bold in the office/loft.

Update: I've added colors, reduced the image size (click for full view) and removed my cheeky color names just to make it easier to see the colors side-by-side.


current color white, cream

beige, gray

sage, lighter sage

2tone gray/sage

half&half gray, choco / gray

2tone gray

light blue, dark blue

burgandy, red




Here's a color option for the kitchen that Marcy and I like, along with the 2tone gray/sage living room.

And this would be a view of the whole great room. At first I had the loft a different color, but 4 colors in one room seemed too much.

Like it, love it, hate it, vomit?

And here's another option, as suggested by my sister. I like it.

accent wall

Energy usage continues to impress

The coldest winter in many years is nearly over, and our 12 month fuel usage for heating the house, separate 2 car garage, and hot water generation, is 560 gallons. Next winter will likely not be as cold, and I'm putting a small wood stove in the garage. I could also burn wood more in the house, but it's difficult with working full time. Either way, I'm very happy with the low heating bills!

Landscaping?

We would love to have a yard and better area for Roland, but do we want to spend the time and money? It's a lot of work, but then again we know we're capable. Last year we put in a treated wood 70 foot retaining-wall raised garden, and a brick retaining wall path in just one weekend. I've sketched out some rough plans from an overhead view. The things that don't currently exist are:

• footpath
• boardwalk
  
• brick steps
• lawn
• fence

The fence is about 500 feet long. That alone could be a lot of work!

Click for a closer look (updated with dog house and split rail fence):



Below is a cross section of the dirt work plan to flatten an area. Essentially I'd be cutting out a triangle from the top and placing it on the bottom.

Update:
I've made an updated version as an option. This moves the yard higher, more accessable from the house. It should work as long as there is a row of natural trees between the steep slopes below the parking area and above the lawn to prevent any erosion

The darker shaded grass represents the steep slopes, and the lighter shade is the usable lawn area

Blinds

I just installed some wooden blinds to help control some light, and warm up the living room some. I lucked out, a couple custom cut returns were the right size so I got them half off. Only needed a little shim, which will get hidden behind the top trim.

winter pictures, future plans

This blog doesn't have many pictures from the outside of the house, so here are a few new ones I took this morning.



This summer we're debating whether we should flatten out a spot below our house for a lawn.

Original land. It's fairly steep, though it doesn't really appear so.


I photoshopped a flat area to the right, with the spruce tree in the middle of it.

It's easier said than done. Since our lot is steep, we'd need to make a switchback path, stairs, or both just to access the lawn. We'd have to remove some trees, but there is a natural clearing, and we will still have great privacy. If we cleared an 80x150 foot area, we could flatten about 40-50x150 foot area. The rest gets used up on the inslope and outslope needed to create the flat area. Basically above and below the flat area become steeper. Still, this is about the size of a city lot, and it would be nice for summer get togethers, playing with the dog, etc.

Hindsite is 20/20, but had we anticipated this, and our budget, we might have built the house with a daylight basement, wich could have walked out onto a lawn without the steep slope.

Last fire of the season

Today we had what is probably the last fire of the winter. When it's above zero, the house gets too hot with just a small fire going, especially this time of yyear when the afternoon sun helps heat the place. I didn't want to end the season with small fires, which can build up creosote, so I had one last hot fire. We also rearranged the living room a little, and I like it a lot, it makes the stove more of a centerpiece and seems more open. Roland, as usual, likes his rug and the fire.