A week of planning, contractors, and more planning...

With Jenni and I being off to Hawaii next week for our cruise, we've spent the past week attending a wedding in Iowa (great wedding for our friends Christy and Sam), meeting with the siding and window contractor, shopping for windows, shopping for windows some more, and having a structural engineer come out yesterday afternoon to check the load rating of the main structural beam and support holding up the second floor.

Good things first:
- After tearing out the bathroom and being concerned that Jenni and I couldn't agree on the design of it, we actually had a pretty similar vision of it and have ordered the pedestal sink and toilet from The Great Indoors last night. We managed to save $150 (about 15%) through various coupons and deals they had going. We ended up picking the Kohler Memoirs (Stately design) series and should receive it in about 2 weeks. We also agreed on the hardware (like the oil-rubbed bronze) and tile we are going to use there and in the laundry room. We have it narrowed to about 3 or 4 stone species of travertine in either a honed or brushed finish.

- The structural engineer was out last night to look at the feasibility of removing the support for the main structural beam running through the family room. I really want to hide the beam in the ceiling but can probably live with it if we can just remove the support post that will be an eyesore if it has to stay. It will save us thousands of dollars as opposed to replacing the beam with a stronger alternative hidden within the ceiling. The good news is the guy felt the 2 2x12's were sufficient to span the 15-foot opening between exterior wall and support inside the wall (stand-alone support beam I want to remove is 12 feet from the exterior wall). He's supposed to call me today to confirm.

- After a lot of shopping and thinking (and indecision while standing in front of the contractor) we have decided on the windows for the most part. We are going to use Marvin's top-line of windows in either a pine or oak interior wood finish depending on the final cost difference. The most dramatic change will be in the addition of a 4-panel sliding French door as access to the back yard. The door is about 10 feet long and will provide tons of light and airflow. We're both really excited about how the finished product is going to look, despite our concerns over what we'll end up paying considering the windows are almost all going to be custom sizes.

The bad, slow, and frustrating:
- We were 8 hours late leaving for Iowa on Friday night because the plumber we had coming to work on the natural gas line for the grill showed up at 4:00 pm after he was supposed to be there at 9:30. ARGH. Threw our whole day off, even though it was just 3 hours of work.

- We are still struggling with the fact that every choice we make seems to be tied to the decisions we are trying to put off (such as floor color and kitchen design when deciding how to lay out the windows and doors). Everything is tied to everything else.

- Tearing stuff up is easy... putting it back together just how you like it is a much bigger task! LOL! We are going to try to finish the drywall and priming work in the downstairs bath before we leave for Hawaii so we can do the floors and install the bathroom fixtures as soon as we have them the week after labor day. Lots of patching and plastering still to be done.

We will have pictures along the way, but for now it's back to "planning and purchasing"