I’ve been taking notes on my first impressions of the house over the first two weeks. Here they are.
Appliances: I have always had bottom-of-the-line appliances. I haven’t had a refrigerator with an ice machine since I was in high school (except for the rental we had while renovating). So having crushed ice in the door feels like living in the space age. Several times we’ve stood in awe of the fine door-swinging-action on the fridge. It opens quickly, not too far, then stops at the perfect angle. I’m used to the freezer door resting coldly on my shoulder blade as I fumble through a pile of empty ice trays.
Likewise the stove and microwave are blowing us away with modern convenience.

Front door area: The design of the stairs gave us a dilemma. It could be right upstairs or right downstairs, but not both. We chose upstairs. As a result the front door and stairs clash a little bit. I keep trying to solve this in my mind. It’s one of the spots I could see a future family tuning up in a light renovation decades from now.
Light: I was pretty nervous about doing the lighting design ourselves. Lighting is important to me, and I’ve never done this before. It turned out great. We have good variety, and the right kind of light in the right places. And the natural light rocks.


Master Bath. Mixed review. Light – perfect. Tub – awesome. Tub deck – sweet. Sink – off center by 6-8 inches. Toilet – designed for giants. Wall lights – off kilter. Walls – by M. C. Escher. Tile – train wreck.

Stairs: The stairs are kicking our butts. We’ll get in shape quickly, and I’m already changing my walking-around-the-house habits to avoid extra trips up and down.

Kids Closet Doors: Should have been pocket doors.
Acoustics: The house is both loud and quiet. It makes no noise and it absorbs no noise. The AC is totally silent, so is the fridge, and the new windows cut out sound from the road, wind, etc. But a crying baby in the dining room can be heard perfectly in an upstairs bedroom.
The ice dispenser sounds like a car crashing into the house. I’ve rushed downstairs several times expecting the boys to be standing in a pile of rubble only to see them getting a glass of water.
I had gotten used to the old hardwood-radar method of kid tracking. But this house is solid. The floors don’t creak or pop and we don’t hear footsteps through the second floor.
Kitchen Ergonomics. We knocked this one out of the park. The cooking area, the cleaning area, the food area – it all works perfectly. Christiane is a cooking bad-ass in this kitchen.

Clean Air. That big hepa-filter works. When the sun shines through the house in the morning, no dust sparkles in the beams.
Bugs. Literally – ants and roaches. We had to exterminate a swam of wood ants that filled an upstairs bedroom just 2 days before we moved in. Sugar ants devoured a pile of crumbs in the dining room (note to self – buy dust pan). And we have seen real roaches. Not those big Texas tree roaches, which are just adorable, but actual little dirty roaches. Maybe it’s all those fast food wrappers tossed and swept into the crawl space during construction.