Big ideas

We spent the weekend gathering data. We're waiting for the weather to dry out and warm up a bit before we start doing the rewiring, and we're going to do more plumbing in March. We're also still doing research on which sawzall we want to buy, and until we purchase one we can't really remove any of the old pipes.

Once we get the rewire done and the walls in place, it'll be time to start making the inside of the house nice. We're going to put in some simple crown molding and decide on other architectural details. So, we went around to a bunch of places trying to figure out what exactly we like and what we want. We visited a Kohler showroom, IKEA, a kitchen showroom, and a tile store, not to mention ReStore over in Ballard. ReStore gathers stuff out of old houses and resells it, like sinks, windows, doors, doorknobs, grates, cabinets, you name it. There's all sorts of great antique and vintage stuff there, and it's reasonably priced. It's a great way to recycle a lot of building materials. We'll keep it in mind for later.

We also stopped by Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. It was great to look at a lot of different types of cabinet and bathroom hardware. The feel of drawer pulls and knobs is really important, and we found some nice stuff. At Pottery Barn we bought a pair of really nice Tibetan-style stools, courtesy of a generous gift certificate from my aunt and a supplemental one from a good friend. The stools are our first furniture purchase for our new home, and they've already come in handy, since there's no couch to sit on, let alone chairs. ^_^

On the way home, we swung by Barnes & Noble and used yet another gift certificate to purchase tons of home improvement magazines. So far we've seen some pretty interesting stuff. The best purchase of all, though, was something called the "Old House Interiors Design Center Sourcebook." It's basically a list of websites and companies that manufacture period-style home stuff, like tiles, wallpaper, door hardware, etc. It's wonderful and amazing, and if we can afford anything we find in there, we're going to get it.

Next weekend it's off to the Home Show, where we'll spend all weekend getting our head filled with really great ideas. That's what we're hoping, at least.