Five Favorite Features of Our New Construction Home
We survived the home building process, and even though I had owned a commercial furnishings business, drew floor plans for a living, and had sold real estate for years, I still struggled with the process… Possibly because I’m a control freak… Looking back at it now, though, I can appreciate the opportunity to make every choice about how and what to build.
A year later, there are certain features of my home I roll my eyes about and some that make me smile every day. Here are the best of the best:
The Top Five
1. A heated master bathroom floor. Schluter’s DITRA-HEAT electric floor warming system was well worth the money. If you live in a cold climate and are building or renovating a bathroom, consider spending a little extra to have warm feet when you visit the bathroom on winter nights or when you step out of the shower. Ours added about $1000 to the bathroom construction. Not an extreme amount in the scheme of things, but very luxurious. And the cats really love it, too.
2. This Kohler Prolific sink is the King of all Sinks. I never imagined I could get excited about a sink until I experienced this one. It’s doesn’t hold dirty dishes any differently, for sure. The joy comes in the modern appearance of the squared, under-mounted sink, and in all the included accessories. There is a cutting board, a dish drainer, a colander, and a dish tub, all of which can sit inside the sink on the side ridges. That means I can wash vegetables, drain pasta, chop food, and dry any hand-washed dishes right in the sink! I have to admit the cutting board is my favorite. Just sweep all the veggie scraps right off the board and into the disposal below. The retail cost is about $1000. You’ll spend about $500 for a basic quality sink anyway, so in the scheme of a new build or remodel, this upgrade is well worth it.
3. Our bedroom ceiling is vaulted with open beams, so the builder suggested installing hard-wired rope lighting atop the beams. The light reflects off the beams and the ceiling to produce a dramatic shadow effect and ambient light that’s warm and inviting. The cost to light 4 beams was well under $500.
4. The biggest surprise in outfitting our new home came from good old JCPenney. If you’ve been paying any attention to the decline of the great American shopping mall culture in the past ten years, you’ll be forgiven for overlooking this valuable source of window coverings. Penney’s carries name brands like Levolor, Bali, and Hunter Douglas, and carries an in-house brand that offers some good basics. My favorite choice is the ultra-modern Levolor blackout roller shades that extend from floor to ceiling in our den. They’re remote-controlled, so one button closes the entire room of shades for vibrant movie viewing.
Budget Tip: Watch for sales and then stack a coupon on top, and then open a credit card to earn cash back rewards, and pay no interest for 12 months. And then dutifully pay off the card and close the account.
A month after buying shades I returned with a stack of $10 reward coupons I used toward Liz Claiborne bath towels, another high-quality treasure at Penney’s.
5. My car is keyless, so why wouldn’t my home be? One of the great inconveniences of life, fishing my house keys out of the bottom of my purse while juggling groceries, has been solved. We installed keypads on the garage doors, the side door to the garage, and the interior garage door, so no one can ever lose their key again. It’s especially helpful for the comings and goings of teenagers and overnight guests. Just make a special code for your guest. Depending on the type of lock, they can be operated by a phone app and can expire after their stay.
Happy Home Building!